After a disappointing day in Paris as he attempted to defend his Olympic title, Kristian Blummenfelt bounced back just 13 days after competing in the mixed relay at the Olympics to win the Ironman European Championship Frankfurt in impressive style. The Norwegian validated his slot for the Ironman World Championship in Kona this October with an incredible 7:27:21 finish and a 2:32:29 marathon that included a stop at a port-o-potty and projectile vomiting.
The fast race in Germany was more than enough to net Blummenfelt the Professional Triathletes Organisation’s Athlete of the Month award for August.
Blummenfelt dominated the voting, taking 14 of the possible 15 points in the voting. The other athletes in the running included:
- Germany’s Caroline Pohle – who led from gun to tape to become 70.3 European Champion in Tallinn. Her second win of the season and best result of her career so far.
- Greece’s Panagiotis Bitados – who’s gone from unranked in June to 45th in the World Rankings after taking the 70.3 European Championship win in Tallinn, making it three wins from three races this season; and
- France’s Charlene Clavel – who swapped handball for triathlon in 2019 and took home the win at the World Triathlon Long Distance Championships in Townsville.
Triathlon Magazine is part of the media panel that votes on the PTO Athlete of the Month Award along with Global Triathlon Network, Tri-Mag.de and Triathlete. Votes are also taken online through the T100 social media handles.
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