Kristian Blummenfelt produced an incredible running performance to blow his big-name rivals away and come out on top in a titanic tussle between three of triathlon’s great champions.
The Norwegian laid down a marker for the season to come as he reeled in both Jelle Geens (BEL) and Hayden Wilde (NZL) in a thrilling run, having looked well off the pace at points during the bike section.
T100 Triathlon World Tour champion Wilde and 70.3 World Champion Geens simply had no answer to the sheer – almost frightening – pace of Blummenfelt as he hunted them down and powered past each of them in turn to take a quite incredible win.
Wilde, only racing in Geelong because the short-course WTCS in Abu Dhabi had been postponed due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, was clearly not at his best in terms of fitness and will no doubt be a different proposition once he steps up his training for the middle distance.
As for Blummenfelt, this win was a clear message to athletes around the world that he means business this season, and it is going to take something very special to beat him when he is on form.
Here’s how the race played out…
Swim – Thorpe and Le Corre make headway
Specialist swimmer Trent Thorpe unsurprisingly set the early pace as he made the most of ideal conditions in Corio Bay to open up a handy gap on the remainder of the field.
Only Frenchman Pierre Le Corre was able to stick with him as the pair stretched out a gap of just under a minute on the chasing pack – a group which included the big three of Wilde, Geens and Blummenfelt.
Such was the pace of Thorpe that there was initially hope of a new course swim record, but he exited the water in 21:21, slightly slower than Aussie Sam Appleton’s current best of 20:46, which he set back in 2020.
Kurt McDonald (AUS) was third out of the water, 49 seconds behind the leader, as he headed a chasing pack of nine athletes – Josh Ferris (AUS), Tristan Price (AUS), Florin Parfuss (SUI), Geens, Jake Birtwhistle (AUS), Jack Sosinski (AUS), and Blummenfelt – all entering transition together.
Wilde entered T1 in tenth but was so quick to remove his swimsuit in a wonderfully executed transition of just 2:09 that he started the bike section in fifth and was only 34 seconds behind Thorpe.
Geens also transitioned in 2:09 to climb from seventh to third as the big names started to close on the leader. Blummenfelt joined the bike leg in eighth, already needing to find some time on his two main rivals.
Bike – Wilde shows his class in the saddle
Regular viewers of last season’s T100 Triathlon World Tour will know all about the strength that Wilde has on the bike, and the Kiwi was quick to show his power on the pedals as he set about taking the lead.
The early-morning fog made for some poor visibility early on, but it was clear to see the leading pack of six riders break away, with Geens, Ferris, Birtwhistle, McDonald and Blummenfelt all behind the Kiwi and within 20 seconds of each other.
Thorpe and Le Corre, leaders out of the swim, fell off the pace very quickly, slipping back down the field and eventually pulling out of the race altogether, as both recorded a DNF with around 50km of the bike section remaining.
Wilde and Geens started to set the pace and were initially content to take turns at the front, while the rest of the pack settled in behind, although Blummenfelt did look to be struggling as he seemingly clung on to stay in sixth place.
It wasn’t the Norwegian who was the first to drop out of the pack, however, as the stunning pace clearly became too much for Ferris, and he slipped back, allowing Big Blu to move up into fifth.
The front five remained the same through to the end of the bike leg, with Wilde deciding he was no longer willing to swap the lead with Geens, and he broke away. Indeed, not even a broken cleat could slow him up as he entered T2 with a Geelong bike course record of 1:56:03.
Geens entered transition 57 seconds behind, Birtwhistle was 1:02 back, and Blummenfelt handily placed at just 1:33 behind the leader, having made some ground in the latter stages of the section.
Run – Big Blu powers his way to incredible win
As one of the commentators on the official IRONMAN coverage said: “It looks like Blummenfelt is sprinting, while the others are just running.”
And nothing could have explained what was playing out in front of our eyes any better.
Blummenfelt exited T2 more than a minute and a half behind Wilde and nearly a minute back from Geens, but the incredible Norwegian was quickly into his stride and eating up the ground with every one of his giant strides.
With 15km remaining, we finally got the top three that we were expecting, as Wilde led from Geens (+36), and Blummenfelt (+54) had moved ahead of Birtwhistle into third.
As they approached the final 10km mark, Blummenfelt’s lightning pace had seen him not only overhaul Geens but also catch Wilde – for a short while, the duo battled shoulder-to-shoulder until the Kiwi relented, as he simply could not maintain the speed of his rival.
Blummenfelt’s average pace at this point was 3:05 min/km, compared to 3:14 for Wilde and 3:10 for Geens.
The only question now was whether Blummenfelt could maintain it through the final few kilometres or whether Geens, in particular, could creep up on him and steal the win… it was a question that was answered emphatically.
With every stride, Blummenfelt looked more and more in control as his two rivals had no answer to his incredible running power.
At one point, he had looked on course for a world record time and to become the first athlete ever to run in under 1:06:00, but he eventually crossed – having slowed to take the plaudits of the crowd – in a mightily impressive 1:06:39.
Geens then followed him with a 1:08:30, and Wilde came in third with 1:09:44.
Three titans of triathlon had delivered an incredible race, and with all three now qualified for the 70.3 World Championships later this year, it has only served to whet the appetite for more of the same when they meet again.
IRONMAN 70.3 Geelong men’s results
| Position | Athlete | Swim | Bike | Run | Overall | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kristian Blummenfelt | 00:22:18 | 01:57:29 | 01:06:39 | 03:30:25 | 2500 |
| 2 | Jelle Geens | 00:22:13 | 01:57:03 | 01:08:30 | 03:31:24 | 2441 |
| 3 | Hayden Wilde | 00:22:15 | 01:56:03 | 01:09:04 | 03:31:51 | 2413 |
| 4 | Jake Birtwhistle | 00:22:13 | 01:57:02 | 01:11:17 | 03:34:29 | 2256 |
| 5 | Kurt McDonald | 00:22:11 | 01:57:37 | 01:14:32 | 03:38:19 | 2026 |
| 6 | Josh Ferris | 00:22:11 | 02:01:14 | 01:13:28 | 03:40:53 | 1872 |
| 7 | Jarrod Osborne | 00:23:13 | 02:04:47 | 01:09:17 | 03:41:35 | 1830 |
| 8 | Ben Hill | 00:24:38 | 01:59:41 | 01:16:07 | 03:44:46 | 1639 |
| 9 | Tristan Price | 00:22:12 | 02:05:51 | 01:13:46 | 03:45:52 | 1573 |
| 10 | Mitchell Kibby | 00:23:09 | 02:03:26 | 01:16:48 | 03:47:32 | 1473 |
