Marten Van Riel has established himself as one of triathlon’s most accomplished athletes across multiple distances, from fourth- and sixth-place finishes at the Tokyo and Rio Olympics, respectively, and runner-up in the 2021 World Triathlon Championship Series (WTCS), to becoming the inaugural T100 Triathlon World Champion in 2024.

More recently, he’s proven himself a force at the front of full-distance racing, leading the 2025 Ironman World Championship in Nice into T2 before ultimately finishing fourth.

This year, ahead of his Kona debut, we had the privilege of sitting down with Van Riel as he wrapped up a photoshoot on the lava rocks, showcasing his new race kit alongside a custom aero helmet honouring fellow Belgian triathlon legend Marc Herremans.

As we chatted, he shared the role Herremans played in shaping him as a young athlete, what it meant to be racing in Kona himself for the first time, and a few other fun facts about “MVR” along the way.

How It All Began

If we go all the way back to his athletic beginnings, Van Riel started swimming with a local club at the age of seven. Interestingly, though, he readily admits he wasn’t a natural, describing himself as a “super bad swimmer.”

He recalled that while most kids took about a year to learn to stay afloat and progress to the next swimming group, it took him two. And he was understandably sad watching all his friends move up without him!

(Rather amusing in hindsight, given that he is now known as one of the sport’s strongest swimmers.)

Alongside swimming, Van Riel took up cross-country running at age 12 and enjoyed bike rides with his dad. Then, in 2009, at the age of 16, his best friend made a suggestion that would change the course of his life.

“Hey Marten, you do swimming, biking, and running. Why don’t you try triathlon? My uncle wants to set up a little tri team,” his friend suggested.

And that uncle turned out to be none other than Marc Herremans, who had become something of a celebrity in Belgium.

Herremans had finished sixth in his Kona debut in 2001, at just 27 years old and as the youngest competitor in the field, with what Van Riel described as “a big, bright future ahead of him.” But the following year, while training in Lanzarote, his life changed dramatically.

“Lanzarote is a similar island to Hawaii. Very, very windy,” Van Riel explained. “I think he was trying to grab a bottle when he flew off the road and crashed into the lava rocks. He suffered a spinal cord injury, and since then, he’s never been able to walk.”

“But he didn’t just sit in self-pity,” Van Riel continued. “He did the Crocodile Trophy, this gruelling mountain bike race in Australia, in a handbike. And he came back to Kona competing in a handbike and racing wheelchair, and eventually won. Just a super impressive personality.”

Back to 2009, and the opportunity that would mark the beginning of Van Riel’s own triathlon journey.

He was keen to say yes, but when he presented the idea to his parents, they were a little hesitant.

“They were like, ‘Are you sure? If you do that, you have to really commit to it. You’re not going to half-ass it. If you want to do it, do it well.’”

Van Riel knew in his heart that he wanted to go all-in. “I always wanted to become a professional athlete, but I felt like there was never the right opportunity… I don’t know, I guess I felt like this was my moment.”

And this is how, the very next day, Van Riel found himself at Herremans’ house, meeting the man who would become his first triathlon coach.

From Olympic Dreams to Ironman Ambitions

Van Riel’s early development in the sport was guided by Herremans, who always believed there was “something special” about him. Van Riel described himself as a small, skinny teenager whom not many people believed in, but “Marc always did.” (And Herremans has shared that, aside from Van Riel being a really funny guy, he knew early on that he would “kick ass on a world level.”)

In 2011, Van Riel won his first Belgian junior title and qualified for the World Championships in China. Then, in 2015, he joined an international training group under coach Joel Filliol, building into his first of three Olympic appearances: Rio, Tokyo, and Paris.

Looking back, he shared: “I do regret staying in short distance a little too long, probably. My plan was always to change to long-course after 2020. But on the other hand, I can’t really blame myself. I came sixth in Rio, then fifth in the mixed relay and fourth in the individual race in Tokyo. Obviously, I wanted that medal.”

“[After Tokyo,] I think maybe that spark, or that passion, was a little bit lost for the short distance,” he continued. “I just wanted one more shot at the Olympics. I didn’t really want to do the other races.”

Even before Paris, Van Riel had dabbled in middle-distance racing, winning all four of his Ironman 70.3 starts. But it was after Paris that he went all-in on the longer distances, claiming the inaugural T100 Triathlon World Tour title in 2024 in dominant fashion while also making his full-distance debut.

 

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We asked whether Kona had always been in the back of his mind, and his answer was yes… well, yes and no.

Early on, under Herremans, he understood the significance of Hawaii, particularly given his coach’s remarkable history on the Big Island. But once Van Riel committed himself to short-course racing and his Olympic ambitions, Kona was no longer at the forefront of his mind. (Though that didn’t stop him from staying up all night, year after year, to watch the race unfold from Europe!)

With his move to longer-distance racing in 2024, however, Kona was once again front and centre.

“You know,” Van Riel shared, “one of the most surprising things is that even though I was fourth at the Olympics, when people found out I did triathlon, they still always asked if I’d raced Hawaii. There really is something about Hawaii that seems to be what everyone cares about most.”

“And is it living up to the hype?” we asked, given we were chatting with him on the Monday of race week.

“Yeah, the whole vibe, I can feel it growing every day now!” he replied. “I mean, the training’s not that great. The Queen K is quite busy, and there aren’t nice trails to run like back home. But it’s this beautiful little island in the Pacific, in its own time zone, and it feels like everything here revolves around Ironman right now. It’s super cool.”

Beyond the excitement of finally experiencing Kona, Van Riel was equally enthusiastic about what he believes he can achieve over the full Ironman distance.

“When I think about it, I believe that my best [race distance] is the full distance,” he said. “I don’t think I’ve shown my best full-distance performances yet, but through all my years of training, the one thing that always comes back is that, when I’m having a good day, I just don’t get tired.”

“I’m also very good at putting the disciplines together,” he added. “Like, put me in an individual swim, bike, or run race against the other tri guys and I’d do fine… but I do better when they’re together.”

“Kristian [Blummenfelt] is similar. He puts them together really well… although he would not do well in an individual swim race!” he said with a laugh.

A Custom Helmet and a Full-Circle Moment

Beyond the jokes and fun, there’s another side to Van Riel – one that became apparent when we started talking about his new custom Rudy Project Wingdream aero helmet.

He lit up describing the design. But it wasn’t the technology that had him excited so much as the story behind it.

The helmet featured images honouring defining moments in Marc Herremans’s career, including his remarkable sixth-place finish on his Kona debut in 2001 and his eventual victory in the Handcycle Division.

Seventeen years earlier, Van Riel had walked into Herremans’s living room as a teenager with dreams of becoming a professional athlete. Now he was preparing to make his own debut on the Big Island, the very place where his first coach had experienced some of his greatest athletic triumphs.

And while Kona didn’t go to plan for Van Riel – he later told us his only highlight of the day was seeing his training partner and friend Vincent Luis win – we have little doubt he’ll approach the off-season with the same determination that has carried him throughout his career. And perhaps now, more than ever, he’ll be drawing on Herremans’s mantra: “Every setback is an opportunity to emerge stronger.”

It’s a matter of when, not if, Van Riel turns Kona into a race that showcases his character, his resilience, and his championship mindset. This was his first shot at Kona, but not his last. And we have a feeling Herremans would still believe in him today – that he has what it takes to win this race.