Blummenfelt Validates with Big Win in Frankfurt

For someone coming off of the Olympics simply hoping to validate for the IRONMAN World Championship, Kristian Blummenfelt had himself a day in Frankfurt. The Norwegian superstar was coy in his pre-race remarks about his chances of winning today’s race. Blummenfelt said: “Last week we had a mixed relay in Paris. So, it's like almost 10 days ago, and that's like a 20-minute race versus seven hours, 40 minutes or eight hours – it's a completely different energy system.” It was not unrealistic to think that Blummenfelt would have his hands full with such a strong field assembled. As the race progressed, however, Blummenfelt was always near the front. The strongest swimmers in the field were not able to get any separation, as he came out of the water in the lead group. Uber-biker Kristian Hogenhaug built a small lead in the back half of the ride. Blummenfelt was in a perfect position in the chase pack and would run into the lead before the 10k mark. From there, the only question was if he would set the fastest marathon split ever recorded in an IRONMAN. In the end, he would clock a 2:32, good for the 3rd fastest split all-time, only behind two marks held by Patrick Lange. Blummenfelt crossed the finish line in 7:27:21, setting an IRONMAN Frankfurt course record.

After his stellar performance, Blummenfelt said, “I’m quite surprised. I felt I came in with really not much preparation, really lack of riding the TT bike, barely done any long runs. I was realistically thinking go out as normal and expect the wall to hit me quite early on the bike.” Blummenfelt would go on to say that at the 160k point of the ride he realized he was towards the front of the race and could run for the podium if he was feeling good. It was clear that that was the case, as he reached the lead quickly and went on to win by nearly 5 minutes over a class field. Kieran Lindars, donning bib number forty-eight, was a surprise 2nd. Gregory Barnaby came 3rd. Blummenfelt reasoned that he might have trained a bit too heavy on the aerobic capacity side of things heading into Paris versus training his speed. He can now put his Olympic campaign behind him and look forward to trying to win for the first time in Kona – maybe the only thing missing from his very impressive resume.

Race Recap

The European Championships attracted a strong field, looking to secure Pro Series points at the final full distance race on the calendar aside from Kona. An $87,500 prize purse and 6 Kona slots were on the line today. Germany’s Wilhelm Hirsch led out the swim in 45:51 on home soil. Pristine conditions at Langer Waldsee did not allow the stronger swimmers to build any sort of lead heading into T1. Hirsch towed another 15 competitors with him to the front of the swim. Plenty of big names were in the main group including Menno Koolhaas, Braden Currie, Kristian Blummenfelt, Gregory Barnaby, and Kieran Lindars. The chase pack, led by Robert “The Wolf” Wilkowiecki was 2:00 in arrears. That group included Paul Schuster, Kristian Hogenhaug, and Clement Mignon. Patrick Lange, Pro Series Leader Matt Hanson, and Jackson Laundry were 4:00 back. Sam Long and Trevor Foley were 7:00 back.

By the halfway point of the bike, Kristian Hogenhaug had reached the lead and had begun to put time into everyone else. Hogenhaug was in control of a Kona Qualification deep into IRONMAN Vitoria-Gasteiz just a month ago, before seeing the slot slip away in the closing kilometers of the run. Would he be able to better hold things together this time around? He played the card he had and made the bike difficult on the chasers. He would increase his lead to 2:00 by 112k and to nearly 3:00 at the bike finish. He split a 3:57:09 for the 180k ride. Ruben Zepuntke came off the bike next, 2:44 behind Hogenhaug. Blummenfelt led the main chase group off next, close to 5:00 behind Hogenhaug. Blummenfelt’s group included Barnaby and Lindars. Koolhaas was nearly 10 minutes down. Lange and Hanson were 12 minutes back. Long rode a surprising 4:09:05, 25th fastest in the field, to come in 17 minutes behind the leader. Foley was more than 24 minutes back and eventually DNF.

The 4 lap run course was perfectly flat. Temperatures reached 70 degrees, with some humidity. Conditions were far from perfect but Blummenfelt looked like he might break 2:30 halfway through the run. He caught Hogenhaug before 10k and did not look back from there. He would go on to run 2:32 and set a new Frankfurt course record. Lindars ran into 2nd place. You could see the raw emotion on his face in the closing kilometer and how much this performance meant to him. Barnaby rounded out the podium in 3rd. Hogenhaug would hang on for 4th and earn that coveted Kona slot. Koolhaas ran 2:35 to move up to 5th. Lange wound up 8th but importantly finished ahead of Hanson in 14th. The two were running together at the 25k mark, before Hanson fell off of the pace. This result could have major implications in the Pro Series standings.

Top 5 Results

TOTAL SWIM BIKE RUN
1 Blummenfelt, Kristian 7:27:21 46:06 4:03:14 2:32:29
2 Lindars, Kieran 7:32:14 46:29 4:03:26 2:37:05
3 Barnaby, Gregory 7:33:44 46:15 4:03:33 2:38:53
4 Hogenhaug, Kristian 7:35:32 47:57 3:57:09 2:45:13
5 Koolhaas, Menno 7:35:51 45:55 4:08:36 2:35:54

Quick Takes

QT #1: Kristian Blummenfelt is my favorite for Kona. He might have sand bagged a bit before this race but he still took down a class field by 5 minutes and should only get better with a couple months of specific training. We might get to witness something truly special in October when we add in a few other big names into the mix. Rumors have been swirling about a move to professional cycling for Blummenfelt. Kona is the one thing he has not won in triathlon. He is going to want to win there before moving on (if that’s what he chooses to do).

QT #2: Be honest, where would you have slotted in Lindars pre-race? Maybe top-20 or top-30? Very few would have put him in the top-10, let alone 2nd to arguably the best long course triathlete of the last few years. Lindars had some strong results last year, including a 2nd place finish at the prestigious full distance race Challenge Almere, where he more or less crawled to the finish line after pushing it to his upper limits. He had not found the same success this season but showed up to this race with a great attitude. He spoke post race about not having the same resources as some of the top guys. He couldn’t escape the rainy season to go train somewhere warm and took the morning rain as a sign that he was ready to perform in these conditions. He talked about how he has assembled a team of volunteers who guide and support him. He started with bib number 48 and is now heading to Kona. What a ride!

QT #3: Gregory Barnaby has been quietly putting together a strong 2024. He was 3rd at 70.3 Mallorca, 8th at IRONMAN Cairns, and 10th at T100 London. Add in today’s 3rd and he has been a model of consistency this season.

QT #4: It was great to see Kristian Hogenhuag bounce back today after losing a Kona slot late at IRONMAN Vitoria-Gasteiz just a month ago. The Kona bike record is officially on watch.

QT #5: Max Neumann was unfortunately a DNS so he has not qualified for Kona. Will IRONMAN exercise its Wild Card Policy on Neumann or anybody else this cycle?

QT #6: We will do a story on the IRONMAN Pro Series next week. Today was the last race to score points at the full distance, outside of Kona. Lange finishing ahead of Hanson is significant. Foley’s DNF is significant. Long finishing 22nd basically takes him out of contention. Look for a deep dive into the Pro Series standings and how we see things shaking out as we approach championship season.

Photos: Getty Images for IRONMAN

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