We previewed the big World Triathlon Championship Series Race taking place in Sardinia this weekend – WTCS Alghero – and now we get to offer our readers the chance to watch the race for free. World Triathlon is offering free access to TriathlonLive.tv for the weekend so you can take in the race, which is the first WTCS race of the 2028 Olympic qualification period.

The women’s race goes at 11:00 am local time (5 am EST) and the men start at 14:00 local time (8 am EST).

Here’s how to access the free coverage:

1. Head to TriathlonLive using this link: https://www.triathlonlive.tv/paywalls?context=LZsgS2Dedeac~JTm0Vr4UN~0xnVdKGtB
2. Click watch now on the Alghero Race Pass option 
3. Sign in or SIgn up for TriathlonLive – don’t worry it’s free! 

You will be redirected to the check out page. Enter code MYRACEPASS and ‘complete order’. No payment, no credit card details required.

Here are a few more facts about this weekend’s race:

• There are nine WTCS winners competing: Alex Yee, Matt Hauser, Hayden Wilde, Miguel Hidalsgo, Vasco Vilaça, Dorian Conninx, Cassandre Beaugrand, Georgia Taylor-Brown and Beth Potter.
• Alex Yee won the race in Sardinia (WTCS Cagliari) three years in a row from 2022 to 2024. Georgia Taylor-Brown won two years in a row (2022 and 2023), while Cassandre Beaugrand took the 2024 and 2025 victories. The men’s defending champion is Miguel Hidalgo.
• This was one of the few times Matt Hauser didn’t win a draft-legal race when he competed last year – he competed in seven WTCS races and missed the podium once. His four wins (Yokohama, Hamburg, French Riviera and the Wollongong Grand Final) were a record. He finished second in Abu Dhabi and Alghero and eighth in Karlovy Vary.
• There are 55 men racing and 44 women.
• It’s an Olympic distance race, although the bike is a touch long at 40.5 km. (1.5 km swim and 10 km run.)
• The winners take home US$19,000, with prize money dropping to $3,000 for 10th. Prize money is paid out to 30th spot.

Enhanced Games Underwhelms

We wrote about the Enhanced Games earlier this year (see below), and last weekend’s racing didn’t exactly produce the results organizers had hoped for.

In fact things went so badly that investors in Enhanced Group Inc., the publicly traded parent company of the Enhanced Games, “watched its stock fall by almost half,” according to Marathon Handbook.

The event was supposed to be a marketing avenue for Enhanced Group Inc., which is set to become an online pharmacy for testosterone and other performance drugs, along with various supplements. According to SwimSam, the company saw almost $800 million in market value disappear once the New York Stock Exchange opened on Tuesday.

The Enhanced Games took place last Sunday night on the Las Vegas Strip. The world records organizers had promised never materialized – the only record set was by Greek swimmer Kristian Gkolomeev, who swam 20.81 for 50 m using a banned swim suit and while doping. Three other events were won by athletes who said they were racing without taking any illegal drugs.

As USA Today put it, the Enhanced Games “failed to live up to their own hype” and also showed “that doping can only help athletes who are already elite rather than make a ‘pretty good’ swimmer an Olympic medalist.”

Which probably isn’t the marketing message Enhanced Group Inc. was hoping for.

IRONMAN 70.3 Happy Valley Start List Announced

The field for the next IRONMAN Pro Series race in North America has been announced. The IRONMAN 70.3 North American Championship will take place in Happy Valley, Pennsylvania on June 14. There will be US$75,000 up for grabs at the race.

Defending women’s champion Lydia Russell will wear race #1 in Happy Valley, but she’ll have some stiff competition, including Americans Jackie Hering, who hasn’t finished a race outside the top five this year and won IRONMAN 70.3 Dallas in March, Danielle Lewis and Grace Alexander (who has been on a roll with wins at IRONMAN 70.3 Gulf Coast and Chattanooga). Add to that mix Canadians Paula Findlay, who bounced back from a DNF in Oceanside to take second in Chattanooga, and Tamara Jewett, who started her season off with a win at Challenge Wanaka and took third at 70.3 Geelong. The down under crew will be represented by Kiwi Hannah Berry, who was second at IRONMAN New Zealand, and Australia’s Grace Thek, who finished one spot ahead of Jewett in Geelong. Here’s the full women’s start list:

Sam Long, who bounced back from a tough day at IRONMAN Texas with a win at IRONMAN 70.3 Gulf Coast and a fourth at 70.3 Chattanooga, will certainly be one of the pre-race favourites, but there are more than a few big names who are legitimate contenders for the win, or at least a podium finish. Long’s countrymen Matt Hanson (currently second in the IRONMAN Pro Series standings), Ben Kanute, Trevor Foley (this year’s IRONMAN New Zealand winner) and Matthew Marquardt (this year’s IRONMAN South Africa winner) are more than likely to be in the mix, while Aussie Sam Appleton is another to watch. One name that is well down the start list but could be a factor is Morgan Pearson, who won T100 Dubai last year and took second at the T100 Final in Qatar, and another short-course specialist, Matthew McGoey, who just took third at Supertri Austin.

The post We Noticed: Free WTCS Alghero Coverage, Enhanced Games Flop and More first appeared on Slowtwitch News.

It started in 2006. Back then it was known as Dirty Kanza. The inaugural race in Emporia, Kansas attracted 34 riders. The event now known as Unbound Gravel (Life Time rebranded the race in 2021) is renowned as the biggest race in gravel cycling with everything from World Tour cyclists, Olympic mountain bikers and, thanks to Unbound’s incredible growth, gravel specialists set to compete alongside thousands of gravel enthusiasts looking to take on the unique and life-changing challenge.

Roughly 4,000 athletes are expected to compete at the various events this weekend that include everything from 25- to 350-mile races. The marquee 200-mile race offers US$60,000 in prize money that’s split between the top-five men and women.

