It was as close as it gets. During the final kilometres on the 18 km run, Magnus Ditlev was just 10 seconds behind Fred Funk and 7th place finish in the T100 Grand Final in Dubai that would have secured him a spot on the overall World Championship podium.

Battling hard against Germany’s Frederic Funk, who was fighting to secure his entry into next year’s T100 Series by keeping Ditlev behind, it was Funk who edged ahead in the final minutes of the run. The bronze medal in the overall standings ultimately went to Germany’s Rico Bogen, who was second on the day after World Champion, Marten van Riel.

A mechanical mishap earlier in the race proved costly for the Dane, relegating him to 8th place on the day and 4th overall in the T100 World Series - leaving him just two points shy of the podium. Heading into the decisive Grand Final in Dubai, Ditlev sat second in the overall standings behind Belgium’s Marten van Riel, who capped off his season with a dominant victory in Dubai to clinch the World Championship title.

Germany’s Rico Bogen, the reigning IRONMAN 70.3 World Champion, finished second in Dubai, jumping from 10th to 3rd in the overall standings, while New Zealand’s Kyle Smith secured the silver medal with a 4th place finish in the final.

Seat post issues hamper Ditlev on the bike

Just as Magnus Ditlev was closing in on the front pack around the 40 km mark of the 80 km bike leg, disaster struck. His seat post came loose and dropped to the bottom of the frame, forcing him to stop and lose precious time as mechanics worked to fix it. Instead of joining the lead group, Ditlev lost around 90 seconds before rejoining the race with his saddle readjusted - though unfortunately set too high.

Despite the setback, the powerful Dane managed to claw his way back towards the front, but the effort took its toll. Rather than sitting in the lead group conserving energy, he was forced to staying in the offence in the chase pack to try and claw his way back on the leaders. Ditlev entered T2 in 7th place, nearly two minutes behind the leaders, and spent the 18 km run trading positions with rivals before ultimately crossing the line in 8th.

A remarkable season comes to a close

Despite the unfortunate outcome in Dubai, 2024 has been an outstanding year for the towering Dane. With two major victories under his belt - including improving his own world record on the full distance - and a silver medal at the IRONMAN World Championship in Kona just three weeks ago (the best Danish result ever in Hawaii), Ditlev looks set to finish the season ranked 2nd in the world once again. He previously ended 2023 as 2nd in the world rankins and took 3rd in 2022.

In what has been an incredibly long season starting in March, when Magnus won the opening race of the T100 World Series in Miami - the 8th place finish in Dubai actually ties his lowest finish over the past three seasons. His consistency has been nothing short of phenomenal, consistently swimming, biking, and running his way to major wins and podium finishes for three consecutive seasons.

It’s also the third consecutive year Ditlev has medaled at a World Championship event:

2024: IRONMAN World Championship silver, Kona

2023: IRONMAN World Championship bronze, Nice

2022: IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship bronze, St. George

Pushing through the final race of a grueling season

Heading into the T100 Grand Final in Dubai, Magnus Ditlev was uncertain how his body would respond to racing at peak intensity again so soon after Kona. The Grand Final, with its much shorter and faster format compared to IRONMAN, posed a unique challenge - especially with lingering fatigue from Hawaii.

Despite this, Ditlev felt strong and believes that without the mechanical issue, the outcome could have been different:

"It’s really frustrating to experience bike issues today because I was feeling great out there. I’d almost bridged up to the front group and was planning to stay with them to save my legs for the run. But then my seat post suddenly dropped all the way down, and I was pedaling with my knees up to my chest. It’s never happened before and I’m guessing it was from the speed bumps on the course since bottles were flying everywhere. Thankfully, the mechanics fixed it pretty quickly, but they set it a bit too high, which wasn’t ideal given how strong I was riding,” Magnus Ditlev said from Dubai.

A satisfying result, all things considered

"I’m really pleased with how my body felt and how I handled the setback mentally today. It was frustrating, but I stuck to the plan and didn’t let it ruin my race, which I’m proud of. I was gutted I couldn’t catch Frederic Funk in the final kilometers of the run—if I had, I’d have secured the overall podium spot—but he had his own motivation, as beating me guaranteed him a place in next year’s T100 World Series."

"It’s encouraging to see that we’ve found a formula that lets me perform well in a fast race, even just three weeks after an IRONMAN. That’s something we can build on going forward. Now, I’m looking forward to a much-needed vacation before we start planning for next season," Ditlev concluded.

Top-10 T100 World Championship Standings (Best three results + Grand Final):

Marten van Riel (Belgium) – 153 pts

Kyle Smith (New Zealand) – 111 pts

Rico Bogen (Germany) – 102 pts

Magnus Ditlev (Denmark) – 100 pts

Alistair Brownlee (UK) – 96 pts

Sam Long (USA) – 90 pts

Mathis Margirier (France) – 89 pts

Pieter Heemeryck (Belgium) – 83 pts

Youri Keulen (Netherlands) – 83 pts

Frederic Funk (Germany) – 76 pts