Norwegian Hype Train – Ironmanworld Championship Nice

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In this episode im talking about my experiences from The Ironman World Championship in Nice, and the Norwegian 1,2 and 3 podium win!

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Filmed & Edited by Roj Ferman

[Music] 25 Iron Man World Champion Norway’s Casper Stair. [Music] World Champion third in 2025, Christens. You did an amazing job away. [Music] [Applause] Here [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] we are back again in Bergen. Uh it’s been now just over two weeks since uh Dharm World Championship in Nice. And uh yeah, it’s been spending most of the time or probably the first 10 days just doing easy training and letting the body sort of come back into it. Uh and then starting softly with a little bit of intervals and yeah just came back from uh a little bit of uh hill reps on the bike. Felt uh quite good. Really enjoyed being back into like a solid rhythm now again. And uh yeah like it was a slow start after this but uh yeah finally the body has been recovering. But today I will take you through my thoughts about the kn my race. If you haven’t watched it yet, we ended up swiping the podium. Casper having a amazing race winning uh quite an impressive performance especially on the run. Gustav came back strong second place and I round up for the team with a third. But I will take you through a little bit more into the details. So yeah, let’s head up. What is that for? Oh, this one. This is my bed. This is where I’m sleeping most of the time. But this one is pretty cool. So I’ve been using it now for couple of weeks. It’s quite amazing. It’s a eight slip pod here with water in it that uh has like a mattress that I put on top of my original mattress. So you can see here underneath here there is like an eight mattress that brings a lot of water inside here that it can uh warm up it can cool down the bed according to what the autopilot reckon I need because it also had like sensors in it. So it’s actually measuring my heart rate and my breathing frequence as I am sleeping. It’s uh giving me more efficient sleep so I can uh recover better. This is last night. You see time of sleep 8:55. So pretty good. A little bit embarrassing because I actually forgot to put on alarm this morning. So I came late for swim practice. But uh yeah, let’s not talk about that. But you can see like it’s measuring like u yeah my breathing frequence as well as uh my resting heart rate during the night. So here you can see like how it was how it has been over the week. So yeah, pretty interesting. I can adjust the temperature based off the app. I I can adjust the temperature based on what I want or I can just trust the uh sort of this brain inside this one that’s uh figure figuring out how I’m sleeping better. So, for now, I’m just trusting the device, and it’s amazing. It gives me more efficient sleep. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Perfect. Okay. Then we are rolling. 16 days ago, we were in Nice having the big big target, the big goal for the season, the main world championship in Nice for the very final time. an epic course with like a sort of two loops on the swim. It’s like one loop is sort of coming back again almost to the beach and then out again before having like a big big loop on the bike with the three climbs. first flat section from the airport alongside a prominade. then like a 20 minutes climb up to of Vans area and then riding a bit flat to Vans to to loop and before doing like a big climb of about 45 minutes and then it was like a flat section before a downhill and then a 15-minute climb and then a big downhill before doing full loops back and forth alongside the prominade super flat conditions on the run. Yeah, of course that uh I thought it could be challenging like uh that also why we have spended eight weeks in this going into the race first with five weeks in January camp. We’ve already made a vlog from as well as 3 weeks leading into the race. Also made like a video from that race. No, from that camp from a training session there. So, we really invested a lot of time in this myself, Gustav and Casper. And um yeah, I felt like I was in a great shape. I felt that the power was good on the bike and I was ready to go when I was standing there on the start line. Uh quite different to maybe I was actually feeling in Kona last year was maybe a bit more unsecure on my shape. So, um, yeah, I enjoyed the being on the start line, doing the warm up, feeling good. Yeah, was, uh, ready to go when the gun went off. The start was like 5 minutes past 7, so not too early. So, that was quite nice for being an arm and distance. My nutrition planned on the bike as an example was to have uh six Morton 320s within the frame over 2 L of liquid as well as having uh Morton 320 in the bottle behind the saddle as well as having one Morton 320 in the bottle between my arms. So having uh in total uh 10 uh of uh packages of uh the 320 drink mix which is 800 calories over the 4 and 1/2 hour bike course. Felt I had like an okay start uh on the way out. So basically a quarter of the swim I saw that uh it opened up a small gap to to Sam Lelo. So I was sort of bridging up to him and I felt that uh he was maybe the most dangerous guy to uh less sort of let go. So I felt as long as I was swimming sort of behind him and in his feet I was sort of in a safe position. We swam back again towards the halfway point. I felt like the pace was okay within my control, but it was like steady. And around that sort of turning boy halfway through, that was also where I think the group of getting splitted up and Sam was even letting the group get away before he was stopping and having some issues with his lower back. And then suddenly the the group sort of split it up. And uh first I didn’t stress too much about it because uh again I thought that Sam would be the most dangerous guy. And then that’s why I’m behind. I think it was Antonio Bonito Lopez who took the sort of lead in that second pack with Rudy in second and me in third and felt that the pace was slowing down slowing down quite comfortably. But uh in the same way we didn’t lose too much time to the front guys because I was as we were swimming I was like looking at my watch and keeping track of how