Men’s Ironman World Championship 2025 in Nice – How the Race Unfolded

The men’s 2025 Ironman World Championship marked the final edition held on the spectacular course in Nice, France. Its long climbs, technical descents, and cooler coastal conditions once again challenged athletes in different ways than the heat and humidity of Kona. As expected, the race was very dynamic across all three disciplines. This post takes a deep dive into how the swim, bike, and run unfolded for the top contenders.

To begin, the table below highlights the Top 10 finishers, along with a few additional athletes who drew attention before and during the race:

Rank	Name	Nation	Swim	Bike	Run	Time	Diff to exp.	Prize Money
1	Casper Stornes	NOR	00:45:21 (11)	04:31:26 (5)	02:29:25 (1)	07:51:39	-13:30	US$ 125,000
2	Gustav Iden	NOR	00:47:14 (33)	04:30:17 (2)	02:32:15 (3)	07:54:13	-16:51	US$ 65,000
3	Kristian Blummenfelt	NOR	00:46:08 (15)	04:31:20 (4)	02:34:38 (4)	07:56:36	-07:05	US$ 45,000
4	Marten Van Riel	BEL	00:45:17 (4)	04:31:48 (6)	02:40:46 (11)	08:02:18	-15:40	US$ 25,000
5	Sam Laidlow	FRA	00:47:11 (29)	04:29:29 (1)	02:42:23 (18)	08:03:55	-12:45	US$ 20,000
6	Jonas Schomburg	GER	00:45:12 (2)	04:40:27 (12)	02:36:49 (6)	08:07:04	-00:54	US$ 18,000
7	Nick Thompson	AUS	00:46:16 (22)	04:30:40 (3)	02:48:21 (24)	08:10:32	-17:31	US$ 15,000
8	Matthew Marquardt	USA	00:46:11 (16)	04:39:39 (10)	02:40:24 (9)	08:11:34	-05:54	US$ 13,000
9	Patrick Lange	GER	00:47:11 (29)	04:50:38 (36)	02:31:33 (2)	08:14:13	01:09	US$ 12,000
10	Jamie Riddle	ZAF	00:45:15 (3)	04:37:21 (8)	02:47:35 (22)	08:15:00	-12:01	US$ 11,000
13	Rudy von Berg	USA	00:46:04 (14)	04:42:35 (17)	02:43:53 (21)	08:17:10	02:17	US$ 5,000
14	Sam Long	USA	00:51:26 (46)	04:42:13 (15)	02:39:54 (8)	08:18:00	-21:39	US$ 4,000
21	Cameron Wurf	AUS	00:51:23 (42)	04:39:14 (9)	02:49:00 (25)	08:24:07	00:44
	Magnus Ditlev	DEN	00:46:12 (17)	04:36:00 (7)		DNF

You can find the full results in my Nice Results post.

The following graph shows how the race developed (click for a hi-res version):

Before looking at the different athletes, let’s start with a shorter summary of the race:

• The swim quickly split the field into distinct groups. Andrea Salvisberg led a front group of 13 athletes out of the water, joined by strong swimmers such as Jonas Schomburg, Jamie Riddle, Marten van Riel and Casper Stornes. The second group was about 52 seconds back, it included Rudy von Berg, Kristian Blummenfelt, Matthew Marquardt, Magnus Ditlev and Nick Thompson. Surprisingly, Sam Laidlow was only in the third group about two minutes back, alongside Patrick Lange and Gustav Iden, while Cameron Wurf and Sam Long were already more than six minutes back.
• The race took shape in the big climbs in the first 40 miles. Up front, Marten, Jamie and Jonas formed the lead group. Behind them, a chase group with Sam, Nick, Magnus and the three Norwegians began to work together and closed the gap to just over a minute on the Col de l’Ecre. 
• On the plateau, the groups were stable but the leaders managed to extend their lead, by 55 miles they were more than two minutes ahead of the chasers. A reshuffle happened in the descent to Greolieres and the subsequent climb to Coursegoules (between miles 65 and 80): Marten rode away from Jamie and Jonas, while Sam and Kristian began making up time on Marten, joining the lead before the big descent.
• Jamie and Jonas continued to lose time, and Magnus fell back from the chasers. At the end of the bike, the smaller groups at the front came together with Gustav, Nick and Casper closing the remaining gap in the flat final section in T2. 
• Some of the lead group took their time in T2, but except for Nick everyone was together after the first 5k of the run, and there was an impressive echelon of five runners within two or three seconds battling for the lead and the win.
• Lap 2 of the run saw Kristian and Gustav push the pace, and Sam and Marten had to let them run away. Initially, Casper also lost about 30 seconds, but by the end of lap 2 he had clawed his way back to the lead.
• Lap 3 saw the deciding move: Casper, now the fastest runner, ran away from his countryman and opened a gap of more than a minute to Gustav and Kristian by the end of lap 3. Sam and Marten were over four and almost six minutes back.
• The final lap saw Casper extend his lead at the front, winning the race by over two minutes with a superb 2:29:25 marathon. Gustav was able to run away from a cramping Kristian for second. Behind these top three, Sam was able to secure fifth place but struggled and had to let Marten pass for fourth. Patrick Lange had the second-best run split of the field, but after starting the run only in 27th place, he was only able to improve to ninth place in the end.

