Results of the Hawaii Ironman World Championships 2022: Gustav Iden victorious with a new course record

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It was calculated bravery that helped Norway’s Gustav Iden win the 2022 Hawaii Ironman World Championship on his first attempt, with a result that surprised no one – and everyone. Much like the women’s race winner, Chelsea Sodaro, this was Iden’s second-ever Ironman event, but he rode it like a veteran, making crucial moves on the bike, setting a good pace on the run and seizing the moment to take it all . His time of 7:40:24 is also a new course record and his 2:36 would be a new run course record of 2:36:15. Read on to see how the 2022 Hawaii Ironman World Championship played out on the Big Island.

Hawaii Ironman World Championships 2022: The Swim

With conditions similar to Thursday’s women’s race – slightly choppy with a rolling swell – many assumed the swim would favor the stronger swimmers. But that day everyone seemed to be a good swimmer. A large pack formed right from the start, led by Sam Laidlow and Florian Angert. Despite attempts to retire in the first half of the swim, neither managed to establish a definitive lead.

Instead, a staggering 19 pros exited the water within 15 seconds, led by Angert in 48:15 and Laidlow in 48:16. That tight field included some of the most dangerous triathletes in the field, putting the likes of Kristian Blummenfelt, Gustav Iden and Braden Currie in the perfect position for a tactical race at the front of the field.

A minute and 15 seconds later, another large pack emerged from the water containing even more strong cyclists who were able to quickly bridge the gap. These included Igor Amorelli, Patrick Lange, Rudy von Berg and Magnus Ditlev.

Huge packs of dangerous bikes/runners out of the water within two minutes of each other #IMWC2022 pic.twitter.com/bixkxDPesf

— Triathlete Magazine (@TriathleteMag) October 8, 2022

A third and final big pack, four minutes behind the leaders, included Matt Hanson, Chris Lieferman, cam throwSebastian Kienle, Joe Skipper and Lionel Sanders.

Hawaii Ironman World Championships 2022: The Bike

Laidlow was the one who took charge for the bike’s first few miles, setting an average pace of 27 mph for the first 25 miles. Max Neumann was the only one willing to take the bait, narrowly staying out of Laidlow’s draft to avoid a penalty. Large groups huddled behind them as crosswinds picked up through the lava fields. Fifty seconds later the first eleven-man chasing group consisted of Ditlev, Blummenfelt, Iden, O’Donnell and Bakkegard; Nearly two minutes behind was an 18-man group that included contenders such as Lange, Currie, Ben Hoffman and Denis Chevrot.

At mile 30 on the bikes, the huge groups continued through the rolling hills en route to Hawi. With 42 men starting within 5 minutes, space was tight – and the umpires took notice. As with Thursday’s women’s race, penalties started early and often, with Angert, Clement Mignon, Mathias Petersen and Arnad Gilloux being the first to serve their five-minute position violation penalties. Leon Chevalier soon joined them for a 1-minute penalty as well.

More setbacks soon began to snowball in the men’s field. With every passing mile, Sanders saw the race go away from him as his position slipped from 4:42 out of the water to 7:13 at mile 30. Colin Chartier, who was out of swim in the first big pack, found it difficult to recover from an early flat tire. Lange seemed unable to jump on the bandwagon of competitors who passed him at full speed and in a shocking twist Currie, the pre-race favorite, retired from the race at mile 35.

Meanwhile, the men’s race was taking shape near Hawi’s base as Ditlev went to the front of the race and took control. Behind him, Laidlow and Neumann were unable to keep up, while compatriots and training partners Iden and Blummenfelt sat 30 seconds behind Ditlev and worked together at mile 50.

Shortly after Hawi’s turn, Laidlow regained his lead, but Ditlev, Neumann, Blummenfelt and Iden were hot on his heels. Further back a group of Kyle Smith, Tim O’Donnell and Jesper Svensson was 2:30 off the leaders; 3:30 behind the leaders were Kristian Hogenhaug and Daniel Bakkegard. A large group of dangerous bikers/runners sat 5 minutes behind the front field, including Wuster, Chevalier, Skipper, Lange, Kienle and Andreas Dreitz.

