For many Kristian Blummenfelt is the outright favourite for Sunday’s IRONMAN World Championship in Nice.
The brilliant Norwegian has won every title that matters in the sport, including Olympic gold, the 70.3 Worlds and the IMWC.
But 2023 and 2024 saw him trying to mix short course and long distance and there were rare ‘failures’ in both Paris and Kona last year.
This time around there has been a laser focus on the World Championships and he arrived in Nice on the back of three incredibly impressive victories.
‘Putting pressure on everyone’
But asked by host Paul Kaye at Friday’s press conference in Nice who, if anyone, has was most frightened of, there was no hesitation: “The guy to my left here, Sam [Laidlow].
“He was the one who was making the race in Kona last year. He was putting pressure on everyone – until he wasn’t! He was really putting together one of the best performances.
“He raced the same way here in Nice the year before, really going for it from the front. And the year before when he cracked me in Kona.”
“So yeah, he’s dangerous. But as well I’m not going to write off Patrick [Lange, the reigning champion]. It’s a World Championship and he did pretty well on this course too in 2023.”
Added motivation
So over to Laidlow, who of course won his one world title to date when the race was last held in Nice two years ago.
That day he bossed it throughout, starting the run with a big lead and never really being threatened.
But he’s expecting a slightly different dynamic this weekend, explaining: “I feel like Ironman’s evolved a bit. There are more and more athletes coming up from short course and racing aggressively like I have done in the past.
“Guys like Jonas [Schomburg], Marten [Van Riel] and Jamie [Riddle] will likely be up at the front in the swim and it will be a new scenario for me at a World Championship which I’m excited about.
“Also this year I feel like I’ve raced with a bit more experience and not just the brash, young Sam that would just go full gas until he blew. So far it’s been working out so hopefully I can just go with them for a little bit.”
Laidlow had to battle health issues earlier in the year but the lure of Nice helped him through that as he added: “I had a rough start to the season but just holding on to the 0.1% belief that I could maybe do it again has got me here today.”
And there’s also one extra bit of motivation, which involves none other than Blummenfelt, as Laidlow said: “One of the first things I got told when I won in 2023 was that the Norwegians weren’t there. That’s definitely added extra fuel to the fire to beat them. As pro athletes we all want to be at our best but we also want to beat the best.
“And this race in particular feels like a real privelege because every man is here and no one’s got any excuses – whoever wins will be the true best. And that’s an amazing opportunity.”
