Marten Van Riel secured a stunning start-to-finish victory at IRONMAN Lake Placid as he served notice on his rivals that he will be a major threat when Kona comes later this year.
After setting the pace in the swim and powering ahead on the bike, he started the marathon alongside American Matthew Marquardt knowing it would be a straight shoot-out between the two of them for the win.
While Marquardt did briefly threaten to cause him difficulty, in truth, there was never any real doubt that Van Riel would go on and take the tape as he eased through the final stages to win his first-ever long-distance race by more than four minutes.
His win in 7:41:57 set a new course record, while his marathon also set a new best in New York’s Adirondack Mountains.
Third place was a real battle, with Americans Trevor Foley, Ben Kanute and Jason West all having an opportunity to grab the final podium spot, but it was Kanute who managed to dig the deepest and come home 16 minutes behind the winning Belgian.
Swim – Minnican leads Van Riel out of the water
Four men broke away from the pack early on as the non-swimsuit race saw Van Riel, Fraser Minnican (GBR), Tom Gordon (USA), and Kanute press for an early advantage in the warm but slightly choppy Mirror Lake.
The two Europeans were clearly on a mission to go out hard, and both Van Riel and Minnican looked strong as they ploughed through the waters at the head of the pack.
Behind them, a group of nine USA athletes, headed by Matt Shafer and including Marquardt, Jason West and Rudy Von Berg, were attempting to close the gap, but as they headed to the halfway Aussie exit, the leaders were already more than 90 seconds ahead.
Perhaps the biggest surprise at this point was to see Pro Series contender and two-time winner this year, Trevor Foley (USA), down in 21st place, almost four minutes back.
Indeed, his position was to worsen considerably on the second lap as the IRONMAN New Zealand and 70.3 Pennsylvania champion eventually exited the water more than eight minutes behind the leaders.
Despite Van Riel being at the front for pretty much every stroke of the swim, he was not the first out when the athletes completed their second lap, with Minnican stealing his thunder by overtaking in the final few metres and exiting in a time of 47:04.
The duo were followed in by Gordon and Kanute a minute later, with the rest of the field having spread out significantly; Shafer and Marquardt were +2:40 behind; Von Berg, West and Matt Collins (USA) were at plus three minutes.
It was, therefore, the Briton who headed out onto the bike first, but his lead in the saddle would not last for long.
Bike – Van Riel and Marquardt take control… Foley rallies.
Heading into the hilly but picturesque bike course, the Belgian was swiftly into his business and retook the race lead almost immediately as he powered past Minnican and set about opening a sizeable gap.
And while Van Riel pushed away at the front, Minnican started to fall away dramatically, with first Kanute, then Marquardt and Von Berg flying past him. Indeed, by the time they reached the 75km mark, the Brit was down in 12th and almost ten minutes behind.
Foley had left T1 more than eight minutes back and down in 18th place, but anyone writing off his chances had clearly never seen him race before. While he may have been further back than he would have liked, the American soon started to weave his way up through the field.
Such was his pace that by the 75.5km mark he was sitting in fifth and at 87km he was fourth – although the gap to Van Riel at the front was still at a healthy-looking six minutes.
Marquardt kept up the pressure in second place, and despite the gap between them exceeding three minutes at one stage, he never lost touch and would close out the leg, seemingly, as the much stronger athlete.
Van Riel visibly slowed in the final 20km of the ride – whether through an issue or simply to conserve his energy – and Marquardt took the opportunity to advance. Along with Foley, they had been the three fastest riders in the field, but the gap between first place and second was steadily reducing.
As Foley passed Kanute to make his way into third, Marquardt closed the gap on the Belgian in first place and would eventually arrive at T2 only +1:18 behind, with Van Reil completing his bike in 4:14:46.
Foley had managed to claw himself up from 18th to third and, at one point, from eight minutes off the pace to just six, but he too visibly slowed in the closing stages of the bike, and he would come into T2 with a time of 4:14:06 – a full +7:24 behind Van Riel.
Kanute came in fourth (+7:29); Von Berg was fifth (+10:48); and Aussie Cameron Wurf sixth (+11:12).
As they headed out onto the marathon course, Marquardt was very much in the hunt, with Van Riel only ahead now by +1:38. It looked for all money to now be a battle between the two for the win, with Foley, Kanute, Wurf and Von Berg battling it out for the final podium place.