much time we were sort of losing to them and I felt it was we were still within a safe distance in contrast to how it was in Frankfurt where we lost like I think almost 2 minutes. So uh coming out of the water like 45 seconds down I felt that was okay and had a okay transition. went out on the bike just behind Rudy and we were doing like I was doing like 300 watts uh on the flat section towards the hill and then as we were getting into the hill there was like a lot of movement within the group suddenly Magnus Ditlev was already there he was sort of getting around and so Casper there and Gustav too so it was a lot of sort of good guys around me I thought that okay um I’m going to sort of be a little more on the aggressive side running up that first hill of 20 minutes and u I went to the front and I realized early that uh the gap down to Rudonburg was a bit bigger than uh I was expecting. So I felt I was sort of stretching out the field or the group there and then we came up to the flat section and Nick Thompson was sort of together with me and we were quite comfortably catching people who were in that first pack. So I felt we were constantly like bridging up to strong riders and we were having a good pace coming towards the big main climb. Again it was a bit like in the beginning it’s a little bit like like change of positions within a group because people are coming from behind and suddenly I was down maybe fifth or sixth position before I was making my move my way around towards the front again. And then Sam Leo came suddenly by again after fixing his issues in transition and riding quite steady. Casper came around into second position and then I was in third position for rest of that that climb. Yeah, the pace was uh quite steady all the way towards the top. Yeah, my heart rate was around the threshold LT2 on the way up. And then when we came towards the top, I think we had bridged down the gap from having been like almost 2 minutes at some point to back again to only 50 seconds. Uh and then we came on to the like flat section, but it was quite strong headwind. And for the first few minutes, Sam was sort of putting the power in before he was like looking around and being a bit frustrated that we were still there. So then uh I went to the front without uh really putting any pressure on or yeah, I was just going to the front without doing too much work. So then we lost quickly again 90 seconds to the the front guys again. Uh, but I thought that as we were going down and then to that sort of out and back section, it would most likely be like tailwind on the way back and I was expecting either Mongus or Sam to be putting down the hammer there. So, I was more aware of like uh put myself in a good position there and be ready to really pedal on the way back before the first downhill. So, I was then yeah just riding okay power towards that turning point. And then uh as we turned around, Sam was going to the front. That’s where me and him was able to get away from that group and dropping uh Gustav and Casper and Mongnus and Nick Thompson in a downhill. We sort of getting sort of good feedback that we were catching uh the front guys and uh I think the first one we saw was um Yuna Schamberg as we were starting the climb. uh that sort of third climb that was about 15 minutes and then later up in that hill we were catching Jeremy Riddle too and then on the flat section or we could see Martin Vre like 35 40 seconds up front. At that point I think I really thought that I had the race in my pocket. I felt I was the strongest runner in the field. Uh and I was sort of in the yeah pretty good position. I just had like a 50k off downhill and a flat section back to downtown and I thought that the gap behind back to the guys behind would just open up to be like two or three minutes being a I was able to sort of follow or being in sort of in touch with uh Sam and Martin in the downhill as we have as I’ve done it many many times. I really feel that uh uh the eight weeks uh we have invested staying in these in the buildup this year have really made me confident in the downhill and really helped a lot. So I was quite pleased with the feeling that I was like remembering all the turns. So I was able to stay sort of in contact with uh Sam and Martin in the way down. But then as we came down on the after the whole descent, suddenly Nick Thompson and Gustav and Casper sort of coming back into our group again. And yeah, I would say I was a bit surprised, but um also I still felt like my legs was good. I felt I was doing the hydration well and nutrition good. I still thought yeah just don’t overdo it now in the last 10k and I will be fine for the run. coming into the second transition. Sort of gave away like 20 seconds to Martin and uh Sam in the last 5k of the of the bike, but uh yeah, took it a little bit easier on the last part and then uh felt good, I would say, for the first case on the run. It was tailwind on the way down and we were running like 320 pace. I came out just in the feet of Gustav and he was the one who yeah sort of this dictating the pace and I was uh yeah following him looking down 320 maybe. Yeah. Yeah. I felt it was like comfortably aggressive opening pace. So we were catching uh Sam and Martin I think at the turning point and then it was a bit like cat and mouse as we was like running back again in the headwind and uh yeah pretty epic position to be running there with both Gustav and Casper feeling like it’s basically just us or typical super Sunday as we’re having the weeks before the race where we are like training and sort of doing the same sessions together. I think it was after like 3 or 4K that Gustav also asked me like if my plan was just to stay here and wait until the final lap before making my move and I just told him like yeah uh even though I hadn’t decided where to make my move yet. Okay, changing some lights. The first one who was making like uh putting on a little bit of pressure on the run was Gustav. So he was uh picking up the pace in the headwind of on the first lap after maybe 8k and that was like really stretching up the field and it’s only me and Sam who was able or decided to try to follow him and then Sam was quickly letting us go and it was just me and Gustav. I think we opened up maybe 30 seconds to Casper. So we run then out on the second