20th Anniversary Course

To celebrate the two decades of racing in Emporia, organizers have created a course that celebrates some of the iconic sections of past races. This year’s 200-mile race will actually include 207 miles of racing with over 9,000 feet of climbing that combines the north and south courses. With rain expected, that means the infamous 10-mile Sharpes Creek Road section promises to be every bit as painful as the last time it was featured at Unbound – 2015. That year’s mud-fest kicked off with a stretch of “prairie peanut butter mud” at about mile 10 that stopped many athletes in their tracks. It’s remembered by many as 100 miles of mud survival and 100 miles of gravel racing.

The terrain around Emporia, including the Flint Hills, features endless rolling climbs. If there’s not all that deep mud the course will often feature extreme heat – the course doesn’t offer much shelter from the elements. Thanks to a wet spring and the chance of rain this weekend, athletes could be in for another tough year at Unbound.

Men’s Race

Last year Kiwi Cam Jones, a mountain bike specialist, took the win after riding roughly 150 miles in a breakaway with Swiss rider Simon Pellaud. Jones will be the man to watch on Saturday, especially with the potential for a muddy course. The 2024 champ, Boulder’s Lachlan Morton, moves back down to the 200-mile race after an epic, record-setting duel with Canadian Robert Britton in the 350-mile race last year that saw just six minutes separating the two.

Two other big names to watch on Saturday include France’s Romain Bardet, who left the pro road peloton last year to focus on gravel racing, and another big-name former World Tour rider who has now moved to gravel, Canadian Mike Woods. Former champ Keegan Swenson is also back to look for another title and move up a spot on the podium after a runner-up finish to Bradyn Lange, who is also racing, at Sea Otter, the opening race of the Life Time Grand Prix series. American track legend Taylor Phinney has come out of retirement to try and represent the US at the LA Olympics in the team pursuit and will also test himself on Saturday.

You can see the full pro men’s list here.

Women’s Race

Last year’s women’s champion Karolina Migoń (a Pole who lives in Switzerland) was able to launch a full-time career after the win in Emporia last year. (She worked as a software engineer and took a five-month leave last year to focus on racing last year.) She managed to extricate herself from a three-woman breakaway with 50 miles to go last year to take a convincing win.

The 2024 champion, Rosa Klöser will be back to regain the title that eluded her last year after a crash and a wrong turn forced her to settle with a fourth-place finish. Another former champ, American Lauren De Crescenzo, who won in 2021, will be another to watch. As with the men, some big-name roadies will be garnering some attention – Axelle Dubau-Prévot (sister of Tour de France Femmes winner Pauline Ferrand-Prévot) and Ashleigh Moolman Pasio will be switching to gravel for the weekend.

You can see the full women’s pro list here.

Tech Innovation

Gravel racing doesn’t fall under the same kind of technical UCI rules, which has made the event a testing ground for many manufacturers. This year there will be lots of eyes on defending men’s champ Cam Jones an Robin Gemperle, who will be riding Scott’s Racing Concept (RC) Gravel 32″ prototype bikes. According to Scott “the bikes ridden by Cameron Jones and Robin Gemperle are pure prototypes and will never be released on the market.”

As the “Kona of gravel,” there will no-doubt be more innovative products on display both at the huge expo, and on the race course.

The post Mud, Miles and Mayhem: 20 Years at Unbound Gravel first appeared on Slowtwitch News.

A pair of Olympic gold medalists led the way at the first of the Supertri Pro Series races at Supertri Austin on the weekend. 2016 Rio champ Gwen Jorgensen pulled clear on the run to take the women’s race, while Tim Hellwig, part of Germany’s Mixed Relay gold medal winning team from Paris, topped the men’s field.

Jorgensen crossed the line with a nice buffer, but there was a close race for second as American Eleanor Beveridge managed to outsprint Slovakia’s Zuzana Michaliková.

Women’s Results:

1. Gwen Jorgensen (USA): 58:14
2. Eleanor Beveridge (USA): 58:33
3. Zuzana Michaliková (SVK): 58:33
4. Joy Gill (USA): 58:37
5. Michelle Magnani (USA): 59:40
6. Annie Fuller (USA): 1:00:13
7. Rylan Lonergan (USA): 1:00:48
8. Faith Dasso (USA): 1:01:22
9. Mackenzie McConagha (USA): 1:01:39
10. Avalyn Thompson (USA): 1:03:17

In the men’s race Hellwig worked with American Olympian Seth Rider on the bike to break clear of the rest of the field, then ran himself to the win. Rider would be passed by France’s Aurelien Jem and countryman Matthew McGoey and would eventually finish fourth.

Men’s Results:

1. Tim Hellwig (GER): 52:00
2. Aurelien Jem (FRA): 52:19
3. Matthew McGoey (USA): 52:28
4. Seth Rider (USA): 52:41
5. Carter Stuhlmacher (USA): 53:03
6. Cole Jamieson (USA): 53:34
7. Nathanael Hamilton (USA): 53:50
8. Elliot Hamilton (USA): 55:05
9. Graham Hummel (USA): 55:48
10. Foster Wilfong (USA): 56:03

Hellwig, Rider and Michaliková already had invites to the Supertri Pro Series Final, so the the men’s qualifiers for the Pro Series Final were Jem, McGoey and Carter Stuhlmacher, while Jorgensen, Beveridge and Joy Gill got the women’s spots.

Beaugrand Breaks French 5,000 m Record

Last week Paris Olympic gold medalist Cassandre Beaugrand broke her third national running record. The reigning triathlon world champion ran 14:40.77 to set the new track record that had stood since 2004 (Margaret Maury – 14:43.90). Last year Beaugrand set the French 5 km road record in Monaco, running 14:53 and ran 30:52 in April of this year to set a new 10 km record on the road, too.

Beaugrand’s run was set up during a club night meet, but still featured three pacemakers (Kenyans Emmaculate Jekopsgei and Purity Chepkirui, plus Burundian Francine Niyomukunzi) and the pacing lights you often see at major track events.

“I really surprised myself,” she told L’Équipe after the race. “I’m not used to running with pacemakers, so I had to adjust my stride. But there were so many people cheering me on. I couldn’t let them down.”

Beaugrand’s time meets the standard for the European Championships in Birmingham in August – it will be interesting to see how much she wants to focus on running as she looks to go after another triathlon world triathlon title this year (she won in 2024), and also begin the qualifying process for the LA Games. Beaugrand is entered in this weekend’s World Triathlon Championship Series Alghero race.

