The man who could be KING

Over four short months in 2021, Norway's Kristian Blummenfelt became Olympic champion, world champion, and the world's fastest Ironman. Not bad for a boy from Bergen - a town not known for its summer sports. We caught up with the man of the moment to reflect on that epic achievement, discover the secrets of the Norwegian team's success, and learn why Kristian believes he's still yet to tap into his full potential...

- LIZ BARRETT

It started on 26 July 2021, when Kristian Blummenfelt became Norway's first Olympic triathlon medallist. Twenty-six days later, on 21 August, in Edmonton, he'd take the tape and add his first world title to that Olympic gold. The first male pro triathlete to complete the double in the same year (Flora Duffy would achieve the same after finishing third in Canada).

Exactly three months on from winning the two biggest trophies in short-course tri, the then 27-year-old had a go at his first Ironman, in Cozumel, Brazil. He not only won it, but also clocked a 7:21:12 - the fastest Ironman of all time... and the fastest iron-distance triathlon time, beating both Jan Frodeno's 7:35:39 from Challenge Roth in 2016 and last summer's 7:27:53 at the Tri Battle Royale.

Comparisons have naturally been made between Blummenfelt and three-time Ironman world champion, Frodeno, who won Olympic gold in Beijing in 2008, the day after he turned 27. It would take the German star another seven years to win his first Ironman world title (and the 70.3 crowns in the same year).

Blummenfelt, on the other hand, says he probably would have won the ultimate long-distance prize in Kona last year had it gone ahead. Naturally, he plans to win both the delayed 2021 World Ironman Champs in Utah, in May; the 2022 World Ironman Champs in Kona, in October; and, in between those two colossal physical tests of endurance, break the hallowed seven-hour iron-distance mark at the highly-anticipated Phoznix Sub7 and Sub8 project at the start of June.