lap out of four in the tailwind turning around heading back into the headwind and then he start like asking me if I wanted to um go to the front and taking the win and I told him like yeah I don’t feel the need to take the spotlight now you can be shining if you want. And then he kept running the bit in the front before he asked me once again. And I told him that uh no, I don’t need to be in the spotlight yet. You can be in the front and shine. And then uh I think he felt a little bit like annoyed. So then he started like going quite slow out on the side and we had to sort of start sharing the workload and uh that also made that Casper suddenly came back into the game. But in the same way I felt like after 16 17 18k the legs wasn’t feeling as fresh as they did uh after 10k uh and I start thinking that the second half of this race can be tougher than uh yeah expected. I think the mistake I did there were that I wasn’t good enough on getting enough liquid in on the run early. Uh we had like six eight stations or three eight station that like that we could catch from both sides of the run course. Looking back now, I think I think they were shorter than normal and it was less of grabbing liquid. My experience in Frankfurt and Texas were that it was easier to get more liquid in while uh suddenly in this I think I realized that too late. I was also relying mostly on uh the special needs table we had on the run course where we had like one bottle for each lap that we could drink. So that was like my nutrition for the run. I think I wasn’t good enough of getting enough liquid in after I grabbed my bottles and maybe I got just the carbs in sort of not evenly spread around on the run course. So I felt a bit flat after 16, 17, 18k. But then again Casper came back and we running there side by side as a trio. Quite epic in one way. But then at that point sort of the friendship is over because then it’s three guys running for the win. We also all the three of us knew that uh yes you can sort of work together but you sort of a doistic for each other like it’s a mind game there. Casper went to the front. We opened up a gap to Gustav. I told him we have a gap. Let’s push. And then he wanted me to go to the front and I told him that nope that’s not gonna happen. No, I just told him if you don’t keep running then Gusta will catch back. So then uh he was a little bit frustrated and I thought that or I did actually struggle at that point. That was after like uh 25k and I was of just waiting to get to the turning point and get into the headwind because then I thought that it would be a little bit harder for him to run back again and I would be able to recover a little bit more. But then uh yeah, he was uh putting on the uh putting the hammer down as we were turning back as well as I was just quite cooked. Very quickly, Gustaf came back and he was catching my back and we were running together. Uh on the way back before heading out in the final lap. Uh but at that point I was just cooked and it was more a battle of getting home with a medal than being caught by Sam Lelo or Martin Mandreel. And uh yeah I was in one way I was pleased to be able to run with Gustav on the way out again and then sort of get into the final 5K before having to yeah do the struggle back home. And at that turning point I also saw that uh Martin on fourth who was running in fourth was five minute back which is a very comfortable lead because then I could basically run a 5minut pace for the final 5k and without being caught. I thought, okay, uh, I’m probably going to get third place now because Gustav just run away from me and I start cramping up. But I was still able to run at like a 4m minute pace or so. But then at one point I just had to stop up because the hamstring was quite screaming and I had to sort of yeah stretch it back again. Uh, and at that point I thought was a bit afraid that I would be losing the podium sweep for the team, but I was able to hold it back and cross the finish line in third. And uh, yeah, seeing Casper and Gustav and celebrating together was uh, quite amazing. And uh yeah, like a situation we’ve been dreaming about doing together. Uh even though we we never agreed on the order we should end up in, but uh yeah, it’s um quite uh special to to have a race like that together with the group. Uh even though yeah, I have a little bit mixed feelings. Of course, I wanted to take the win myself. Uh uh I feel a little bit disappointed that I was putting together my weakest run when it mattered the most, but in the same time uh yeah, I’m pleased and happy and proud of how the team was uh performing. So uh yeah, a very special day and a day for the history book. That’s my niece world championship recap and uh learnings. Maybe I wasn’t good enough with the the nutrition on the run. I think that’s the main thing. Of course, like the bike course was a tough one. I had to ride a lot of power in the climbs, but again, like I think it would have been difficult to do it any other ways. like uh I was following Sam Dlo when he was making the move and catching up to the front. So maybe that was taking a little bit out of my legs, but again I still think I should have been better for the run. So, um, yeah, I only had one opportunity to race that that on that day and, uh, third place was what I came home with, which is putting me in a good position before Maya in terms of the Armen Pro Series because now it’s also one, two, and three in the pro series for the team, for the squad. So, that’s our next uh goal. Now, uh, a similar epic course. I think it’s a 1,900 m of climbing, but this time only over half of the distance. So, it’s almost as many meters of climbing as we had in this, which was 2005, I think 2004. But then we had like twice the distance of riding. So, it’s a lot of climbing in Maya. So, it’s going to be a lot of threshold work getting ready for that one. And uh hopefully we can um hopefully I can take the win there. then I can share the podium still with Casper and Gustaf. That’s a wrap. Thank you for uh for watching and uh supporting and yeah, I do appreciate everyone who’s uh following the journey and commenting stuff in the comment section and uh yeah, I do read them all and uh yeah, I appreciate your feedback and your support. Thanks for watching. Stand. Standing behind. [Music]