In 2022 Gustav Iden reigned supreme in the IRONMAN World Championship, but his 2024 Kona experience could not have been any more different.
Two years ago the brilliant triathlon superstar from Bergen, Norway was at the absolute peak of his powers, repelling Sam Laidlow and compatriot Kristian Blummenfelt to win in a new course record time of 7:40:24.
But on Saturday on the Big Island things were very different as Iden was a DNF in a brutal 2024 edition of the sport’s most iconic race, something he described as a ‘brutal and humbling experience’.
Kona expectations for Iden
Going into the race Gustav and coach Olav Aleksander Bu had both been open and honest about his prospects, victory was not something on their radar following a 2023 which had been ruined by injury and personal tragedy. Iden was now on the road back to something like elite level, but still some way from being able to compete with the very very best.
The talk pre-race was that top 10 was absolutely possible and top 5 would be seen very much as success. The end result was not even close to that as Gustav suffered a miserable day in brutal conditions.
Iden’s day began with a 50:34 swim which saw him exit the water more than three minutes back from the leaders, and things would get even tougher during a tortuous bike leg – even with that much-hyped ‘Superman’ riding position.
At the 31-mile point he was 6:53 behind leader Sam Laidlow and at the 50-mile mark it was over nine minutes. And unfortunately that trend continued – he was 20 minutes behind by T2 with a 60-second penalty for ‘unintentional littering’ just adding to his misery.
Gustav had admitted beforehand that his run – a brilliant weapon when he was at the peak of his powers – is just not where it needs to be and the day just got worse on the marathon as one of the sport’s true greats was forced to DNF.
Gustav post-race debrief
Afterwards Iden was his usual honest self as he spoke openly about what had happened, writing a heartfelt post on his Instagram account.
He revealed: “Yesterday I learnt that everything I thought I knew about this race was wrong. It was an absolutely brutal and humbling experience from the start, and still only went downhill from there. I really tried my best just to finish, but I had to sit down on the Queen K and never managed to get back up again.
“My season ends here. I don’t know what I’m missing to get back on top, but I know I will do my best to figure it out. Massive(!!!) respect to @patricklange1 for the win. A true legend of the sport and someone who motivates me a lot for the future.”
Gustav said before this race that realistically he is targeting the 2025 IRONMAN World Championship in Nice, France to be the time when he can again contend for the very top races. We hope to see him back at the front on the Cote d’Azur next year.
