Pictures From the IRONMAN World Championship Nice Finish Line

Casper Stornes celebrates after taking the IRONMAN World Championship Nice title. Photos: Kevin Mackinnon and Eric Wynn

It was a day in which IRONMAN racing moved to a new level. Long gone are the days where athletes can win despite having a weaker leg. Welcome to a world in which the world title will go to one of a group of athletes and the day will be decided by who had the best legs (and/ or the best tactics) to seal the deal. As we pointed out earlier, this year’s IRONMAN World Championship Nice featured a Norwegian sweep of the podium, and it doesn’t look like those three have any plans on backing off in the future. If you want a world title over the next few years, you’ll have to beat one of them to earn it.

You can read about today’s incredible race by clicking on the link below. After that you can enjoy some photos from our crew here at Slowtwitch who were on site to cover the racing in Nice.

Stornes joins his countrymen and takes the IRONMAN World Championship on his first attempt.

Stornes welcomed his training partner Gustav Iden after he crossed the line.

Iden collapsed shortly after getting the hug from his buddy.

Blummenfelt would suffer with cramps over the final part of the race, but would round out the podium, completing the Norwegian sweep.

Best friends and training partners celebrate.

And then the adrenaline rush ends and everyone takes to the ground.

The Olympic gold medalist was suffering so much after the race he had to be wheeled away from the finish line.

Marten Van Riel would take fourth in his first IRONMAN World Championship experience.

Followed by Sam Laidlow, the winner here in Nice two years ago. Laidlow went three minutes faster this year, only to drop four spots.

The Norwegian flag is held high.

As are the post-race beers.

Iden chats with IRONMAN legend Mark Allen.

While another IRONMAN legend, Jan Frodeno, interviews Jonas Schomburg, who took sixth.

After going down on his bike towards the end of the bike, Matthew Marquardt was happy to take eighth and finish as the top American.

Sam Long would have a great swim (51 minutes), bike 4:42 on this tough Nice course, then run a 2:39 marathon to take 14th – a tribute to how competitive the race was.

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