Motivated? You Think? Blummenfelt Blasts to IRONMAN 70.3 Geelong Victory

There’s nothing like a motivated Kristian Blummenfelt, and after a disappointing day at IRONMAN New Zealand a couple of weeks ago (yes, while many would be happy with sixth, when you’re an Olympic gold medalist, an IRONMAN and IRONMAN 70.3 world champion and defending IRONMAN Pro Series champ, anything but a win doesn’t cut it), Kristian Blummenfelt was more than a little motivated.

That became clear once he got out on the run, where he blasted away from the two men we’d previously considered amongst the men to beat at the middle distance – reigning T100 World Triathlon Series champ, Hayden Wilde, and two-time defending IRONMAN 70.3 world champ, Jelle Geens – to take IRONMAN 70.3 Geelong.

As if the New Zealand race didn’t serve as enough motivation, Blummenfelt no-doubt was keen to exact some revenge after losing the sprint to Jelle Geens at last year’s 70.3 worlds. Today the Norwegian didn’t let the race come to sprint, flying clear over the last 11 km of the run for a huge win.

Contenders Hit T1 Together

With water conditions considerably calmer than we saw for the T100 Gold Coast event over on the east coast of the country, it was Australia’s Trent Thorpe who would push the pace at the front of the race, with French Olympian Pierre Le Corre (fourth in Paris) the only man able to stay close. The pre-race favourites including Wilde, Geens and Blummenfelt were all sitting in the main pack, which was roughly 30 seconds down through first 800 m of the swim.

By the end of the 1.9 km (1.2 mile) swim Thorpe remained in the lead, hitting the beach in 21:21, four seconds ahead of Le Corre. The chase group was out about 50-seconds down and included Geens, Australia’s Josh Ferris and Jake Birtwhistle, Wilde, Blummenfelt and Henrik Goesch (FIN). A quick transition would gain Geens, Ferris and Wilde some time – as they jumped on their bikes they were just over 30 seconds behind Thorpe.

Once on the bike it didn’t take long for Geens and Wilde to power their way to the front, with the Kiwi leading through the first time split at 12.2 km, three seconds up on Birtwhistle, five seconds ahead of Geens, while Blummenfelt was riding at the tail end of a lead group of eight, sitting 20-seconds behind.

Wilde kept the pressure up and, through 27 km, he remained out in front, ahead of Geens and with Blummenfelt now sitting in sixth – Thorpe and Le Corre had been dropped from the lead group.

Wilde and Geens appeared determined to keep the pace up, and were trading the lead. Initially Blummenfelt seemed to be happy to sit at the back of the lead group, but through the halfway point of the race the Norwegian appeared to finally be showing the stress of his IRONMAN New Zealand race from a few weeks earlier. As the men went through the 45 km point of the ride (halfway), Wilde was out in front with Geens six seconds in arrears, Birtwhistle in third, 12 seconds down, and Ferris and yet another Aussie, Kurt McDonald, sitting at 16 and 18 seconds back in fourth and fifth. Blummenfelt was 34 seconds back at this point, which didn’t bode well for the former Olympic and IRONMAN world champ.

Through the second half of the bike it was Wilde and Geens still powering things at the front, with Aussies Birtwhistle and McDonald hanging on in the lead group. Blummenfelt managed to keep the gap at about 50 seconds for a long time, setting himself up for a run for the podium.

With about 15 km to go Wilde’s relentless drive at the front was too much for the rest of the lead group, and the Kiwi started to open up a gap on Geens. (Wilde didn’t seem to know that he was getting away – at one point he seemed to look around expecting some help keeping the pace going at the front, only to realize he was by himself.)

Wilde Keeps Things Interesting

As so often seems to be the case with Wilde, he managed to keep race day exciting. The day before the race he’d managed to hit a sea urchin during a swim and now, despite his late charge that saw him pull clear of the other men, the Kiwi seemed to have an issue with one of his pedals through the closing stages of the ride. (Later we’d learn that he broke his cleat.) Despite all that, Wilde got himself into T2 with a lead of 57 seconds on Geens, with Birtwhistle at 1:22. Blummenfelt charged into transition 1:33 down, suddenly very much in the mix for a push for the podium.

Geens would claw back about 10 seconds in transition, heading out onto the run course 47 seconds behind Wilde, with a 16-second cushion on Birtwhistle. Through the early stages of the run Geens was only able to claw back a few seconds, while Birtwhistle suddenly found himself only six seconds up on Blummenfelt, setting up a duel for the final spot on the podium. Blummenfelt continued to charge and blasted past the Australian and, through 5 km of the run the Norwegian was less than a minute behind Wilde and was rapidly gaining on Geens, too.

Through 6.4 km of the run Geens had got to within 35 seconds of the Kiwi, but Blummenfelt was only 10 seconds behind in third. As he made the turnaround, Wilde suddenly saw the ominous picture of Blummenfelt suddenly in second, pulling clear of Geens and rapidly gaining time – the gap at 8.3 km was down to 22 seconds. The Norwegian continued his charge and flew into the lead before the 10 km point of the run, but Wilde would have none of it and quickly jumped on Blummenfelt’s shoulder. Meanwhile Geens was only 13 seconds back, so he remained very much in the mix.

Wilde would stay with Blummenfelt for a while, but the Norwegian was running like a man possessed, driving the pace and looking remarkably similar to the way he did as he powered away from the rest of the field at the Tokyo Olympics. Over the next three km Blummenfelt would open the gap to 21 seconds on Wilde, with Geens sitting at 30 seconds behind. Geens would manage to get ahead of Wilde and do his best to chase down Blummenfelt, but the Norwegian was, in fact, pulling away from the two-time 70.3 world champ. He would continue to pull clear right to the finish line, looking to break his countryman Casper Stornes’ 1:06:02 IRONMAN 70.3 run record set at IRONMAN 70.3 Nice in 2021.

In the end Blummenfelt would “settle” with a 1:04:39 run split, despite celebrating his way down the finishing chute, but most importantly the Norwegian had proved his New Zealand race was an aberration, hitting the finish line in 3:30:24, 59-seconds ahead of Geens (3:31:23) and 1:27 up on Wilde (3:31:51). All three men were ahead of Geens’ course record (3:33:24) set last year. Birtwhistle would end up fourth (3:34:28) while McDonald would hang on for fifth.

Blummenfelt isn’t planning on taking a break after his big win down under, either – he’s jumping on a plane tomorrow so he can race IRONMAN 70.3 Oceanside in six days.

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