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Iden nails Nice to take Ironman 70.3 World Championship title

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.

Here’s a photo recap of the day’s racing.

The 14th running of the Ironman 70.3 World Championship took place in Nice, France. The women raced on Saturday and the men on Sunday. Just under 3,400 men were in the field for Sunday’s race – about 1,700 women competed on Saturday.
Wearing race number 1 was two-time Ironman 70.3 world champion Javier Gomez.
Two-time Olympic gold medalist and last year’s runner up at the Ironman 70.3 World Championship, Alistair Brownlee.
Two-time defending Ironman world champion Patrick Lange was also part of the stacked men’s field.
A large lead group of 16 swam together …
With Josh Amberger leading the way out of the water.
Brownlee was right on his heels …
With more of the contenders right on their heels.
Two-time Ironman 70.3 world champ Sebastian Kienle trailed by over three minutes after the swim.
After Brownlee pushed the pace through the first climbs on the course, Rudy Von Berg hammered to the front and pulled away on the technical descent.
Brownlee hung tough, though, and managed to catch up to the American by the end of the bike.
Gustav Iden used a road bike in the race and managed to stay with the two leaders heading into T2.
Once out on the run course it quickly became a two-man battle for the win.
Von Berg did his best to stay in touch with the two leaders.
Sebastian Kienle trailed by over six minutes off the bike, but would use the day’s second-fastest run to work his way to fifth.
Javier Gomez didn’t have his usual running legs and would never compete for the podium, eventually finishing seventh.
Iden managed to break clear of Brownlee shortly after the 6 km mark and never looked back.
Brownlee “felt good through the first 5 or 6 km,” but then found himself struggling and had to just try and hold on to second.
Iden used a 1:08 half-marathon split to take the day.
Brownlee would take second for the second year in a row.
Von Berg was thrilled with his third-place finish.
Celebrating a big day of racing at one of the sport’s most historic venues.