Olympic Triathlon 2021: Men's Individual Medal Winners, Times and Results

Featured Columnist IVJuly 25, 2021

Kristian Blummenfelt of Norway reacts after crossing the finish line to win the gold medal during the men's individual triathlon at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Monday, July 26, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

AP Photo/David Goldman

Norway's Kristian Blummenfelt won the gold medal in the men's triathlon at the Tokyo Olympics on Sunday, coming in with an unofficial time of 1:45:04.

His late push in the final lap of the running portion of the event saw him pull away from Great Britain's Alex Yee (1:45:15).

#TokyoOlympics @NBCOlympics
SOAK IT IN 🥇 Norway's Kristian Blummenfelt wins Olympic gold in the men's triathlon. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TokyoOlympics?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TokyoOlympics</a> 📺 NBC 💻 <a href="https://t.co/XznsNz3Xze">https://t.co/XznsNz3Xze</a> 📱 NBC Sports App <a href="https://t.co/ej4egZ5xgq">pic.twitter.com/ej4egZ5xgq</a>

World Triathlon @worldtriathlon
KRISTIAN BLUMMENFELT 🇳🇴is the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Tokyo2020?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Tokyo2020</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Olympic?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Olympic</a> champion! An unbelievable 1km full sprint for the line sees him home to gold, Alex Yee 🇬🇧 crosses the line for a superb silver and Hayden Wilde 🇳🇿the bronze!! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Triathlon?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Triathlon</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Tokyo2020Triathlon?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Tokyo2020Triathlon</a> <a href="https://t.co/6FQ9OVfVGw">pic.twitter.com/6FQ9OVfVGw</a>

Nathan Douglas @NathanJDouglas
Didn’t think Blummenfelt had it in the tank, he looked tired! Played it well. Took it out and kept stretching the lead. Top work by Alex Yee for 🥈 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Triathlon?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Triathlon</a>

New Zealand's Hayden Wilde (1:45:24) won the bronze medal by a comfortable margin over a group that included Belgium's Marten van Riel (1:45:52), Great Britain's Jonathan Brownlee (1:45:53), the United States' Kevin McDowell (1:45:54) and Hungary's Bence Bicsak (1:45:56).

Sporting News @sportingnews
Kristian Blummenfelt wins <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/gold?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#gold</a> for <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TeamNorway?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TeamNorway</a> in the Men's Triathalon. Kevin McDowell takes 6th for <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TeamUSA?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TeamUSA</a> , breaking Hunter Kemper's previous record of finishing 7th in Beijing in 2008. <a href="https://t.co/xEZrhno5pW">pic.twitter.com/xEZrhno5pW</a>

But the day belonged to Blummenfelt. He found himself with a big gap to make up after the swimming portion of the race, trailing France's Vincent Luis by 25 seconds. But he recovered nicely in the biking portion of the event, moving his way up to third place behind Switzerland's Andrea Salvisberg and Norway's Casper Stornes.

From there, he let his legs do the work, racing past the field to claim his first ever gold medal.

Sean Ingle @seaningle
Staggering final lap from the Norwegian Kristian Blummenfelt who powers away to win men's triathlon gold in 1:45:04. Britain's Alex Yee takes silver, 11 seconds back, with NZ Hayden Wilde third. Johnny Brownlee fifth. Blummenfelt so spent he was wheeled away in a wheelchair

Andrew Joseph @AndyJ0seph
The triathlon finish line looks absolutely brutal right now <a href="https://t.co/JGwYwEEXVu">pic.twitter.com/JGwYwEEXVu</a>

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So exhausted was Blummenfelt that he vomited shortly after crossing the finish line.

The event started off in truly bizarre fashion, as it had to be restarted after a boat carrying media equipment floated into the path of the swimmers. That forced the buzzer to be sounded for a false alarm, the first time that's happened in Olympic triathlon history.

Timothy Burke @bubbaprog
Start of Olympic triathlon completely botched: <a href="https://t.co/62QGdWdZT7">pic.twitter.com/62QGdWdZT7</a>

Many of the competitors didn't hear the buzzer, swimming nearly 200 meters before race organizers were able to stop them for the restart.