Since this is the first time in years that I wasn’t in France (!), I was curious how Men’s Nice was going on the ground. So we asked Tim Heming, who has been at all three editions of the Ironman World Championships in the French Riviera, to give us the special report.
And yes, 100%, it was absolutely a wild race. That kind of five-way run battle is what creates sports history — though the video shot riding alongside them makes it look like a much slower pace, hah! All you need is a scooter. And Norway winning all three medals is unheard of. They have a population of 5.5 million! That’s basically the population of S. Carolina. Can you imagine if the three best long-course triathletes in the world all came from S. Carolina?
Reminder: We talked to Brad last year about his book, The Norwegian Method. Which seems apropos right now. Though I’m still not convinced the method isn’t just find a good group of people, do some reasonably smart things, have some fun to make it sustainable, and give the goal your steady and consistent year-over-year all. Boom, a method.
We’ll be back to our regular Thursday morning weekly newsletters on, well, Thursday. Now, for Tim’s report from France.
- Kelly
So, Kelly messaged me: “Since you were there last year too, I’m curious how it compares. Feels bigger, but that’s also because you’ve got the Norwegians and all the big names.”
Right. On both counts. It does feel bigger than last year. But Nice is still Nice, and while it continues to offer a warm baguette and embrace for endurance types, it has the size and attitude to ensure it never becomes all-consuming.
So in my view, it was bigger simply by being a factor of having more people racing. (I have 2,270 age-group men on the tracker this year versus 1,101 women last year.) Multiply that by the athlete support crews, and yes, bigger.
Of course, as Kelly has argued many times, if you’re simply going to say a straight comparison between a standalone women’s Ironman Worlds with a standalone men’s Ironman Worlds is fair after two years of evolution, your logic is flawed or you’re probably willfully missing the point. But, let’s not go down that road today.
What we can squarely compare is yesterday to Men’s Nice 2023—the first and also penultimate men-only contest here—and the main differences were that Jan Frodeno was on a mic not on his bike, and the Norwegians, absent two years ago, lobbed a grenade into the mix.
In 2023, Sam Laidlow was flanked by Patrick Lange and Magnus Ditlev on the podium. Dump in the Norwegians (Stornes, Iden, Blummenfelt) and some recent short-course converts (Riddle, Schomburg, Van Riel) and you just blow the whole thing up. And, boy, did it blow up.
Laidlow suffers adductor issues in the swim and breaks his own bike record getting back in touch. Before breaking again—if one considers a 2:42:23 marathon and going three minutes faster than his 2023 time is breaking.
Lange runs a 2:31 marathon—his fastest of a host of super fast times in Ironman world championship marathons—but it only gets him ninth place.
And Ditlev drops back on the bike before dropping out of the marathon altogether.
Not so much the Norwegian Method or “the Norwegian hype train,” but by the time we’d got to the business end of the race it was the Norwegian stranglehold on the Promenade des Anglais.
It does show what they can do with a singular focus and ignoring shiny new things over here (T100 contracts) and shiny old things that have passed (the Paris Olympics).
Gustav Iden is now on the upswing following the death of his mother, the grieving process, and a couple of years of injuries (struggles he’s been refreshingly public about). And the positivity is rubbing off on the whole group.
“We build each other up” Stornes said, having parted with his former coach, Gustav’s brother, Mikal, and coming part of the “uncoached” squad in January. They haven’t looked back, but the efforts of mentors Arild Tveiten and Olav Aleksander Bu have left their mark, too.
Records tumbled again yesterday, but how much faster can we continue to go? I asked the new champ at the post-race press conference and he didn’t really know, but thought Iden’s Kona run record of 2:36:14 was within reach.
You sense if the Norwegians are able to rinse and repeat this formula in 2026—keep it simple, don’t be distracted, don’t (in Iden’s words) “think too much”—then we could see all this and more in Hawaii next year.
Another Norwegian sweep? They predicted it this time and not many believed them. They’ll no doubt predict it again, and maybe we will.
A few things noticed in Nice.
Perhaps it’s the relaxing rattle of the pebbles shifting to the tide, but whatever the reason Nice moves to its own beat. I flew in on what was labelled “Bloquons Tout” (Let’s Block Everything) day, expecting disruption due to protests of the French proposed removal of national holidays and pension reforms. Yet, while there were some minor flight delays and action in other locations around the country, once at the Nice airport my tram rumbled into town with familiarity and little fuss.
The average age of Ironman competitors was 49 years old. Tell me you need a lot of money (too much money) to take part in this sport without telling me.
Stornes was wearing the now-legal Asics Metaspeed Rays. The “earned media” for these shoes over the past few weeks has been off the charts.
Outside of the podium triumvirate there were another two Norwegians, four Danes, and one Finn qualified. Ten Scandinavians v. six U.S. male pros and three Aussies. Yes, the venue being Nice would have skewed it, but we’re seeing real strength in depth from northern Europe.
Ironman made a late decision to bar media motos that take photographers from a “20-minute bubble” at the front of the race. Several disgruntled snappers had to change plans, but while Ironman no doubt made the decision with safety in mind for the narrow and twisting course, how much did it help clean up the front of the race, too? While the Norwegians sat in at 12 meters, did those who were driving the pace—Laidlow, Van Riel, Schomburg, and Riddle—lose an unspoken advantage? Correlation does not equal causation, but it’s a thought.
Remember Anne Haug’s ripped tire here coming out of transition last year? Race-day is as much about dodging the bullets as it is about executing the perfect race. Sickness was a key one here: Sam Laidlow, Magnus Ditlev, Patrick Lange, Kieran Lindars all reported feeling under the weather to greater or lesser extent. No doubt there were more. It’s a lesson on a) not overdoing training and b) being lucky.
Sad that this is the last full-distance Ironman World Championship in Nice? Next year’s two-day 70.3 Worlds promises an equal if not better atmosphere because of the number of athletes who will be in attendance. And racing on the French Riviera isn’t going anywhere. Ironman France and Ironman 70.3 France take place here on June 28 next year. Plus T100 is just up the coast, too.
Nice, you’ve been nice.