Sam Laidlow Shatters Records With Huge Win at IRONMAN Lanzarote

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.

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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.

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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 pa…