Sporty gestures are not something you see every day within the world of elite sports, so when you see them, they are extra beautiful. Last Saturday, for example, when Gustav Iden passed Sam Laidlow – who was the race leader up to that point – with a few kilometer to go at the World Championship Ironman Hawaii and gave him a quick encouraging pat on the back, which was answered with a high-five. “I said I was proud of him.”
Iden let that be known to Dutch/Belgian website 3athlon, which asked him during the after-race press conference about the significance of his gesture. “Sam is so good for this sport. You have to love him to speak so honestly for himself in the Collins Cup, make a show of it and then have such a bad race. And then to see him perform this good here in the biggest race in the world: I was really proud of you, honestly,” he spoke as he immediately turned to Laidlow.
Iden immediately let it be known that he would not be returning to Kona next year, instead focusing on short work again. Blummenfelt, on the other hand, does: he wants to take the win at Hawaii next year.
