PTO World Ranked #1 Kristian Blummenfelt will start his 2023 season with perhaps one of the most highly-anticipated races of his career this weekend at the PTO Tour European Open.
The 29 year old Norwegian, who will face off against Alistair Brownlee, Jan Frodeno and a host of other names, will remarkably be looking for his first ever PTO Tour Open win in Ibiza.
Ahead of the race on Saturday, he shared his thoughts on how the race might pan out, where he thinks he can win and why he is relishing his first opportunity to race Frodeno.
“You can easily be afraid of the task”
Looking ahead to this weekend, Blummenfelt was honest in his evaluation of the situation he found himself in, admitting that the prospect of taking on Brownlee and Frodeno could easily become a daunting one.
“This weekend is going to be a massive field, especially with Alistair in the field and Jan. Of course, you can easily be afraid of the big task that I am going to face, but actually I am more excited to have the opportunity.”
The reigning Olympic Champion added that despite Jan’s longevity and Blummenfelt’s experience in the sport, the pair have never actually raced each other and this is one thing in particular that the Norwegian is relishing.
“Every time you have the best guys on the start line, it makes the stakes higher and the prestige higher. This will be the first time I’ve raced Jan and that the three of us will race together.
“There probably won’t be many more opportunities where we will race so of course I want to come out on the top of the podium in a battle likes this.”
Starting off on the front foot
Talking tactics, Blummenfelt recognises the danger of allowing a large gap to grow between himself and Brownlee and Frodeno out of the water, with this scenario something the Norwegian is keen to avoid.
““I think both Alistair and Jan are looking forward to a scenario where they are having maybe a minute on me coming out of the water.
“I would obviously like to avoid that and get in the first pack and have control early on, because if not there aren’t too many guys who can pull that group back together from behind, so if I’m isolated I will have to do quite a lot of work to catch up.”
If Frodeno and Brownlee are within striking distance coming out of the water, however, Blummenfelt shared that he would be happy to sit in the pack and let his legs do the talking on the run.
“On the bike, I have no pressure to pull the train around, because I think I have the strongest run legs in the field, so for me, if I get on the bike, then I can control it from there.
“That’s what I tried to do in Edmonton last year but Gustav was just drilling the pace and that’s where I was really suffering with when it came to the run.
“Hopefully I will be able to get through the swim and the bike in a position where I can run it home.”
