Norwegian superstars Kristian Blummenfelt and Gustav Iden have confirmed they will go all in on the IRONMAN Pro Series in 2025.
Blummenfelt’s main initial aim this year was the Paris 2024 Olympics, but he then won in superb fashion on his full-distance return at IRONMAN Frankfurt only to suffer at Kona when battled hard to finish the IRONMAN World Championship in 35th place.
Iden too had a tough time in Hawaii, with a DNF on the run, but the pair each have an IMWC title to their name and have also won three of the last four IRONMAN 70.3 World Championships.
They’ve also excelled in PTO races in recent years – Iden leading a one-two at the Canadian Open in 2022, while Blummenfelt won the Singapore Open last year en route to topping the PTO world rankings for a second season in a row.
So there had been speculation that they could be involved in the T100 next season but that now appears to be off the agenda, bar the odd wildcard.
It’s a potential blow for T100 who have lost another of their biggest draws on the men’s side for 2025 with this week’s news that double Olympic champion Alistair Brownlee, third in the T100 Grand Final in Dubai last week, has now retired.
But it underlines that there will likely be much more of a clear split in terms of which series the top athletes race rather than trying to combine both – as the likes of Kat Matthews and Magnus Ditlev have done to great effect in 2024.
2025 plans revealed
Blummenfelt and Iden’s coach Olav Aleksander Bu told us recently that both are aiming for the IRONMAN Pro Series – and the men’s IRONMAN World Championship which will be held in Nice in 2025.
He said: “Gustav and Christian have already said that for them the IRONMAN Pro series is something they are going to target next year, that’s the goal.”
And on the latest Santara Tech podcast, which is embedded below, the duo provided some more details on that when asked about race plans.
“Oceanside, Texas, Frankfurt, Nice and 70.3 World Champs maybe,” was Kristian’s answer.
That would tick the current criteria for the Pro Series perfectly, with Texas, Frankfurt and Nice all full-distance races.
“I’m leaning the same way,” added Gustav. “It wouldn’t make sense to do different ones. If we’re doing the same training camps then it would be very hard to make the Pro Series fit any other way.”
Both men were quick to point out that the format of the Pro Series should suit well too as the points are determined by time behind the winner rather than finishing positions so going head-to-head wouldn’t hurt either of their chances. Gustav explained: “The Pro Series is every second counts, it’s not like every place counts.
“If both of us are in shape then we enjoy turning up at the same races,” added Kristian – so get the popcorn ready for some more fantastic Norwegian battles in 2025.
Still room for T100 appearances?
And when asked specifically about the T100, Iden revealed: “I haven’t heard anything about a contract so I guess it’s not going to be an exciting one anyway.
“In that case it will be wildcards for some races but with three full-distance IRONMANs it’s not going to be that easy to fit it into the schedule. But the competitiveness there is very high so I definitely wouldn’t say no to a wildcard either.”
And Kristian articulated what many others are thinking as they plan their 2025 campaigns: “I think if they’re going to have eight to 10 races [in the T100] then they’re going to push you to do eight to 10 races. So if you’re on a contract it will be difficult to do a proper build-up for Nice.”
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