Speaking of Alghero …

Anyone else notice how competitive this race is shaping up to be? The only two women to have won a WTCS race in Sardinia – Beaugrand (in Alghero last year and Cagliari the year before) and Georgia Taylor-Brown (in Cagliari the previous two years) will both be vying for a third title. Beth Potter will no-doubt be keen to add a fourth WTCS win in her last five attempts after taking the Samarkand race, while reigning world champ Lisa Tertsch will look to get back on track to try and defend her title. Others we’ll be watching include Taylor Knibb, Leonie Periault and Jeanne Lehair.

You can see the full women’s start list here.

The men’s race promises to be every bit as much of a barn-burner, with the much-anticipated battle of the world champs – T100 world champ Hayden Wilde and reigning WTCS champ Matt Hauser. Add to that mix Paris Olympic gold medalist Alex Yee, defending Alghero champ Miguel Hidalgo, Samarkand champion Vasco Vilaca and you have the makings of quite the race.

You can see the full men’s start list here.

The post We Noticed: Jorgensen Wins Supertri Austin, Beaugrand Breaks Another French Running Record and more first appeared on Slowtwitch News.

As has been the case for virtually all of her wins over the years, Great Britain’s Lucy Charles-Barclay led from start to finish at IRONMAN Lanzarote today, besting her previous fastest swim time set in 2016 (when she came close to beating Jan Frodeno out of the water) and posting the day’s fastest swim, bike and run times to easily take her third IRONMAN Lanzarote title. The feat now ties her with Paula Newby-Fraser with three wins at this race, renowned as the world’s toughest IRONMAN.

Charles-Barclay hit the beach in 47:01, almost for minutes ahead of countrywoman Stephanie Clutterbuck (who would eventually pull out of the race due to what she reported on social media as burns/ blisters sustained while running through T2), with yet another Brit, Molly Savill just a few seconds back and Switzerland’s Nina Derron hitting T1 almost eight minutes behind in fourth.

Once on the bike it didn’t take Derron long to ride into second, which is where she stayed for almost the rest of the race. Derron would hit T2 a little over 10 minutes behind Charles-Barclay, with yet another British athlete, Rebecca Anderbury a further minute behind. Clutterbuck would get to T2 just over 16 minutes behind Charles-Barclay, while France’s Nikita Paskiewiez would finish the bike 26:38 behind the lead.

Out on the run course Charles-Barclay continued to dominate the day, gaining even more time on the women behind. Derron would remain in second for most of the run, but was passed by Anderbury heading into the third lap before regaining the runner-up spot and staying there through the finish. Anderbury would fade to fourth as a charging Paskiewiez would make up almost two minutes in the final six km of the run to take the final spot on the podium.

I caught up with Charles-Barclay shortly after the race.

Congratulations on the win. Pretty awesome company you just joined.

I mean, when I was running down the finish and you said I’d had surgery in January, I just did get a bit emotional. I was like, yeah, this is actually pretty crazy — to come back from that and be racing the hardest IRONMAN there is, and to get my third win here, really, really special. To be in the company of Paula Newby-Fraser, who is a friend of mine but an absolute legend and hero in the sport — to be up there with her is amazing. And yeah, just really, really happy to get the win, the final Club La Santa IRONMAN Lanzarote. As an ambassador for them, it feels very bittersweet. But yeah, a special day.

Only seven Kona titles to catch Paula’s record now — how hard could it be?

Yeah, I think she might keep that one! But yeah, amazing.

You love getting out front and staying there, but on a course this tough, was it a challenge today?

Yeah, I mean, the day started off really well — to beat my swim course record from, I think it was 2017, where I believe it was a one-lap course then, so it used to be a bit faster. So yeah, to beat that, I was really, really happy. The bike — I’m definitely not at 100% fitness and I felt that, so I kind of had to judge my effort level and make sure I wasn’t pushing too hard, because this is such a tough bike. It’s like an hour longer than most other IRONMANs, so you have to factor that in. And then there was the unknown of running a marathon having had surgery at the end of January — I was like, I probably need to manage this effort a little bit more than I normally would. But, thankfully, when I got on the run I actually felt quite good. It felt like it was flowing. It was definitely a hot one out there, so hopefully a good little test run before Kona. I’m happy I can actually handle the heat again — I kind of got rid of those demons out there today. So yeah, very happy with the overall result.

This was your first full-distance race since Kona. (Charles-Barclay pulled out on the run in the Energy Lab last year.) Was any of that going through your mind as the heat ratcheted up on the run?

Yeah, I think it was a really nice way to get confidence that I can handle the heat. But there’s definitely parts of me after Kona that were like, oh, do I want to do an IRONMAN again? And I decided to go and do the toughest one there is again — and it just reconfirmed that I do want to do this. I loved it, even when it gets really, really tough at the end. I was trying to embrace it, enjoy it, and be grateful that I’m out there, healthy, doing this. So yeah, for the most part I enjoyed it.

You predicted that Reece would be telling you to slow down all day — was that what happened?

Yeah, not in those exact words. He put it in a very good way, actually — he gave me a focus point, just telling me to have a good rhythm. I think he said to run the last half marathon as easy and efficiently as I can. So I took that as slow down! But yeah, basically just get to the finish line in the best state possible, which isn’t always easy on this course. But yeah, happy to report that I’ve made it back in one piece.

Hamburg — are you sending that email to pull out, or have Reece and Dan not paid attention yet?

Yeah, I think my name will be coming off the Hamburg start list. I’m very happy with getting that Kona qualification done and dusted today, and now I can have a little rest before I start training again. It’s definitely been a very rushed period at the beginning of the year trying to get this qualification done, and I hope to now have a period where it doesn’t feel rushed. I can just continue to build that fitness, because it’s definitely not 100% there — it’s lacking in areas. So yeah, it’ll be nice to go and work on that and not feel rushed into the next race.

Will there be another IRONMAN before Kona, or are you building straight to it?

Kona is definitely my A goal for the year, so I think that will be the next IRONMAN that I do. This race has given me a lot of data points — Dan and Reece will look at that and go, okay, this is where you really need to work and improve to be better in Kona, and that’s what we’ll do. If Dan or Reece thinks it’s a good idea to do another Ironman, I’m all for it. But yeah, we’ll just see how it goes.

