Reigning Ironman 70.3 world champion<\/strong><\/a> and PTO-ranked No 1 Iden and Olympic champion <\/strong><\/a>Blummenfelt delivered impressive Ironman debuts of 7:42:56 and 7:21:11 in Florida and Cozumel<\/a><\/strong> respectively towards the end of last year.<\/p>\n But Skipper, who finished a career-best sixth in Hawaii in 2019<\/strong><\/a> \u2013 the last time the world champs was held \u2013 believes the favourites tag for the showdown in St George isn\u2019t as justified as many believe.<\/p>\n \u201cLooking at the Ironman performances last year, I don\u2019t understand why everyone was raving about Gustav in Florida,\u201d he says. \u201cHe ran 2:34, but the course was 600-700m short \u2013 you can see on Strava. His average pace was the same as I ran at Ironman Switzerland, but Switzerland was 800-900m long and I did that off 2,200m climbing on the bike.<\/p>\n \u201cIn Florida, Gustav rode in a paceline behind Lionel Sanders, who I put 8min into in Chattanooga \u2013 he wasn\u2019t even in the same postcode as me! And if you\u2019re sat in a paceline in Florida, you\u2019d expect to run well.<\/p>\n \u201cGustav uploaded his data, and it was 250 watts on the bike. That\u2019s just a zone 2 ride. I averaged 260 watts for 4.5hrs on my Sunday ride and then ran 10km at 3:20 per km. If they ride 250 watts in St George, they\u2019ll be so far behind starting the run, they won\u2019t even be a factor, and I won\u2019t have to worry about them.\u201d<\/p>\n Skipper also fired a shot across the bows of crowd favourite Sanders, who is trained by Iden\u2019s brother Mikal. \u201cSam Long and I rode pretty hard in Chattanooga, and with 30 miles to go knew the race was between us. We just kept pulling turns and I think we opened up to 6-7mins. It was game over.<\/p>\n \u201cSam blew up after the first lap [of the run] and I got a split saying I had 8min over Lionel. I ran 2:45 on a hilly, humid course, so Lionel would have had to run 2:37 to beat me \u2013 and he was never going to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n Back to Iden and Blummenfelt, it\u2019s not only the bike and run where Skipper believes they have their work cut out. Despite both competing on the short course World Triathlon Championship Series, he also has doubts their swim is up to scratch.<\/p>\n \u201cWith his ITU background, people say Gustav will be a front pack swimmer. But I don\u2019t think that\u2019ll be the case because if you look at a lot of his races, when it\u2019s been competitive, he\u2019s missed the front pack.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the 70.3 worlds he was a minute down, so against Jan Frodeno and Alistair Brownlee in St George, there\u2019s no way he\u2019s going to make the front pack. Alistair is not going to be taking that swim easy and Gustav hasn\u2019t got the take-out speed, so will get blocked and he\u2019s not quick enough to get on their feet.<\/p>\n \u201cI also think it\u2019s 50-50 on whether Kristian makes the front swim pack. So, they [the Norwegians] are going to have to do some work [on the bike] and it all depends how tactically astute people are. If I was on the bike in Florida, I wouldn\u2019t have been towing Gustav around like Lionel did. If that was me, I\u2019d sit up and say: \u2018If you want to win this race, you\u2019ll need to do some work.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cTactics will be important in St George. It\u2019s not about riding loads of watts and towing people round. It\u2019s knowing when to put the power down, who you need to be with, who you\u2019re confident in outrunning and what gaps you need.\u201d<\/p>\n As for his own chances, having won both Ironman UK and Ironman Chattanooga in 2021, plus running a 2:39:35 marathon to finish second in Ironman Switzerland in September, Skipper believes becoming the first British male to win the Ironman World Championship is not beyond him.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not too bothered what others think because it doesn\u2019t matter once the race starts, but I\u2019m definitely going there for the top spot,\u201d he says. \u201cI think it\u2019s going to suit me. I\u2019m looking forward to getting out there before the race and riding the bike course. That\u2019s the most important aspect for me. I\u2019m hoping it\u2019ll be hard enough to break the race up, but not too severe to favour the climbers.<\/p>\n \u201cIt would be perfect if we can take the climbs in the big ring, pushing decent power. That way I can take it at a speed that won\u2019t suit the lighter triathlete, but there\u2019ll also be no real draft benefit when sitting 12m behind. I\u2019ve heard it can be windy too. So if you get some nice crosswinds coming in to split it to pieces, that\u2019ll be perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n The run course will be undulating with around 100m less ascent than Ironman UK, and Skipper believes that will suit him too.<\/p>\n \u201cIt looks like there\u2019s a draggy climb on each lap,\u201d he adds. \u201cIf people have gone too hard, the climb can help make them blow up. If it\u2019s flat they can knock the pace down, recoup and nurse it through.<\/p>\n \u201cThe climb at Ironman UK is not that hard, but if you\u2019re on the edge, you can walk and lose minutes \u2013 that\u2019s what happened to [then leader] Sam Laidlaw last year.\u201d Laidlaw would eventually finish runner-up, after Skipper ran 22-minutes faster on the marathon.<\/p>\n We\u2019ll find out whether Skipper\u2019s views come to fruition on Saturday 7 May, when the first Ironman World Championship of 2022 takes place. Having been re-scheduled from Hawaii in October<\/a><\/strong>, triathletes will officially compete for the 2021 title. A second Ironman World Championship of the year will then be held in its usual time slot in October.<\/p>\nRefusing to believe the hype<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>A word on Lionel Sanders<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Will the Norwegians fall short?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>A course that bites back<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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