Triathlete’s Profile: Kristian Blummenfelt
Kristian Blummenfelt
The incredible Kristian Blummenfelt from Norway, born in Bergen in February 1994, has made a name for himself with his impressive accomplishments early in his career.
In October of 2022, he simultaneously owned the titles of Olympic champion, IRONMAN 70.3 World Champion, and victor of the World Triathlon Championship Series.
He may not have won the IRONMAN title when he came in third in Kona in 2022, but only three weeks later, he managed to collect the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship at St George, Utah.
Kristian Blummenfelt is achieving extraordinary success in the World Triathlon Series, Ironman 70.3, Ironman, and the Olympics, so any opportunity can be his.
You have a feeling that the Norwegian won’t rest until he has totally destroyed the accepted idea of what a triathlete is capable of.
He has accomplished a great deal in his career so far—three IRONMAN 70.3 Middle East Championship titles, the fastest Ironman race ever, and even the first finish in the sport that took less than 7 hours.
Kristian is a self-touted swimming expert, but his aptitudes are not limited to water sports. He is also one of Norway’s top young long-distance track athletes. He participated in the European Cross Country Championships in 2011 as a participant at the junior level.
Kristian looked up to Alexander Oen, an outstanding Norwegian swimmer who once held the world record for the 100m Breaststroke and had an Olympic silver medal.
‘Big Blu’ admits his fondness for coffee and says that he requires a cup of coffee before beginning anything, citing his primary weakness as having a short temper when things don’t go according to plan. Additionally, he is a devoted admirer of Alistair Brownlee, deeming him the most celebrated triathlete of all time. I love his attitude and mentality,” says the Norwegian.
Career record and results
Between the years of 2010 and 2013, Kristian triumphed in three ETU European Junior Cup contests, which were held in Brno (2011), Tabor (2012), and Antalya (2013). After those successes, he moved up to the senior division.
Soon after, he achieved his first victory at a higher level in the sprint competition at Tartu in 2013, and that same year won the Norwegian national title over the Olympic distance in a race against a young Gustav Iden.
Kristian’s success continued with a Norwegian title the following year, taking first place in the Sprint distance and edging out Iden. Success was continued in 2014 with a victory at the Loutraki ETU European Cup.
In 2015, he achieved his second title in the Olympic distance and defeated Iden. 2016 was an incredible year for him, as he won the ETU Madrid (Olympic), ITU Cagliari World Cup (Sprint), ITU Montreal World Cup (Sprint), and the Norwegian national (Sprint) title, and also made his first Olympic appearance in the Rio Games.
In 2017, there were no triumphs in the short course; however, he earned himself a third position in the general classification through places he achieved on the podium in Yokohama, Montreal, and Stockholm as well as the ITU World Triathlon Grand Final in Rotterdam. Blummenfelt was clearly progressing fast.
In 2017, Kristian marked his initial presence on the IRONMAN 70.3 stage by becoming victorious in Bahrain.
He seemed to take pleasure in racing the longer course, taking first place in Bahrain in 2018 and 2019. He also set a personal best in 2019, finishing in an impressive 3:25:21, the top time at the IRONMAN 70.3. In 2019, he beat his personal record from the year before with a time of 3:29:04 in the same race.
In 2021, Kristian created a sensation in the triathlon community by winning both the Olympic and World Triathlon Championship Series titles during the same season, equaling Bermuda’s Flora Duffy’s feat in women’s triathlons.
Then in May 2022, he ran through the competition and won the rescheduled IRONMAN World Championship in St George. It was only the second time he had ever done the full distance, yet he pulled off an amazing 2:38 marathon to claim victory.
Less than four weeks after, Blummenfelt had set another benchmark in endurance sports by completing an iron-distance race with the help of pacers in an awe-inspiring 6:44:25, as part of the highly talked-about Sub7Sub8 occasion in Germany.
This was Kristian’s inaugural chance to participate in the IRONMAN World Championship that was held in Kona, Hawaii in October 2022. Despite smashing the preexisting record, his companion Gustav Iden and the French up-and-comer Sam Laidlow ended up beating him to the end of Ali’i Drive.
Having not experienced a loss in a long time, Blummenfelt returned to Utah three weeks later for the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship, where he succeeded in clinching the championship, thus achieving one of the only titles missing from his impressive collection of accolades. He is still hoping to be forgiven on the Island of Hawaii. Does he have a chance of being absolved by 2023?
Blummenfelt at the Olympics
Kristian attempted to gain success in the Olympic triathlon at the Rio de Janeiro Games in 2016. The Norwegian gave a great performance in the swim, only falling behind the leaders by twenty seconds. However, during the biking leg, he became a full minute behind the front-runners.
Blummenfelt fell behind the eventual victor, Alistair Brownlee, as he ended up 13th in his first Olympic showing, over two minutes and 30 seconds behind the British competitor. He was still new to the job, but his ultimate goal had always been to make it to Tokyo.
Kristian made a brilliant appearance at the Tokyo Olympics this year, grabbing the gold medal with an outstanding performance near Tokyo Bay.
Amidst a highly competitive set of participants including Jonny Brownlee of Great Britain, Alex Yee of the same country, Vincent Luis of France, and Gustav Iden of Norway, Blummenfelt began quite moderately with a mid-level swim, placing him nearly 30 seconds behind the pacesetters.
The Norwegian started off in contention again due to a great biking performance, then he blew his competition away with an incredibly quick run under 30 minutes, resulting in his win with 11 seconds to spare between him and Alex Yee, and 20 seconds between him and Hayden Wilde from New Zealand.