Everyone seemed to be making statements in Texas — Kristian making his case, Solveig having a big day … now you had a great race here. Do you feel like you’re part of that conversation, reminding people not to forget about you?

I mean, I don’t know if that was much of a statement — it was just me getting around the island and trying to enjoy it as much as possible. Obviously very happy to get the win. And I guess this race is so difficult to compare to any others — it’s really about managing your own effort, getting your nutrition on board. Like I said, it’s basically an hour longer than most other IRONMANs, so it’s a really tough challenge. But if people think it’s a statement, I’m happy to take it! I did get called the Olympic champion when I was running out of T2, and I was like… I don’t think I’m that. But okay, that made me laugh. (Ed. note: I wasn’t on the mic at that point, I promise!)

And finally — 70.3 worlds, still in the picture before Kona?

Yeah, I think so. Obviously I’ll go away and do some good training and see how it goes, but I’d like to defend my title over the 70.3 distance. I feel confident that if we keep building from here, that’s a possibility later in the year for sure.

The post “To get my third win here, really, really special” — Lucy Charles-Barkley on Lanzarote, surgery comeback and the road to Kona first appeared on Slowtwitch News.

He came. He saw. He kicked ass. The last time Sam Laidlow (FRA) started here at IRONMAN Lanzarote (in 2023), he didn’t manage to finish the race. Today he not only finished, he shattered the course record set by his former training partner, Arthur Horseau (8:22:30 in 2023), and bested three-time Kona champion Patrick Lange by almost 10 minutes.

Laidlow led from start to finish, coming out of the water with a 14-second lead over Nik Heldoorn (son of two-time IRONMAN Lanzarote champ Frank Heldoorn), with defending champion Dylan Magnien a minute down. Lange would exit the water 1:07 behind.

Once on the bike Laidlow quickly pulled clear of the rest of the field, setting a new bike course record with his 4:27:52 split to hit T2 over 10 minutes ahead of countryman Damien le Mesnager, over 15 minutes ahed of yet another Frenchman, Leon Chevalier, with Norway’s Jon Breivold and Jordi Montreveda Moya right around 17 minutes down. Sitting in ninth off the bike was Lange, who hit T2 almost 19 minutes behind the leader.

Once out on the run course, though, Lange made quick work of all the men ahead of him, surging through the field and moving into second place before the start of the third lap of the run. (The three loop run course in Lanzarote consists of one long loop followed by two shorter ones.) Even a course record run of 2:33:42 wasn’t nearly enough to put the German even close to Laidlow. Lange was happy to come away with his Kona slot, though, clearing the way for a Roth/ Kona double to finish out the season.

Montreveta Moya was solid through the run to nail third place as le Mesnager would have to settle for fourth.

As the lead announcer at today’s race, I was able to catch up with the champ after his big win.

Sam, a breathtaking race — 8:03 here in Lanzarote, a new bike course record, a new overall record. You must be thrilled with today?

Yeah, I mean, the first thing I said to my dad when I came across the line was that I ran really bad. That’s just the way I am, I guess. But I’m of course very happy. It’s a very, very tough race and very tough conditions, and Patrick thrives in these conditions. So yeah, to be nearly 10 minutes in front is a big win I think, and a lot of confidence going forward to Kona. But yeah, I can’t stress enough how hard that day was. I’ve just been laying here feeling like I’m going to vomit for the last 10 minutes and shivering and yeah… oh man.

We’ve talked a few times over the last year about the illness and the setbacks. It seems like you’ve come back from all of that as a more patient athlete — stronger, and better able to deal with days like today.

Yeah, I mean, from the outside when you have a 10-minute lead or something, it looks like you’re in cruise control and it looks easy to everyone. But yeah, in IRONMAN, anything can happen, you know. I still have these images of people crawling in Kona or stuff like this when I’m two km away from the finish. So it’s really never a done deal, and the last two to three km were really painful for me, even though I had a massive lead. But, yeah, I mean, the setbacks and stuff last year — I think I was just more vocal than most people, but I know for a fact that other athletes also go through setbacks. And yeah, that’s just part of my job, I guess.

On the bike, you were pretty much by yourself the entire race. Was that a challenge, or did that feel good?

I really enjoy being by myself on the bike because I can really focus on the time trialing aspect of it. Focusing on the art of time trialing, I would say, which is to put power out in certain parts of the course and focusing on being aero on other parts. And yeah, I just enjoy it. And today, as I said before the race, it would be a very, very honest race. I don’t think pack dynamics play a big role in tough courses like this. So yeah, I just focused on trying to go as fast as possible while still being efficient, and I think I did a good job. I mean, my power wasn’t super high, but I managed to go really quite fast. So yeah, I’m really happy.

Everyone was talking about the stacked field in Texas and Kristian Blummenfelt’s performance there. Was there any part of you wanting to send your own message today?

If anything, probably not — because I don’t want to get Kristian angry before Roth or Kona, because an angry Kristian is a very fast Kristian. So yeah, I think they’re very, very different races. I think Texas was almost more of a kind of short course draft legal race — even though there is a 20-meter rule, the pack dynamics and a flat course means it’s more of a run race. And here, I think it would be interesting for lots of the guys in Texas to come here. I think it’s completely different. But I think Kona is somewhat a mix of both of them, because the bike in Kona is still pretty hard and pretty hot and windy. For me, I can use this race and now go to Roth and go to Kona and think, thank God I can race for 20 minutes less, or even an hour less, you know, nearly. When I finished two laps here and I saw seven hours 20 or something, I was like, oh, that would be Roth — Roth would be finished now. So yeah, it’s really tough mentally, this race.

And finally, does a performance like this give you any tactical ideas for Kona, or does that go out the window when the field gets so deep?

