Gustav Iden Produces Stunning Comeback To Make Arena Games Triathlon London Final

Gustav Iden produced one of the most stunning comebacks in Arena Games Triathlon powered by Zwift history to make the finals with 15-year-old Fanni Szalai also joining him in the showpiece event.

The Ironman World Champion needed to finish in the top two of Repechage 2 to make it to this evening’s big event at the London Aquatic Centre, but all hope appeared to have been extinguished when he jumped on the bike on Stage 2 more than 10 seconds down.

Iden nibbled into the lead but Mitch Kolkman and Fabian Meeusen looked in total control having already seen off Aurelien Raphael.

However, Iden put down the hammer on the run and Kolkman faded and the Norwegian just managed to nudge ahead of him to finish second.

Rani Skrabanja and Fanni Szalai were the favourites for Repechage 1 in the women’s field and duly delivered. They powered away from the opposition early on and at the end of Stage 1 had all but booked their spots in the finals having amassed a 24 second advantage. By Stage 2 they were able to jog it home and keep some gas in the tank for later.

Repechage 2 was dominated by Emma Jackson after her impressive podium performance in Switzerland. The Australian finished 15 seconds ahead of Petra Kurikova, who in turn was 31` seconds in front of third place Cathia Schar.

There was a real ding-dong battle in Repechage 1 of the men’s with home favourite Dan Dixon having family and friends cheering him on. Johannes Vogel of Germany was the frontrunner and secured his place in the final but the fight for the second spot was intense.

Dixon was trying to fend off challenges from Max Stapley and Jeremy Briand but could hold on no longer as the Canadian surged on the final run and even overtook Vogel just before the line to book his spot in the final.