A surprising second place went to Markus Stierli from Switzerland, with an impressive final brutal sprint from Rjukan up to Gaustatoppen. He was closely followed by the 2009 winner Tom Remman from Norway, who put up a brave fight with Tim DeBoom, but had to let him go in the final stages up the mountain.
Susanne Buckenlei from Germany won her third consecutive Norseman, setting a new course record with a time of 13.10.37. Second place went to Malin Lundvik from Sweden, starting the day with a strong swim, where she was overall seventh out of the water. Third place went to Cesilie Skollerud Hegna from Norway with a consistent performance throughout.
The 2011 Norseman had a challenging start. Cold water in Eidfjord forced a change to the swim, resulting in a 20 km longer cycle route. The swim first had heavy rain and after some time turned very windy. Luckily, the weather improved significantly during the day, with 160 black t-shirt athletes expected to finish at Gaustatoppen, 1870 meters in glorious sunshine. The remaining white t-shirt athletes will finish at the Gaustablikk hotel, 1000 meters above sea level.
