IRONMAN World Champions Casper Stornes and Solveig Løvseth will kick off their 2026 campaigns in California later this month, as they head a stellar field at 70.3 Oceanside.
Yet to feature this year, the Norwegian duo have been named in a start list which also includes compatriots and training partners Kristian Blummenfelt and Gustav Iden.
Lined up as the third Pro Series race of the new season – following IM New Zealand and this weekend’s Geelong 70.3 – the start list has once again thrown together some mouthwatering battles on both sides of the gender divide.
Full contingent of Norwegians
Løvseth is joined by the likes of Paula Findlay (CAN), Taylor Knibb (USA), Marta Sanchez (ESP), and Jackie Hering (USA), who will travel to the West Coast as an athlete in form, having won at Dallas Little-Elm last weekend.
Oceanside will be Blummenfelt’s third race of the season already, having raced in New Zealand and Geelong, while Iden and Stornes are coming in off the back of a few training niggles and will be looking to get stuck into their first events of 2026.
Their inclusion certainly makes for a star-studded spectacle, with the Nordic trio joined by American rivals Rudy Von Berg, Ben Kanute and Sam Long, as well as Jonas Schomburg (GER) and Sam Appleton (AUS).
Stornes has been training with Iden and Lovseth in the Sierra Nevada and recently posted on his Instagram page how he was nearly ready to compete again: “Been a bit quiet lately… been struggling with a sore achilles for 1.5 months, but I’m finally back with intervals again✌️. Getting in some solid hours up here in Sierra Nevada! Looking forward to soon race again, Oceanside 70.3 next up.”
Four-time winner Sanders not in field
One man who will not be there is four-time Oceanside winner Lionel Sanders, who has decided to skip the race, having made such an impressive 2026 bow last weekend at Dallas Little-Elm. Giving up on his chance to win for a third straight year, he will now focus on IRONMAN Texas, North American Championships on April 18.
Long is also making his first appearance of the year, having seen his preparations hampered by a torrid run of infections and illness. He has been on a training camp in Kona this week as he bids to get back up to pace – and revealed how he has also been taking notes on what his rival competitors have been doing.
Admitting that he has been watching closely as both Blummenfelt and Sanders posted their training videos on YouTube, he too took to social media to give an update on how his preparations have been going.
“Putting in the work for season kickoff at Oceanside – watched KB and LS YouTube videos and hope I’ll be fast enough,” he wrote on Instagram. “So I did a 14km tempo run split into 3 identical loops on the hills. 1st and 3rd portion fast 2nd moderate. First long course swim of the year for me. 5100M. Into a EZ 2 hour ride.”
IRONMAN 70.3 Oceanside takes place on Saturday, March 28 at 6am local time (9am ET, 8am CDT, 1pm GMT and 2pm CET) and will be screened for free on YouTube.
