Remember when Eliud Kipchoge Health & Injuries Breaking2 attempt, Norway’s reigning Ironman and Olympic champion Kristian Blummenfelt became the first man to break seven hours for an Iron-distance triathlon, while Britain’s Kat Matthews became the first woman to break eight hours for the distance.
The Sub7 and Sub8 projects, sponsored by the Pho3nix Foundation and powered by Zwift, also saw London 2012 gold medallist Nicola Spirig breaking the sub-eight barrier and Joe Skipper – a multiple Ironman champion – going sub-seven, with both just a few minutes behind their competitors.
The attempt, which took part in Brandenburg, Germany yesterday (5 June), aimed to test the peak of human capability for the gruelling Iron-distance triathlon, which consists of a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike ride and 26.2-mile run.
The four athletes completed the standard Iron-distance but under different rules and conditions than in traditional triathlon races. Firstly, drafting was permitted – which is where a cyclist moves into an area of low pressure behind another cyclist to reduce wind resistance and therefore the amount of pedalling required to move forwards. Each athlete was also allowed to utilise a team of pacers and use custom-made equipment.
4 OF THE BEST CARBON SHOES
Nike Alphafly NEXT% Flyknit
Runners crowned 2024 World Athletes of the Year
Regardless of these rule changes, the times recorded were truly mind-blowing. Blummenfelt crossed the line in 6 hours 44 minutes and 25 seconds, breaking his own official record of 7 hours 21 minutes 12 seconds, which he recorded last year at Ironman Cozumel.
Skipper – who had stepped in at the last minute to replace Alistair Brownlee – finished just minutes behind him in 6 hours 47 minutes 36 seconds.
Matthews clocked 7 hours 31 minutes 54 seconds to break the sub-eight barrier by a more than comfortable margin, while Spirig finished in 7 hours 34 minutes 19 seconds. For context, the official women’s record for an Iron-distance triathlon is 8 hours 18 minutes 13 seconds – recorded by Chrissie Wellington in 2012.
During the attempt yesterday, Matthews, who finished runner up at the Ironman World Championships in St. George, Utah this year, was first out the swim by seven seconds, paced by South African triathlete Sara-Jane Walker and champion India Lee, a three-time Ironman 70.3 champion.
She maintained the lead on the bike, finishing four seconds ahead of Spirig to clock a blisteringly quick 3:50:06. The mitigating of the rules for drafting meant that significant speed gains could be made during the bike leg.
On the run, Spirig – who holds an impressive marathon PB of 2:37 – took the lead with just under 10 miles to go, however, Matthews retook her position to finish ahead of the Swiss athlete to record a speedy marathon time of 2:46:09. She was wearing ASICS' new Metaspeed Sky+ carbon shoes (on sale 14 June).
Dutch open water swimmer Lars Bottelier paced Blummenfelt on the swim, with Blummenfelt perfectly glued to Bottelier’s heels. He was first out the swim in a slower than expected 48:21. Alistair Brownlee – who was originally lined up as one of the two male athletes taking on the attempt – paced Skipper.
Blummenfelt began T2 with an almost a five-minute lead over Skipper but the Brit, paced by pro-cyclist Alex Dowsett, gradually hunted him down passing Blummenfelt around 50 miles from the finish. Skipper completed the 112-mile bike leg in 3:16:42 – having maintained an average speed of 34.1mph. It all nearly came to disastrous end for Blummenfelt early on in the bike as riders in his pacing team had a touch of wheels that left the champion battling to control his bike.
On the run, Blummenfelt was paced by Kenyan distance runner Barnaba Kipkoech and began around eight minutes behind Skipper. He was given support on the move by his run reserve Lani Rutto, who delivered nutrition and hydration from a bike (which he also fell off), while Skipper’s pacer Frank Schauer handed Skipper nutrition from aid stations on the course. He also had a support crew spraying him with water to keep temperatures down.
With Blummenfelt running around 5.42min/miles to Skippers 5.55min/mile pace, he gained ground on the Brit, passing him around the 11-mile mark. The Asics athlete, who was wearing a pair of its Runners World, Part of the Hearst UK Wellbeing Network, finished the marathon in an astonishing time of 2:30:50 to become the first man to break the sub-seven barrier. Afterwards he said:
‘It was full gas from the gun and I almost went down there early on the bike. That got my heart rate up. And it was a tough day… It was brutal just to stay on the wheel to these guys.
‘And also a massive thanks to Joe and his team for the tough battle. Luckily we managed to sneak just in front. Thank you all. Another thanks for the Pho3nix [Foundation] for organising this. It’s been an amazing two years of building the team together and preparing for this event. It’s been an epic challenge.’
