Second-place finisher Lionel Sanders of Canada (left), winner Kristian Blummenfelt of Norway, and third placed Braden Currie on the podium. Photo / Supplied
Second-place finisher Lionel Sanders of Canada (left), winner Kristian Blummenfelt of Norway, and third placed Braden Currie on the podium. Photo / Supplied
New Zealand's Braden Currie raced his heart out to finish third at the Ironman World Championship in St George, the United States, the first time a Kiwi has claimed a podium finish since Cameron Brown back in 2005.
Meanwhile, Taupō's Kyle Smith, in only his second full-distance Ironman and debut world championship, finished 11th in 8h 8m 8s.
Currie was leading the race at the 30km mark of the run before being passed by the impressive Norwegian Kristian Blummenfelt, the eventual champion.
In a nail-biting finish, Currie came close to claiming silver until the last 800m of the 226km race where he was agonisingly overtaken by Canada's Lionel Sanders.
"Awesome day of racing to be honest, we had a really good group in the swim, good group of guys that were all happy to do some work," Currie says.
"I ran the way I normally run, I tried as hard as I could to give it, I didn't feel amazing but then looking at the times they were still pretty fast times so yeah, stoked, it's amazing, Ironman World Champs third and in the front of the race most of the day and a bit of a sprint finish toward the end."
Taupō's Kyle Smith has finished 11th on his Ironman World Championship debut. Photo / Supplied
Currie had set out to improve on his previous best-placed Ironman World Championship finish of fifth in 2018, and began the race in the best possible fashion, exiting out of the water from the swim in the lead group, alongside fellow Kiwi Smith.
Out of the first transitions into the start of the 180km bike, Currie had clawed his way to the front of the pack with Smith just behind in third.
Both Currie and Smith took turns at the front over the tough, hilly bike course and the Kiwis were once again in the lead group into the second transition.
Smith held the lead over the first 5km of the run before Currie took over. The 36-year-old steadily began to pull away from Smith and held on to that position until the 30km mark. Unfortunately for Currie, the fast-finishing Blummenfelt had been reeling in the leaders for the duration of the run and eventually snatched the lead.
"I ran a really hard and fast first half ... and I guess I just thought if he's going to run that much faster, then my only chance is that he's going to completely detonate so just hold strong, I wasn't going to kick and try and go with him, so incredible, amazing performance."
Blummenfelt, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games champion, showed his class as he extended his lead from Currie, who had to dig as deep as he's ever gone to try to hold off four-time Ironman champion Sanders, eventually relinquishing the silver with less than a kilometre to go.
"I like to run solid when I'm feeling good to deal with the downside when I'm not, so the way it worked out I don't think it would've made too much difference in the end, maybe if I'd run a little bit more consistent I would've held Lionel off, but you never know, you've got to try," Currie says.
Kiwi Braden Currie finished third at the Ironman World Championship. Photo / Supplied
With such a strong men's field, not many tipped Currie for the top three but the Wanaka athlete proved his mettle to score New Zealand a podium finish at the Ironman World Championship for the first time in 17 years.
With his third-place finish, Currie secured himself a position at the 2022 Ironman World Championship in Kona. In finishing 11th, with others ahead of him already qualified, Smith also bagged a place at the pinnacle event.
Currie says he's looking forward to a second Ironman World Championship later in the year and hopes to have another strong race in Kona.
"I like the heat and I've got a really good lead in this year and I'm looking forward to it so again, it just depends a lot on how it unfolds and what happens. It does seem that the uber riders tend to get to the front a lot earlier in Kona from what we've seen, but if we have a good crew again, riding the way we did today then who knows, maybe we can get off and have a good run back," he says.
Capping off a sensational day for the Kiwis, Hamilton's 30-year-old Matt Kerr was the first age-group athlete across the line, becoming the Age Group Ironman World Champion.
