When it comes to reaching the top in triathlon, Mark Allen has been there and done that. So when the six-time IRONMAN World Champion speaks, you listen.
And when it comes to the latest big star of the sport, he has spoken.
Allen penned a heartfelt message to Norway’s Kristian Blummenfelt this week after the former World and Olympic champion shot to the top of the IRONMAN Pro Series standings by winning IRONMAN Frankfurt.
“Rise from the ashes”
Paying tribute on linkedIn, Allen posted: “Dear Kristian, Great champions have something they all share. It’s kind of a selective deafness.
“Where others bend under the weight of unmet expectations, and what seems at the time like an impossible rise from the ashes, great champions only hear the sometimes quiet confidence that allows them to tune everything but the process out.
“Injury? Revisit the process. Bad result? Revisit the process. Great champions don’t doubt that they’ll get back, comeback and stay back. Great race. Great champion, and great person. Proud to have you take your place at the top of our sport.”
Big Blu was on top of the world when he won gold at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and then followed that up by being crowned IRONMAN World Champ two years later and winning the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championships as well.
Series of setbacks
But the 31-year-old is showing the heart of a champion this year after a series of setbacks in 2024.
A disappointing 12th-placed finish at the Paris Olympics was followed by the crushing blow of a nightmare IRONMAN World Championship in which his chances ended when he projectile vomited on the bike leg.
This year though he has been virtually unstoppable, storming to wins at IRONMAN Texas, 70.3 Aix-en-Provence and IRONMAN Frankfurt, and he has clearly won Allen’s seal of approval for such a remarkable turnaround.
In fact his only blip came at Ironman 70.3 Oceanside when any chance of winning disappeared after he suffered a flat tyre while leading on the bike – and he still managed to make up an incredible 40 places with a quite stunning 1:07:19 finishing half-marathon.
Blummenfelt is quite simply in terrifying form this year and is clearly the one all his rivals are watching, with Oceanside victor Lionel Sanders saying he is “certainly a contender for the world title.’ Right now it’s hard to argue with him!
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