When Jelle Geens picked out IRONMAN Texas as his first-ever foray into the world of long-distance triathlon, he probably didn’t quite expect the line-up to be quite as strong as that which was released last week.
Such is the impressive cast list for this month’s race; it has already been dubbed ‘Kona 2.0’ by three-time former World Champion Patrick Lange, and let’s face it, he should know a world-class starting list when he sees one.
The who’s who of triathlon includes the Norwegian trio of defending Texas champion Kristian Blummenfelt, Casper Stornes and Gustav Iden; there are also Lange (GER), Marten Van Riel (BEL), Jonas Schomburg (GER), Rudy Von Berg (USA), Sam Long (USA), and, of course, Lionel Sanders (CAN), who makes his welcome return to long distance.
Baptism of fire awaits in Texas
A gauge as to the calibre of those on show can be determined by the fact that there are ten men in the starting line-up who are currently ranked in the PTOs top 20. And we haven’t even mentioned the women yet!!!
Such a baptism of fire is unlikely to phase the Belgian who sits second in the PTO rankings and is the reigning IRONMAN 70.3 world champion. After all, with such a strong field against him, at least he will be able to gauge where he sits in the pecking order.
Having made his intentions of a push for Kona success clear, Geens started his season in Geelong for the 70.3 and a showdown with Blummenfelt and Kiwi Hayden Wilde. While not at his best, he was able to come in second, behind Big Blu – a result which has given him much heart ahead of the challenges to come.
While accepting that a full IRONMAN in Texas is going to be a completely ‘different ball game’ to racing a 70.3 in Geelong, his efforts on the Victorian coastline have given him confidence that he is progressing well in terms of his long-distance prep.
‘I have a few percentages to play with’
Blummenfelt, the man he beat in a straight sprint for the line at the 70.3 World Championships in Marbella last summer, was too strong in Geelong – hunting both him and Wilde down with a pacy run that came close to being the fastest ever recorded for a half-marathon in triathlon.
Speaking on his latest YouTube vlog, which is embedded below, he talked through his experiences at Geelong before then turning his attention to the task that awaits him in Texas and another face-off with the Norwegian powerhouse
“Definitely not in the shape that I was in when I won in Marbella, and we don’t want to be in that shape yet either. I’m also training for an IRONMAN, so it’s a bit different,” he said of his second place. “If I’m in my best shape, then I definitely would be competitive with Kristian on this level, like he did a very, very quick run on that course.
“But I do believe that I still have a few percentages to play with. I think I can probably, in my top shape, bike a little bit harder and definitely run a bit harder as well. Overall, I’m quite satisfied. I was quite exhausted going into the off-season. So it’s good that my body turned that around, and I think it’s a good place to be in ahead of Texas.
“Obviously, it’s like half the distance that I’ll have to do in Texas. But no, it definitely gives me a good sign in terms of where my shape is at, and I was quite confident in my shape going into the race, but it’s nice to see it actually come to fruition in a race.”
He does, however, accept that Texas will be a vastly different experience from that of Geelong.
“It’s a whole different race,” he says. “I did 3 hours and 31 for Geelong, and I’ll probably have to do 7 hours and 30 in Texas. So it’s a different ball game. But I definitely go into this next block with confidence coming from this race.”
