Press release from Magnus Ditlev - September 14 2025

Sick Magnus Ditlev forced to withdraw from IRONMAN World Championship midway through the marathon

Magnus Ditlev entered today’s IRONMAN World Championship in Nice with one clear goal: to fight for the win. After finishing 2nd and 3rd at the previous two World Championships, the Danish star had every reason to be confident. But after battling illness since last Sunday, Ditlev was forced to pull out of the race after approximately 17 km of the marathon. He was in 9th place at the time of the decision, which was made together with his team on course in Nice.

It marks the first DNF (Did Not Finish) in Ditlev’s IRONMAN career in his 12th full-distance race.

Struggled with illness since Sunday

Ditlev arrived in Nice on Monday, but had already been feeling ill since Sunday. Just days ago, it wasn’t even certain he would be able to start. In the end, he and his coach made the decision to line up and see what the day would bring.

After a solid start he exited the 3.8 km swim in 17th place and Ditlev looked composed on the bike, riding through the early sections of the challenging 180 km course, including the infamous 18 km climb leading up to a rolling 60 km plateau. At that point, he gave a thumbs up to his team, but the deep fatigue typical of hours three and four in an IRONMAN came calling, and this time, his body wasn’t ready to respond.

Struggling to hold his target power, Ditlev began to fall behind. He entered T2 in 7th place, roughly 5 minutes down on the leaders.

Things only got worse on the run, as the Danish athlete coughed his way through the opening 17 kilometers before making the call to pull out. He was over 10 minutes behind and fading with each kilometer.

Coach Jens Petersen-Bach: “It’s okay to DNF when the reason is illness”

“It’s okay to withdraw when the reason is illness,” said Ditlev’s coach, Jens Petersen-Bach. “There just wasn’t enough in the tank to get through a full IRONMAN after being sick all week. He was coughing a lot on the run, and when that happens, it becomes extremely difficult. Illness during race week is also very tough mentally because you spend so much energy trying to convince yourself that you can still compete.”

“We were hopeful because he was only 5 minutes back after the bike. The plan was to get through 10–15 km on the run and hope the legs would come around. But he just got slower and slower, and it was clear that the lights had gone out. He had a decent start and was in a good mood at the top of the climb, but as we feared, the body simply wasn’t where it needed to be,” said Petersen-Bach.

“He gave it a shot and looked decent early on, but when you’re sick during race week, it’s never ideal. There just wasn’t as much energy available as we’d hoped. Still, better to start and give it a try than to stay home and wonder what could’ve been.”

Health comes first

Illness is always poorly timed, and according to his coach, Ditlev most likely had a bad case of pneumonia, suffering from coughing, congestion, and headaches all week. It was clear his body couldn’t operate at full capacity on race day.

“You have to protect your health, and there’s no point in completely wrecking yourself just to cross the finish line. It’s tough to DNF, but it was the right decision physically and mentally today,” Petersen-Bach concluded.

Next race: IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in November

Ditlev’s next race will be the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in Marbella on November 9, a race he has already qualified for.

After today’s result, Ditlev and his team will now consider whether to chase early qualification for the 2026 IRONMAN World Championship in Kona - possibly at IRONMAN Arizona on November 16 or IRONMAN Cozumel on November 23, which Ditlev won in 2022. Early qualification would allow the team to plan next season well in advance.

Norway sweeps the podium with surprise world champion Casper Stornes

While Norwegian dominance was expected, few could have predicted a clean sweep of the podium, especially with Casper Stornes, considered the underdog among the Norwegian trio, taking the win. Even more impressive, he broke the 2:30 barrier on the marathon, posting a run split of 2:29:22.

All three Norwegians come from short-course triathlon backgrounds. Blummenfelt won Olympic gold in 2021, Iden placed 8th, and Stornes finished 11th.

Gustav Iden, who has struggled since winning the IRONMAN World Championship in 2022, claimed silver, while pre-race favorite Kristian Blummenfelt (world champion in 2021) took bronze for a Norwegian 1-2-3.