Kristian Blummenfelt and Laura Madsen each proved a class apart as they won their respective races to make it a Scandinavian double at the second edition of Challenge Samarkand in Uzbekistan on Sunday.
Despite saying afterwards that he felt “flat”, former Olympic and IRONMAN World Champion Blummenfelt led home a Norwegian one-two ahead of Gustav Iden in the men’s race.
And up-and-coming Danish star Madsen was never threatened as she completely dominated the women’s field.
Men’s race
A small but select field was missing one notable name as Challenge Roth runner-up Tom Bishop was unable to start due to sickness.
Reigning IRONMAN 70.3 World Champion Rico Bogen (GER) led out of the water in 23:20.
But it was Iden, on the comeback trail as he builds up to Kona, who overtook him in transition and just behind that duo were Blummenfelt, Ruben Zepuntke (GER) and Bogdan Kovalenko (KAZ).
Bogen was soon back in front and would go on to set the fastest time on the two-lap rolling bike course which passed some of Samarkand’s most iconic historic buildings.
It all meant he was first into T2, with a 51 seconds advantage over Kovalenko, who was having a great race against the big guns.
But two of those – Blummenfelt and Iden – would come to the fore on the run, with the former cutting into Bogen’s lead.
The catch came just before the halfway point as ‘Big Blu’ powered past and within a matter of strides was clear.
It soon became obvious that barring a mishap the victory was going to him, just three weeks after his incredible win at IRONMAN Frankfurt.
But the big question was whether Iden could catch Bogen and that was answered at the start of the final lap as he made the move and went on to cross the line just under three minutes behind Blummenfelt.
Bogen rounded out the podium in third, with Kovalenko a fine fourth.
Women’s race
It was a wire-to-wire win for 21-year-old Madsen.
She exited the water in first in 26:35, 13 seconds ahead of Marta Lagownik (POL), with Justine Guerard (FRA) in third, 15 seconds down, and home hope Alina Khakimova (UZB) nearly three minutes back in fourth.
It should have been a five-strong field but sickness prevented Nicole Van Der Kaay from making her professional middle-distance debut after representing New Zealand at the Paris Olympics just a few weeks ago.
Up front it was one-way traffic, with Madsen by now putting distance between herself and the rest.
She was more than 11 minutes clear and had run more than 2.5km of the half marathon before second-placed Lagownik came into T2.
It was Lagownik who would clock the fastest run with a 1:23:23 but she was just over 10 minutes behind Madsen on the line, with Guerard in third.
Challenge Samarkand 2024 results
Sunday September 8, 2024 – 1.9km / 90km / 21.5km
PRO Men
- 1. Kristian Blummenfelt (NOR) – 3:31:42 [22:57 / 1:51:50 / 1:13:52]
- 2. Gustav Iden (NOR) – 3:34:26 [22:54 / 1:51:49 / 1:16:36]
- 3. Rico Bogen (GER) – 3:35:35 [22:49 / 1:50:46 / 1:18:44]
PRO Women
- 1. Laura Madsen (DEN) – 3:58:34 [26:24 / 2:04:16 / 1:24:50]
- 2. Marta Lagownik (POL) – 4:08:37 [26:38 / 2:15:23 / 1:23:23]
- 3. Justine Guerard (FRA) – 4:18:34 [26:39 / 2:16:53 / 1:31:27]
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