Gustav Iden managed to outrun Alistair Brownlee to take the Ironman 70.3 World Championship title in Nice.
After the women competed on Saturday, Sunday was reserved for the men in Nice for the Ironman 70.3 World Championship. The stacked pro men’s field put on quite a show as Norway’s Gustav Iden pulled away from two-time Olympic gold medalist Alistair Brownlee to claim the world title.
After 16 men came out of the water in a huge lead pack, it was Brownlee who broke things up as the men started the long climb up the Col de Vence. Eventually Iden and Rodolphe Von Berg would bridge up to the Brit, with Von Berg flying down the technical descent to pull the group well clear and turn the race into a three-man battle for the win.
Iden proved to be the strongest of the bunch, posting a 1:08 half-marathon to run his way to the world title – a nice double after his fourth-place finish at the ITU WTS Grand Final last weekend in Lausanne.
Canada’s had two professional entries to the race. Ironman 70.3 Mont-Tremblant winner, Jackson Laundry, unfortunately crashed and broke his scapula, clavicle, and glenoid process of the shoulder and did not finish. Jason Pohl, competing in his first 70.3 world championship, finished 44th in 4:39:05.