Gustav Iden battling cold ahead of battling Frodeno

Gustav Iden is preparing to battle Jan Frodeno by battling a cold ahead of IRONMAN California.

The 25-year-old Norwegian superstar makes his full-distance debut against modern-day GOAT Frodeno on Sunday in what they (and we) are tagging ‘The Showdown In Sacramento’.

But as he arrived at the race location, he revealed that he has been suffering from a cold in recent days – hardly the ideal preparation for the challenge which awaits in three days’ time.

Iden though, who was again hugely impressive in winning a second IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship title in St George last month, put a positive spin on the whole thing.

Iden issues update

In an Instagram post, he said: “Made it to Sacramento! Sadly I have been struggling with a cold the last days, but there is still a couple of days left until race day.

“I’m hoping that this extra forced rest will do wonders for my @ironmantri debut, as I will need everything I got for this one…”

Frodeno of course set an all-time iron-distance record time at that Tri Battle with Lionel Sanders earlier this year. And there are hopes Sunday’s race will produce some timing fireworks as well. Iden just emphasised the potential there, revealing: “Had to try out a small section of the course, and it’s crazy fast!!”

Sanders adds to Sacramento plot

While Gustav vs Frodeno – the battle of the top two men in the PTO World Rankings right now – is hogging most of the headlines, there are other reasons to get excited about Sunday. Notably the presence of Sanders, who threw his hat into the ring just days after saying he was done with full-distance races for 2021.

The action gets under way at 0648 local time on Sunday (0948 Eastern and 1448 in the UK) and we will have a live blog throughout the day on TRI247.

We also have extensive preview material, including a Shakespearean take on a modern classic by John Levison and an expert panel including Tim Don and Craig Alexander.