Men’s preview: Kona rookie Kristian Blummenfelt arrives as top seed

The last time the world’s best long-distance triathletes were all on the Big Island to compete at the Ironman World Championship was 2019, and there have been a lot of changes in the triathlon world since that time. Most notably, for triathlon fans, has been the rise of Norway’s Kristian Blummenfelt to the top of the triathlon ranks – at pretty much every distance. The reigning Olympic gold medalist (and World Triathlon Series world champion) stunned the world with a record-setting Ironman debut in Cozumel, then continued on his dominating streak with a big win at the Ironman World Championship in St. George, and a 6:44:25 clocking at the Sub7 project about a month later.

Even though he’s a world champion, Blummenfelt is still a Kona “rookie” – this will be his first appearance at the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii. The Norwegian will race with Bib #1, arriving as the men’s favourite. That goes up against years of tradition at this event. For the men, the winner of the race almost always finished on the podium the previous year. The times that didn’t happen over the last quarter century, the winner had taken the Kona title before.

All of which tells you that experience plays a huge role in the outcome of the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii.

Does that mean Blummenfelt shouldn’t be considered the favourite? Hardly. He has dominated races over the last two years at every distance, in every conceivable weather conditions. That said, he’ll be facing a tough field of Kona vets and up and coming stars on the Big Island on Oct. 8.

Canada’s own Lionel Sanders is amongst that group. Second in Kona in 2017 he has enjoyed success at this event, but far more often he’s struggled. Will he continue his impressive run of racing from the last year that included a second-place finish in St. George? Or was his disappointing race in Dallas at the PTO US Open a sign that this might not be his year for another big day?

The man most expect to compete with Blummenfelt for the title in Kona is his countryman and training partner Gustav Iden. The two-time 70.3 world champion also won his Ironman debut, running away from Sanders over the final 10 km to win Ironman Florida. Look for him to mark all the moves his training partner makes on race day.

One man who continues to be under the radar of many triathlon fans (and absolutely shouldn’t be) is New Zealand’s Braden Currie, who came oh-so-close to earning that runner-up finish in St. George – Sanders outsprinted the Kiwi in the last few hundred metres. One can only imagine how motivated Currie is to move up a spot or two on the podium this year.

Two-time Kona champ Patrick Lange is another to keep an eye on. His cycling has improved dramatically over the last few years, a necessity if he is to utilize his incredible run talent to get him to the front of the race again. This year it just feels like the all around talent of the athletes in this field means that Lange will have to stay within a few minutes of the lead into T2 to be able to take the win.

Related: Kona women’s start list announced

There are certainly lots of other men who can be in the mix for the title if they’re having a good day – Tim O’Donnell appears to be in great form and would dearly love to match his podium finish from 2019, for example. Joe Skipper has been racing up a storm of late, too, and has also done well on the Big Island in year’s past. Can Magnus Ditlev put together a performance like the one he had in Roth earlier this year? If so, he’ll be in the mix into the marathon, too.

The bottom line is that this will be an exciting day of racing in Kona. Yes, it always is, but seldom have we come into Kona with so many interesting possibilities for a men’s champion. Let the fun begin.

We arrive on the Big Island tomorrow – stay tuned for lots more coverage from Hawaii.

BIB	LAST	FIRST	COUNTRY
M1	Blummenfelt	Kristian	NOR
M2	Sanders	Lionel	CAN
M3	Currie	Braden	NZL
M4	Leiferman	Chris	USA
M5	Angert	Florian	DEU
M6	Lange	Patrick	DEU
M7	Kienle	Sebastian	DEU
M8	Iden	Gustav	NOR
M9	O’Donnell	Tim	USA
M10	Hoffman	Ben	USA
M11	Wurf	Cameron	AUS
M12	Chevalier	Leon	FRA
M14	Bakkegard	Daniel	DNK
M15	Laidlow	Sam	FRA
M16	McNamee	David	GBR
M17	Skipper	Joe	GBR
M19	Von Berg	Rudy	USA
M20	Hanson	Matthew	USA
M21	Chevrot	Denis	FRA
M22	Colucci	Reinaldo	BRA
M23	Neumann	Max	AUS
M25	Chartier	Collin	USA
M26	Buckingham	Kyle	ZAF
M27	Van Berkel	Tim	AUS
M28	Kastelein	Nick	AUS
M29	Van Berkel	Jan	CHE
M30	Vandendriessche	Kenneth	BEL
M31	Tutukin	Ivan	KAZ
M32	Ditlev	Magnus	DNK
M33	Weiss	Bradley	ZAF
M34	Smith	Kyle	NZL
M35	Heemeryck	Pieter	BEL
M36	Hogenhaug	Kristian	DNK
M37	Appleton	Sam	AUS
M38	Mignon	Clement	FRA
M39	Svensson	Jesper	SWE
M40	Lopes	Andre	BRA
M41	Trautman	Matt	ZAF
M42	Wilkowiecki	Robert	POL
M43	Kallin	Robert	SWE
M44	Petersen	Mathias	DNK
M45	Weiss	Michael	AUT
M47	Taccone	Luciano	ARG
M48	Guilloux	Arnaud	FRA
M49	Amberger	Josh	AUS
M50	Clavel	Maurice	DEU
M51	Amorelli	Igor	BRA
M52	Goesch	Henrik	FIN
M53	Dreitz	Andreas	DEU
M54	Burton	Matt	AUS
M55	Plese	David	SVN