2022 Canadian Female Long-Distance Triathlete of the Year

It’s been a while since we’ve put her at the top of this list, but that serves as a fitting tribute to both her tenacity and longevity in the sport. Paula Findlay was our 2011 Triathlete of the Year thanks to an incredible run of World Triathlon Series wins. Now she’s our 2022 Canadian Female Long-Distance Triathlete of the Year thanks to an incredible year that saw her take her first Ironman 70.3 World Championship medal – a silver in St. George last October.

It’s not as though Findlay hasn’t had some stirling performances since her days as one of the sport’s premier draft-legal competitors. Had we celebrated a list of 2020 Triathletes of the Year we most likely would have given her this title thanks to her incredible $100,000 win at the Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO) 2020 Championship. It was a day that showed us something we’ve long known – when she’s fit and in form, Findlay is one of the sport’s strongest athletes.

Related: Paula Findlay is back at the top

The win at the PTO 2020 Championship was a signal that after years of fighting injuries, Findlay was back on track to compete with the best on a regular basis. Her 2022 season was proof-positive of that. She finished on the podium in all but two of her races. She thrilled her home-town fans with a runner-up finish at the PTO Canadian Open in Edmonton. She had the third-fastest time of the day in winning her match at the Collins Cup. There was that brilliant runner-up finish at the 70.3 worlds, and then she rounded out the season with the win at Ironman 70.3 Indian Wells-La Quinta.

All of which served as more than enough to net Findlay our Long-Distance Triathlete of the Year for 2022.

Thanks to Barrie Shepley, Kyla Rollinson, Pierre-Yves Gigou, Lance Watson and Carolyn Murray for their input on our Triathlete of the Year awards.