Kristian Blummenfelt won the 2021 IRONMAN World Championship in St. George, Utah, earning his third world championship in the last twelve months. Blummenfelt took the lead midway through the run from long-time leader and eventual third place finisher Braden Currie, with Lionel Sanders in second, overtaken Currie with less than 400 meters to run.

Men’s Race Recap

The cannon went off and, like almost every IRONMAN World Championship, a swarm of angry arms and legs churned up the water. Lots of men struggled with the 64 degree water, popping out and shaking their hands or choosing to swim breast stroke. Braden Currie took the lead initially, with the group still altogether through the first 300 meters. Nine men tried to breakaway, but were reeled back in by David McNamee. That move strung the group out single-file for 100 meters — including Kristian Blummenfelt and Sebastian Kienle. Daniel Baekkegard then swung into lead approximately 10 minutes into the swim.

With about a mile to go to transition, the front pack splintered, opening a 100 meter gap on the chasers. Currie, Baekkegard and McNamee made the split, whereas Blummenfelt, Kienle, etc. missed that break. Coming onto land, Sam Laidlow led the swim in 47:29. Baekkegard, Kyle Smith, Currie, Florian Angert, Denis Chevrot, McNamee all came out just behind together.

The second group was led by Andy Potts, and included Blummenfelt, Henrik Goesch, Pieter Heemeryck, Kristian Hogenhaug, all 2:00 behind. Matt Hanson, Patrik Nilsson, Justin Metzler, Ben Hoffman, Andreas Dreitz, Chris Leiferman, Kienle, Sam Long, Cam Wurf, Tyler Butterfield, and Sanders at 4:10 back.

Baekkegard flew through transition in 1:03 to take the lead, with Currie joining up the road. The group bunched back up slightly during the opening miles of the bike, with Currie making a questionable pass on the incorrect side to swing back into the lead. Overall, though, no real changes in position during the first 10 miles — Laidlow, Baekkegard, Currie, Angert and Smith with roughly two minutes to Blummenfelt, McNamee, et al.

Through 25 miles, the leading five continued to trade places but maintained their strong pace, opening up another 30 seconds on Blummenfelt, now 2:30 behind. Hogenhaug, Potts, McNamee were another minute back. Wurf had pulled a train up that was starting to nip at the heels of the Hogenhaug/Potts group which included Long, Dreitz, and Leon Chevalier. Kienle and Sanders were just trailing this group, 5 minutes off the lead.

The front group continued to push the pace, holding the Wurf group to a 4 minute gap at the mile 39 time split. Blummenfelt found himself in no man’s land, 45 seconds in front of the Wurf group. The big mover was Lionel Sanders — sliding another minute off the lead, sitting in 21st place.

Over the next 12 miles, the front group stayed aggressive — putting another 45 seconds into the chase pack of Wurf, Blummenfelt, Chevalier, Hogenhaug, Matt Trautman, Pieter Heemeryck, and Long. Sanders had bridged to a group containing Kienle, Hoffman, McNamee, and Leiferman — but they had ceded yet another 45 seconds to the leaders. Unfortunately, during this segment, Dreitz had crashed out of the group and the race. Once hitched to the Kienle group, Sanders came to the front and began to push the pace on the initial foothills — clawing back 15 seconds to the leaders and Wurf group and moving to 15th place overall.

Onto the initial climbs and the men’s front group started surging. Although the five leaders remained together at the timing split, on climbs gaps would begin opening and would require a fast closure to avoid the elastic being snapped. The major casualty thus far — Long was dropped off the back of the Wurf train, sitting solo on the road and only 30 seconds in front of Sanders and Kienle.

Coming over the top of the Gunlock climb, the leaders remained together in line. Wurf led the chase and had opened up a small gap over Blummenfelt and Hogenhaug. As Sanders came over the top and being described as looking comfortable, he had enough time to say to IRONMAN commentary that “I wouldn’t say I’m comfortable.” Whereas Kienle 15 seconds later remarked “I am comfortable.”

Sanders continued to chase hard, desperately chasing off the back of Gunlock to try and bridge to Wurf before entering Snow Canyon, leaving Leiferman, Long, Kienle, and Chevalier behind.

Coming over the top of Snow Canyon, the five leading men remained the same. Wurf, Sanders, and Blummenfelt had grouped together, 4:15 behind. Long, Hogenhaug, and Leiferman were together another 2:30 behind. Kienle, meanwhile, was the one dropped off the back, now sitting 9:30 off the pace.

Ending the bike, it was Smith taking top honors, with Laidlow, Angert, Currie, and Baekkegard all within 7 seconds of one another. Smith and Angert exited transition together, earning a precious 15 to 20 seconds over Currie, Laidlow, and Baekkegard. The trio of Wurf, Sanders, and Blummenfelt were 4:20 behind Smith. Long (+6:16) and Leiferman (+6:42) rounded out the top 10 off the bike.

