Despite missing out on the Paris Olympic Games, Norwegian triathlon star Casper Stornes is not giving up on short course triathlon, and plans to race in Los Angeles in 2028.

The 27-year-old, who rose to prominence after a stunning win at WTCS Bermuda in 2018, is also a dark horse for the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in Taupo at the end of the year.

However, regardless of the opportunities stepping up to the middle distance offers, the recent IRONMAN 70.3 Warsaw winner is committed to continuing to chase the Olympic dream.

Trusting the process

Second behind Tyler Mislawchuk at the Tokyo Olympic Test Event, Stornes went on to finish 11th at the Olympic Games in 2021, but struggled to find his groove in the first half of the Paris Olympic cycle.

A resurgence over the past 12 months put himself in contention for the Norwegian Olympic team this summer, but the selectors instead went with his training partner Vetle Bergsvik Thorn and the reigning champion Kristian Blummenfelt.

Asked about his plans for the future following WTCS Hamburg last weekend, Stornes revealed that he considered stepping away from short course, but ended up deciding to stick with it.

“It’s been a really rough past couple of months. I didn’t know if I wanted to continue with short distance, but after Paris, I got everything in perspective and I’m going for the 2028 Olympics in LA.” 

Step in the right direction

That decision to stick with short course seems to be smart given the Norwegian’s result in Hamburg, with fifth place in Germany his best result on the WTCS circuit since the Tokyo Test Event.

“It was really nice to perform in Hamburg, it’s a really iconic race and I really wanted to perform here. I had an okay start, and then I managed to swim up the field and came out around ten seconds behind and then I caught the front group.

“I knew it would be a run race, as I saw the group behind were catching. I wanted to go a bit harder on the bike, but it is what it is and the groups ended up coming together.

“I had a good transition, managed to run up the leaders and stay there for one and a half laps, before losing them a little and then I just had to fight at the end to finish fifth and I’m really happy with it.”