It was an historic day at the men’s IRONMAN World Championship in Nice on Sunday as Norway completed a clean sweep of the podium.
And not just Norway but the same training group as the less-heralded Casper Stornes led home Gustav Iden and Kristian Blummenfelt, meaning that all three are now IMWC winners.
We’ll give a quick recap of how the races played out for each of the top five finishers, who pretty much had it between them from early on the run.
We then list all 40 who completed the course, along with their swim, bike and run times. There were 53 starters in total and the 13 DNFs are underneath the full results table.
Top five race reports
1st – Casper Stornes: The only one of the top three to make the front swim pack, though he missed out on the bike break. He then worked his way towards the front of the race alongside Blummenfelt and Iden. However he lost time at T2 which made it hard work for him in the first 5km of the run and when his training partners kicked before the halfway point he was content to let them go and stick to his own pace. That proved a masterstroke and he eased to the front on the third of four loops before going clear and was never threatened in the closing stages. Incredibly impressive.
2nd – Gustav Iden: The signs had been promising beforehand and all triathlon fans will have loved seeing the 2022 Kona champion back to very close to his best. He was a couple of minutes back in the swim alongside two other former champions in Lange and Laidlow. But he joined forces with uber-biker Ditlev to work his way steadily towards the front of the race. When Blummenfelt and Laidlow bridged to leader Van Riel, Gustav was content to rely on his descending skills and by T2 he was right in the mix as just 20 seconds separated the first six. He looked incredibly smooth early on the run but just lost ground on a couple of occasions before getting the better of Blummenfelt for second.
3rd – Kristian Blummenfelt: Tactically he looked to have played this perfectly. Less than a minute back after the swim, he was patient on the bike but then went with Laidlow in the second half to collar the three up front. He was again content to bide his time in the early stages of the run at which point he looked all over the favourite and ready to pounce. But in what was an absorbing battle between the three Norwegians, he was the one who suffered most. He had no answer when Stornes surged clear and then cramp late on prevented him from challenging Iden for the runner-up spot.
4th – Marten Van Riel:– There most have been a few ‘what if’ thoughts for the popular Belgian but this was an outstanding display at his first IMWC. An ankle injury had put his participation in doubt for much of the previous few months but he animated the race brilliantly, first on the swim and then on the bike. He was the last of the three leaders to be caught and then despite limited run training he was still able to clock a 2:40 marathon to get the better of Laidlow for fourth place. Surely a winner of this race in the future, underlined by that select company in the top five.
5th – Sam Laidlow: All of the top five deserve massive credit, not least Laidlow who could easily have thrown in the towel after he cramped up during the swim in both hip flexors. He lost more ground early on the bike which meant he had more than three minutes to make up on the front of the race but he then went from 29th position to fourth before the halfway point! Some matches had to be burned to get him back in contention but he was tactically astute for the rest of the race and was in a line of five at the front early on the run. He had no answer to the Norwegians this time as he and Van Riel battled it out for fourth and fifth, well clear of the rest.
Full finishing order
The full finishing order for Nice on Sunday September 14 was as follows:
