Kristian Blummenfelt has a clear vision of his ideal finish at Saturday’s IRONMAN World Championship: victory in Kona, enough time over his rivals to secure the Pro Series title, and two familiar faces joining him on the podium.

The Norwegian finished third behind Gustav Iden and Sam Laidlow in Hawaii in 2022. This time, he would welcome a reunion – with himself on the top step.

Speaking to TRI247’s Laura Siddall in Kona, Blummenfelt described the finish he hopes to deliver.

“Grab the win running down Palani with a five-minute gap to Marten and Jonas, so I can grab the Pro Series win as well.”

Asked who he hoped would follow him home, his answer was immediate.

“I hope that Gustav is second.

“It would be nice to have Sam up there on the podium too. So we have sort of a reunion of the 2022 podium, but just a different order.

“Even though we’ve had a rivalry with Sam, we still love him.”

Two titles in one afternoon?

Blummenfelt’s reference to Marten Van Riel and Jonas Schomburg reflects the second major contest taking place alongside the World Championship.

Kona is the final counting race of the IRONMAN Pro Series, with a $200,000 bonus awaiting the season-long champion.

Following Casper Stornes’ withdrawal, Van Riel holds the advantage once counting-score adjustments are made. Blummenfelt needs to finish more than 4:08 ahead of the Belgian and more than 54 seconds ahead of Schomburg to move above both, assuming their Kona scores count.

Winning the race with five minutes over each would therefore achieve those targets, with Iden and the wider Series field also needing to be accounted for.

Our full Pro Series permutations guide explains the margins and why winning Kona alone does not guarantee the season-long title.

‘Feeling ready to go’

Blummenfelt arrives encouraged by his preparation since finishing a close second to Hayden Wilde at September’s IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in Nice.

He returned home briefly before travelling to Hawaii, combining time away from racing with heat preparation and specific work for the full distance.

“Life has been good since Nice,” he said.

“I went home for a week, disconnected a little bit, got a lot of heat training in.

“Then we travelled to Hawaii and have now finished two big weekends of training on the course.

“Feeling ready to go and excited.”

That readiness echoes Iden’s assessment of his training partner. In his own interview with Siddall, the 2022 Kona champion described Blummenfelt as having a “calm confidence” and being eager for race day to arrive.

Iden’s shifting confidence

Blummenfelt offered an entertaining insight into how the two Norwegians assess one another during their final preparation.

He had asked Iden to put percentages on a hypothetical race involving only the two of them.

Initially, Iden gave Blummenfelt a slight advantage.

“He said 45–55,” Blummenfelt recalled. “So 55 to me, 45 to him.”

After their first training weekend, Blummenfelt reckoned that assessment had shifted much further in his favour – before Iden’s stronger second weekend changed the picture again.

“I think he dropped from the first weekend with the training to maybe 15–85 to me,” he said.

“Then I think after this Saturday and Sunday maybe he’s back up to 60–40.”

Those numbers concern their private comparison rather than winning probabilities against the entire Kona field. But they offer a glimpse of the competitive dynamic between athletes who train together, know each other’s strengths and could ultimately be fighting for the same title.

Working together – until someone has to attack

That rivalry does not stop Blummenfelt and Iden discussing how they might help one another during the race.

Their approach is to consider different scenarios and the benefits of sharing work, while recognising that cooperation has a limit.

“We talk about different scenarios because we do think that it helps to work with each other for as long as possible,” Blummenfelt explained.

“But of course we both also know that at one point someone needs to start doing something in order to win and not get second or third.”

He cited last year’s World Championship in Nice, where the contest eventually became decisive on the run.

“Unfortunately, I was the one failing there,” he said.

The discussions continue right up to race day, including how effort might be shared in different wind conditions on the bike.

Blummenfelt’s message was pointed: riders unwilling to contribute into a headwind could find themselves under pressure when the wind direction becomes more favourable.

For the Norwegians, the aim is to reach the decisive stages in contention. From there, friendship and familiarity will not remove the need to beat each other.

Riddle and Keulen among his dark horses

Stornes’ absence ends the prospect of repeating last year’s Norwegian podium sweep. Asked who might take the vacant place, Blummenfelt named two less obvious contenders.

The first was South Africa’s Jamie Riddle, who finished tenth in Nice last year and is making his Kona debut.

“I would be a little bit surprised because of the heat,” Blummenfelt said.

“But I think he’s having a lot of respect for the heat, so I think he could be a very dark horse for the podium.”

He also highlighted Youri Keulen, pointing to the Dutch athlete’s previous success in hot conditions in Singapore when he won a T100 race.

“People don’t really talk about him, but he did a super-good race in Singapore in the heat,” he said.

Blummenfelt had also spotted training pictures which appeared to show Keulen running ahead of Van Riel – although he quickly acknowledged the dangers of interpreting too much from social media.

“It might have been nothing,” he said, suggesting Keulen could simply have rested before joining the session – essentially adding don’t believe everything you see, but read into everything.

Could another course record fall?

Blummenfelt also believes the pace of progress in long-distance racing could produce another fast day in Hawaii, provided the conditions cooperate.

“You need to have the right conditions on the bike in order to go fast in terms of the overall record,” he said.

“But I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s another course record being broken.”

Asked why records have been falling so frequently, he acknowledged equipment improvements but placed greater emphasis on nutrition.

“Equipment, obviously, but mostly nutrition,” he explained.

His argument extends beyond what athletes consume during the race itself. After an initial move towards higher carbohydrate intake in competition, he believes more effective fuelling in training is delivering further gains.

“They are maximising nutrition in training in order to get more training effects, recovering quicker so they can do a bigger load of training,” he said.

“That’s also leading to better performances.”

On Saturday, Blummenfelt hopes that preparation translates into the performance he has pictured: a winning descent of Palani, a decisive gap to his Series rivals and a familiar podium in a different order.