Near mile 90 the chasing group of Iden, Blummenfelt, Ditlev and Neumann was plagued with disorganization as they lost another 1:30 to race leader Laidlow. Further down the field, Wuster, Kienle and Chevalier led a rally to try to get within striking distance of the front, putting 2:20 into the Norwegian group over a span of over 10 miles. As the race sped towards T2, the chaos continued and Ditlev received a five-minute position penalty at a time when most would be making their crucial moves in a race.

Up front, Laidlow didn’t seem to know – or care – what was going on behind him. Instead, the young savage focused on his own race and charged ahead. At mile 88, Laidlow’s lead grew to 2:37; at mile 94 a 4:11 lead.

En route to T2, Laidlow broke Cam Lassen’s 2018 bike course record with a split time of 4:04:36 – almost five minutes behind the previous time. Behind him, the chasing group was six minutes behind and the second chaser had to catch up 8:30-9:45.

Laidlow fled with a target on his back. The question then was: would his bold cycling strategy pay off or would it end in disaster? Could he actually beat the notoriously fast Norwegian runners to the finish line? Could everyone?

Hawaii Ironman World Championships 2022: The Run

As the men’s pro field moved through T2, the field shifted from large packs to a steady trickle. It quickly became clear who had done well on the bike and who had burned their matches. Behind Laidlow, Blummenfelt and Iden led the charge, trailing the leader’s pace of 6:13 at a speed of 5:54 per mile. Behind them, O’Donnell and Kienle were quickest in the second chase early in the heat, along with Ditlev, who was finally relieved of his penalty.

As Laidlow walked up the Palani Climb his pace slowed to 6:23. Iden and Blummenfelt tuned in and checked their watches to make sure they were keeping to their amazingly steady pace of 5:58. With every step they seemed to be leading Laidlow. Neumann, looking to assert himself in his Kona debut, followed suit.

A little further back, strong runners like Kienle and Ditlev worked well together and slowly worked their way through the top ten in the first half of the marathon – as did Joe Skipper. At halftime, they found themselves in fifth and sixth place, with Elder Statesman Kienle offering words of encouragement to the young Dane as they ran together.

Between miles 11 and 16 the Norwegians’ march towards Laidlow began to falter when the Frenchman found a way to stem the bleeding. As he exited the Queen K, it appeared he had found a pace he was comfortable maintaining. During the turnaround at the infamous Energy Lab, Laidlow could see exactly where he stood compared to his competition. He knew he was a little over two minutes ahead, but he didn’t know if the Norwegians had a different gear or not. In anticipation of a battle, Laidlow gathered everything he could from the aid stations—cups of ice, a gallon bottle of water, to douse himself on the sweltering Kona sidewalk.

In fact, Iden had just decided to ditch his friend and training partner and moved to the lead just before mile 19 in the energy lab while Blummenfelt was lagging behind. With less than 13km to go, Iden broke out at a pace of 4:38min/km, laser focused on the task at hand.

At mile 22, Iden slapped Laidlow on the back to let him know his time at the front was up. With a handshake and a smile, Iden made the pass and strode confidently to the finish.

Sorry Sam, Gustav is here

Gustav Iden wants to bring a world championship home!

DON’T MISS – https://t.co/39ExOXLQqK#IMWC2022 @VinFaofficial pic.twitter.com/aU3m0fJdxE

— IRONMAN Triathlon (@IRONMANtri) October 9, 2022

After the pass, it was the Iden show as the Norwegian extended his lead, setting a new course record with a time of 7:40:24 and a new course record of 2:36:15. Not far behind, Sam Laidlow bravely defended second place with a time that also broke the previous run record of 7:42:24. Kristian Blummenfelt would slack off only slightly but still be on the podium with another course record time of 7:43:23.

“That was so damn hard,” Iden said just moments after his record-breaking finish. “For the last 10km I was worried that the legend of the island might kill me. Everything was going pretty smooth until I caught Sam Laidlow. When I drove past him, the island really tried to put me down. But I think my hat must be stronger than the island’s legend.

“That was so epic and I’m so proud to have Sam and Kristian on the podium. I’m not sure if I’ll come back here, it was too hard.”

Laidlow was in tears after leading the race for so long.

“I just loved it, I’ve dreamed of it since I was four or five years old,” said an emotional Laidlow. “That’s my racing style. I was inspired by Jan Frodeno and his way of riding. If I win, I want to win like him. I’m just getting started.

“It’s hard to believe watching the Norwegians and beating the Olympic champion is really hard to put into words.”

Hawaii Ironman World Championship 2022: Results

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