While Iden and Blummenfelt are the first Norwegian triathletes of note, there have been many strong Danish athletes who have often finished in the Top 10 in Kona, most recently Michelle Vesterby, Camilla Pedersen, or Maja Stage Nielsen. Denmark also has one athlete on the Kona podium: Bike powerhouse Torbjorn Sindballe was third in Kona 2007 and is also known for breaking a nine-year old bike course record in 2005 with a 4:21. Sindballe had to end his racing career in 2009 with heart valve problems but is still active in the triathlon scene, frequently announcing at big events.
We’ve discussed the status of triathlon in Denmark, racing in the 2000s compared to today and Ditlev’s chances today via email.
Note: This chat was part of my research for a triathlete article on Magnus Ditlev. You can find that post on the triathlete website.
Q. As a triathlon nation, Denmark has made big steps forward – you now have five Pros racing in Kona, the same number as your much bigger neighbor Germany. How popular is triathlon in Denmark? How do you explain the success of Danish athletes?
Sindballe: Triathlon had a big surge in popularity in the 2010s, for example we’ve had our current King Frederik race Ironman Copenhagen in 2013. [An athlete designated as “Kronprins Frederik” finished in 10h45.] We now have two great events –70.3 Elsinore and Ironman Copenhagen – that draw huge crowds and international athletes. Both Camilla Pedersen and Rasmus Henning have won national awards. Danish media and sport governing bodies know that Kona is the big deal so pretty sure it will get a lot of attention if Magnus does well.
Across all Danish sports we have a mantra that “the best should train with the best”. We did this at the national team in my days, and today they train in smaller hubs like Magnus who lives and trains in a close group around Jens Petersen-Bach with others such as Laura Madsen or Thor and Sif Bendix Madsen. They stand on a very strong culture of Danish athletes and coaches, Team Denmark and leading scientists that has built a successful holistic and science driven approach in Danish triathlon over the years.
Q. In your early Kona races, you’ve struggled in the marathon. In 2005 you set a new bike course record, leading into T2 but then had to run-walk a 3:50 marathon to finish in 48th place. What changes did you make to finish third in 2007?
Sindballe: I was 80 to 81 kg, most of my competitors were between 69 and 72 kg. That made it physically impossible to dissipate heat at the rate I was producing it when running in Kona heat and humidity. So I had to adjust my pacing, not to my fitness level but to my rate of heat dissipation. We calculated the that I lost ten to twelve minutes compared to the rest of the field.
We then came up with a few ideas: Long sleeves to protect from sun radiation and to increase surface area for evaporation. I also put on a glove to cool my hands directly with ice. [see photo on the right] The maximum pace I could hold with a stable body temperature was 4:15 minutes per k, equaling the 2:57 marathon I did in 2007.
Q. Magnus is also a tall athlete. Will he be able to do better in Kona?
Sindballe: Magnus is roughly the same weight as I so he may experience some of the same challenges. He is 5 cm taller which gives him a larger surface area per kilo which helps with sweat evaporation but also increases radiation heat. But there are individual differences in what maximum temperature your body can handle.
We have seen him run a 2:41 in Nice and a 2:34 in Roth, but in Kona he did a 2:48. That was after serving a penalty – which might have lowered his body temperature. But that still leaves twelve minutes to the fastest run split – comparable to the time I lost to Chris McCormack and Craig Alexander in 2007.
We have yet to see him run up to his dry heat level from Roth in Kona heat and humidity. When trying to go faster than his 2:48 marathon from 2022 I would expect him to need direct cooling mechanisms (such as a glove, white long-sleeve shirt or the cooling head band). Magnus is extremely science driven and very similar to me on that point so I’m pretty sure he and Jens [Petersen-Bach, his coach] are on top of it.
He has an uneven playing field compared to the rest, and he may need some tries to get it right which is difficult with the two-year rotation between Nice and Kona. But with their approach I hope they can do it already this year. Hopefully he can dip below 2:45, going below 2:40 in Kona may be harder for him. He probably needs to go harder on the bike to get about ten minutes to the field and then pace the run home.
Q. On the bike and overall, finishing times have become much quicker. What changes have you seen since your racing days?
Sindballe: There has been lots of progress in the past 15 years so on many levels it is hard to compare.
New energy drinks allow athletes to consume 120 grams of carbs per hour, when I raced it was 60 to 90 grams. Having an additional 30 grams per hour or even more is a game changer during the race and in training that makes it almost impossible to compare performances across the years. For the top level it seems like Ironman is now done at a relative intensity closer to what we could hold for the ITU Long distance (under six hours of racing). You also see this effect in Cycling with speeds, fatigue resistance and back-to-back all-in days.
Bike aerodynamics and handling in downhills are significantly optimized with details such as internal cable routing, disc brakes, or optimized components. Bike positioning has also radically improved. Custom bars and bottle positioning create a shield in front of the bike that reduces drag. We tested this in my days and putting even a small shield in front of the bars and arms created a huge saving.
Training, nutrition and performance strategies and adjustment has radically improved through accessible tech and the gains from better and bigger data sets on each individual athlete
I spoke to Jens Petersen-Bach after he finished IM Copenhagen in 2023. He said he was ten mins faster doing 30 to 40 watts less that when he won in 2013, using all the optimizations he and Magnus have developed. [Petersen-Bach finished in 8:18 with a 4:24 bike split in 2023, celebrating ten years since he won the race in 2013 riding a 4:34.]
Run times have also improved, maybe about ten minutes, about half from Carbon plates improving running economy and rest from greater carb availability.
Q. How will you follow this year’s race, and are there other athletes you will be cheering for?
Sindballe: I usually follow the race online, sometimes far into the night or early in the morning. This year it may get super exciting with Magnus and also excited to see where all the other Danes can take it as well as the race in general. Outside Magnus, Daniel Baekkegard is the most rounded and could go Top10. Thor Bendix Madsen is an up-and-coming in his first year. Looks like a very strong uberbiker field, so it’ll be interesting how “The Hawk” Kristian Hogenhaug together with Robert Kallin and Cam Wurf can mix it up with Magnus, Sam and Kristian. The experienced guys like Patrick Lange and Lionel Sanders have their work cut out, and then we may see some of the T100/70.3 racers break through. As always there will also be those that succumb to the Island – with hopefully deep competitiveness in Top 10 it’s going to be super exciting.
Many thanks to Torbjorn for his insights!