Kona certainly didn't disappoint. It had everything from bold pacing strategies and record-breaking splits to unexpected lead changes and unfortunate blow-ups. Our HPT athlete, Magnus Ditlev, faced these challenges and mounted an impressive late-race push to secure the silver medal.
This year’s IRONMAN World Championships in KONA was a dramatic battle for the main title of the year: World Champion. With the most competitive field assembled this season, or arguably in many seasons, we were fortunate to experience one of the most exciting races imaginable.
Risks were taken.
They had to be if you wanted to vie for the title. Some paid off…but many did not.
Athletes pushed each other to the detriment of their own races but to the benefit of a few others. So many athletes blew up and limped to the finish line. Eventual runner-up Magnus Ditlev (HPT Athlete) revealed his name was very nearly added to the list.
Defending champion Sam Laidlow led a brutal swim-to-bike transition and pushed off into the distance to (what looked like) a clean win again. Magnus took a risk to close that gap and give himself a shot at the win. However, he paid the price for that as he lost big chunks of time in the closing hour of the bike.
“I felt like if I wanted to win the race I had to do it,” Ditlev said of the chase to Laidow. “I tried to minimize the gap and I got it down to 1:35 in Kawaihae, but in the last hour I paid the price for that.”
I was very certain my day was done when I entered T2.
Ditlev lost major ground through the final hour of the bike leg along the Queen K, which left him shattered in T2 and struggling to get the run going.
“I didn’t even think I would be able to run the marathon when I entered T2 but I’ve been doing a lot of work on my mental game.”
After four long minutes in T2, he set out just placing one foot in front of the other. Ditlev set a sustainable, arguably conservative pace in the first half. Then, he started to see the writing on the wall…in a good way.
“I didn’t feel really good on the run, to be honest, and people came past me in the beginning but then I could see that the gaps were stabilizing and people were blowing up all over the place…”
Laidow paid heavily for his pace, getting gobbled up by eventual winner Patrick Lange and becoming reduced to a walk by the end. Magnus picked each athlete off one by one, gaining confidence along the way.
Magnus took a bad situation and allowed it to blossom into something great. From nearly pulling out of the race at T2 to striding into 2nd place, Magnus displayed that it really isn’t over till it’s over.
“I will take a lot of valuable learnings with me, how I managed to fight all the way to the end and stayed positive and optimistic. I kept believing, even though in T2 I was just looking out at the water and questioning what I was doing here. The fact that I managed to keep moving and end up in second place, to be honest, I can’t really believe it when you consider the state I was in on the last part of the bike and transition. I’m really happy and relieved.”
Congrats, Magnus.
Photo Credit: IRONMAN Pro Series