| Position | Athlete | Swim | Bike | Run | Overall time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Casper Stornes (NOR) | 0:45:21 | 4:31:26 | 2:29:25 | 7:51:39 |
| 2 | Gustav Iden (NOR) | 0:47:14 | 4:30:17 | 2:32:15 | 7:54:13 |
| 3 | Kristian Blummenfelt (NOR) | 0:46:08 | 4:31:20 | 2:34:38 | 7:56:36 |
| 4 | Marten Van Riel (BEL) | 0:45:17 | 4:31:48 | 2:40:46 | 8:02:18 |
| 5 | Sam Laidlow (FRA) | 0:47:11 | 4:29:29 | 2:42:23 | 8:03:55 |
| 6 | Jonas Schomburg (GER) | 0:45:12 | 4:40:27 | 2:36:49 | 8:07:04 |
| 7 | Nick Thompson (AUS) | 0:46:16 | 4:30:40 | 2:48:21 | 8:10:32 |
| 8 | Matthew Marquardt (USA) | 0:46:11 | 4:39:39 | 2:40:24 | 8:11:34 |
| 9 | Patrick Lange (GER) | 0:47:11 | 4:50:38 | 2:31:33 | 8:14:13 |
| 10 | Jamie Riddle (RSA) | 0:45:15 | 4:37:21 | 2:47:35 | 8:15:00 |
| 11 | Nathan Guerbeur (FRA) | 0:47:18 | 4:42:28 | 2:41:31 | 8:15:53 |
| 12 | Kristian Høgenhaug (DEN) | 0:47:06 | 4:41:55 | 2:42:30 | 8:16:30 |
| 13 | Rudy Von Berg (USA) | 0:46:04 | 4:42:35 | 2:43:53 | 8:17:10 |
| 14 | Sam Long (USA) | 0:51:26 | 4:42:13 | 2:39:54 | 8:18:00 |
| 15 | Kacper Stepniak (POL) | 0:46:02 | 4:49:21 | 2:40:33 | 8:20:46 |
| 16 | Finn Große-Freese (GER) | 0:45:17 | 4:49:45 | 2:41:10 | 8:21:08 |
| 17 | Henrik Goesch (FIN) | 0:47:16 | 4:49:10 | 2:39:50 | 8:21:17 |
| 18 | Jonas Hoffmann (GER) | 0:47:11 | 4:48:21 | 2:40:48 | 8:21:21 |
| 19 | Dylan Magnien (FRA) | 0:46:15 | 4:49:29 | 2:41:18 | 8:22:02 |
| 20 | Jon Saeveras Breivold (NOR) | 0:56:28 | 4:39:51 | 2:42:17 | 8:24:00 |
| 21 | Cameron Wurf (AUS) | 0:51:23 | 4:39:14 | 2:49:00 | 8:24:07 |
| 22 | Jordi Montraveta Moya (ESP) | 0:51:29 | 4:45:05 | 2:43:16 | 8:24:46 |
| 23 | Wilhelm Hirsch (GER) | 0:45:19 | 4:49:48 | 2:49:06 | 8:28:51 |
| 24 | Jan Stratmann (GER) | 0:45:18 | 4:46:20 | 2:55:01 | 8:31:11 |
| 25 | Leon Chevalier (FRA) | 0:51:25 | 4:42:09 | 2:53:18 | 8:31:29 |
| 26 | Joe Skipper (GBR) | 0:52:00 | 4:46:38 | 2:49:31 | 8:33:25 |
| 27 | Dario Giovine (ITA) | 0:51:27 | 4:55:35 | 2:41:10 | 8:34:36 |
| 28 | Filipe Azevedo (POR) | 0:46:21 | 4:52:03 | 2:51:07 | 8:35:21 |
| 29 | Benjamin Zorgnotti (TAH) | 0:47:11 | 4:55:27 | 2:49:37 | 8:37:04 |
| 30 | Dominik Sowieja (GER) | 0:51:20 | 4:48:26 | 2:53:16 | 8:38:33 |
| 31 | Matt Hanson (USA) | 0:51:26 | 5:08:20 | 2:34:49 | 8:39:33 |
| 32 | Kristian Grue (NOR) | 0:51:23 | 4:48:20 | 2:56:02 | 8:40:35 |
| 33 | Fernando Toldi (BRZ) | 0:47:16 | 4:51:22 | 2:58:31 | 8:42:13 |
| 34 | Paul Schuster (GER) | 0:46:14 | 4:46:35 | 3:05:26 | 8:42:58 |
| 35 | Bart Aernouts (BEL) | 0:56:31 | 4:54:02 | 2:49:59 | 8:45:29 |
| 36 | Chris Leiferman (USA) | 0:51:16 | 4:55:05 | 2:55:05 | 8:47:07 |
| 37 | Andrea Salvisberg (SUI) | 0:45:11 | 5:05:29 | 2:52:13 | 8:48:42 |
| 38 | Jack Moody (NZL) | 0:51:25 | 5:06:15 | 2:47:45 | 8:50:32 |
| 39 | Andre Lopes (BRZ) | 0:46:16 | 5:01:13 | 3:02:05 | 8:55:14 |
| 40 | Harry Palmer (GBR) | 0:47:09 | 4:49:36 | 3:19:41 | 9:01:23 |
DNFs
There were 53 starters and the 13 who didn’t finish were as follows:
Sven Thalmann (SUI), Magnus Ditlev (DEN), Mathias Lyngsø Petersen (DEN), Ben Hill (AUS), Federico Scarabino (URY), Antonio Benito Lopez (ESP), Luciano Taccone (ARG), Kieran Lindars (GBR), Mattia Ceccarelli (ITA), Zachary Cooper (GBR), Jason West (USA), Daniel Bækkegård (DEN) and Bradley Weiss (RSA).
Magnus Ditlev, third in 2023 and second last year, was the highest profile of those names.
And he explained what happened on his Instagram feed, saying: “My first Ironman DNF ❌
“Unfortunately, I’ve been sick all week leading into this race. I did everything I could to recover and show up ready, but the body just wasn’t cooperating today and after 2,5 h on the bike the lights went out.
“I gave it a go, tried to honour the race and my fellow competitors, but around halfway through the marathon, my team and I made the decision to make my health the first priority and stop the race.
“I’m really grateful for everyone who supported me this week – your help means the world.”
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