They Said It: What the Top 3 Men in Marbella Had to Say After a Race for the Ages
Kristian Blummenfelt, Jelle Geens and Casper Stornes. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon
The pro women treated spectators and fans at home to an incredible race on Saturday, with Lucy Charles-Barclay and Taylor Knibb duking it out on the run course just weeks after their battle in Kona. The men followed that show up on Sunday with a similar run battle, although this one went right to the line with Jelle Greens beating Kristian Blummenfelt to the tape in a sprint finish. Casper Stornes was third, only a minute back of the top two.
Slowtwitch spoke to the three men on the 70.3 World Championship podium just moments after they crossed the line, getting their takes on the race while it was still fresh in their memories. Here is what they thought about what turned out to be a phenomenal three and a half hours of competition.
Stornes’s Dream Season
Coming into this season, the biggest win of Stornes’s triathlon career was likely his victory at the World Triathlon Championship Series race in Bermuda in 2018. Since then, he hadn’t posted too many top results at short-course events. He won a couple of 70.3s in recent years, but nothing major.
Cut to 2025 — a year in which Stornes finished fifth at the IRONMAN North American Championship in Texas, third at the European Championship in Frankfurt, first at the IRONMAN World Championship in Nice, and now third at the 70.3 worlds.
Stornes on the run in Marbella. Photo: Eric Wynn
“It’s been a crazy season,” Stornes said after the race. “I’m very happy. This was the last race of the year and I really wanted to finish it off [well]. And, yeah, I felt I did.”
Stornes said he “wasn’t feeling [his] best” for most of the day — even on the run course (which he crushed, posting the third-best split of the day in 1:08:28).
“On the run I just didn’t feel good for the first lap, but then I managed to get a good [pace] the last eight [kilometres], and then I went for it,” he said. “I gained a little bit on Kristian and Jelle, but it wasn’t enough.”
Another Podium for Blummenfelt
It’s no secret that Blummenfelt doesn’t like to lose. As Slowtwitch senior editor Kevin Mackinnon said to him after the race, most people would be thrilled with second in the world, but for someone with Blummenfelt’s resume, it probably stings to finish behind a competitor.
“When you’re racing for the world championship title, you want to grab that finish line tape,” he said. “We’re training to take the world championship titles, and I failed at both Nice and here.”
Blummenfelt said he was conscious of Geens’s position on the bike, knowing that he would be a real threat on the run course. He got a jump on the Belgian in transition, hitting the half-marathon around 20 seconds sooner than Geens, but after only a couple of miles they were side by side, where they would stay right to the end.
Photo: Kevin Mackinnon
“I was building up toward one big surge in the end,” Blummenfelt said. “Maybe I went too late, maybe I should’ve gone earlier.”
He continued, saying that Geens was “just too strong,” and although he gave it his best, he added that he is “a little bit disappointed to only get second.”
Geens Does It Again
In 2024, Geens ran away from an Olympic medallist to take the 70.3 world crown, and he did the same on Sunday to win his second straight title. After the race, he said it was “a bit of an annoying run” with Blummenfelt tagging along behind him.
“I was always running in front and Kristian didn’t want to take any pulls,” Geens said. “He always said, ‘I’m waiting for Casper.'”
Stornes never made it up to them, so Geens continued to lead for much of the half-marathon.
“But I felt really good, I felt really cruisey [sic] on the run,” he said. At one point late into the race, Blummenfelt accelerated, but Geens responded with relative ease, noting that he “felt really comfortable.”
Geens wins in Spain. Photo: Eric Wynn
He almost didn’t make it to the run, however, as he fell early in the ride and had subsequent mechanical issues with his bike
“There was a good few times when I thought the race was over, to be honest,” Geens said. “It was quite a hard crash.”
The crash left his TT bars “a bit sideways,” and his rear derailleur was bent, too.
“I couldn’t really go into the smallest gear and the gears were jumping a bit,” he said. He hopped off the bike at one point to do a quick repair, then got back on and was able to remain in a good position.
“Luckily I felt good,” he said. “I think I’ve proven today that I was the strongest even after all [of that].”
Tags:
Casper StornesIRONMANIRONMAN 70.3 World ChampionshipIRONMAN 70.3 World Championship MarbellaJelle GeensKristian Blummenfeltmarbella 2025Notable Replies
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Shoot, he prob would have won by 2 or 3 min w/o the crash and mech issues. Just too bad Hayden Wilde was not in the race.
You mean like he (Geens) won by a minute or two ahead of that bloke in Taupo?
I suppose but I don’t follow what point you are making here…???
Unlikely. Without the crash and having to stop to bend his hanger he’d still have arrived at T2 within the same pack. The crash cost him about 15 seconds in a phase where there were 44 athletes in 58 seconds - he was mid-pack - on the flat road into Marbella. As soon as the road turned up to cross the motorway he went past 13 to slot in at #4 (behind KB btw) and at the turn to Ojen (having completed the first half of the climb in 58-28) the stop for the RD cost even less, and two places in the train.
the fall cost geens exactly 0 seconds on the bike as there was no chance he would have broken away from the pack if guys like ditlev cant get away. by his account his hip was a bit sore at the start of the run but that went away quickly.
OK, I will take your and pk’s word for it. You guys obv watched the whole race whereas I only read about it.
This is the thing a lot of people do not get. there is actual time lost and there is energy lost without time. Geens had the latter happen, no time lost, just an extra match burned that didnt matter at the end of the day. Often times they do matter, have a look at Lucy’s penalty in Kona and the matches burned to hold pace with Taylor afterwards.
This was just Geens day all around, covering some mishaps and dueling with the strongest runner in the race to the wire. Would he have also beaten Hayden, that we can never know. We just know that at every meeting this year between the two, Hayden has handled him easily in the run, even to the point he could shut it down and coast in saving for a next days race.
You race who shows up and your place is your place. Think they might have one more meeting at Qatar, so we can speculate even more what would have happened!!! (-;
Hayden has actually made the difference mostly on the bike in T100 races versus Jelle. And has been able to coast on the run somewhat thanks to the advantage gained on the bike. That would probably have not been possible in Marbella and he would have likely started the run with Jelle.
I think that we would have then seen two possible scenarios: Hayden goes away from the start of the run and stays in front with better pacing than in Taupo. Or we would have had a 3-horse sprint at the end. In this case I still favor Jelle to win it all.