Two years ago Gustav Iden was utterly spectacular as he claimed victory in a brilliant 2022 IRONMAN World Championship in Kona. Do not expect a repeat this weekend.
On Saturday (October 26) in Hawaii, Iden will once again line up against a stellar field, including fellow Norwegian Kristian Blummenfelt and defending champion Sam Laidlow. But instead of being one of the favourites for victory, the 28-year-old from Bergen has very different goals and ambitions this time.
Gustav is still in rebuild phase after a 2023 season which saw him beset by an Achilles injury as well as dealing with the death of his mother following a long and brave battle against cancer.
Coach Olav Aleksander Bu told TRI247 last week that top five would be a good result for his charge, and Gustav himself also provides a very frank assessment of where he is at heading into the big race.
Gustav Iden Kona strategy
Speaking on Santara’s Norwegian Method podcast, he admitted: “I’m not going to be the most fit going into Kona, that is 100% sure, so it is more about preparation. I think I can do an okay race – even though I’m not going to be the most fit – so I need to be in a place where I kind of be an underdog and also be smart about my tactics.
“I will have to have a slowish race – I want the pace as slow as possible, I think that’s how my race will pan out. I’m not kidding anyone with a post of social media, but I think a little bit of mind games and making people think about what they will do might slow the pace down a little bit. Especially with Kristian running as fast as he did in Frankfurt [a 2:32 marathon] – if you want to go for the victory you might blow up on the run and people blowing up may lead to me coming a bit higher.”
A record-breaking Kona in 2024?
Iden set a blistering Kona course record of 7:40:24 in claiming that brilliant victory in 2022, so does he expect a repeat in 2024?
“It is not going to be a slow race, I think people are going to think they are more prepared and more fit than two years ago and people will go even harder – like someone went hard on the bike in 2022 but I think more people will try to go hard on the bike – and a surprising amount blew up on the run in 2022.
“I feel like I’ve been watching Kona for many years and it’s always people blowing up on energy levels, but there were not as many people blowing up two years ago – so I think people will actually be more aggressive.
“I don’t think the overall time will be that much faster – but I think the bike and run course records will be hard to beat. It is hard to say if my run course record will remain, I had shoes that are now illegal that helped me and a lot of favourable conditions, it was not especially hot on race day and my tactics were helpful for a fast run.”
Iden is known for his sense of fun as well as his brilliance, but admits that right now the only thing lacking in his racing is self-belief, something that he says which will come back with performance. He says that sense of fun will likely not be on show this weekend, for very good reason.
‘A boring way of racing’
He explained: “Limiting risks is a boring way of racing, boring for everyone. People want to see blind racing, head-to-wall type of racing.
“I guess I will have more entertainment in me next year, but entertainment is so much easier when you are the best. If you look at Pocagar in the Tour de France, he was just playing with others.
“Of course when you’re winning by that much, and feeling much better, it is easier to be the clown. But it’s not clever being the clown when you are finishing fourth, because why are you wasting your energy fist-bumping the crowd, like Sam Long does sometimes, and not focus on the race – but if you are winning everything is okay.
“I will bring more entertainment next year!”
Big Island goals for Gustav
So back to goals, and Saturday, and what Gustav would define as success this time on the Big Island.
“I do believe top five is within reach, then I need a little bit of luck, a bit of fortunate race dynamics and maybe some people struggling more than what is to be expected, but I do think top five is possible. I just need to be a little bit more defensive on the bike – last time I rode a little bit aggressive on parts of the course.
“This year I will try to maintain time to the leaders and then run decent. Hopefully someone will struggle a bit more and hopefully I can finesse a few spots on the last few K. Top five would be great for me.”
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