Gustav Iden was always a great athlete, but for the longest time, he remained whiskers
away from becoming a champion.
This changed in 2019 when the man who usually came second finally bagged his first elite
title.
When Gustav Iden arrived at the 70.3 World Championship with a road bike, a few commentators
did not take him seriously.
But by the time the competition ended, they had no option but to take him seriously.
Gustav Iden’s victory at the 2019 Ironman 70.3 World championship stunned many fans
as well as experts as he was not quite expected to end up with the title.
That triumph made him the youngest ever Ironman World Champion.
The Norwegian has followed it up with one great performance after the other and is currently
ranked as the best triathlete in the world.
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Winning is a choice, is what Iden says he believes in and so far, he is proving it right
with his exceptional run of performances.
These performances are of course commendable but what is even more commendable is the process
and story that is behind these.
The story of how Gustav Iden became Gustav Iden.
In this video, we will be taking you through his journey.
How from being a good athlete, Iden jumped to the next level becoming the first ranked
triathlete in the world.
Gustav was born in 1996 in Bergen, Norway.
From his childhood, Iden was involved in competitive sports.
One can easily attribute most of his athletic qualities to his upbringing and the effort
that he put in at the very beginning of his athletic life.
The success story began in 2014 when he won an age group sprint distance championship
in London.
His first national title was in 2014 when he won the title of both triathlon and duathlon.
In the following year’s Junior World Championships, Iden gained a top 10 finish.
The Norwegian featured in his first triathlon in 2006 at the Youth National Cycling Championships.
At that point, the father of Jorgen Gundersen was teaching him how triathlon works and the
other things which needed to be known about the sport.
He already had a cycling background.
He was a talented cyclist from the beginning.
His father was a local youth cycling coach, so there was every chance that he could become
an elite cyclist.
He used to partner up with Odd Christian Eiking, who was at the Tour de France.
However, according to him, he could not win any national championships in his age group.
But was always on the podium.
This was what he worked on at a young age.
He was never satisfied with being the second-best.
He wanted to be the best and did all the hard work that was needed to be the best.
The big moment for Iden came when he turned 16.
At just 16 years of age, Iden won a huge six-day tour called the U6.
He was the frontrunner in his class and that was the biggest push for him.
As the confidence grew, Iden also started winning in other disciplines.
The youngster soon won junior nationals in cross-country running and 2000 meter steeplechase.
All these achievements at a young age were enough to sense potential in his skills.
It was only a matter of time before he realised his potential on the bigger stage.
While cycling came naturally to him and running was another part of his youth life, one thing
he really was not quite familiar with was swimming.
But he did what all great athletes do.
Work harder on their skills.
He changed his practice sessions to develop his swimming skills.
From longer threshold sessions, the Norwegian has now shifted to harder race pace sessions.
His transition to the next level was challenging and he first started finding consistency in
2017.
He also achieved his first world cup gold in the same year due to his exceptional ride
and run.
The next season, he bettered his performances.
After multiple top 10 finishes, he helped Norway create another record.
In the 2018 season, he shared the podium with his teammates making Norway the first country
to sweep the men’s WTS podium.
His consistent performances at Abu Dhabi, Bermuda and after that a second-place finish
in Bahrain ensured that the world now looked at him as a potential superstar.
The status he finally achieved in 2019 after winning the Ironman 70.3 World Championship.
He left behind some of the best in the field to storm to the title becoming the youngest
man to do so.
In 2021, he again won the Ironman 70.3 World Championship to cement his place at the top.
Before that, an amazing victory at the PTO 2020 Championship propelled his case of being
one of the best right now.
Apart from being an athlete of the highest level, Iden used to play the guitar in his
school days.
He was part of a band and knew how to play the bass guitar very well.
He even went to perform with his band at concerts and studios.
He still has that guitar, but hardly plays it.
Another one of his skills or what he prefers to call a hobby is photography.
He also shared his camera set up in an interview.
The Norwegian uses Sony A7III with an 85mm F1.8 lens.
The 25-year-old is among the most popular faces in triathlon and pockets a heavy amount
of money.
According to various estimates, his net worth could be anywhere between $7 to $10 million.
In December 2021 he got a cash prize of $100000 for topping the ranking charts in triathlon.
This is his primary source of income.
The winning mentality helps him win championships and that further helps him earn a lot of money.
That ends our video for today!
We do hope that you now know more about the future of our Triathlon sport- Gustav Iden.
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