He’s been coming to Kona since he was five years old and “grew up with Kona at the front of his mind.” As a kid he travelled to the Big Island to watch his father, Rodolphe Von Berg, compete, and grew up dreaming of one day finishing on the podium. Last Saturday Rudy Von Berg did that and more – his 7:46:00 finish makes him the fastest American ever at the Ironman World Championship.
It truly was a dream come true for the 31-year-old.
“They always say don’t have your sport be your identity, (but) it’s been my life, really,” he said in an interview after the race. “It means absolutely everything to me. I’m in a good place on the side of triathlon in terms of relationships and all, but triathlon has been the consistent one since I was five.”
Von Berg wore a bison hat to the press conference as a joke with some of his friends, but the “bison mentality” has helped inspire his progress to the top tier of Ironman racing. Von Berg is inspired by the animal’s mental strength and ability to take on challenges without fear. (Bisons are renowned for their knack for running into storms – a trait that reduces the time they have to deal with the adverse conditions.)
Von Berg has really surged to the top levels of the sport over the last two years, and he attributes that to starting to work with coach Mikal Iden (Gustav’s brother) in 2022, shortly after he won his first full-distance race at Ironman France. In 2023 he won the Ironman North American Championship in Texas, then took an impressive fourth at the Ironman World Championship in Nice. He followed that up with a course-record race at Ironman Florida, becoming the fastest American ever at an Ironman race.
“There were a few adjustments in 2022, but by 2023 the changes took their effect,” Von Berg said. “That was the entire reason I switched to Mikal – to perform at the Ironman distance even better … All that work with Mikal, a somewhat Norwegian method, but adapted to what I need – I think the fruits of my decision to switching to Mikal are being shown here.”
Von Berg’s race in Kona continued that upward trend, starting with a front-pack swim.
“I think I really nailed the last two or three weeks of swim training,” Von Berg said at the post-race press conference in Kona. “I felt comfortable on the bike – had good legs. (Even though) I was already way over my watts, I kept telling myself to ‘keep asking the question to the people behind.”
That approach worked as Von Berg, who rode at the front of the chase pack for a lot of the race, gradually whittled down the group.
“I wasn’t sure how I was going to run, but my nutrition was solid,” he said. “It wasn’t amazing in terms of pace, but I think a lot of people were tired after the bike.”
They were, and Von Berg’s steady effort enabled the American to take the final spot on the podium. The next part of the dream is to keep on improving and move up one or two more steps on the podium. Von Berg was born in Georgia, but spent his childhood in the south of France near Nice, so he’s a threat both in Kona and on the challenging Nice course, which he knows so well.
“The ultimate dream would be to win an Ironman World Championship,” he said. “We’ll see if it’s doable in the next few years. I’m not quitting. I’m keeping on going pretty strong – bison mentality.”
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