Belgium’s Jelle Geens defended his IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship title in the best possible style as he outsprinted Norway’s Kristian Blummenfelt at the end of a thrilling run battle in one of the all-time great races in Marbella.
A spectacular and hilly bike course shaped the race as nine men went clear of the rest but very early into the run it boiled down to a duel between reigning champion Geens and Blummenfelt, who has won pretty much every triathlon race that matters, including the Olympics.
The pace was incredible and they were shoulder to shoulder virtually throughout until the last couple of turns into the finish chute when Geens just judged ahead and crossed the line three seconds to the good after both had run 1:07 half marathons.
Geens’ win was all the more impressive as had to deal with a couple of mechanical issues after crashing early on the bike but he looked incredible throughout the run
Casper Stornes – who saw off Gustav Iden and Blummenfelt in a Norwegian clean sweep of the IRONMAN World Championship in Nice a couple of months ago, rounded out the podium in third.
Swim – Crociani shows the way
Just as it was for the women’s race 24 hours earlier, conditions were good for the wetsuit swim when things got under way at 07:50 local time at Levante Beach in Puerto Banús.
And as with the women – where Lucy Charles-Barclay asserted from the outset on the way to a memorable win – we had a solo leader.
That was Alessio Crociani (ITA), though short course stars like Jamie Riddle (RSA), Panagiotis Bitados (GRC), Vincent Luis (FRA) and Seth Rider (USA) were doing their best to keep tabs on him.
Most of the big favourites were in the second big chase group, though two exceptions were former winners Iden and Rico Bogen (GER) who already had work to do.
The pattern continued and exiting the water in 22:21, Crociani had a 28-seconds advantage over the ‘other’ Norwegian Sebastian Wernersen in second, with just 15 seconds covering the next 15.
Defending champion Geens was 22nd and 58 seconds back, Magnus Ditlev (DEN) was 24th, Blummenfelt 35th at 1:16, Bogen 44th at 1:33 and Iden, who had played down his chances pre-race, already 2:27 back in 48th of the 58 starters.
Bike – Stunning course splits things up
The bike got off to shocking start for Geens who had an early tumble which saw him lose the visor from his helmet and then suffer from some shifting problems.
But he somehow managed to keep right in the mix of what was initially a packed front group, meaning there were lots of flashing RaceRanger lights in the opening stages!
It was a spectacular 90km one-lap course with a whopping 1,785 metres of climbing and it led to a fascinating dynamic.
Swim leader Crociani was very quickly reeled in and the breakaway attempts started with Jonas Schomburg (DEU) and Riddle trying to put daylight between themselves and the rest.
Ditlev was next to have a dig and the relentless pressure on the front meant that what had started as a huge group was soon whittled down to 10.
They were Geens, Shomburg, Riddle, Ditlev, Bitados, Blummenfelt, Stornes, Mathis Margirier, Simon Westermann and Bogen, who had regained the ground he lost in the swim.
The pace remained strong given the bike strength on show, so much so that when Bitados dropped off the back with around 30km to go he was soon over two minutes back.
Things ebbed and flowed between the other nine – Blummenfelt was doing plenty of talking as he moved around in the group too – but they essentially came into T2 together with what by now was a four-minute advantage to Bitados in 10th and five minutes and more to the rest.
Run – Shoulder to shoulder
Given the huge gaps after the bike, the podium places were surely going to come from the front nine.
And the fireworks started early as Geens, who had lost a bit of time early on the run due to a sore hip from his crash, put the burners on to bridge up to a front three of Blummenfelt, Schomburg and Riddle.
The incredible pace continued and very soon it was game on and Geens vs Blummenfelt.
After 5km they had 17s on Schomburg, 33s on Riddle, 36s on Stornes and 48s on Bogen, with Ditlev, Westermann and Margirier already over a minute back.
Stornes, who caused a relative shock when running away with the IRONMAN World Championship in Nice a couple of months ago, was looking super relaxed and he first went past Riddle and then Schomburg to move into third.
But up front the pace wasn’t dropping – Geens twice tried to attack Blummenfelt on the mini climbs but couldn’t shake him off and with 5km remaining the two had 39 seconds on Stornes.
Stornes had closed to within 20 seconds with 2km to go but when he shouted encouragement to Blummenfelt on an out-and-back section it was clear the title was between the front two.
And they were literally shoulder to shoulder as they vied for the inside line at the final couple of bends into the finishing straight and that was where Geens just powered ahead on the way to a famous victory.
Blummenfelt did have the consolation of wrapping up the $200,000 first prize in the IRONMAN Pro Series, with Stornes sealing second.
IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship Results
Sunday November 9, 2025 – Marbella, Spain [1.9km swim / 90km bike / 21.1km run]
Pro Men
- 1. Jelle Geens (BEL) – 3:42:52
- 2. Kristian Blummenfelt (NOR) – 3:42:55
- 3. Casper Stornes (NOR) – 3:43:52
Full list, with splits for the top 10, will appear here shortly…
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