One of the more surprising omissions from the men’s start lists of the Paris Olympic Test Event was that of Gustav Iden.
The former WTCS medallist had started at every WTCS race in the 2023 season prior to Sunderland as he sought to boost his ranking in pursuit of a second Olympic Games appearance next summer. However, he will not take to the pontoon in Paris.
Instead, the Norwegian team will be represented by Kristian Blummenfelt, Vetle Bergsvik Thorn and Casper Stornes.
On Instagram, Iden noted he was deemed “not good enough” to race at the Test Event. He explained that he had spent his season to date focused on accruing the necessary points to start and that he “made the start list”. He added that, in his view, making the start list was a “good enough” reason for him to participate but that is not how things have turned out.
As per the current Olympic qualification rankings, Blummenfelt is the leading Norwegian man. He sits in 10th place. Thorn then follows in 34th while Iden lies in 70th. Stornes is the next highest man for Norway in 103rd place.
Stornes is a WTCS race winner from 2018. His win in Bermuda actually made him the second youngest man to claim a gold medal in the Series. Since then, though, he has struggled to hit the same heights, particularly in the wake of 2020.
One significant factor behind Stornes’ inclusion over Iden could be the Mixed Team Relay. Should Norway rise through the Olympic Relay rankings, they could send two women as well as two men to Paris next summer. That would put both Solveig Løvseth and Lotte Miller on the team alongside a putative male duo of Blummenfelt and Thorn.
Blummenfelt has raced in a relay twice in his Senior career (in 2020 at the single day world championships in Hamburg and in 2021 at the Tokyo Relay Qualification Event). Based on recent history, he is unlikely to contribute significantly towards qualifying a relay for the Olympic Games. In his place, Thorn and Stornes have been regulars on the relay.
If Blummenfelt is not prepared to race the relay, Stornes becomes an essential component of the Norwegian Olympic plan.
It does not currently look likely that Norway will put three men in the top-30 of the Olympic rankings to earn three male slots at the Games. The relay, then, may be driving the federation’s thinking.
It does not entirely explain why Stornes was preferred in the individual event, however it does offer an insight into how the federation may prioritise him over Iden right now.
Nevertheless, while the relay may explain Stornes’ leapfrogging of Iden in the Norwegian pecking order, it does not explain what appears to be a failure of communication.
Earlier in the summer, Iden lost his mother who passed away. There is no suggestion that he should receive special treatment even though it would have been a deeply painful personal loss. His post on social media, however, gave an insight into an athlete that feels let down by his federation.
The treatment of Iden can be interpreted as being somewhat callous.
Whatever happens next in the Norwegian Olympic quest, there is a risk that they have burned a bridge with an athlete that has been a major part of their team for a decade. Maybe some individuals in the federation were desperate to tell Iden that he was “not good enough”. With a more delicate touch, though, an awkward situation may have been avoided.
You can see Iden’s full post below.
