British ace Alistair Brownlee and Norwegian Gustav Iden will not be racing in Saturday's Ironman World Championship.
Brownlee confirmed the news in a Story on his Instagram account, saying: "Absolutely gutted to say I've decided not to start tomorrow. I feel really rough today with a sickness I think has been in my system.
"Thanks for everyone who's helped me get here. We've worked so hard over the last few months. Very best of luck to everyone on the start line."
Referring to his Sub7 attempt, which is due to take place at the start of June, Brownlee added: "Need to make sure I'm 100% for four weeks time."
Confirmation of Brownlee's withdrawal came shortly after news broke that two-time and reigning 70.3 world champion Iden would also be unable to race due to illness.
He'd been tipped by many as a favourite for this race, having delivered in St George the year before when he won his second 70.3 world title.
However, both Iden and training partner Kristian Blummenfelt are understood to have been suffering from colds in the run up to the race. It now turns out that while Blummenfelt has been cleared to race, Iden's team have decided it wouldn't be wise for him to do the same.
Brownlee and Iden's withdrawal means the list of those unable to compete has grown ever longer.
Among the other notable absentees are Jan Frodeno and Lucy Charles-Barclay, who both pulled out with injuries, plus Joe Skipper and Javier Gomez, who withdrew after contracting Covid-19 and not having enough time to recover.
Top image credit: Donald Miralle/Getty Images for Ironman