Three Norwegians celebrating their Nice podium sweep. (Credit: Ironman)

A few observations about the Nice race:

• The race ended with a Norwegian podium, just as they did at the 2018 WTS race in Bermuda. At the men’s Ironman World Championships, Germany also did this in 2016 (Frodeno, Kienle, Lange) and 1997 (Hellriegel, Zäck, Leder) and the USA a few times in the early years of the race. 
• The times were faster across the board than two years ago. Andrea Salvisberg (45:11) was more than two minutes quicker than Matthew Marquardt in 2023 (47:46), Sam Laidlow had the fastest bike in both years (4:31:29 in 2023, 4:29:29 this year), and Casper Storned posted the first sub-2:30 marathon in an Ironman World Championship race. His 2:29:25 was more than three minutes faster than Patrick Lange’s 2:32:41. Casper’s total time of 7:51 was 15 minutes quicker than Sam’s winning time in 2023, and all three Norwegians went under eight hours this year. Sam was almost three minutes quicker than two years ago, but dropped from first in 2023 to fifth this year. 
• Comparing the Top 5 from two years ago, Sam is the only athlete to place that well in both years. Compared to Kona last year, Patrick Lange was the only athlete to finish in the Top 10 in both years.

World Champion: Casper Stornes

As in the previous “Norwegian Podium” at WTS Bermuda 2018, Casper proved to be the strongest of the Norwegian trio. He executed a tactically intelligent race to claim victory with a record-breaking 2:29:25 marathon.

You can see in his race development graph that he was able to swim with the front group (the Norwegian), but then lost about a minute in T1, likely putting on aero calf guards. That meant he fell back into the second group, about two minutes back after the first big climb. When Gustav rode up to him after 15 miles, the pair worked together through the chase group. Shortly after, they were overtaken by Sam Laidlow who then pushed the pace, leading to a six-rider chase group: Casper and the other two Norwegians, Sam, Nick Thompson and Magnus Ditlev. Casper was second in that group across the top of the Col de l’Ecre. He continued to ride well but conservatively when Sam and Kristian decided to chase the leaders after about 60 miles. He made up time to the leaders but always dangled a few seconds behind Gustav and Nick. By T2, all of them had ridden up to the front of the race, and they all got off their bikes within just a few seconds. Casper was the last of the six leaders into T2, 23 seconds behind leader Marten van Riel. 

Casper again lost a few seconds in transition and started the run 42 seconds down on Marten and Sam. Probably running his own pace of 3:34 minutes per k, he slowly closed the gap in the first lap of the run, and at the end of lap 1 there was an echelon of five runners going for the win running at a 2:30 marathon pace.

Five leaders at the end of the first run lap (Credit: Screenshot from the Ironman broadcast)

To close his T2 gap, Casper had the fastest first lap of the lead group, only Jonas Schomburg, Patrick Lange and Matt Hanson were slightly quicker at that point but already out of contention for the win. He continued to run his own pace at the start of lap 2 when Kristian and Gustav were launching an attack, dropping Sam and Marten. Casper maintained his rhythm rather than responding immediately, and he once again joined the front of the race at the end of lap 2. Casper had the fastest lap 2 of the whole field, Kristian and Gustav were only 2 seconds slower but were running a bit more uneven. Casper continued his pace in lap 3, and by then no one was able to match him. Gustav dropped off first, then Kristian also had to let him go shortly after the turn in lap 3. At the end of lap 3 Casper was a minute ahead of Kristian and Gustav, then he also ran the fastest lap 4 to win by 2.5 minutes, posting a 2:29:25 marathon split.

