Timmo Jeret sets new Estonian triathlon record
Estonian triathlete Timmo Jeret set a new Estonian record at Sunday's Copenhagen IRONMAN event, crossing the finish line with an overall time of 7:55.55.
This was an improvement of nearly four minutes on the previous domestic record (7:59.32), set by Kirill Kotšegarov back in April 2017. Jeret placed 18th in the race overall.
"On paper the Estonian record seemed kind of doable, but paper tends to suffer anything," the triathlete said after the event.
"Putting that mix together in reality is a whole other matter," he went on. "I have never had such a swim and bike combo before, 100 percent of the time I was alone, which did not favor a fast time. During the race I never once focused on the final time, because it seemed quite a hopeless thing, riding alone between wastelands."
Jeret said the marathon component of the event was the crowning glory. "I ran it, for me, very fast. I was not at all sure that I would carry that pace to the finish, as I improved my marathon time inside the full distance by over 10 minutes — so that is a very big bite," said Jeret.
"Records are there to be broken. Younger men will break the record someday," he added.
Another Estonian finisher was Rinel Pius, competing in his first full IRONMAN and placing 28th place with a time of 8:05.01.
Germany's Henrik Grosse-Freese took overall victory in Copenhagen with a time of 7:27.34, just 36 seconds ahead of local competitor Kristian Högenhaug.
Estonia's own IRONMAN triathlon — with the standard 3.9 km swim, 181 km bike ride and marathon (42.2 km) run — takes place next weekend.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte, Anders Nõmm
