Paris triathlon: “I guess I’m just not good enough,” says Kristian Blummenfelt as dream of defending Olympic title ends

For the man who has won everything in the sport, Olympic gold in Paris would have been Kristian Blummenfelt’s greatest achievement. 

Having won the Tokyo Olympics and then moved up to long-course triathlon – winning Ironman and Ironman 70.3 world titles and rewriting the record books – his audacious attempt to return to the pinnacle of draft-legal racing ultimately ended in failure.

“It was tough there on the run, I was hoping for more,” Blummenfelt said following his 12th-place finish on a scorching morning in the French capital.

“I felt I came off the bike in a position where I could fight for the win next to Alex [Yee] and Hayden [Wilde], but they were just on another level on the run. I wasn’t even able to stay in that podium fight either. I guess I’m just not good enough.”

Following his success in Tokyo in 2021, Blummenfelt mixed short course racing, with longer non-drafting events including Ironman and more latterly T100 competition.

At first his achievements were unprecedented. World Triathlon world champion in Edmonton following the Olympics, the Ironman title in Utah the following May and then the Ironman 70.3 world crown in October.

He set a fastest-ever Ironman time in Cozumel and even found time to line up for the Sub-7 project in Germany, where his mark of 6:44:25 was eye-wateringly fast.

But since fully focusing his efforts back on the World Series, the results have not been where he wanted – failing to return to the podium and placing 10th and 31st in Yokohama and Cagliari, his two WTCS races in 2024. 

Unable to step up the game

Despite this, Blummenfelt’s coach Olav Aleksander Bu spoke optimistically before the race about the 30-year-old’s training numbers and as the race entered the final 10km run, he was well positioned in a large front pack.

“I’ve been doing some solid training over the last five or six weeks but unfortunately that’s the level I’ve been on in the races I’ve done in the last two years since I came back to short course,” Blummenfelt added.

“I haven’t been able to step up the game as they have been doing and I am obviously disappointed to finish off like this.

While it would have been a historic feat, was he also attempting the impossible by stepping up to Ironman and then trying to return to the Olympics? “I don’t know,” he continued. “I try not to use Ironman as an excuse. I think it is possible, but I was hoping for more.”

Blummenfelt’s next race is in the mixed team relay on Monday, with a 300m swim, 8km cycle and 2km run being much shorter distances than he is used to. His last relay was more than three years ago in Lisbon as the Norwegian’s narrowly failed to qualify a team for Tokyo.

All eyes on Kona

Then it’s a return to Ironman with his eyes on Hawaii in October, the title that eluded him in 2022, when he placed third behind compatriot and training partner Gustav Iden. But first he has to validate his spot in Germany on 18 August.

“Unfortunately, I have to go to Frankfurt now as I didn’t get the wildcard by winning this race [the Olympics]. Then it’s Kona, and we will see what the future brings.”

Blummenfelt wouldn’t look any further forward than that for now, but a switch to professional cycling has been much mooted since the start of the year.

While Japan’s Kenji Nener, who finished 15th in Paris, had been Blummenfelt’s training partner in the build-up, how much has he missed the bond with the absent Iden, his close friend whose own plans paralleled Blummenfelt’s before they were derailed by injury, a fallout with the Norwegian federation and the tragic loss of his mother through cancer?

“It hasn’t been the same,” Blummenfelt said. “He’s a really good training partner and to have him there, but not there really [Iden took time out and hasn’t returned to the same intensity], makes it a little bit more tricky.

“I have been training with Kenji, who has been great to have, and, of course, it will be great to get Gustav back into good old shape and get that training dynamic working.”

A ringside seat for Yee vs Wilde

With Iden returning to winning form in lowkey competition, the Norwegians are both likely to return to Hawaii. But before that Blummenfelt must lick his wounds of a humbling defeat, although he did have a ringside seat of the Yee versus Wilde battle.

“That was impressive,” he concluded. “I had no chance to follow Hayden when he passed me out of transition, but the dynamic at the front was cool to see how Hayden was putting the pressure on Alex and gapped him.

“I thought I would see Hayden taking the tape and then suddenly, out of the dead turn, Alex is kicking back. It was a great show to watch from behind.”