Tour de France hopeful Kristian Blummenfelt slams "amateurish" Olympic organisation after missing out on the medals in Paris 2024 triathlon

After the comments of Kristian Blummenfelt's coach over recent days, the men's Olympic triathlon event will have had a number of extra views from intrigued cycling fans on Wednesday morning, keen to see if the reigning Olympic champion could retain his title and impress on the bike, given his lofty goals of future Tour de France victory.

In truth, the 30-year-old Norwegian never really lived up to the hype. Despite a solid performance on the bike leg of the race, the Ironman world record holder couldn't match the fastest on the Paris course and was unable to defend his Olympic title, finishing 12th, 54 seconds behind the gold medal winner, Alex Yee of Great Britain.

"That is not what we have worked for. I am of course disappointed. I felt I got into a position where I could fight for a medal and victory, but I just didn't quite have the running legs I needed to keep up with Hayden today," a visibly disappointed Blummenfelt told Discovery after the race. "I felt I had good control on the bike, and was excited about how my legs would be when I started running. But it was heavy."

There had been some controversy over the men's triathlon, with the action initially planned to take place the day previous. Due to the concerningly water quality of the River Seine though, with concerns over E-Coli, the race was delayed. After experts tested the water again on Wednesday morning, the green light was given for racing.

Although Blummenfelt wasn't looking to make excuses, the Norwegian was left less than impressed by the organisation of the Olympic triathlon. "It is the same for everyone, but it is of course amateurish on the part of the organiser," he laments, but insists that wasn't the reason he missed out on the medals. "I felt ready this morning. That was probably not why. They go hard from the start. It was certainly as expected that they go out quite aggressively in the first two or three kilometres to stretch out the field. It is probably what Alex (Lee) and Hayden (Wilde) regretted after Tokyo. That they did not run more aggressively in the first five kilometres. They have run more aggressively since then."

If the recent press interviews of Blummenfelt's coach are to be believed, this could be one of his last triathlons. The Norwegian is supposedly 90% certain to make the switch to professional bike racing in 2025 with Team Jayco AlUla most heavily rumoured. Ambitious, a goal has also very publicly been set out. Win the Tour de France by 2028. Time will tell how that goes.