Lionel Sanders wants to qualify for Kona at Ironman Texas

After IM 70.3 Oceanside, Lionel Sanders plans to race Ironman Texas

Cam Mitchell March 28, 2019

On April 6th, Lionel Sanders is expected to make his season debut at Ironman 70.3 Oceanside. Wearing bib #1, Sanders will be going up some stiff competition. Ben Kanute (USA), Eric Lagerstrom (USA), Tim Reed (AUS) and Sam Appleton (AUS), all world-class talent, will challenge the Canadian for the win.

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A nice winter training video is up on YouTube now. Not much commentary in this one, except for what Ironman I am doing this year to try and qualify for Kona! Click the link in my bio to find out. Any guesses? #nolimits ?@talbotcox

A post shared by Lionel Sanders (@lsanderstri) on Mar 28, 2019 at 10:09am PDT

Following IM 70.3 Oceanside, Sanders’ next race will likely be Ironman Texas. With Ironman’s new qualification system for the Ironman World Championship, Sanders will use the North American Championship to try to qualify for Kona in October (YouTube video).

This winter, Sanders has done the majority of his training out of Tucson, Arizona. He’s been on the road more – taking Strava KOM’s from professional cyclists – while also mixing in a healthy dose of Zwift. At the Zwift Canadian National Championships, Sanders finished 20th overall.

At Ironman Texas 2018, there was lots of controversy surrounding the bike course and age group drafting. After the controversy over a shortened course, Ironman has issued a press release saying that all records set on will stand as Ironman course and world records. This meant that Andrew Starykowicz’s 3:54:59 and Jen Annett’s 4:25:11, would stand as both a course best and a worldwide brand best.