Gustav Iden Handed Five Second Penalty Before Racing Begins At Arena Games Triathlon London

Gustav Iden has a mountain to climb to qualify for the final of Arena Games Triathlon powered by Zwift in London after being given a penalty before racing has even begun.

The Norwegian was handed a five second penalty for violating World Triathlon rules and missing the athlete briefing at the London Aquatics Centre after arriving late to the venue.

Iden already faced a huge challenge having found himself in Heat 2 – dubbed the ‘Heat of Death’ due to the remarkable strength in depth across the 10 athletes.

He will serve the penalty when he arrives at the bike on Stage 1 of his heat. It makes it massively unlikely he will be among the top two finishers who qualify automatically from the Heat for Saturday’s final.

But he will still have to go hard to finish either in places 3-7 or be one of the five fastest losers across all three Heats to make Saturday morning’s repechages, which both offer two additional slots for the final.

Iden said: “I don’t think my five second penalty before the first bike is going to help me too much, but I took a calculated risk coming down from altitude but sadly British Airways let me down once again.”