Triathlon world sends supportive messages as Gustav Iden mourns the loss of his mother
Kona champion mourns the loss of his mother
Photo by:
Kevin Mackinnon
In a touching tribute to his mother, Norwegian Ironman World Champion Gustav Iden announced that his mother had passed away yesterday after a two-year battle with cancer.
“Life is unfair, but I am one of the luckiest,” he wrote on social media. “I was born to the best parents, in the best country, in the best time to be alive. Even when my mother was diagnosed with cancer two years ago I felt somehow lucky. Lucky because I have had the opportunity to truly love someone enough to feel as sad as I did. Today my mothers luck ran out. Our family was gathered around her as she peacefully passed away after a long, long battle against the cancer.”
Iden said that it’s been challenging to “live a high performance life and race around the world when the hardest battles have been fought at home.”
“For now I’ll take some time off with the family,” he wrote. “Don’t know when I will be back. Elsker deg, Mamma.”
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On Instagram athletes from around the world, including many of his competitors, have responded to Iden’s post. One of the first was Lionel Sanders, who was coached by Iden’s brother, Mikal.
“Thinking of you all and sending our prayers,” Sanders wrote. “What a what wonderful woman she was.”
Others who commented almost instantly included Iden’s training partner Kristian Blummenfelt, Kona runner-up Sam Laidlow, Patrick Lange and Canadian Paula Findlay.
“All my prayers are with you and your family…life is not fair, it is an accumulation of challenges where we win and lose until we reach the finish line,” wrote Dan Lorang, who coaches Jan Frodeno, Lucy Charles-Barclay and Anne Haug. “This race we can’t win, we just can get the best out of us and be the best version of ourselves. I guess you mother was exactly this person for you and for everybody in your family. You are one example for that she did a lot of things right in life. She can be really proud of you! Take care and all the time that you need, a big community is feeling with you.”
