Stellar Norwegian duo Kristian Blummenfelt and Gustav Iden top a small but select start list for Challenge Samarkand on Sunday.
Tokyo 2021 Olympic champion Blummenfelt has won pretty much every title that matters in the sport and stepped back up to full-distance racing in incredible style recently with victory at IRONMAN Frankfurt.
Iden meanwhile, also an IRONMAN and 70.3 World Champion, returned to winning ways at Challenge Turku in late July following a difficult time both personally and professionally.
Reigning 70.3 World Champ Rico Bogen and Britain’s Tom Bishop are among those taking them on while the women’s race is headed by Denmark’s Laura Madsen.
Samarkand is the second largest city in Uzbekistan and one of the most important fabled places on the Great Silk Road, the trade route between China and Europe for more than 2000 years.
Read on to find out more.
Start time and how to watch
The event starts at 07.00 local time on Sunday September 8 – which is 03:00 in the UK, 04:00 CET and 22:00 on Saturday for those on Eastern Time.
It will be streamed live by Challenge Family and we’ve embedded that below so you don’t need to leave this page.
Men’s Start List
It’s a star-studded men’s field headed, as we said at the start, by that ground-breaking Norwegian pair Blummenfelt and Iden.
Both are targeting the IRONMAN World Championship in Kona, and this is another stepping stone towards that.
But Bogen is strong contender too at this distance. He’s currently 10th in the PTO’s world rankings after another consistent season which has included a podium place at T100 San Francisco.
Britain’s Bishop notched his best result so far when second at Challenge Roth in July behind the record-breaking Magnus Ditlev. He also picked up two Challenge Family victories last season – in Wales and at Puerto Varas – while German duo Tom Hug and Ruben Zepunkte are other potential podium hopes.
Gustav Iden and Kristian Blummenfelt [Photo credit: Tom Pennington / Getty Images for IRONMAN]
Women’s Start List
Madsen surely starts as favourite for the women’s race after finishing second to India Lee at The Championship in May.
She also has two wins to her name this race season at 70.3 Les Sables D’Olonne and 70.3 Valencia, which have taken her up to world #17.
Up-and-coming star Laura Madsen [Photo credit: IRONMAN]
Her chief rival could be Poland’s Marta Lagownik, the winner of Challenge Mogán-Gran Canaria and current European Triathlon champion.
And an unknown over this distance and one to watch is Nicole Van Der Kaay who makes her professional debut over 113km after representing New Zealand at the Paris Olympics just a few weeks ago.
Challenge Samarkand Course
It’s the second edition of Challenge Samarkand, with Frederic Funk and Ellie Salthouse the winners of the first running last year.
The single-lap swim starts from the pier of one of the largest purpose-built rowing centres in the world filled with the purest running mountain water.
The two-lap bike course passes ancient monuments and architecture dating back to the 14th century as well as the streets of modern Samarkand.
And then the four-lap run course takes place entirely in the modern tourist complex of Silk Road Samarkand around the picturesque rowing canal enveloping the Eternal City.
For a more detailed look at the course – and how to take part in the race as an age-grouper – click here for our guide.
