Norseman Delivers Another Classic as Grue Defends, Brownlee Chases and Tungesvik Storms the Rocks

It’s been a tough year for Kristian Grue – a fall on New Year’s Eve during a run led to a broken kneecap that made for a slow start to the season. A second straight Norseman title, though, certainly signals a change of fortune. Behind him, Alistair Brownlee held on for second in his second XTRI outing, while home-turf favourite Hans Christian Tungesvik produced one of the day’s most dramatic performances, chasing down two rivals on the rocks above Gaustatoppen to steal the final podium spot from American Ernest Mantell..

While it was, for Norseman, a relatively nice day with patches of sun and only scattered rain showers (although for the women’s top finishers the clouds rolled in and the rain and hail began), a strong current in the water and headwinds on the bike made it both a tough, and slower day.

The race for first was decided by roughly the halfway point of the bike. “It started really, really hard,” Grue said. “It’s the longest swim I’ve ever had to the start from the ferry — probably around 600 meters. Me and Alistair and Ernest almost didn’t make it to the start.” Grue pushed from the gun, trying to open a gap before easing when he felt company on his feet. By the first buoy the front group had splintered and reformed: “We were around six guys in transition.”

From there, the race turned tactical. “From Vøringfossen it got a lot tactical, because Alistair was taking a lot of time on me quite fast, so I wanted to push hard early and test him on the first climb after Geilo to see if he was strong today or not,” Grue said. The test paid off. “When I got a minute and a half there, I knew I could increase the gap in the next hills.”

Brownlee felt the cost of an aggressive bike leg well before the run. “My first half was a bit optimistic, and I paid for it in the second half,” he admitted. “I had to take it really easy on a couple of those descents to recover.”

Grue wasn’t immune either — his surge had a price. “From the bottom of Imingfjell I really struggled because I pushed a bit too hard after Geilo,” he said. “From the start of Imingfjell into transition, I had a really hard time.”

Whatever gap Grue built, he had to defend it on foot. “The run was good the first 20 [km], but then it started to get tough. We walked twice before the climb on the rocks. It was a good day,” he said. It was enough for a second consecutive title — one he called harder to earn than the first. “It means a lot, especially with all the pressure I’ve put on myself. This is what I came for, and it’s good to take the win.”

Brownlee’s day really became challenging on the famous Zombie Hill that begins the climbing to the top of Mount Gausta. “That is just savage,” he said of the infamous climb. “The straights must be like two kilometers long, whatever it is — 7, 8% — just straight road. Absolutely brutal.” He crested it in second, but the race behind him wasn’t finished. “I kept looking behind to see if anyone was behind me, and in the last kilometer I saw someone was getting pretty close, so I had to push it on a little bit.”

That someone was Tungesvik, who turned an incredible performance, on terrain he knows better than anyone in the field. Sitting outside the podium entering the rocky final stretch, he decided fourth wouldn’t be so bad — until his crew talked him out of settling. “When we entered the rocky part, I was kind of content with fourth,” he said. “But I had an amazing support crew pushing me — first chasing Ernest Mantell, then almost catching Alistair. Completely dead, but so happy to get a podium.”

Brownlee saw it happen in real time and had nothing but respect for the chase. “He was moving really well over that rough terrain — really, really impressive,” Brownlee said. “I found it rough, and I couldn’t really move that well.”

For Tungesvik, the run capped a redemption arc a year in the making. “I had to DNF here due to a stress fracture during the race last year,” he said. “But the legs held up impressively well on the run — I would never have thought I’d be able to pull off such a run today. I couldn’t ask for more on a day like this.” His familiarity with the final climb didn’t hurt either: “Six times in races, and quite a lot in training. That’s definitely a home turf advantage I had there, and was able to try to reel in some time on the guys up front.”

Beyond the result, Tungesvik pointed to something more personal that keeps pulling him back to Norseman. “My family actually has a cabin here at Gaustatoppen, so I really enjoy the area,” he said. “The atmosphere in Eidfjord on the boat is just something special. I’ve tried several other extreme triathlons and quite a lot of normal IRONMAN, but I like coming back to Norseman.”

As for Brownlee, a second XTRI finish left him unwilling to commit to a third — at least not yet. “It’s definitely too soon to ask if there’s going to be a third one,” he said. “Right now the answer’s no, but tomorrow morning the answer could be yes. I enjoy the challenge, coming to different places, and the community of them as well.”

Stay tuned for more coverage from the Norseman race over the next couple of days.

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