Here’s a table comparing the run pacing of the top runners:

Athlete	Lap 1	Lap 2	Lap 3	Lap 4	Marathon Split	Avg. Pace (per k, per mile)
Casper Stornes	00:37:28	00:36:59	00:37:33	00:37:25	02:29:25	03:32 (05:42)
Gustav Iden	00:37:39	00:37:01	00:38:43	00:38:51	02:32:15	03:36 (05:49)
Kristian Blummenfelt	00:37:39	00:37:01	00:38:43	00:41:15	02:34:38	03:40 (05:54)
Marten Van Riel	00:38:10	00:39:30	00:40:54	00:42:11	02:40:46	03:49 (06:08)
Sam Laidlow	00:38:05	00:38:27	00:40:32	00:45:19	02:42:23	03:51 (06:12)
Jonas Schomburg	00:36:22	00:38:33	00:40:08	00:41:46	02:36:49	03:43 (05:59)
Patrick Lange	00:37:17	00:37:43	00:38:23	00:38:10	02:31:33	03:35 (05:47)

Casper had enough of a gap to grab a Norwegian flag and properly celebrate his win on Ironman World Championship debut.

Casper winning the 2025 Ironman World Championships in Nice (Credit: Ironman)

Second: Gustav Iden

Gustav’s race development graph shows how well he paced himself during the day:

He’s typically the weakest swimmer of the Norwegians, and he was only 33rd in T1, more than two minutes behind the race leaders. But he didn’t panic and slowly worked his way towards the chase group, joining them after about 30 miles in the climb to the Col de l’Ecre. Similar to Casper, he rode more within himself rather than trying to chase the lead, and by T2 had almost ridden up to Marten. He started the run in third place with Kristian, just 27 seconds off the lead, and pushed the pace at the start of lap 2 but then wasn’t able to stay with Casper in lap 3. However, he was able to catch Kristian before the end of lap 3. Interestingly, Gustav and Kristian ran exactly the same time for the first three run laps!

Gustav running ahead of Kristian in Nice (Credit: Marcel Hilger)

At the end of lap 4, Gustav was able to seperate from Kristian, and he also had enough time to grab an even larger Norwegian flag before crossing the finish line, proud and satisfied with his own performance but also happy for Casper to have taken the win.

Third: Kristian Blummenfelt

Kristian Blummenfelt completed the Norwegian podium sweep in Nice:

Most of the race went well for Kristian: With a solid swim in the chase group, he only lost 57 seconds to the leaders. After losing another minute in the first twenty miles of the bike, Sam Laidlow rode up to the chase group, and Kristian was able to follow him on his way to the front. After mile 60, Sam put in another surge and he and Kristian rode up to Marten before the final big descent. The first two run laps were also going well for Kristian, he and Gustav were able to drop Sam and Marten. But then Casper was able to run back up to them and finally Kristian had to let him go after the turn in lap 3. Towards the end Kristian was struggling with cramping issues, only grimacing at first, then having to let Gustav run away and finally even having to walk a few steps. But by then, Kristian’s third place was safe, and he could celebrate his third place, with only his friends and training partners ahead of him.

Kristian celebrating his third-place finish in Nice (Credit: Marcel Hilger)

While Kristian was clearly proud to finish third, he was probably focused on winning the race, and he may think back to a few sections on the bike where pushing the pace might have dropped Casper and Gustav before the run. After the race, all three bike leaders said that they thought they had a gap of maybe two minutes to the group with Gustav, Casper and Nick Thompson in the descent and might have pushed the pace a bit more in the final 20 miles had they known that the others were closer. In his big wins (for example, St. George 2022, Texas 2025 or Frankfurt 2024 and 2025), Kristian wasn’t forced to work too hard on the bike as he was the fastest runner in the field. Does he have to rethink his bike pacing after his third place in Nice? Or will he make changes to his season build – Casper and Gustav ran their fastest marathon times in Nice while Kristian wasn’t able to match his 2:30 from Frankfurt in the summer. It’s going to be an interesting 2026 season!

