A stellar field for Sunday’s IRONMAN World Championship in Nice lost one of its most exciting talents on Tuesday with the news that Denmark’s Daniel Baekkegard will miss the big race.

The 27-year-old Scandinavian star would have been one of the major players in a terrific line-up, headed by Jan Frodeno as the German great takes in his ‘last dance’ as a professional triathlete.

But Baekkegard announced on Tuesday that he has not recovered from the illness he contracted while taking part in the PTO Asian Open in Singapore last month. He eventually finished sixth behind Kristian Blummenfelt in the big 100km showdown, but is still now feeling the impact of the trip.

Baekkegard on IMWC Nice KO

Writing on Instagram, he told his 52k followers: “I’ll unfortunately not be able to start Ironman World Championships on Sunday. I picked up sickness and infection in Singapore and haven’t been able to get fully back into training yet.

“It f***ing sucks to be sidelined for the culmination of my season and especially on a spectacular course like Nice. It gave me butterflies in my stomach when I did the recon together with @canyon in June! Unfortunately moments like these are the other side of the medal. I look forward to what I hope will be pure fireworks on race day!”

While Nice may have been one of the defining goals of the 2023 season for Baekkegard, he is hopeful there will still be a big day or two still to come before the campaign ends.

“I strive to get over this in time for some racing later this season. We’re not done yet.

Huge shoutout and lots of love to my amazing partners, my team and all of you rooting for me going into Nice! It’s been really amazing to feel your support🫶🏽”