Originally published at: A Better Blummenfelt Is Ready for the 2025 IRONMAN World Championship - Slowtwitch News
Kristian Blummenfelt wins IRONMAN Texas. Photo: Eric Wynn
If you’re predicting the IRONMAN World Championship podium, it’s hard not to consider Kristian Blummenfelt as a contender. He’s had an incredible season: starting with his win at the hotly contested IRONMAN Texas, where he clocked a 7:24:20, followed by taking the tape at 70.3 Pays d’Aix, and then defending his title at the IRONMAN European Championship Frankfurt. It appears “Blu” is back from a “relatively” tough previous season, where he fell short of his Olympic medal repeat and placed 35th in Kona after unforgettably projectile vomiting on the bike.
His world championship pedigree was solidified in 2022 where he won the IRONMAN World Championship held in St. George, won the 70.3 world title, and took third in Kona—and perhaps that’s what everyone is forgetting. Everyone is so used to seeing Blummenfelt on top that when he struggled (relative to his normal level), it’s easy to pick at the possible chinks in his armor.
Photos below: Courtesy Santara Group
Is Kristian a Climber?
After skipping out on the first edition of Nice with short distance goals taking priority and having illness derail his other championship races in 2023, Blummenfelt seems to be contending with the chatter that the technical and hilly Nice bike course might not suit him. But the St George course that he dominated by almost five minutes had a comparable amount of elevation, 2,225 meters versus Nice’s 2,437 meters.
“I think it can be a course that suits me well,” he affirms, referencing the similar elevation gain to St George.
Along with his training partners, Gustav Iden and Casper Stornes, Blummenfelt spent time training on the course earlier in the year, and it only confirmed his confidence.
“I’m coming here with both the knowledge of the course from the January camp and also practicing the skill on the TT bike from the Font Romeu camp, so I’m feeling that I’m able to put those two together,” he said.
After a few weeks at altitude in Font Romeu, the Norwegian trio moved down to Nice (and later into the ON Running athlete house), where they have been finalizing their prep and racking up more on-course time every day.
Sacrificing CdA
Beyond specific training camps, Blummenfelt’s preparation has included working with Surpas on a new faster trisuit that has more breathable fabric on the front for climbing, and, perhaps to no surprise, changing his bike position. In Kona, Blummenfelt debuted an aggressive superman-style long reach that caused somewhat of a commotion. Once again, fans are going to see a new position from Blummenfelt, albeit less dramatic.
“From Kona, what I had to change from that was a more robust position on the bike that made it a little bit easier to handle the bike on the downhill, and more comfortable on the uphill, and a more power-based position,” he explains.
He also has a new version of his signature KB Wove V8 saddle which he says has helped him find his position for Nice.
“It has been a challenge over the winter to find a good bike position with the saddle in order to find good bike handling and balance on the bike,” he continued. “I feel like the further back you go, the easier it is to balance the bike on the downhill. But, often, the further forward I go, the better it is for the hip. So, playing around with that is something I’ve been trying to do and now, finally, I feel like I’m in the right place.”
Nice Debut
Having trained in Nice in January and for the past few weeks, he has more time on course than many in the field, but he is missing one thing that most of his contenders do have: race day experience. While Laidlow raced himself into the history books, with Lange running down Ditlev to secure second, Blummenfelt was watching from a distance.
“I saw a little bit on TV as it was happening in 2023,” he said. “It was completely new race and I took in the knowledge of how the race panned out. How Cam Wurf was riding and how Patrick Lange and the group were doing it; how big the gap was halfway through versus what we expect Sam Laidlow to do for the last 50 km,” he recalls.
“Maybe the biggest difference this year is that Sam will have more guys around him who potentially are willing to push the pace hard on the bike early on,” Blummenfelt says. “It’s a little bit downhill and technical, not in the very beginning, but there are some sections and I wouldn’t be surprised it that’s enough to split up the group and make it so it’s not that easy for the front guys to work together on the top as it would on a less technical course.”
Blummenfelt continues to talk about the course details, noting bike handling and power are going to count for more, how much time an athlete could lose on the bike versus how much they could make up, the concentration of his nutrition to save fluid weight on the bike, and more. His excitement for the race builds from the nuanced details he has gathered, but also because it presents an unprecedented combination of being his debut, and the final edition of the race.
“It’s a really special course, especially the fact that it’s the last time the IRONMAN world championship is here makes it more unique,” he says.
Full Focus
The race dynamics might be different from last time, not just because Blummenfelt is there, but because he’s there with focus. From an Olympic gold medal to IRONMAN and 70.3 world champion, Blummenfelt has done it all—but, surprise, he is human and has also proved you can’t do it all at once. Now, with the Olympics off the table and a clear decision to concentrate on long distance racing this season, Blummenfelt has had his eyes on Nice from winter.
“Last year, Kona was more of the leftover of the season,” he says. “It was a two year project coming back to the Olympics in Paris, and then it was a really quick turnaround after that. It wasn’t really the main focus of the year, while this year Nice has really been the main focus of the year and I’m feeling like I’m coming in with good shape.”
The change was prompted by a disappointing 2024.
“I went through maybe my worst racing year in a long time where both of the goals I had went crap,” he says. “Not just on the day, but maybe I wasn’t really in the fitness I needed to be in Paris. So that made us do a bigger evaluation afterwards, and we made the change for me, Gustav and Casper to take more responsibility of the training again.”
“We went back again to do the training and the planning ourselves, which has been a big change, with more responsibilities that maybe, in one way, put us closer together as we are doing all the training together and we have take more care of each other and we’re not just training buddies,” he continues. “We co-coach each other so we have a bit more responsibility for each other’s success.”
“Maturing a bit,” he adds with a smile.
Whether it’s the “Pukey Blu” show or a formidable showing of dominant world-class racing, a better Blummenfelt is lining up in Nice.