Iden’s final time of 7 hours 40 minutes 24 seconds was 11 min faster than Jan Frodeno’s result of 7 hours 51 minutes in 2019.
Gustav also set a marathon record by running 42,2 km in 2 hours 36 minutes 15 seconds. This is 5 minutes faster than the previous running result of the German Patrick Lange in 2018. Both records have been set in super humid, hot, and windy conditions of Big Island of Hawaii.
Kona 2022 looks transformative for the whole Pro-triathlon landscape. First 4 finishers were first-timers and all of them broke Frodeno’s record: Gustav Iden (7:40), Sam Laidlow (7:42), Kristian Blummenfelt (7:43), and Max Newman (7:44). It’s unique!
Blummenfelt was the race favourite, but could not keep up with Iden on the run, who pulled away after Energy Lab. After the finish Gustav said: “Kristian didn’t want to run fast at the front. I guess he was really tired but I thought at the time he was maybe just playing mind games”.
Both Norwegians have been attracting attention since 2018, when, together with another teammate Kasper Stornes, they took the entire podium at the World Triathlon Bermuda. It was the first time in the history of WTS that 3 representatives of one country took over the whole podium.
From that moment on, the Norwegians began to win everything they could (the main wins are listed):
2019 — Iden, 1st at the Ironman 70.3 World Championship in Nice
2020 — Iden, 1st at the Pro World Championships (PTO) in Florida
2021 — Blummenfelt, Tokyo Olympic gold
2021 — Blummenfelt, ITU (World Triathlon) champion in Edmonton
2021 — Iden, 1st at the Ironman 70.3 World Championship in St. George, Utah
2021 — Blummenfelt, 1st at the Ironman World Championships (full distance) in St. George, Utah
2022 — Iden, 1st Canadian Open (PTO), Blummenfelt 2nd.
2022 — Iden, 1st at the Ironman Kona World Championship, Hawaii, Blummenfelt 3rd.
In 2023, the Norwegians plan to focus on qualifying for the 2024 Olympics in Paris. And in 2024 — on the Olympics itself. After the finish, Iden was not sure he would be able to compete in the 2023 Ironman Kona World Championship. After all, there are more important things than Kona 😊
By the way, there were no examples of successful returns and victories at the Olympics after the victory in Ironman Hawaii. But the guys are rewriting history. Let’s see if it works this time 😎