Fourth: Marten Van Riel

Marten Van Riel led substantial parts of the Nice race, ultimately finishing in fourth place as the “first non-Norwegian” – and the highest Belgian finish since Frederik Van Lierde’s win in 2013 and Bart Aernouts’ 2018 runner-up finish:

Marten swam in the front group and was also part of the early lead group on the bike with Jonas Schomburg and Jamie Riddle. In the descent to Greoliere after about 70 miles, Marten was able to build a lead over Jonas and Jamie and for a while was leading the race on his own. But he wasn’t riding away from the chasers, and in the final climb before the long descent into T2, Sam and Kristian were able to join him, and Casper, Gustav and Nick weren’t too far behind.

Marten was first off the bike in Nice (Credit: Marcel Hilger)

The bike dynamics created a tight five-runner lead group in the first run lap. In lap 2, it seemed that Marten’s lack of run training due to an ankle injury over the summer caught up with him, he was the first athlete to fall out of the lead group. Even if he wasn’t able to run at the same pace as the Norwegians, his drop-off wasn’t catastrophic and he seemed safe for a fifth place. In the final lap, he was even able to catch a struggling Sam and moved into fourth place across the line. 

Fifth: Sam Laidlow

Sam Laidlow didn’t have the race he was looking for, but he refused to give up his dream of repeating his 2023 win. For most of the season, he struggled with what was finally diagnosed as Epstein-Barr virus, then he was also under the weather in the days before the race. Fifth place was still a disappointment for him but it was the best he could achieve in Nice this year.

There is much more up-and-down in Sam’s graph than is typical for him and what we’ve seen in recent World Championship races. His plan was to repeat his successful 2023 strategy: Start putting pressure on the other favorites with a fast swim, then blitz the initial climb to ride away, extend that lead on the rest of the bike, then defend it with a solid run. Before the race, there was a lot of talk about a swim group scheming to break up the lead group at the first buoy, and Jamie Riddle, Andrea Salvisberg and Marten Van Riel (and maybe a few more) executed that plan. But at that point, Sam already had to drop back: His hip flexors cramped up, and he needed some floating time on the side of the swim course before continuing.

By T1, he was only two minutes behind but still in the second chase pack, exiting the water with Patrick Lange. But then he needed some more time to stretch and gather his wits in T1 – at the start of the bike he was almost three minutes behind and in 36th place. Instead of starting to build a lead, all big favorites were ahead of him. Sam also needed the flat initial section to loosen up a bit more, but once he hit the climbs, his body finally responded – and probably his mindset shifted into a more positive mood. When he crested the Col de l’Ecre after 38 miles, he had ridden through most of the field, gaining more than 30 spots. The Norwegians and Magnus Ditlev had to work hard to stay with him, and he had closed the gap to the lead group to 1:12. He was also ahead of his bike split from 2023. In the flatter section on the plateau that followed after the long climb, he probably needed a bit of a break to catch up on nutrition. When no one else was willing to do the chase work, the gap extended again to 2:12 at the turnaround close to the halfway of the bike course. Sam decided on another big push, since riding with a tailwind would make it harder for the other to hold his wheel.

Sam Laidlow’s Nice race didn’t go according to plan (Credit: Marcel Hilger)

He was able to get closer to the leaders again, and only Kristian could follow him. After passing Jonas and Jamie, they only had a minute left to Marten and continued to make up time to him, finally reaching him on the last climb at about mile 90 before the long descent. Thinking they had more than two minutes to the other chasers (actually only about one), they took it a bit easier, allowing the chase group to catch up again, setting up an epic marathon battle. With the fastest bike split, Sam had erased his swim deficit from the morning – would he be able to fight for the win in the marathon?

In the first run lap, Sam stayed in the lead group but similar to Marten then fell behind in lap 2. Part of it was probably his low training volume over the year, but Sam also thinks he didn’t get his nutrition right on the bike, running out of carbs on the run. Usually, he’s riding on his own during the bike leg and can completely focus on himself, but in this race he was riding with a group and had to make many tactical decisions – and he didn’t empty his big gel bottle. In addition, he rode solo in 2023 and could maintain an even power output. This year, he had to go over threshold to catch up and then break the chase group, likely making the race harder for him than two years ago. The final run lap was a big struggle for Sam, and he had to let Marten pass. But everyone else behind him was suffering as well, and Sam was able to hold on for fifth place. Even with his uneven pacing, he was only 37 seconds slower in the marathon (on a slightly different course) and 2.5 minutes faster overall than in 2023. 

