It’s been an incredible triathlon season for Marten Van Riel after stepping up in distance – but there is one more giant step.
On Sunday in Mexico the 31-year-old Belgian superstar will make his debut at the sport’s full distance when he races at IRONMAN Cozumel.
Van Riel has enjoyed a spectacular second half of 2024, complete with a trio of T100 wins and the overall title of series World Champion. Not to mention a pretty nice paycheck for those stellar performances.
Marten completed his T100 season only five days ago by prevailing in the Grand Final in Dubai, so it is no surprise that he describes his Cozumel adventure as “a bit of a lucky shot” coming on the back of no preparation.
His goal here though is clear – claim a slot for next year’s IRONMAN World Championship in Nice, his presence on the start line there would just add further lustre to the sport’s marquee full-distance event. He told TRI247: “If I could get a slot my season would be even more complete than it already was”.
Van Riel takes ‘Big Blu’ full distance route
IRONMAN Cozumel of course is the race where a certain Kristian Blummenfelt chose to make his full-distance debut back in 2021, and that turned out rather well.
On that spectacular day in Latin America, ‘Big Blu’ produced what remains the fastest time ever for a full-distance race – a mind-boggling 7:21:12. That time was though aided by a blistering current-assisted swim of 39:41.
Van Riel’s presence on the start list for Sunday provides plenty of late-season interest, and he will come up against ageless Aussie star Cam Wurf among others. The 41-year-old remember amazed plenty of his fellow pros earlier this month by aceing the New York Marathon just eight days after that brutal IRONMAN World Championship slugfest in Kona.
Chevalier defends his title
The field is headed though by French star Leon Chevalier, who heads here on the back of a terrific fourth-place finish at the IRONMAN World Championship in Kona. He defends his title here, having won 12 months ago.
Chevalier wrote on Instagram: “I’m fully aware this is probably not the best build into an Ironman (especially one as tough as this!), but I just couldn’t resist the urge to go back to Mexico and give it a shot. I’m hoping the fitness I built up to Kona resurfaces, fuelled by airport lounge food and in flight entertainment – I’ve had plenty of that in the last few weeks!
“This season has been successful no matter what, and I want to see what it’s like going back to back weekends, and racing fulls at such short interval with barely any training in between. The racing calendar gets fuller and fuller every year so this will be a good test!”
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