French two-time world champion Julian Alaphilippe retires from road cycling - Olympics

In the lead-up to this year’s Ironman World Championship in Kona, no one had Vincent Luis in their podium predictions. (Well, no one except for training partner Marten Van Riel, who publicly named him as one of his podium picks early in the week.) When we ran into Luis at the pro athlete briefing, we asked him about that: why Van Riel was betting on him, and whether he was betting on himself.

In a race packed with spectacle and drama, Frenchman Vincent Luis has just won the Ironman World Championship on Kona. Following a fantastic battle in which big names buckled under the pressure, Luis experienced a golden debut on the island where he had never competed before. It was not only a debut for Luis, but also his farewell as a professional athlete: the Frenchman, a multiple short-course world champion, now concludes his career with an Ironman world title. Today’s race proved to be far from fast, as windy conditions ruled out record times. Right from the swim, a scenario unfolded that few expected: instead of a small breakaway group escaping, a large pack of 25 athletes stayed together, exiting the water within half a minute of each other. Belgian Marten Van Riel was the fastest swimmer (48:17), closely followed by Menno Koolhaas.