Yeah, I think it’s difficult now because there’s more and more guys from short course coming up who want to race aggressively, want to race at the front — similar to how I used to be the first time I went to Kona. But now there’s a lot of guys like that. So, if anything, this performance, and even my performances last year in Leeds and Roth, have kind of given me confidence that I can just stick to my numbers and hopefully come through. Now there’s guys that are new to long course, like Jonas (Schomburg) and Marten (Van Reel), who are happy to race aggressively, and I’m happy to let them do that. If I can use them a little bit, then that’s great. But yeah, I think if anything, it’s just given me confidence that I can stick to my numbers and have a solid all-round performance.

The post Sam Laidlow Shatters Records With Huge Win at IRONMAN Lanzarote first appeared on Slowtwitch News.

If you were at the IRONMAN Texas press conference in The Woodlands last month, the last thing you would have thought was that Patrick Lange was injured. The three-time Kona champ was in great spirits, adorned in a Texas Tech shirt and cracking jokes and, in what has become standard operating procedure at press conferences, asking some of his own questions of the other athletes in the panel.

A few days later, though, Lange would struggle right from the start of the race, exiting the water well back and eventually dropping out. Which is why we get to see him racing this weekend here in Lanzarote – a race that’s taken him “too long” to get to, he pointed out during yesterday’s press conference.

Lange is 39 and admits that he’s in the latter part of his career, but remains one of the most feared runners in the sport. While his resume is stacked with big wins – those three Kona titles, three IRONMAN North American wins (two in Texas and one in Tulsa) along with the Roth title in 2021 – he’s also struggled at times with the pressure of being a world champion, especially being a Kona champion from Germany, a country that worships it’s long-distance triathlon stars.

Lange, though, worked through those challenges and bounced back after a tough 2019 year to set the stage for his third Kona title, not to mention a runner-up finish in Nice the year before. I caught up with Lange after yesterday’s press conference to chat about the race here in Lanzarote, and that mindset change that has elevated him to one of the most successful IRONMAN athletes in history.

Q: Patrick, great to hear the back is feeling better after Texas. You just looked uncomfortable coming out of the water — I said to the person next to me, “Something’s wrong with Patrick.”

Yeah, definitely. It was such a good build-up, but the last five days it just spiraled downward. Normally it spirals upwards towards the race, but somehow this week it went the other way. It’s good to have recovered from that. The lower back has always been my weak spot, because my left leg is one and a half centimetres longer than my right — I broke my leg bone when I was a baby. So it’s always been that weak spot, but now it’s actually pretty good. I didn’t feel it for the last couple of days, so I’m really looking forward to this race. The main goal is to qualify for Kona here, get the slot, and then focus on Roth and Kona obviously.

Q: The great news for all of us is we get to see you race on one of the legendary courses. How challenging was it to make that switch mentally after what happened?

Definitely challenging, because you’re coming off a very bad race, a bad experience, and of course you’re questioning yourself — what went wrong. It was interesting for me to experience that it almost felt like I’d finished the race. From the muscle pain and the mental fatigue, I was so drained, and energy-wise, when I started swimming again, every muscle in my body was aching. A race always takes something out of you, even if you don’t finish it. To switch off and focus again — for the first two weeks it was very hard to get into a rhythm. But it helped once I finally made the decision: okay, I’ll go to Lanzarote. Once I had that box ticked in my head, training got better every day. From the moment we said as a team, “I want to do this race” — it’s a big opportunity to get the Kona slot, and a big opportunity to race a very cool course that should suit me — it was uphill from there. Now I feel good and I think it’s a great opportunity to go out there and fight for the slots.

Q: I feel like you’re so much better now at absorbing those kinds of setbacks than in the pressure cooker of 2017, 2018, when you were world champion and carrying all of that. There seemed to be a mental switch somewhere — I could see it in 2023, when you were second in Nice and then won in Kona. Am I on the right track?

Yes, of course. I think it was end of 2021 — I decided to make a change because I was not happy with my mental state. The mind needs to be trained just as much as the body. When I decided to work on that, I got a different connection to the sport again, put things into perspective a little better, and it helped me enjoy it more and just be more myself. I also made some changes in the team, which helped a lot. It made me fall in love with the sport all over again, and I think that was a key moment — making that change and working on the mental side as well.

The post From Pressure Cooker to Perspective: Patrick Lange on the Change That Saved His Career first appeared on Slowtwitch News.

In 2016, here in Lanzarote, I asked the media crew at Club La Santa if they could set up an interview with Lucy Charles (this was pre-marriage to Reece Barclay). They couldn’t figure out why. I explained that she’d won her age group in Kona the year before, and I had a feeling she would do well in her first professional IRONMAN race. A few days later she proved me right.

During that interview that I learned that as a teenager, Charles-Barclay had come very close to making it to the Olympics. A national team swimmer, she was one of five British women who had made the Olympic standard for the 10 km open water swim … with only one spot available. In the end, the then-18-year-old didn’t make the final cut. A few years later she would find triathlon, and set the stage for her status as one of the sport’s most recognized pros.

With that swim background, it was hardly a surprise that before the race in 2016 she joked that she was going to try and beat Jan Frodeno out of the water. On race day she came close – Frodeno hit the beach in Puerto Del Carmen in 46:52, with Charles-Barclay coming out in 47:11. She would pip the German Olympic gold medalist across the mount line and on to the bike as he struggled with his helmet. Charles-Barclay would eventually finish third, and a year later she would win here in Lanzarote. A few weeks later she won the Challenge Championship in Samorin, Slovakia and, later that year, she would begin the string of runner-up Kona finishes (2017, 2018, 2019 and 2022) that would eventually end in 2023 when she took the IRONMAN world championship title.

I mentioned that interview during today’s press conference, and Patrick Lange picked up on just how much Charles-Barclay has grown as an athlete over the last decade. She’s here in Lanzarote as the defending champion and also the reigning IRONMAN 70.3 world champion, but coming off surgery in January in which she had her plantaris tendon removed. She bounced back to win the Volcano Triathlon earlier this month, and is expecting to hear a lot of “slow down” from her husband and coach Reece Barclay on Saturday as she returns to full fitness and gears up for another championship season.

I caught up with Charles-Barclay after today’s press conference.

Q: I still fondly remember that 2016 interview at Club La Santa. It’s been quite a journey for you since then.