Sixth: Jonas Schomburg

In his first Ironman World Championship, Jonas Schomburg secured sixth place as the best German with his characteristic aggressive racing style:

After a solid swim in the front group, Jonas once again blitzed T1 and led the field in the early bike miles. Marten and Jamie joined him, and the trio formed a well-working front group. They stayed together until mile 70 when it seemed that both Jamie and Jonas were empty and no longer able to keep up the pace that Marten set at the front. They were overtaken by the chase group shortly after, and Jonas lost eight minutes in the last 40 miles. He reached T2 in ninth place – would he lose more spots on the run? In typical Jonas fashion, he ran hard at the start of the marathon, posting the fastest first run lap.

Jonas fought hard for a sixth place in his first Ironman World Champs (Credit: Marcel Hilger)

He looked great and was about a minute quicker than the leaders, but that still wouldn’t be enough to put him in contention for the win – but maybe he’d be able to catch some athletes who might run into problems? But his first lap run pace – equal to a 2:26 marathon – was not sustainable and he had to slow down while the leaders were able to held their pace. While Jonas lost more time to the front runners, he was able to move into sixth place at the end of lap 2. In laps 3 and 4, he had to slow down further and wasn’t able to gain additional positions but also no one was able to pressure him. He crossed the finish line in sixth place. 

Seventh: Nick Thompson

Nick Thompson was the top non-European finisher in Nice, leveraging a strong bike leg for seventh place:

 

Nick swam in the first chase group with Patrick Lange and Sam Laidlow. On the bike, he established himself in the chase group and helped Gustav and Casper in the final bike section to close the gap to the leaders.

For a long time, Nick was close to the front of the Nice race (Credit: Marcel Hilger)

He was third into T2 but then started sliding: He lost thirty seconds in T2, starting the run in fifth, and then he wasn’t able to run back up to the leaders. At the start of lap 3, he lost sixth place to Jonas, and Matthew Marquardt was closing the gap to him. Matthew ran lap 3 almost six minutes quicker than Nick, cutting Nick’s lead to less than two minutes entering the final run lap. Nick was able to rally in the last lap: His pace went from 4:20 per k to under 4 minutes, but at 39k Matthew was only 18 seconds behind. Nick found a final surge to finish seventh, 62 seconds ahead of Matthew.

Eight: Matthew Marquardt

Matthew Marquardt was the top American finisher in eighth place after having to deal with mid-race adversity:

In Nice 2023, Matthew was first out of the water, this year he swam in the first chase group and exited the water a minute behind in 16th place. In most of his 2025 races he had issues in T1, in Nice his struggles started just a bit later: His “left quad seized up one mile into the bike”, and he lost another five minutes to the leaders in the initial flat 10k. He said it took him about 20 minutes before things were back to normal, luckily that was before the climbing started otherwise he would have probably lost more time or might even have been forced to drop out. After dealing with his early problems, he almost rode the same pace as the leaders, steadily climbing from 37th to 10th place before the final descent back to Nice. “Around mile 105, my wheels slipped out from under me, and I hit the pavement hard with my right hip. After a quick self-physical exam determined that nothing was broken (although I could barely move my fingers and my right hip hurt badly), I was on my way again. Because of the crash, every step was excruciating at the start of the run. Thanks to the wonders of Exercise-induced analgesia, with time the pain subsided enough that my limp went away for the most part.” Matthew ran a consistently paced 2:40 marathon, and he overtook a few athletes who struggled to run a solid pace. In the end, he almost caught Nick. After eleventh place two years ago, Matthew had his best Ironman World Championship finish in eighth place.

Matt celebrated his eighth-place finish in Nice even after cramping and crashing on the bike (Credit: Marcel Hilger)

Ninth: Patrick Lange

With the second-best run of the day, Patrick Lange was able to improve a disappointing 33rd position in T2 into a respectable ninth place across the line: 

After finishing second two years ago in Nice and winning in Kona last year, Patrick Lange was one of the big favorites for Nice. He created a splash before the swim start with a leopard-patterned bathrobe with pink lining, and his race started okay: In T1 he was exactly two minutes behind the leaders but had some good riders around him who might help him to improve his position on the bike. But he quickly lost contact with them in the initial climbs, and on the Col de l’Ecre after 38 miles he had fallen back to 42nd position more than eleven minutes behind, and even slower swimmers such as Cam Wurf or Sam Long had already passed him. At that point, it was clear that defending his Kona title wasn’t in the cards for him. He continued to lose time in the rest of the bike leg, and though he was able to move a few spots ahead, by T2 he was in 33rd place, 21 minutes behind the leaders and eleven minutes behind the Top 10. He might have jogged it home or even abandoned the race, but out of T2 Patrick was determined to give his best.

