Gustav Iden – who indicated a few months back that he still has only one goal within the sport of triathlon and that is to win the Olympics – has been not selected by the Norwegian federation for the Olympic test event to be held in mid-August. Casper Stornes is selected, preferred over Iden.
It has been a particularly difficult year for Iden; he lost his mother in May, then took it easy for a while, and the subsequent races (WTCS Montreal and WTCS Hamburg) were not the biggest successes for Iden. Still, it is somewhat remarkable that Iden isn’t selected now, because with a 72nd place in the World Ranking, he is ranked considerably higher than Stornes, who is 212th. In addition to Stornes, Kristian Blummenfelt (ranking 8) and Vetle Thorn (ranking 47) have also been selected.
The Norwegian federation explained its choice by saying that the three athletes they believe will perform best in Paris were chosen. That hunch is based on previous results this season. The choice between Iden and Stornes would have been a tough one.
Of course, the selection for the Olympic test event does not mean that this will be the final Olympic selection for next year.