It’s been such an incredible journey, to be honest. One that, I guess if I’d written it down in a book, I never would have believed. It’s been such an amazing 10 years. And to be back on this start line after all that time, feeling like still the same athlete, but also a very different athlete as well. It’s super special.

Q: What is it about Lanzarote and Club La Santa that keeps you coming back? I’m guessing there are other resorts who would be happy for you to come and stay, but you guys seem to have quite an attachment here.

It’s where my journey began, to be honest. I first came to Club La Santa still as a swimmer — I remember doing 100 100s in the old pool before they had the two new ones, so I’ve really seen the growth of the centre. Now they have three Olympic-sized swimming pools, which is any swimmer or triathlete’s dream. I’ve travelled all around the world and never found something that is as good as Club La Santa. It feels like a second home. You have the green teamers who are so friendly, who you see every day. You’re able to ride the whole island, which is incredibly tough at times, but I think that’s the point — it sets you up so well for any triathlon season. When I first raced here, it was about doing the toughest IRONMAN and knowing I could race anywhere in the world, and I still believe that. So it always sets me up well for a great year.

Q: This year you’re coming in after surgery — who needs a plantaris tendon anyway, right? You had that removed in January. What has that recovery been like?

I remember barely running in January. I was in so much pain from the swelling of the plantaris rubbing on my Achilles tendon, and I texted my sports doctor back in the UK and he was like, “We can literally operate in two days.” I remember sitting on the green at Club La Santa debating whether I should do this. The decision was made when I thought: if I’m getting to my Kona camp here in August and it’s still annoying me, I’ll just be so annoyed that I didn’t nip it in the bud and get the surgery. So I decided to go ahead, and honestly, it was the best thing I could have done. Being back here running now and kind of pinching myself doing a 30 km long run with no pain — I couldn’t even run 10 km in January without stopping and walking, with other things in my body hurting because I was running awkwardly. It feels like it was a miracle surgery. I guess I don’t want to say that too soon — I haven’t finished the Ironman yet — but if I can finish the race here healthy, validate for Kona, then it feels like I’ve put to bed the surgery, I’m over it. And we can move on to hopefully a solid championship season.

Q: I was joking about you sneaking onto the Hamburg entry list when Dan (Lorang) and Reece weren’t looking. I’m guessing that wasn’t quite the case — they’re in on it?

Yeah, of course. I sit down with Dan and Reece and talk to them a lot. When I made the decision to have the surgery, Reece was on the call, Dan was on the call, my sports doctor, the surgeon — we were all talking through the pros and cons and what the timeline was likely to be. I was like, “We’re going to hopefully have a shorter timeline than that.” My recovery generally is very good with anything like that, so I’m super grateful it went well. We said IRONMAN Lanzarote would be the ideal race. I know it so well — I haven’t got to go and prepare and look at the course, I obviously know every detail of it. It’s not an easy IRONMAN. The field is always unknown; people might come out of the woodwork and do a solid performance. For me it’s about doing a measured effort, hopefully still doing a solid one, but I know Reece will be out there telling me to slow down if I’m going too quickly. I’m just really looking forward to it. I love the atmosphere of this race and, hopefully, I can do it with a smile on my face for most of the day.

Q: You’re not very good at not racing hard. So there’s no way this is just a training day leading up to Hamburg, right?

Obviously IRONMAN Hamburg is a bit of a backup race for me. If I don’t finish here, I will go and race there just to validate for Kona. As soon as I cross the finish line here, hopefully I will email IRONMAN — they’re already aware of the situation. So it’s more of a backup, as opposed to a double. I don’t think I would do both … I feel like if I finish here and told Reece that I feel great, he’d just tell me that we’re going to go home and lie down — you’re not doing another Ironman in two weeks. So yeah, you probably won’t see me there unless this goes horribly wrong, which hopefully it doesn’t.

Q: Last year was quite a roller coaster — physically and emotionally. I talked to you on the high of 70.3 Marbella, coming back after having to pull out of Kona. What do you take out of last year?

On the whole, 2025 was an incredible year. I’d had such a terrible year in 2024, so aside from Kona, 2025 was fantastic. It’s just a shame that on the biggest stage it didn’t come together. But I was so grateful that only four weeks after, I would have another shot at a world title. I never expected to bounce back as well as I did, but I think it’s a testament to my team and myself that we’re always willing to put in the work. I didn’t want to end the season after Kona on that note — I knew I wanted to end it in a much more positive way. And it couldn’t have been more positive than going to Marbella and getting the win. Running up that finish line, it probably tops anything I’ve ever felt in the sport, because it was just that redemption of things going wrong and then making them right again.

Q: We talked about this in Marbella — it’s a team effort, right? In 2016 there was you and Reece, but he was still trying to figure out how he could race and help support you. How has that part of the your triathlon growth developed?

Nowadays the professional racing is at such a high level that it’s really hard to do it without a team around you. I’m obviously super lucky to have my husband Reece, who’s been there from the very beginning. But now I have my sister doing the social media, I have a PA at home called Louise, I have my manager Evan, I have my medical team at Fortius Clinic in the UK who will get me in for surgery within a day of making a phone call. I obviously have all of my incredible sponsors who are behind me as well, and it just wouldn’t be possible to race at this level without them. I am so incredibly grateful.

Q: Hey, good luck on Saturday.

Thank you very much.

The post Ten Years On: Lucy Charles-Barclay on Surgery, Redemption and Lanzarote first appeared on Slowtwitch News.

XTERRA North American Championship

It was a big weekend at Oak Mountain State Park in Alabama this weekend for the XTERRA North American Championship. Reed Legg (USA) and Isla Hedley took Friday’s Short Track titles, while Maxim Chané (FRA) and Marta Menditto (ITA) won the long-course races on Sunday. On Saturday the USA Triathlon Youth and Junior Cross National Championship took place. Americans Lucas Wright and Abigail Wales took the Junior titles, Dylan Thompson, and Elletta Aardema-Gagnon also earned Youth A wins, while Joren Aardema-Gagnon and Canada’s Dahlia Fillion took the Youth B honors. As the North American Championship, it was Legg who would earn the men’s title after finishing second in Sunday’s race (the only American in the top-10), while Amanda Felder followed up her win at XTERRA Puerto Rico earlier this year after finishing sixth. 