Defending Champion Patrick Lange salvaged his Nice race with the second-best marathon of the day (Credit: Marcel Hilger)

He had the second-best first run lap (only behind a crazy-fast first lap by Jonas) which didn’t see him climb many spots yet, but he maintained his pace in the second lap, climbing into 16th. He was also able to whittle down the gap to tenth place to under 3.5 minutes. He slowed down only slightly in lap 3 and had the second-fastest lap, only behind Casper who made his decisive move at the front. At the turn in the final lap he overtook Jamie Riddle and was even able to raise his heart rate to hold on to ninth place with a 2:31 marathon, eight seconds quicker than in 2023 when he ran into second place. 

Tenth: Jamie Riddle

For the first four hours, Jamie Riddle helped to push the pace at the front, and even after he was overtaken by athletes looking to win the race, he continued to ride and run well, holding on for a Top 10 finish:

Before the race, Jamie Riddle was rumored to be working on a plan to make the swim fast and break up the field. He and a few others did just that, even when they also dropped Sam Laidlow who might have benefited the most from such a plan. Jamie, Jonas and Marten continued to work together on the bike, and they were the first across the Col de l’Ecre, then again extending their lead to more than two minutes over the chase group on the plateau. But then things changed after mile 70: In the descent to Greolieres and the climb to Coursegoules the front group fell apart, and Jamie and Jonas were caught by the chasers. Jamie rode with Magnus into T2, 5:20 behind the leaders. While Magnus struggled on the run, Jamie ran a solid first half-marathon of 1:19:08, and only Jonas was able to pass him. As is often the case for Jamie in his full-distance races, he had to work hard to keep things from falling apart in the second half. His second half-marathon was nine minutes slower (1:28:27), but he only lost two spots and was able to fight hard in the last 5k for ninth place. In his first season of racing longer than Olympic Distance, Jamie was the youngest finisher in the Top 10. Can he improve further in the following years, maybe becoming the first South African athlete on the Kona podium?

Never Quite in the Race: Rudy von Berg, Sam Long, Cam Wurf

Rudy von Berg, Sam Long and Cam Wurf are three athletes hoping to play a big role in the Nice race. They are probably not satisfied with how their races went and their finishes in 13th, 14th and 21st place:

Rudy’s race went as expected for the first two hours – swimming in the chase group, then riding in a bigger group with the Norwegians. But when Sam Laidlow pushed the pace in the climb to the Col de l’Ecre, Rudy had to drop back then continued to lose time to the front and the chase. By T2, he was in 11th place more than ten minutes behind. He also didn’t have the run he was looking for, and after a 21st-best marathon of 2:43 he was 13th across the line. Sam had a better run, an eighth-best 2:39 marathon, but after a slow swim six minutes behind the lead, even a solid bike only saw him move into 18th place by T2. Cam was three seconds quicker than Sam in the water, and he also had a better bike leg. By mile 60, he had moved into the Top 20. For a while he rode with Matthew Marquardt, but when he wasn’t able to follow Matt in the descent to Greolieres, it became clear that it wasn’t Cam’s day. He also didn’t have a good run, a 2:49 marathon wasn’t good enough for a Top 20 finish.

DNF: Magnus Ditlev

Magnus Ditlev was probably the most prominent DNF in Nice.

For the first part of the race, things were acceptable for Magnus: He didn’t lose too much time in the swim (he was 17th only a minute behind the leader) and then rode in the chase group with Sam and the Norwegians.

At the start of the bike, Magnus was in a good position but he ran into problems the longer the race went (Credit: Marcel Hilger)

But he seemed to work hard to stay with them in the climb to the Col de l’Ecre and also wasn’t able to do more than stay with them on the plateau instead of launching his own attacks. When Sam upped the pace after mile 60, Magnus was no longer able to follow and started to fall back. On the bike, he didn’t lose too much time, starting the run in eighth place, six minutes behind the leaders. A strong run – similar to Kona last year – might still be able to fight for a podium finish. But it quickly became apparent that that wasn’t possible for Magnus: In the first run lap he fell back to ninth, and in the second lap he had to walk and then drop out. After the race he was diagnosed with pneumonia, staying in bed for two weeks.