Four champions from the Bahrain Endurance 13 will aim to put another world title under their belt at the Ironman World Championship in St. George this weekend.
Four-time Ironman world champion Daniela Ryf is raring for the chance to avenge her loss in 2019 and reclaim the throne. She says, “It would mean a lot to win the Ironman World Championship. It’s the biggest goal for me. I’ve had four wins so far, all amazing… Now it’s a different course, it will be another challenge but I focused on getting here early and acclimatizing. I did all I could to make it possible to show the best possible performance.”
Already a world champion on the short-course World Triathlon circuit, Lauren Parker aims to become a dual world champion in long-distance triathlon. She won the Ironman 70.3 world championship last year on this same course, but that was only a prequel to her upcoming exploits over the full distance this weekend as she races her first Ironman world championship as a paratriathlete.
After a stunning and record-setting Ironman debut in Cozumel last year, Kristian Blummenfelt is racing his first Ironman world championship. Can the Tokyo Olympic gold medalist and 2022 triathlon world champion win an Ironman world title on his first attempt? The Norwegian is a confidence racer; a win here will give him an edge going into the Pho3nix Sub7 Project next month, where he will face off against teammate Alistair Brownlee in a head-to-head race to beat time.
Brownlee is also on the hunt for his first Ironman world title. This will also be his first full distance triathlon since Ironman Western Australia in 2019, where he broke the course record by six minutes. The hilly St. George course he will face definitely plays into his strengths. After he knocked off the rust with a fourth-place finish at Ironman 70.3 Oceanside last month, all eyes will be on the dual Olympic gold medalist and two-time triathlon world champion and what he will be able to produce on the day.
