Pro profile: Jackson Laundry
Jackson Laundry has been making a strong statement in the Canadian triathlon world lately. A few weeks ago he took second place in a competitive pro field at REV3 Quassy, behind American Cameron Dye. Last weekend, he won the Rainbow Cup Triathlon in Tobago. He has proved himself as an age-grouper in short course racing on the ITU circuit — but thanks to his Quassy result, he’s now showing his potential on the non-drafting pro scene as well.
Laundry lives and trains in Guelph, Ontario, alongside some of the best triathletes in the country. As part of Team LPC headed by coach James Loaring, Laundry has been committed to the sport as an elite triathlete since 2014 and says he hasn’t looked back since. His goals in the sport are to push his limits and build himself into the fastest and strongest athlete he can. That, and he wants to win.
Laundry says the prospect of winning has greatly improved recently. His results at Rev3 Quassy and Rainbow Triathlon Cup reflect his dedication to training since moving to Guelph to train with the LPC crew full-time. Surrounded by great facilities for training (including the Regional Performance Centre) and strong training partners, Laundry has steadily built up a resume of solid race results. Last year, he was the Multisport Canada elite triathlon series winner. In previous years, he’s also been on the podium in the 20 to 24 age group at world championships.
Finishing second at Quassy behind a powerhouse like Dye helped solidify to Laundry that what he’s doing is working, but it also left him hungry for more.
“It was a fairly last minute decision for me to race Quassy,” he told TMC. “But since it was an opportunity to win prize money, I took it. It’s also a hilly course which tends to favour me, so I went in feeling like I could have a strong race.”
Laundry had to overcome a deficit on the bike to secure his podium finish. Though his 00:34:43 run split was faster than Dye’s, it wasn’t quite fast enough to close the gap and take the win.
“It was an encouraging result for me. It has motivated me to keep improving to try to beat (him). In the future I would like to be able to win no matter who shows up on race day,” he said on his blog.
While he’s intent on gaining speed in the sprint and Olympic distances, Laundry and his coach James Loaring feel it’s time to test his abilities in long course racing as well. Later this summer, he’ll make his half distance debut at September’s Barrelman in Niagara Falls, Ont. and plans to develop his career as a long course athlete down the road.
“There’s a lot of opportunity there,” he explains. “I want to get more competitive and non-drafting is definitely my strength. I think racing the half distance will suit my skill set.”
As for right now, Laundry has a busy race schedule across the province and in the U.S. as well. We’ll continue to see him racing at the newly revamped Rev3 non-drafting Olympic races this summer and he’s also excited to race in the draft-legal national championship at the new Ottawa Triathlon next month. With so much potential, we’re excited to watch this rookie pro’s career unfold.