It was a mega weekend of racing for the Bahrain Victorious 13 across continents and triathlon distances.

Kristian Blummenfelt took bronze in the men’s race at the Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii on a record-breaking day. With a time of 7:43:23, he and the Top 4 athletes surpassed the full distance Kona course record of 7:51:13 set by Jan Frodeno in 2019.

He swam with the front pack, worked together with training partner and eventual winner Gustav Iden in the first chase group to keep the pace high and stay within striking distance as Sam Laidlow broke away up front, then put in a fleet second-fastest 2:39:21 marathon that beat the previous run course record, holding off any other challengers to the podium.

“That was a brutal run,” Blummenfelt said. “I knew Gustav would be fast on the run, and he was just flying… Coming out of the Energy Lab I got a little gap through an aid station, but I guess he just let me believe that I had a chance. I gave it a go, but I guess he was just playing me up there and boom, he went.”

The result for Blummenfelt caps off an historic season for the Norwegian, claiming an Olympic gold medal, and the 2021 Ironman World Championship title held in St George back in May, postponed due to the pandemic.  

Joe Skipper finished in fifth, one step up from his previous Kona performance. Four minutes down from the swim leaders, he rode among the strong cyclists in the second chase group and then moved up the field running the day’s sixth-fastest marathon.

David Plese placed 32nd, recording his fifth finish on the Big Island.

Lauren Parker won the para category, marking her second Ironman world title of the calendar year after also winning in St. George, Utah in May.

In the women’s race, Daniela Ryf came out of the water about seven minutes back from the swim leader but turned up the pace to record the day’s fastest bike split and be first off the bike. She ultimately finished 8th.

Ryf said, “I tried everything so I can’t really be disappointed, but I’m not ecstatic about the result… I probably went a bit over my limit, but I’m happy I did as it’s the only way to try and win this race.”

Georgia Taylor-Brown topped the World Triathlon Championship Series race in Cagliari, Italy, consolidating her lead atop the world rankings going into the final two races in the series. Racing over the Olympic distance, the Tokyo silver medalist from Great Britain came out of the 1.5-kilometre swim in the front group with Cassandre Beaugrand, then tacked onto a bike breakaway led by Taylor Knibb and steered clear of a crash that split the field and alienated other speedy runners like Beaugrand from medal hopes. Off the 40-kilometre bike leg and onto the 10-kilometre run Taylor-Brown controlled the pace, then switched on the afterburners in the final stretch to record the second-fastest run split of the day and clinch the win.

She said, “The swim was long, the bike was long, the run was very long. It was a bit of a shock to the system for most of us, to be honest. I just tried to run my own race in the end and tried to stay in contact with the bike group. Taylor [Knibb] made it really hard but that worked in our favour because we got a really good gap on the bike… I like to try and get a group away (on the run) so I know I’ve got a bit of a buffer. Then just speaking to the girls first two laps to work together, this could be the podium, that’s all it takes, a little bit of motivation with a small group.”

Beaugrand finished in eighth with a run almost half a minute faster than Taylor-Brown’s, and rises one spot to a career-best third in the world. In the men’s race, Tyler Mislawchuk finished in 39th position after technical issues on the bike.