Can anyone touch Norwegian powerhouses Gustav Iden and Kristian Blummenfelt at the Ironman 70.3 World Championship?

Fresh off a win and third-place finish in Kona, Norway’s Gustav Iden (pictured above) the men’s 70.3 worlds defending champion, and Kristian Blummenfelt, who won the Ironman World Championship St. George, are seen as the prohibitive men’s favourites for next week’s Ironman 70.3 World Championship in St. George. Canadian hopes will rest on the shoulders of Jackson Laundry, who finished fifth at last year’s 70.3 world championship in Utah.

Iden is after his third straight Ironman 70.3 World Championship title after winning in Nice in 2019 and then last year’s race in St. George. Blummenfelt took fourth in Nice, a week after a big win at the World Triathlon Grand Final in Lausanne, and was 26th at last year’s race after technical issues on the bike.

The two Norwegians, under the guidance of their coach Olav Aleksander Bu, have changed the face of long distance racing over the last year. After winning the Olympic gold medal in Tokyo, Blummenfelt went on to win the World Triathlon world championship title, then set a new Ironman record (7:21:12) in winning Ironman Cozumel for his debut full-distance event. He would go on to win the world championship in St. George last May, “win” the Sub7 project in 6:44, post the day’s fastest time at the Collins Cup and finish third in Kona a few weeks ago.

Iden’s performances have been equally impressive. After winning his second 70.3 world title, he blasted to a course-record performance in winning Ironman Florida last November. Unfortunately he had to pull out of the world championship in St. George due to sickness, but bounced back with a big win at the Challenge Championship, then captured the PTO Canadian Open title in Edmonton.

Next weekend all eyes will be on the two Norwegians to see if they can dominate the race in St. George, despite having both raced in Kona. The pair completed a 40 km run just six days before the race in Kona, so one would imagine that they’ll be able to recover in time to contend for the win in Utah.

Laundry will be one of the many athletes in the field expected to contend for a podium finish. Earlier this year he enjoyed one of the biggest wins of his career when he took Ironman 70.3 Oceanside. The only other pro Canadian man in the field is former Olympian and Ironman record holder Brent McMahon,

Others to watch for in the field include Americans Sam Long, Ben Kanute and Eric Lagerstrom, along with Danes Miki Taagholt and Magnus Ditlev.

Triathlon Magazine will be on hand to cover all the racing in St. George, where the two large pro fields will be joined by about 6,000 age group athletes.

Here’s the full men’s pro list:

BIB	LAST	FIRST	COUNTRY REP
1	Iden	Gustav	NOR
2	Long	Sam	USA
4	Taagholt	Miki	DNK
5	Laundry	Jackson	CAN
6	Kanute	Ben	USA
7	Lagerstrom	Eric	USA
8	Ditlev	Magnus	DNK
10	Azevedo	Filipe	PRT
11	Blummenfelt	Kristian	NOR
15	Von Berg	Rudy	USA
16	Hanson	Matthew	USA
18	Chevrot	Denis	FRA
19	Funk	Frederic	DEU
21	West	Jason	USA
23	Smith	Kyle	NZL
24	Mignon	Clement	FRA
28	Royle	Aaron	AUS
29	Bendix Madsen	Thor	DNK
31	Noodt	Mika	DEU
33	Keulen	Youri	NLD
34	Petersen	Mathias	DNK
35	Stratmann	Jan	DEU
36	Foley	Trevor	USA
37	Mann	Nicolas	DEU
38	Magnien	Dylan	FRA
39	Zepuntke	Ruben	DEU
40	Costes	Antony	FRA
41	McMahon	Brent	CAN
42	Ceccarelli	Mattia	ITA
43	Toldi	Fernando	BRA
44	Viain	Simon	FRA
45	Free	Nicholas	AUS
46	STOJANOVIĆ	Ognjen	SRB
47	Montraveta Moya	Jordi	ESP
48	Ulloa	Martin	CHL
49	Teagle	James	GBR
51	Chase	Nicholas	USA
52	Jarrige	Yvan	FRA
53	Baelde	Sybren	BEL
54	Steenberg	Scott	DNK
55	Horseau	Arthur	FRA
56	Reuter	Fabian	DEU
57	Dubrick	Marc	USA
58	Rodriguez Hernandez	Tomas Andres	MEX
59	Sosinski	Jack	AUS
60	Trewhela	Vicente	CHL
61	Saez	Nicolas	CHL
63	Stornes	Casper	NOR
64	de Keyser	Christophe	BEL