Neither Kristian Blummenfelt nor Gustav Iden, both former winners of the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship, will take part in this year’s race.
Iden triumphed in 2019 and 2021, with Blummenfelt succeeding him in 2022 but the brilliant Norwegian duo have decided to end their seasons early following the IRONMAN World Championship in Kona.
Both endured a difficult time in Hawaii, ‘Big Blu’ battling to the finish in 35th after multiple vomiting episodes on the bike while Iden was a DNF midway through the run, saying: “I really tried my best just to finish, but I had to sit down on the Queen K and never managed to get back up again.”
They each described the race as “brutal” and their results were in stark contrast to their previous heroics in long-distance triathlon’s biggest event – Blummenfelt won the rescheduled 2021 version in St George while Iden set a course record in Kona in late 2022.
They did have the chance to end 2024 on a high at the 70.3 Worlds in Taupo, but have elected not to make the trip to New Zealand and will instead enjoy some downtime before building up to the 2025 campaign.
Reasoning behind the decision
In a wide-ranging interview with TRI247, their ground-breaking coach Olav Aleksander Bu explained: “It was an interesting conversation because I asked does it make sense to even leave Kona – or at least the United States – and fly back to Europe and then travel to New Zealand in that time frame? [Kona took place on 26 October and the 70.3 Worlds are on 14 December].
“It’s 11 hours time difference between Kona and Norway and 12 hours between Norway and New Zealand,” added Bu.
“So basically it is almost the two craziest locations you can race in for a Norwegian and if you really wanted to be 100% ready for the 70.3 Worlds and invest in that then it would make sense to go there after Kona.
“I would say that by going back to Norway, you’d lose too much consistency in the training if you then flew to New Zealand.
“So beforehand they both said no, we’re not going to do New Zealand after Kona – it’s going to be a season break.”
‘Hopefully they are able to relax’
Blummenfelt especially has had an incredible schedule over the last two seasons as he tried to juggle defending his Olympic title in Paris with middle and long-distance ambitions.
Just this summer there were only two weeks between him racing in the Mixed Team Relay at the Olympics and then notching an incredible victory at IRONMAN Frankfurt, where he clocked a 2:32 marathon.
Blummenfelt has enjoyed a break in New York since Kona and when asked about how the downtime has been going for the pair, Bu told us: “We’ll just have to see how long they are able to take off before they have too much energy and want to get out on the road again.
“They’re already starting to put into the conversation things like mountain biking and running a little bit but hopefully they are able to relax!”
They won’t be the only big names missing from Taupo, especially on the men’s side, with a host of other athletes deciding both the long haul nature of the trip and the fact it comes so late in the year means it’s not for them.
Look out in the coming weeks for lots of insights from our in-depth interview with Olav, who has guided the pair to every triathlon title that matters – from Olympic gold to IRONMAN World Championships.
We’ll delve into 2024 reflections and 2025 targets, plus the inside story on his own move into pro cycling and how age groupers can make the most of some of the key tech and training that’s come out of ‘The Norwegian Method’.
Triathlon’s mid-season report card: Tim Don on who’s raising the bar this triathlon race season