During the opening miles of the run, Smith and Currie immediately distanced themselves from their fellow leaders. Smith led, Currie 24 seconds behind. Angert sat another 11 seconds back, while Baekkegard and Laidlow were running together a minute off the lead. Blummenfelt had broken away from Wurf and Sanders, running 30 seconds a mile faster than Wurf.

At 5 kilometers, Currie came past Smith (with a friendly fist bump from Smith along the way) and immediately tried to open a gap. That said, the two fastest runners on the road were Blummenfelt and Long — now 6th and 9th on the road, respectively.

After 5.9 miles, Currie had opened a 41 second gap to Smith. Baekkegard sat third, 1:33 behind and running slightly faster than Smith. Anger was fourth, Laidlow 5th. Blummenfelt was matching the pace of Currie up the road and was within striking distance of the podium. Sanders was 7th, 5:19 down, and Long 8th at 5:55.

Going uphill toward the turnaround, and Currie continued to push hard. His lead was now 2:04 on Smith, 2:32 on Laidlow, 2:38 on Baekkegard, and 2:40 on Angert. Blummenfelt was still steadily closing, 4:00 off the lead. Sanders was 7th, 5:21 behind, but running faster than everyone in front of him minus Blummenfelt. Leiferman had passed Long for 8th, who may have been feeling the effects of being hit by a car earlier in race week.

At 10 miles, and Blummenfelt began to make his big move. He’d claimed the first of the five leaders (Smith), and had 4th place Baekkegard in his sights. Blummenfelt was also running 30 seconds per mile faster than second place Angert and third place Laidlow. Over the course of the next mile, Blummenfelt blew through Laidlow and Angert, taking second place. On the current pace, Blummenfelt would catch Currie for the lead at mile 22.

At the midway point, Currie led having run an opening 1:19:06 half marathon. Blummenfelt had narrowed the gap to 2:27 and was on pace to run 2:34. Laidlow was third, Angert fourth, Smith fifth, Baekkegard sixth, and with Sanders closing hard in seventh. Leiferman was eighth, Chevalier ninth, and Long tenth. Just outside of the top 10 and threatening for paydays were McNamee, Hoffman, and Kienle.

By mile 16, and Blummenfelt was now within a minute of Currie. Laidlow was still third, but Sanders was 15 seconds back of him in fourth. Angert rounded out the top 5. The blow-ups had started to come — Hogenhaug was seen leaning against a banner, grimacing, and not making progress. Long had also dropped out of the top 10, replaced by McNamee.

At about the same time, the podium shifted: Sanders passed Laidlow for third, while Blummenfelt caught Currie at an aid station. Currie attempted to latch onto the back of Blummenfelt, but Blummenfelt surged yet again to open up a 100 meter gap in a matter of seconds. The other mover: Leiferman, now seventh, having blitzed past Baekkegard, and the fastest man on the road not named Blummenfelt — and was within striking distance of fourth.

With 10 kilometers left to run, it looked like the podium was locked: Blummenfelt, Currie (+1:23), and Sanders (+4:55). The rest of the top 10, however, was moving around. Leiferman now sat fourth (+6:35), having just passed the still attached at the hip after 134 miles Angert and Laidlow. Smith was still hanging tough in seventh, 9:29 back. Baekkegard sat eighth (+10:39), Chevalier held ninth (+11:36), and McNamee tenth (+13:11). The question left would be whether Hoffman could close into the top 10, with about two minutes to make up in the closing miles.

With 5 kilometers to run, though, Sanders had dug very deep to close within 1:45 of Currie, and Currie was struggling significantly on the uphill — could Sanders take silver? Sanders had eaten another 30 seconds out of Currie, leaving just a 1:06 gap for the final 2.5 miles.

Blummenfelt closed his marathon in 2:38:01 to claim the 2021 IRONMAN World Championship in 7:49:16. Sanders made up a 33 second gap in under a mile to take second in 7:54:03, with Currie third in 7:54:19. Leiferman was the top American in fourth, finishing in 7:57:51. Angert closed out the top five, finishing in 7:59:35.

Men’s Top 15 Results

1. Kristian Blummenfelt 7:49:16
2. Lionel Sanders 7:54:03
3. Braden Currie 7:54:19
4. Chris Leiferman 7:57:51
5. Florian Angert 7:59:35
6. Leon Chevalier 8:01:41
7. Daniel Baekkegard 8:02:06
8. Sam Laidlow 8:02:56
9. David McNamee 8:04:36
10. Ben Hoffman 8:06:38
11. Kyle Smith 8:08:08
12. Matt Trautman 8:12:54
13. Matt Hanson 8:13:48
14. Sebastian Kienle 8:14:34
15. Sam Long 8:16:34

Photo Credit
Ryan Bethke/IRONMAN