Run – Van Riel completes the job in style
With Van Riel having slowed on the bike, there was a thought that he may just have hit his ceiling, but from the early stages of the marathon it became apparent that he still had a great deal more in the tank.
Marquardt had probably felt his chances of catching the Belgian had improved significantly as they set off from T2 with a little more than 90 seconds between them, but despite the American clearly trying to claw back his rival, there was little impact made on the distance between them.
Marquardt did manage to reduce the gap to +1:22 at one point, but Van Riel was looking in complete control, and by the time they had reached the 16km mark, the gap had grown to two minutes – with Foley at +9:27 clinging on in third.
One of the fastest runners in the field was American Jason West, who had exited T2 in eighth position and was more than 16 minutes behind the leader at one point.
By the time they had hit 35km, West had powered his way right through the field to third spot, taking advantage of Foley needing to walk as he clutched his left hamstring and a tiring Kanute who simply had no answer.
West was still more than 15 minutes behind Van Riel, but he now looked set for a first-ever full-distance podium finish, provided he could keep going and not DNF as he had done in his previous two long-haul races
Marquardt was guaranteed second by now, as he was well clear of West, but the gap on Van Riel had grown out to +4:27, and his focus was on getting across the line and picking up some handy Pro Series points as runner-up.
With the top two places now settled, the only question was whether West could maintain his pace and see it through to the finish line.
He couldn’t.
As Van Riel was closing in on his victory with a marathon time of 2:34:49, West suddenly had problems and was seen lying in the middle of the road at one point in what seemed to be an attempt at stretching out his aching limbs.
He did manage to get up and carry on, but by this time the damage had already been done, and Kanute, who looked to have been handed a second wind by West’s woes, retook third place with a stride that suddenly looked stronger and more confident.
He crossed in third at +16:25 against Van Riel, while West managed to hold it together enough to take fourth.
Kona qualifying slots look set to go to West, Funk, Dominik Sowieta and Kristian Hogenhaug.
READ MORE: For a report on the women’s race, click HERE.
IRONMAN Lake Placid 2026 results
Sunday, July 19, 2026 – 3.8km / 180km / 42.2km
| Position | Athlete | Nationality | Swim | Bike | Run | Total time | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Marten Van Riel | BEL | 00:47:05 | 04:14:46 | 02:34:49 | 07:41:57 | 5,000 |
| 2 | Matthew Marquardt | USA | 00:49:49 | 04:13:56 | 02:37:24 | 07:46:11 | 4,746 |
| 3 | Ben Kanute | USA | 00:48:05 | 04:21:44 | 02:43:48 | 07:58:23 | 4,014 |
| 4 | Jason West | USA | 00:50:11 | 04:28:11 | 02:37:19 | 08:00:44 | 3,873 |
| 5 | Rudy Von Berg | USA | 00:50:10 | 04:22:51 | 02:44:54 | 08:03:02 | 3,735 |
| 6 | Frederic Funk | GER | 00:51:27 | 04:27:53 | 02:39:00 | 08:04:29 | 3,648 |
| 7 | Cameron Wurf | AUS | 00:55:22 | 04:17:59 | 02:49:21 | 08:07:24 | 3,473 |
| 8 | Trevor Foley | USA | 00:55:21 | 04:14:06 | 02:55:34 | 08:09:52 | 3,325 |
| 9 | Dominik Sowieja | GER | 00:55:23 | 04:30:14 | 02:43:21 | 08:14:30 | 3,047 |
| 10 | Kristian Høgenhaug | DEN | 00:53:28 | 04:23:33 | 02:53:42 | 08:16:21 | 2,936 |
Men’s Pro Series standings
| Position | Athlete | Nationality | Total points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kristian Blummenfelt | NOR | 14,142 |
| 2 | Marten Van Riel | BEL | 12,408 |
| 3 | Rudy Von Berg | USA | 12,278 |
| 4 | Casper Stornes | NOR | 12,244 |
| 5 | Ben Kanute | USA | 12,168 |
| 6 | Gustav Iden | NOR | 11,417 |
| 6 | Kieran Lindars | GBR | 11,417 |
| 8 | Trevor Foley | USA | 10,825 |
| 9 | Matt Hanson | USA | 10,813 |
| 10 | Kacper Stepniak | POL | 10,703 |