In an interview with Tri247 in September 2021, Kristian remarked about his triumph in Tokyo by saying that it had been a goal of his since 2009 when he first began representing his country’s youth national team, with the 2020 Olympic Games in the back of his mind.
Our intention has always been to achieve success and be victorious in either Tokyo or Paris.
Kristian Blummenfelt’s career highlights
August 2013: The national title while still a teen
At just 19 years old, Blummenfelt’s victory in the national triathlon championships is a sign that he will be a prominent figure in Norwegian triathlon going forward. He is certain to be awarded more national titles as well as international titles.
May 2016: A first appearance on a WTS podium
Following a determined effort in which Blummenfelt was on equal terms with Mario Mola for a good portion of the race, he was fatigued but held on to achieve a bronze medal in Yokohama. This is his first finish in the WTS that has resulted in him obtaining a top 10 placement. He ended up in 13th place after three months at the Rio Olympics.
September 2017: The Norwegian scoops an overall WTS bronze
At the Grand Final in Rotterdam, Blummenfelt achieved his third runner-up result of the season, resulting in a third-place finish in the overall standings and a place on the podium alongside Spain’s premier athletes, Mario Mola and Javier Gómez.
November 2017: A successful half-Ironman debut in Bahrain
At the age of only 23, Blummenfelt has achieved a major accomplishment. He succeeded in winning the Ironman 70.3 Middle East championships on his first attempt, which shows off his comprehensive talent and excellence.
December 2018: Blummenfelt becomes the fastest Ironman 70.3 triathlete in history
The primary newsworthy element of the day was that Blummenfelt held onto his championship in Bahrain. He achieved a new record time of 3:29:04 for a 70.3 course.
He was so delighted that he couldn’t help but joyously lift his fist in the air as he finished the race. Norway claimed all three medals in the event, with Gustav Iden and Casper Stornes earning the silver and bronze, respectively. All three were inside the previous world-best time.
August 2019: That long-awaited WTS race win finally arrives
Blummenfelt had many close calls in the past finishing in the top five, but he finally overcame the challenge by claiming victory at the World Triathlon Series Grand Final in Lausanne. Although he only ended up with a single podium finish out of the whole season, a few DNFs ultimately caused him to end up in 10th place overall.
December 2019: A Middle East hat-trick in double-quick time
Blummenfelt surpassed the record-breaking result of the previous year in Bahrain by reducing his 70.3 world-best timing by almost four minutes. The record now stands at 3:25:21.
July 2021: Gold is the colour in Tokyo
After waiting a year due to the pandemic, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics finally kicked off, and Norway’s Casper Blummenfelt put in a furious effort in the closing stretch to take first place, leaving Alex Yee and Hayden Wilde in the dust and forever securing his place in Olympic history.
August 2021: Victory in Edmonton delivers an unprecedented double
Blummenfelt was able to come away with the world title for the year, despite only managing to place 13th in the previous single-race championship, which had been heavily impacted by the Covid pandemic, after winning the race held in Edmonton. He is the first person to be victorious at both the Olympics and the Worlds in the same year.
November 2021: The most amazing Ironman debut ever
Incredibly, Blummenfelt is about to take on the challenge of Ironman Cozumel after an amazing season. He smashed the Ironman record in his first attempt, taking only four hours, two minutes, and forty seconds to complete the challenge.
He swam faster than ever before, exceeding the previous world’s best of 6 minutes, which was set by Jan Frodeno from Germany earlier in the year. Although, it is unclear whether the assistance of a current during the swim may have affected the record.
May 2022: Introducing the new Ironman world champion
He made history by becoming the first ever triathlete to possess both the Olympic and Ironman planet titles together, achieved by triumphing in the 2021 Ironman World Championship taking place in Utah that had been delayed. Despite a reduced amount of competitors, Blummenfelt finished the race in an extremely swift time to win his first-ever Ironman World Championship.
June 2022: Introducing the world’s first Sub7 triathlete
Blummenfelt is making history as the first-ever male triathlete to finish a Sub7 challenge in under 7 hours, completing the challenge with a time of 6:44:25.
July 2022: A Norweigan showdown
Blummenfelt is participating in the very first PTO Canadian Open, which is taking place in Edmonton, following an impressive season of competing.
It appears that Blummenfelt was well on his way to victory during the final 18km of the race, but then experienced cramping in his quadriceps which caused him to lose valuable time and he secured the runner-up spot to his fellow countryman, Gustav Iden.
He manages to soften the blow of not winning by still taking the $70k prize money for being a runner-up.
August 2022: King of Europe
At the second Collins Cup in Slovakia, he was partnered with Ben Kanute and Hayden Wilde, but he easily outran them during the second half of the bike ride, resulting in earning the most points possible. Team Europe go on to claim victory overall.
October 2022: Kona third place on debut
The pre-race predictions that this person was going to win weren’t true, but they still managed to demonstrate a new triathlete development by coming in at a third place, while Iden and Sam Laidlow, who were both competing in the race for the first time, came in first and second. All four of the top male competitors set a new personal best time on the track.
October 2022: Wins the 70.3 Worlds
After three weeks, he demonstrated his mastery of all distances by securing the world title of 70.3 and attaining every noteworthy recognition in the triathlon.
November 2022: Two top 10s in the WTCS
He raced in the short course a week after winning the 70.3 World Championships and did well, coming in sixth in Bermuda. After three weeks, he arrived at the Grand Final in Abu Dhabi and ended up 8th.
What’s next for Kristian Blummenfelt
At the end of October 2022, Blummenfelt was the proud recipient of the 70.3 titles after defeating Iden, concluding his long-distance year on a bright note.
As his plans next year entail competing again on the World Triathlon circuit, he is hoping to emulate Alistair Brownlee and earn a second consecutive Olympic gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
