At the finish, Kristian Blummenfelt had to sit down for a moment, then the new triathlon superstar in his golden shoes jumped in a circle with his helpers. The 28-year-old delivered the next big show on Sunday (June 5th, 2022) in Lausitz. The Olympic champion, Ironman and short-distance world champion from Norway was the first to undercut the magic mark of seven hours for the 3.86 kilometers of swimming, 180.2 kilometers of cycling and 42.2 kilometers of running – albeit under special conditions that made such a fabulous time possible in the first place .
“We did it,” said Blummenfelt after 6:44:26 hours of hard physical work: “That was tough.” The Brit Joe Skipper also stayed well under the seven hours in 6:47:36 hours.
Katrina Matthews wins the women’s challenge
In the women’s category, the British Ironman Vice World Champion Katrina Matthews celebrated after 7:31:54 hours, Nicola Spirig from Switzerland managed the distance in 7:34:19 hours.
The goal for both of them was to break the eight-hour mark. Chrissie Wellington set the record for a race under normal conditions – without slipstreaming and pacemaker – in 8:18:13 hours at the Challenge in Roth in 2011, Laura Philipp triumphed in 8:18:20 hours at the Ironman European Championships in Hamburg on Sunday .
Blummenfelt underlines the exceptional position
Only a month after his first triumph at the Ironman World Championship, Blummenfelt proved his current exceptional position, even if the German stars were absent for various reasons. After initial discussions, three-time champion Jan Frodeno decided against starting long before his Achilles tendon injury became known. According to her management, the 2019 Hawaii world champion and third of the St. George title fights, Anne Haug, was not even asked. Philipp started in Hamburg.
With Blummenfelt’s commitment, the organizers, who had originally planned the race for Daytona in the USA, managed a coup. Less than a year ago he became Olympic champion in Tokyo, he also won the short-distance world championship title, the strong athlete from Bergen made a splendid debut at the Ironman in Mexico in November 2021, and he won his second Ironman in early May – it was the postponed and awarded to St. George World Cup.
And Blummenfelt was also unbeatable in Brandenburg. Like the other three, he was allowed to use up to ten pacemakers, while swimming he used the so-called water shadow of seven-time Dutch long-distance champion Lars Botellier. An hour before the men, Matthews and Spirig with their helpers – including the highly rated German long-distance swimmer Angela Maurer (Team Spirig) – started in Lake Senftenberg.
Swimming, cycling, running – Blummenfelt impresses in every discipline
Almost four kilometers straight ahead, no loss of time at buoys, the woman and man in front served as orientation. Unlike the women, there was already a gap of five minutes between the two men after the first change.
With their helpers in the lead, they cycled to the Lausitzring, after almost 20 kilometers the formations raced across the racetrack like in the Tour de France time trial. Blummenfelt and Co. were able to save energy in the slipstream and still be exceptionally fast.
The fact that Skipper overtook Blummenfelt on his partially gold-painted bike with a loud bark during his unbelievable journey of only 3:16 hours for the 180.2 kilometers was something he later regretted when the Norwegian passed him on the running track with almost 25 kilometers to go happened again. “I barked back,” said Blummenfelt with a laugh. Even moments of shock on the bike or while running, when one of his companions fell over with the bike while taking a drinking bottle, could not stop him.
Source: dpa