Ironman World Championships 2024: Norwegians Take 2 on the Big Island. But will they take the win?

The two most-hyped triathletes in this year’s men’s Ironman World Championship in Hawaii are arguably Norwegian training partners and close friends, Kristian Blummenfelt and Gustav Iden.

Blummenfelt, the Tokyo Olympic champion, and Iden, the 2022 Ironman worlds winner, are no shrinking violets when it comes to talking up their own chances of success.

But while many times the walk has matched the talk, and the pair have won almost everything there is to win over every distance, more recently there have been vulnerabilities on show. 

Blummenfelt’s aim of returning to defend his Olympic title in Paris ended in disappointment, and Iden, after a taxing year in which he lost his mother and was sidelined through injury, didn’t even make the Norwegian squad for the Games.  

The challengers are lining up. Reigning champion Sam Laidlow split them on the podium in 2022, Magnus Ditlev destroyed his own record in Challenge Roth this summer, and the wily Patrick Lange is a two-time champion in Hawaii. 

Yet Blummenfelt and Iden remain among the favourites for Saturday’s contest and one man who knows them better than most is Brad Culp. The endurance sports journalist-turned-author, has just published his first book, The Norwegian Method, that looks at the training techniques and philosophy behind the elite athletes of the region.

In his research for the book, Culp spent hours with both Blummenfelt and Iden, and their coaching guru Olav Aleksander Blu, to try and discover the formula on just why they are masters of their trade. 

Here’s Culp’s view on their chances on Saturday and the specific areas that might make the difference.

Mastering the heat

“I think they were a bit arrogant in their approach to the Kona heat the first time around. They didn’t visit. They just figured Kona heat was like any other heat. 

“There are places with Kona-like heat. But especially for KB, who’s quite a bit bigger than Gustav, there was more that needed to be done. 

“Racing off the front at Cozumel isn’t the same as actually racing in Kona where the core body temperatures are much higher. 

“The problem the opposition has is that the Norwegians have now had a race in Kona to mine the heat data from.” 

Overstretching aerodynamics

“Some of their new ventures are making them take more risks when it comes to bike set-ups [check-out Iden’s social media for pictures of him adopting a ‘Superman’ pose on his TT bike], and I’m concerned that it could cause issues later in the marathon.

“We’ve seen KB’s Achilles heel is that he cramps late on the run. Maybe they’re taking too many risks with the positions, but if it works, it will minimise the damage to a kamikaze bike effort like Laidlow did two years ago. 

Improved altitude protocol

“They’re more dialled with their pre-race altitude camps than anyone. Last time out they were coming from France to Kona, which obviously doesn’t make for a smooth transition with so much travelling. 

“Getting the first few days post-altitude right is critical. You can mess your body up during that time, so I think the Flagstaff [in Arizona] altitude straight to Kona heat will be a more seamless transition.” 

Chowing down nutrition

“People saw the videos of KB throwing up and pooping during Ironman Frankfurt like it was a bad thing. As if he had messed up his nutrition somehow.

“I think it was a sign of how much he’s able to consume during an Ironman and how much they’ve learned to push things. 

“As with the heat, they’ve had two more years and race-specific evidence to figure out what went wrong and right from a nutrition standpoint in Hawaii.”

Motivation of legacy

“KB has more to lose in this race than anyone. It’s the only feather missing in his triathlon cap. ‘It hurts more to lose’ is his mantra, and that’s especially true when it’s a legacy race.

“I think we will see KB turn himself inside out in a way we’ve never seen before if it’s a close race. It’ll kill him to lose this one.” 

The end result

“I think KB wins it and I think it’ll be by a couple of minutes. The fitness he showed in Frankfurt was pretty extraordinary, and a couple of months of Ironman-specific prep should be enough to remind people that there are levels to this game.

“While Gustav hasn’t had quite as clean of a lead-in this time around, he’s not racing to finish fifth and he has the speed to stay with anyone on all three disciplines. He’s going to be a major factor and somehow the defending champ is the one coming in with none of the pressure to perform.”