Kristian Blummenfelt opens up to Rich Roll on Paris 2024 misery and why he wants to prove he can still achieve ‘Mission Impossible’ at LA 2028

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Kristian Blummenfelt is not going pro cycling in 2025 and the Norwegian superstar has unfinished business with triathlon and his own personal ‘Mission Impossible’.

The 30-year-old spent most of 2024 trying to prove that he could successfully come back down from long-distance racing to Olympic distance to successfully defend his Olympic title in Paris. It was a bid which ultimately failed as the Bergen great trailed home a disappointing 12th in the French capita l.

It was a bitter pill for Blummenfelt to swallow, coming on the back of three years where the famed ‘Norwegian Method’ executed perfectly by Kristian and team-mate Gustav Iden under the tutelage of ace coach Olav Aleksander Bu, had won every major prize in the sport.

The failure to be competitive at the front end of the race in Paris clearly cuts deep for ‘Big Blu’, he is not a man who knows failure well. And so coming back again for Los Angeles in 2028 is a definite possibility, with the desire to prove he can achieve what has been dubbed ‘Mission Impossible’ remaining strong.

Blummenfelt on Paris 2024 woe

He spoke at length about the topic to Rich Roll recently in a fascinating podcast (you can watch all of it at the bottom of this page), revealing: “I haven’t decided yet [whether to race L.A. 2028], but that feeling coming off Paris, thinking that I’m not too old but it was more mistakes done, I want to showcase that it’s possible to come down again from Ironman distance.

“Now, with the 12th place from Paris I would say the coming down from Ironman distance to Olympic distance project has been sort of a failure and I do want to come back again to show that it is possible.”

Blummenfelt spoke about his journey to Paris and how his bid to successfully move back down in distance had derailed, revealing: “I think straight after Kona two years ago, we went for the half-Ironman World Championship in St George again, which I won. And from there on we went directly into the project going back again to the Olympics in Paris,. It was a two-year qualification period, we were already 5 or 10 months late for the qualification but we started chasing the points.

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