Paris 2024 Olympics: Triathlon Olympic champion Kristian Blummenfelt eyeing Tour de France debut in 2025
Olympic champion Kristian Blummenfelt has accomplished everything possible in the world of triathlon. Now he is coming for road cycling as he eyes a Tour de France debut in 2025.
The 30-year-old will be looking to win back-to-back Olympic gold medals in the swim-bike-run event at Paris 2024 on Tuesday (30 July). Should he succeed, he would become only the second triathlete behind British great Alistair Brownlee (London 2012 and Rio 2016) to win triathlon golds at consecutive Games.
But it is instead Blummenfelt’s potential shift to cycling that has caught the headlines on the eve of his Olympic title defence.
The Norwegian's coach Olav Aleksander Bu revealed in an interview with domestic outlet TV2 on Sunday that it was “90 percent likely” that the star triathlete will move to cycling.
While Blummenfelt was yet to sign a contract with any of the UCI World Tour teams, Bu said his charge would not merely switch sports as part of his retirement plans, but would want to win a yellow jersey at the Tour de France by 2028.
The Bergen native, who overcame sweltering conditions and a quality field to claim his nation's first Olympic triathlon gold medal three years ago in Tokyo 2020, is no stranger to going after audacious goals and reaching them.
‘Big Blu’, as he is affectionately known, made history at the 2022 IRONMAN World Championships in Utah where he won the title on his first attempt. In doing so he became the first man to hold the Olympic, World Triathlon Championship Series, and IRONMAN titles.
“We go for cycling because we believe there is an opportunity to make a difference there,” Bu told TV2.
“We feel that the research, development, technology and approach we have is being met with open arms in some teams, who really want and understand that you need to make a further step up there.”