It was a Norway clean sweep of the last men’s IRONMAN World Championship and all the indications are that we could be in for something similar in Kona later this year.
Kristian Blummenfelt was the third Norwegian home in Nice in 2025 but has carried all before him this season and will be a big favourite to win Challenge Roth next weekend.
But the two men that beat him on the Cote d’Azur – Casper Stornes and Gustav Iden – sent out an ominious warning to their rivals with a repeat one-two at IRONMAN Frankfurt on Sunday.
The race was reduced in distance in terms of the bike (125km) and run (21.1km) because of the heatwave that is currently gripping Europe – but it will have been lost on no one that we could have similarly testing conditions in Hawaii in October.
All about Kona
The duo bossed it from the start of the run in Germany, with the reigning IRONMAN World Champion Stornes easing into the lead early on before powering away for a convincing victory.
And he revealed afterwards that the performance came despite lingering pain from a recent bike crash in training.
“The swim was quite hard work after the crash.
“That was about two-and-a-half, three weeks ago and the last week it’s been so painful around my ribs.
“They were pushing for the first hour on the bike too but on the run I just tapped into my own pace and kept it there. I’m happy with my race and felt in control.
“I’m focussing on Kona – that’s the priority and everything comes second after that.”
Speaking later on the ProTriNews podcast (34:45 in) he did then raise the intriguing possibility of taking in Challenge Roth this weekend – but quickly added that it is a longshot!
‘I’m a builder’
Iden too feels everything is moving in the right direction as we head towards the business end of the campaign.
He said of the Frankfurt race: “The air was knocked a little bit out of me when they shortened the bike and the run but kept the full swim. Not my ideal distance but I surprised myself a little bit on the swim – I wouldn’t say it was easy but I didn’t struggle either.
“And then on the bike I was in second or close to that for the whole ride. And the same on the run, so satisfied.
“I am a builder! I’m gaining momentum and hopefully I can even build more to the Championships coming up.”
