After the World Triathlon Championship Series (WTCS) race in Abu Dhabi, we reported that the results of triathlon world champion Gustav Iden were up in the air due to protests over his shoes . Today we have more details about the protests from World Triathlon. It turned out that Aiden’s own federation had protested. Not sure what was on the mind at the time – perhaps in protest to the hype many of us had given to the shoes he wore to the Ironman World Championships in Kona last October?
World Triathlon bans super shoes from 2023 (like the ones Gustav Iden wore in Kona)
World Triathlon has received protests from representatives of the Norwegian Federation over the shoes used by athlete number 41 Gustav Iden (Norway) during the World Triathlon Championships series in Abu Dhabi on 3 March.
The referee was protested. Following the protest, the athletes’ shoes were collected and sent to the World Triathlon headquarters in Lausanne for further inspection, in accordance with World Triathlon rules.
By agreement, World Triathlon contacted World Athletics, who had identified and confirmed that these shoes were on their approved shoe list under the name ON SHOES CloudTRI 1 by March 3rd, so the protest was dismissed.
The shoes will be returned to the athlete and the results were confirmed to be normal.
Did Eden and the Norwegian coach use the protest to make sure his equipment was okay? As we reported, Iden ran in Kona wearing a prototype pair of shoes that are now not allowed to compete in World Triathlon and Ironman events, but were legal at the time.
You can see a list of shoes that are legal in world triathlon and triathlon events here: https://www.worldathletics.org/about-iaaf/documents/technical-information