Kona Glory: IRONMAN World Champion Vincent Luis and the Top Five On the Big Day

It was a day that had everything – a melt-down from a seemingly dominant frontrunner (Magnus Ditlev). An unusual fade from one of the pre-race favourites (Kristian Blummenfelt). A rookie champion who will be doing a mic-drop after arguably the biggest win of his career.

Here’s what Luis and the rest of the men who finished in the top-five had to say at Saturday night’s press conference:

Vincent Luis

France’s Vincent Luis is already a two-time world champion – but those two wins were from short-course, draft-legal racing. Now he’s added a third, one which will also be his last. (More on that below.)

“Today was all about that: making the people who help me on a daily basis happy, and seeing just happiness in their eyes and how proud they are of me and the work they’ve done,” he said. “There’s no better feeling. You can be world champion and achieve whatever in life, but if you do it alone, it doesn’t really matter. When the people around you are really happy for you and you can give back a bit in return, I think that’s definitely the best win in the world.”

Luis started to imagine that he might be able to finally “crack” Kristian Blummenfelt once the Norwegian caught him and wasn’t as talkative as he might normally have been. Luis made a move on Blummenfelt in the Energy Lab and was able to pull clear. Then, out of the blue, he suddenly saw Magnus Ditlev struggling ahead.

I passed him and it really broke my heart, because it’s the second time that he’s been passed in the last maybe 5 or 6 km,” he continued. “Magnus … is just genuinely one of the nicest guys in the world, and it really broke my heart to pass him. But I thought, well, business is business and cash is cash.”

The question everyone in the room wanted to ask: is he really retiring, as he had announced before the race?

“Finishing on top is what I’ve always wanted,” he said. “And I see so many people … who could still make a living and push more years. But, what do you want to be remembered as? As the guy that won the world champs and dropped the mic? Or the guy that tried to cash in some cheques, and get injured, and just survive races? … I want to leave standing on my feet, not on my knees..”

Gustav Iden

After starting the run more than nine-minutes down, the 2022 IRONMAN world champion used the day’s fastest run to make a very close run towards the top of the podium.

“Starting nine minutes behind, I thought the race was gone, especially being three minutes behind Kristian,” he said. “But, no one talked about him (Luis) before the race, so to be able to pull this off is incredible, and he’s an absolutely worthy winner … I tried everything I had. In the end I was glad to make it to the finish line, because this race here is brutal.”

Iden wore a cutom “cancer-research” trisuit as part of his fundraising efforts in honour of his mother at the race – it all made the race even more emotional.

“During the race I felt like I was quite objective and businesslike, and I managed to just think about my power and getting liquid in,” he said. But the moment I crossed the finish line, that’s where it got super emotional. I’m kind of glad I didn’t lose more liquid crying on top of the sweat during the race, and everything came after. It was a super special day, with a lot of charity work and stuff, so I’m happy I could deliver a podium in her memory.”

Matthew Marquardt

As we would expect, triathlon’s most popular medical student won’t be resting for too long – on Wednesday he’ll be at a medical conference in LA presenting research. He was asked if he knew just how close the racing was on Saturday:

“Yes and no,” he said. “I kind of knew that the race was pretty much within three to four minutes the entire run. But … the first two hours of the run the goal was just to do my own thing, and then the last 45 minutes is when you race for place. That was my strategy. People were telling me that Gustav was only like 50 seconds away, but it felt like he might have been ten miles away. In those final miles you’re playing a balance between pushing and getting to the finish line, but also making sure you don’t collapse. So that’s IRONMAN.”

It’s hard to believe that four years ago Marquardt was the fastest age-grouper here in Kona. Now, while still at school, he’s on the podium.

“It’s incredible, and I feel very fortunate to have had the trajectory I’ve had within the sport,” he said. “Maybe it’s the 4 am workouts, but I think more than anything it’s the consistency. I have an incredible team around me, from my coach to a lot of support to work with. There’s a lot of expertise in what we do, and we’re always looking for how to do better. Even with a performance like this, we’re going to go back and ask, ‘Okay, what could be even better?’ It’s that constant pursuit of improvement that has really enabled that. And this island is really special. I always love coming here, and it very much feels like another home. That just makes the podium here all the more meaningful.”

Gregory Barnaby

The Italian hasn’t had the easiest of times getting to Kona this year. He was sick in South Africa, then crashed in Frankfurt. He finally got his qualifying slot in Kalmar, then had an incredible performance on the Big Island to finish fourth, up two spots from his sixth in 2024.

“For me, I knew my swim wasn’t at the level it should be, so it was a bit of a different race again. I was withGustav, about two minutes down, and we chased pretty hard at the start. Then I thought, “Okay, let’s continue,” and I went on, and actually I probably had my best bike legs ever in an IRONMAN. It felt amazing up there, and I managed to catch the front of the race. Coming back into town it was a bit of a struggle, but I knew it was the same for everyone. On the run it was just trying to deal with the heat and keep that consistent running. When Vince (Vincent Luis) passed me, I tried to keep up, and I had a good battle with Matthew (Marquardt) out there.”

Was he able to stick to his pre-race plan and “numbers” on the bike?

“Not at all,” he laughed. “I went out really hard. After one hour on the bike I was looking at my numbers and I thought, ‘I’m going to blow up hard.’ But, somehow I managed to take it home on the bike, and I felt pretty good on the run as well. I’m a racer, so even if I’ve got a plan, I’m going to … .just go out there and go for it.”

Pierre Le Corre

In just his second full-distance race (and first in Kona), the French star shined with an impressive fifth-place performance.

“It was a long day today,” he said. “I tried to stick to my plan; I had a really precise plan to follow. I was quite scared of the Big Island, I guess, because I know that it’s tough and anyone can blow up. So, I tried to stay on my watts and stay on heart rate, and I guess it paid off at the end, because I wanted to do a top ten, and finishing fifth is great for me.”

“I was quite far back on the bike,” he continued. “I struggled with a lot of cramps, probably because of the humidity. In the first 30 km I was already cramping, so I had to make a few stops, many times, on the bike, and I was quite alone for that part. But at the same time it was quite good, because my heart rate could stay quite low, and that made it possible for me to have a good run, I guess, because I had been pushing so many watts on the bike. On the run I tried to stay on my heart rate. I didn’t care about others. I was doing my own race and just trying to stay focused on that. And I guess here it’s really important to do that.”

The race is a culmination of quite a journey for Le Corre since his fourth-place finish at the Paris Olympics.

“I had a tough year last year, and many times I wanted to stop,” he said. “Even this year it was quite hard for me to go to training. I was not in the mood to try to be on the podium, but I tried to stay motivated, and to have the discipline to go and train, and that’s what keeps me where I am today, even if the motivation left me a bit. But, maybe this race will fire me up for next year.”

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