Marten Van Riel has shared an honest account of his difficult IRONMAN World Championship debut in Kona, admitting he initially felt “embarrassed” when he crossed the finish line.

The Belgian had been prominent from the start, leading the men out of the water and riding among the contenders during the first half of the bike.

But sickness derailed his challenge, with on-course reporter Sam Appleton reporting that Van Riel was vomiting as the riders approached the climb towards Hawi.

In an Instagram post afterwards, Van Riel explained how that struggle shaped the rest of his day – and why his feelings about finishing changed once the immediate emotions had settled.

‘Battling my inner demons’

“All the emotions today during IRONMAN World Champs,” he wrote.

“Felt sick on the bike and wasn’t able to keep any nutrition down. Completely dehydrated, the marathon became a very long walk-run battling my inner demons.

“I thought finishing the race would make me leave with my head held high, but to be truthful, coming across the line I felt embarrassed and couldn’t hold my head up.”

For an athlete who had arrived with ambitions of challenging the leading contenders, accepting the outcome was difficult.

“Embarrassed because I believe I can do so much more, and because it’s hard to accept that sometimes things just don’t go your way.”

Pride beyond the result

With time to reflect, however, Van Riel found a different perspective on what he had managed to do.

“After letting the emotions settle, I realise that there is more to this sport than the result you get on a given day,” he continued.

“It’s easy to be proud when things go well, it’s a lot harder when they don’t.

“I showed up, and gave it my best shot; so today I am proud of finishing.”

His words offered another perspective on a championship dominated by extraordinary changes of fortune at the front of both races: for some of the sport’s biggest names, the day became a battle to reach the finish rather than compete for the podium.

A break before rebuilding for 2027

Van Riel’s preparation had also been complicated by illness.

Before Kona, he acknowledged that racing the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in Nice while below full fitness had left him having “dug himself into a hole”. Although he felt things were moving in the right direction after a difficult opening few days in Hawaii, his championship ultimately brought another setback.

Now his immediate priority is recovery, before examining why the closing part of his season proved so different from its promising start.

“Right now I need a break,” he wrote.

“Then I’ll take the lessons I learned this season, figure out what went wrong in the championships after such a great start to my racing year, and come back more hungry for 2027.”