It was an historic Norwegian clean sweep at the IRONMAN World Championship in Nice last month but the race was won by the least-heralded of the trio, Casper Stornes.
He proved strongest during the marathon to see off his Bergen buddies Gustav Iden and Kristian Blummenfelt, both former champions, by two-and-a-half minutes and five minutes respectively.
All three had trained together for most of the year but as Stornes says in his latest YouTube video, which is embedded below: “It wasn’t just about fitness – the right gear played a huge role in getting me across the finish line first on one of the toughest Ironman courses in the world.”
‘Three-minute saving’
And while clearly a great plug for his sponsors, there are some fascinating insights as he runs through his race-day kit.
He’s clearly been busy following his victory as much of the kit is untouched – and unwashed – since that day on the Cote d’Azur!
There were no great surprises around the swim skin but Stornes then moves on to the aero calf sleeves he put on in transition.
He says that probably added about 30 seconds in T1 but he reckons they then saved him close to three minutes during the 180km on the bike, so a definite “no brainer”.
Stornes’ Pinarello TT bike, the Italian brand which is probably most closely associated with many a Team Sky Tour de France triumph, always stands out – but there was a subtle detail on his aero helmet which could easily have gone unnoticed.
And that’s a photo of Bergen harbour on the front of it, clearly a location which means so much to him.
Keeping his cool
Onto the run and he says he was “happy with how they performed” about his ASICS Metaspeed Ray shoes, which might be slightly underplaying things given a 2:29 marathon!
There’s more focus on the Omius cooling headband, a piece of kit which is becoming a common sight in long-distance triathlons in the heat.
The headband features a grid which holds 20 graphite-infused water-activated cooling pieces.
Again the attention to detail shines through as he explains that he wore the headband rather than a similar setup worked into a cap because the windy conditions in Nice would have made that feel much less aero.
Did that make a difference? Who knows but, as the photo below shows, both Iden and Blummenfelt opted for caps.
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