The first Ironman World Championship to take place outside of North America was full of action today, as Frenchman Sam Laidlow took the tape in a time of 8:01:19.
In doing so, he went one better than his result in Kona last year and became the youngest-ever men’s world champion.
Behind him, Germany’s Patrick Lange took second ahead of Denmark’s Magnus Ditlev.
Far from ideal
In his post-race interview immediately after the race, Laidlow made a remarkable admission about the build up to this race: “It’s been a rocky season. [I had an] injury, I had covid two and a half weeks ago.
“I think I came here maybe a little bit fresher than some people. I only really had two weeks of work behind me, but I’d done some good sessions.”
Laidlow came into the race with a mixed season behind him, which included a win at the inaugural Challenge London and Challenge Gran Canaria, but also DNFs at Ironman Lanzarote and the PTO Asian Open.
Talking about his approach to this event, Laidlow said: “I really wanted to go into it with the same mentality as last year.
“I’m just a kid who enjoys doing this, I’m grateful to be racing the best and, yeah, I just want to see how far that dream can get me.”
"It was absolutely crazy"
The Frenchman, who was born in Britain but represents France, executed his race plan expertly, leaving him with a cushion of around four minutes come the end of the race.
“Today I just had great legs,” Laidlow explained. “I set out hard on the swim to try and break the packs up a little bit, then hid behind Jan [Frodeno].
“Then on the bike I just rode at the wattage I thought I could hold on a good day. You know, you have to take risks. I did a similar thing in Lanzarote at the start of the year and completely blew up. But here I just held it together.
“The run – I felt like I only had to run 35km because every time I came in [to start the next lap] these crowds, the adrenaline, it was absolutely crazy.
“There’s never been a French world champion and I hope this will be the first of many.”
Top image credit: Bartlomiej Zborowski/Activ Images for Ironman
