Gustav Iden insists he is not motivated by the online haters who say he should stick to long distance triathlon.

The Norwegian superstar has secured two Ironman 70.3 world titles and an Ironman World Championship crown in a prolific yet young career.

Despite entering the sport via short course racing, he has enjoyed much less cruces and yet is opting to step back from the long stuff in a bid for glory at Paris Olympics next year.

Speaking to the Short Chute Show: Face-To-Face Podcast for Super League Triathlon, Iden admitted to reading online comments, but claimed most of them are stupid and that he is not motivated by a desire to prove people wrong.

He said: If I wanted an easy way out, I could just keep on doing Ironman and win every single world championship for the next 15 years. Thats a bit exaggerated, but I do enjoy the struggle to a certain degree.

I havent won every single short course race Ive ever done, but I feel like I have something that I havent shown yet and I really wanted to show it for myself. And Im not like a guy who wants to prove the haters wrong, but I do of course read the forums and the comments that say like, you should just take the long course racing.

But thats not what I want to do. I want to prove to myself what I can do. So its more like an ego thing.

I realise most people dont understand anything. Most people online, theyre so stupid. They dont understand triathlon, really. They might understand bits, but top performance triathlon is so different than just finishing an Ironman. And they dont understand also the level of short course racing. The amount of talent and hard training it requires now to win the World Series or Olympic games is insane.

SoI dont pay too much attention to the comments. I just have to realise that they have a normal life and a normal job, and they cannot dedicate their life to triathlon as I do. So of course they dont understand the sport at the same level as I do either.

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Gustav Iden: I Am Not Motivated By The Online Haters - Super League Triathlon