Here are the top-10 results from the long-course race:

You can find the full results from the weekend’s racing here.

Supertri Pro Series Final

They’re billing it as “triathlon’s richest day of the year,” and with US$800,000 on the line it’s hard not to concur. Supertri has announced its Pro Series Final will take place on Sept. 6 in Jersey, Channel Islands.

“The confirmed start list reads like a who’s who of short-course triathlon,” today’s press release states. “Olympic gold medallists Alex Yee (GBR) and Cassandre Beaugrand (FRA) headline a field that also includes Matt Hauser (AUS), Georgia Taylor-Brown (GBR), Tim Hellwig (GER), Csongor Lehmann (HUN), Jeanne Lehair (LUX) and Jolien Vermeylen (BEL), with more big names to be announced. Together they represent some of the fastest and most decorated athletes in the sport, and all will be racing for their share of 2026’s biggest single-day triathlon prize purse.”

This will be the one and only race in the Supertri series this year utilizing the Supertri format of three back-to-back rounds of swim, bike and run. With an emphasis on age-group racing this year – you can read about the new approach in the story we posted earlier this year – there will be three pro qualifying races in the Supertri series. The top three male and female finishers from the qualifiers, which take place in Austin, Blenheim Palace and Toronto, will qualify for the Jersey race and compete against the big names Supertri is bringing in.

“This is a huge year for Supertri as we truly unify professional and amateur racing,” said Michael D’hulst, CEO and Co-Founder of Supertri. “Our new Pro Series is the very pinnacle of short-course racing, and we cannot think of a better stage for the Final than Supertri’s spiritual home ofJersey. The stakes have never been higher, and the field reflects that.”

American Bicycle Group Partners with Challenged Athletes Foundation

A new partnership will connect Challenged Athletes Foundation (CAF) grant recipients with American Bicycle Group (ABG) – the parent company of Quintana Roo, Obed and Litespeed bicycles. ABG will “serve as the preferred bicycle supplier partner for the non-profit organization,” according to a press release.

“CAF provides grants for adaptive sports equipment, training, competition expenses and mentorship,” the release continues. “The cost of specialized equipment can be a significant obstacle to participation, and this partnership aims to address that need by connecting athletes with a bicycle manufacturer equipped to support a wide range of disciplines, such as triathlon, road riding, gravel and mountain biking.”

“At American Bicycle Group, we believe every athlete deserves equipment that meets them where they are and helps take them where they want to go,” says Chris Pascarella, President and CEO of American Bicycle Group. “Sometimes very little needs to be changed. Our goal is always to get athletes on equipment that enables them to compete at parity. But when customization is needed, we have the facilities, expertise, and passion to support this community. We are proud to partner with CAF and help more athletes experience what is possible on a bike.”

An example of how the partnership is working comes in the form of a custom Quintana Roo V-PRi triathlon bike that’s being made for Michael Andreasen, who will be racing at this year’s IRONMAN World Championship in Kona.

“Fitting an athlete of Michael’s stature on the same high-performance frame our top pros are competing on ensures a level playing field where one did not exist before,” says Pascarella.

Since 1994 CAF has “fulfilled 60,000 funding requests from people across 73 countries, while impacting another 60,000 individuals annually through outreach, clinics and mentorship.”

Challenge Championship Live Stream

There’s a lot going on this weekend on the race front. Saturday there’s IRONMAN Lanzarote and T100 Spain, while on Sunday The Championship returns to Samorin, Slovakia. You can watch the live coverage of the race here of the race that has a 100,000 euro prize purse. Stay tuned for our race preview and post-race coverage.

The post We Noticed: XTERRA North American Champs, American Bicycle Group Partners with CAF, SuperTri Final Finalized and More first appeared on Slowtwitch News.

The women’s IRONMAN European Championship in Hamburg on June 7 could see the last three women to win the IRONMAN World Championship duel for pre-Kona bragging rights. Defending champion Laura Philipp (GER), the 2024 IRONMAN world champion and Solveig Løvseth (NOR), the reigning world champ, are confirmed for the race, while Lucy Charles-Barclay (GBR), the 2023 Kona champion, is in “pending the outcome of IRONMAN Lanzarote, taking place this weekend.”

The impressive field will be competing for US$87,500 in prize money and one of the six pro Kona slots up for grabs. As with all the IRONMAN Pro Series events, live coverage will be available on the IRONMAN YouTube channel.

In addition to what promises to be an exciting race just for the win, there will no-doubt be lots of expectations around a potential world-best time and even a sub-eight hour performance in Hamburg. Last year Philipp took the win (her second in a row in Hamburg) in a dramatic battle with Kat Matthews, winning the race in an IRONMAN record time of 8:03:13. Philipp, who had to be hospitalized for a short time earlier this month due to stomach and back pain, bounced back to take third at IRONMAN 70.3 Aix-en-Provence and will look to defend her title at IRONMAN 70.3 Kraichgau before heading to Hamburg.

Speaking of Aix-en-Provence, the winner at last weekend’s race, Marjolaine Pierré, is also part of the impressive field competing in Hamburg.

Løvseth Returns to Site of Record-Setting Debut

Last year Løvseth took third in Hamburg behind Philipp and Matthews, chalking up the fastest debut IRONMAN thanks to her 8:12:28 finish. She hasn’t lost a full-distance IRONMAN since, winning in Lake Placid before taking the world title in Kona last October. She kept her winning streak going with an impressive win at IRONMAN Texas last month. With Matthews forced to pull out of Texas and skipping Hamburg to focus on Challenge Roth, a top finish in Hamburg could very well put the Norwegian in a strong position to dethrone Matthews for the IRONMAN Pro Series title – the British star has won the first two editions of the Pro Series.

A number of top-10 finishers from Kona are set to compete in Hamburg as well, including Lisa Perterer, who took fifth on the Big Island last year before taking IRONMAN Cozumel. Britain’s Holly Lawrence, who finished one spot behind Perterer in her first Kona appearance last year, will kick off her 2026 season in Germany. Her countrywoman, India Lee, didn’t fare as well in Kona last year, but did take IRONMAN Les Sables last June, and will be another to watch. Another Brit who will no-doubt be in the mix early in the race is Fenella Langridge, who led the way out of the water at IRONMAN New Zealand earlier this year.

