PTO Canadian Open: Gustav Iden holds off Kristian Blummenfelt in Norway 1-2 as Alistair Brownlee battles to 24th

World and Olympic champion Blummenfelt was initially joined by IRONMAN 70.3 champion Iden in the chasing pack when Henri Schoeman’s led the 2km swim, with GB’s Brownlee close behind.

Brownlee then shared the lead with France’s Sam Laidlow during the 80km cycle, and the pair held a 1:07 advantage going into the 18km run.

That was Iden and Blummenfelt’s time to shine, however, with the pair pushing one another to comfortably overtake Brownlee and Laidlow.

Eventually, Iden broke clear, and though Blummenfelt was eating into that 56-second lead, the former crossed the finish line 27 seconds ahead of his compatriot.

More than three minutes back, Aaron Royle finished third ahead of Laidlow.

Brownlee had predicted the run would be a “struggle”, and so it proved, with the Briton almost stopping when holding his chest and looking visibly in pain two hours and 17 minutes into the race.

PTO Canadian Open 2022

2km / 80km / 18km – Edmonton

• 1. Gustav Iden (NOR) – 3:10:48
• 2. Kristian Blummenfelt (NOR) – 3:11:15
• 3. Aaron Royle (AUS) – 3:14:26
• 4. Sam Laidlow (FRA) – 3:14:47
• 5. Frederic Funk (GER) – 3:14:56
• 6. Pieter Heemeryck (BEL) – 3:15:23
• 7. Lionel Sanders (CAN) – 3:15:49
• 8. Max Neumann (AUS) – 3:16:39
• 9. Kyle Smith (NZL) – 3:17:02
• 10. Miki Taagholt (DEN) – 3:17:14
• —
• 17. David McNamee (GBR) – 3:19:07
• 24. Alistair Brownlee (GBR) – 3:23:15