If you expected Gustav Iden to sit back and bask in the glory of his brilliant full-distance debut at IRONMAN Florida on Saturday, you’d be wrong of course.
This golden generation of Norwegian triathletes, led by Iden and Olympic champion Kristian Blummenfelt, come to win and they do so with a burning desire and belief. There is little that is not achievable, and nothing which cannot be improved upon.
So when Gustav dropped jaws on Saturday by closing a convincing victory over Lionel Sanders with a 2:34:51 marathon, he was still in typically understated form immediately post-race.
Iden on Sanders battle
“I was hoping for Lionel to either go past me or drop off, because I couldn’t imagine fighting all the way to the finish line with him because that would be too much.
“So I’m really glad that he dropped off because yeah, that fight would be too hard for me. So yeah, I made it to the finish line at least, so that’s good.”
Then Iden uttered the words which should be chilling for his long-course rivals – there is probably much more to come.
“It’s a good first try but I have some work to improve on, so hopefully I can beat my time in the future.”
St George & Kona for Gustav?
In the build-up to the recent cancelled race at IRONMAN California, Iden had said his full-distance debut would inform his plans for 2022. He said going all in for St George in May and Kona and October was not a given – that he would only do so if he decided he enjoyed racing at 140.6 miles. Now we wait for his next move.
“I think everybody says after their Ironman ‘Im never gonna do this again’ – I kind of feel that way now it was too hard for me,” he admitted.
“Give me a couple of hours and then maybe I change my mind but right now, no this is too much.”
Triathlon’s mid-season report card: Tim Don on who’s raising the bar this triathlon race season
