Gold at last for Kristian Blummenfelt at Professional Triathletes Organisation Asian Open

SINGAPORE – He arrived in Singapore on Friday evening after completing a Paris Olympic test event at the Seine river.

With less than 48 hours to acclimatise to the conditions, Tokyo Olympic triathlon champion Kristian Blummenfelt trailed in the early stages of the Pro Men race at the Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO) Asian Open at Marina Bay on Sunday.

But the Norwegian refused to wilt in the 32 deg C heat. Showing just why he is the Games champion, he overtook his rivals one by one, coming from behind to win the 100km race (2km swim, 80km bike and 18km run) in 3hr 20min 47sec, ahead of Belgian Pieter Heemeryck (3:22:46) and American Jason West (3:24:02).

Pumping his fist in the air and letting out a celebratory shout after clinching the win, his first on the PTO Tour, Blummenfelt said: “Very pleased and proud to be able to take the win finally, it’s been a long time waiting. Basically, since 2020, really want to win a PTO race and I now have it three years later.”

The 29-year-old, who had previously won two silvers (2022 Canadian Open and 2023 US Open) and a bronze (2023 European Open) on the PTO Tour, believes the race’s 3pm start time had given him just enough time to recover from jet lag.

He found the afternoon heat challenging, though, saying: “Like in the US Open, I cramped up coming off the bike and I was trying to keep the legs ready for the run and also with the heat and humidity.”

Blummenfelt had started the race slowly, coming out of the water ninth out of 20 participants, in 25min 55sec, but managed to close the gap on the leaders with a 46-second transition to the bike.

He trailed Heemeryck for all eight 10km laps for the bike segment, before transitioning to the run 2min 18sec behind the Belgian.

Blummenfelt managed to wrest the lead from Heemeryck only at the 10km mark of the run. It was a lead that he would not relinquish.

Heemeryck, who led for much of the race, was satisfied despite having to settle for second spot.

The 33-year-old said: “I knew he was coming and he’s the Olympic champion for a reason. And I think he really was focused on getting his first PTO win here.

“When he passed me, I didn’t even try to follow him because I saw he was really going all in today, but I’m happy with getting second here.”

It was a day to forget for Ironman world champion Gustav Iden as he had struggled from the get-go, emerging from the water in 17th place. 

More misery came when the 27-year-old slipped at the third bike U-turn and fell, injuring his hip and suffering cuts and bruises, which forced him to retire early.

The Norwegian said: “I was getting quite cooked in the end and it was very warm in the water and I hoped to be better on a bike but I was just dropped by everyone and feeling very demotivated.

“And when I finally crashed, normally I would get up, but I was already feeling very tired.”