With no Jan Frodeno, putting odds on this race is challenging. Iden handedly won his race in Slovakia and Blummenfelt has focused on training for St. Both Iden and Blummenfelt have had fantastic seasons. The Norwegians are going to be tough to beat. After the race in May, Long said he knew he could take advantage of the downhill with his long stride and he did so almost winning so it will be interesting to see what happens.

George and the two have had some fun social media banter in the last 12 months. Last May, Long and Sanders battled shoulder to shoulder in St. The mens field offers similar drama with Sam Long, the top ranked American and one of the favorites will have stiff competition from Lionel Sanders, Gustav Iden and fellow Norwegian and Olympic Gold Medalist Kristian Blummenfelt. No doubt there are others like Holly Lawrence who crashed in the Collins Cup could fight for the podium. Maybe there is a chink in RyfвЂ™s armor? Maybe not, but Lucy Charles, Ellie Salthouse, Sky Moench, Paula Findlay and Jeanni Metzler, all with great races in Slovakia could be in the mix at the end. Obviously as the championship, the field is stacked. No doubt she is looking for some revenge. But Daniela reportedly wasnвЂ™t feeling her best and we all know of the four time IRONMAN World Champion capabilities. At the Collins Cup they went head to head and Knibb had the biggest victory of the day of all athletes crushing Daniela by double digit minutes. In the womenвЂ™s field in particular, the match up of Daniela Ryf and Taylor Knibb seems most intriguing. With a hilly run course, fast bike and a predicted temperature near 100 degrees, the real sizzle isnвЂ™t the rubber meeting the road, itвЂ™s the clash of top triathletes on heels of the Collins Cup that has no doubt sparked some rivalries. With no Kona this year, all eyes are on the desert of southwest Utah. George to bring you in-person coverage of the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championships.

Beat the train iron horse bike race