You can add to that list last year’s IRONMAN Western Australia champion, Lotte Wilms (NLD) and Denmark’s Katrine Christensen, who is coming off a runner-up finish at IRONMAN South Africa.

Here’s the pro list for the race in Hamburg:

The post IRONMAN Hamburg Teases Blockbuster Showdown Featuring Last Three World Champions first appeared on Slowtwitch News.

As one of the longest-running World Triathlon Championship Series (WTCS) events, a successful day in Yokohama has long been a harbinger for a successful year of racing ahead. Last year Matt Hauser resumed the trend of Yokohama men’s champions taking the world title, which had been the case every year from 2014 to 2021. Gwen Jorgensen won the race four years in a row from 2011 to 2014 as she geared up for her big Olympic win in 2016, too.

So, after yet another exciting day of racing in Japan, here are a few observations:

Månsson Sprints to First WTCS Title

One of the younger athletes in the race, 22-year-old Tilda Månsson from Sweden, took the win in impressive fashion – managing to do what most wouldn’t have anticipated by outsprinting an in-form Beth Potter to take the win. Potter came into Yokohama having won three of her last four WTCS races, and while Jorgensen was winning the triathlon at the Games in Rio, the Brit was there competing in the 10,000 m on the track. The race seemed destined to become a footrace from early on – a huge group of women exited the water together, and the lead group of 22, along with the chase pack of 11 that included Jorgensen joined together to hit T2 at once.

Which set up the 10 km run for the medals that saw France’s Emma Lombardi make the initial push, only to be marked by defending champ Jeanne Lehair, reigning world champ Lisa Tertsch and Månsson. Potter found herself having to do some work to get back into the mix after a slow transition, but would move to the front before the halfway point of the race and push the pace, eventually dropping all but Månsson. The Swede might be young, but she does know how to win – after winning the world junior sprint championships in 2022 she won the second World Cup event she competed in, and has taken 15 wins in draft-legal racing over the years. Månsson was able to absorb the pressure Potter put on after the last turn, then turned the tables and managed to open up a bit of a gap as they pair approached the blue carpet, eventually taking the win by a couple of seconds. Lehair would round out the podium.

More of the Same from Hauser

Australia’s Matt Hauser didn’t just take the world title last year – his four wins made him the first male triathlete take four WTCS titles in a season. While the women’s race featured a big group coming into T2 together, Hauser was a key component in the seven-man breakaway that got clear out of the water and would set up the first four across the line.

Hauser’s countryman Brayden Mercer would lead the swim, with the world champ on his feet, along with Brazil’s Miguel Hidalgo, Luke Willian (AUS), American Blake Bullard, Brit Max Stapley and Norway’s Vetle Thorn. The much-anticipated showdown between Hauser and reigning Olympic champion Alex Yee never materialized since the British star was 37 seconds back at the end of the swim and the chase group steadily lost ground to the leaders throughout the ride. By the time all was said and done, a group of six (Bullard was dropped) hit T2 with a 1:45 lead on the chasers, setting up a six-way run for the medals.

Hauser and a motivated Hidalgo (he dropped out of the WTCS season-opener in Samarkand) pulled clear of the rest of the men, with Hauser finding another gear that the Brazilian had no answer to, which pulled him to a comfortable 20-second win. Willian managed to hold off Vetle Bergsvik Thorn to round out the podium. (More on fifth-placed Yee later.)

Jorgensen Finishes as Top American

While the winner was born in 2004, the top American in the field was born in 1986. While her seventh-place finish isn’t as impressive as those four straight wins, Gwen Jorgensen proved that she can still race with the very best in the sport. Her 33:42 was the sixth-fastest run of the day and enough to get her to the line 20 seconds clear of fellow American Taylor Spivey. (Spivey’s Yokohama consistency continued with her eighth-place finish – since 2019 she’s finished third, fourth, eighth, fourth, fourth, ninth and eighth. In fact, the only time she hasn’t finished in the top 10 there was her 25th in 2017, the first year she raced the event.)

Yee Runs His Way to Fifth

Considering that he helped pace two of his countrymen at the London Marathon a few weeks ago, Alex Yee’s return to the WTCS scene was impressive. He was clearly the “best of the rest,” running a blazing 29:08 to move to fifth. In the end he was just 16 seconds from making the podium – think Luke Willian and Vetle Bergsvik Thorn were a bit worried over the last few half-mile of the race?

Yee “rode as hard as I could 295/310w (5.3w/k),” according to a post on Instagram, signalling that he achieved that impressive run time after a decent effort in the first two legs of the race. Considering that it was his first Olympic-distance event in over 18 months, Yee was rightfully pleased with his effort.

Another Win for Lauren Parker in the PTWC Category

Australian Paratriathlete Lauren Parker was paralyzed from the waist down after a training crash in 2017. At the time of the crash she was an age-group triathlete seemingly on her way to a pro career and, within nine months, was competing again on the Para scene. She took silver in Tokyo and won gold in Paris in both the PTWC division and the cycling road race, along with another silver in the time trial. (After finishing second in her age group in Kona in 2015, she returned in 2022 to be the only women’s handcyle finisher.)

Parker easily won her division at the Para event in Yokohama, while Thomas Fruehwirth (AUS) topped the men’s PTWC division. Hungary’s Bence Mocsari won his first World Triathlon Para Series race, besting Australia’s Jack Howell and 2016 and 2020 Paralympic gold medalist Martin Schulz (GER) in the PTS5 division. American Grace Norman took the women’s PTSF category.

Another first-time winner was American McClain Hermes, who won the PTVI race, while Serbia’s Lazar Filipovic won the men’s PTVI category. Americans Mark Barr and Hailey Danz topped the PTS2 division, Anna Plotnikova (AIN) and Great Britain’s Henry Urand won the PTS3 division, while France’s Alexis Hanquinquant and Camille Seneclauze won the PTS4 category.

The post 5 Takeaways from WTCS Yokohama first appeared on Slowtwitch News.