Lionel Sanders really needs a coach … or he’s going to become one

After a third-place finish at Ironman 70.3 Augusta last week, Lionel Sanders says he won’t be racing again until he’s “a better athlete.”

“I am not interested in being at Augusta 70.3 and not even remotely being in contention,” he said in a recap video posted on his YouTube channel last night. “If that’s where my career has progressed to, then it’s time for me to hone my coaching knowledge and pivot to work with people who believe and have the capacity to contend, because I want to be around that type of energy.”

In the recap video Sanders says that he realizes that racing back to back weekends was likely too much – “I don’t think I have the capacity to do that anymore,” he says.

Sanders also questions why he raced as much as he did in August and September – a span that included the PTO US Open in Milwaukee, the Ironman 70.3 World Championship in Lahti, Finland, Ironman 70.3 Michigan and then the race in Augusta.

“It wasn’t fun. by mile 12 of the bike I wasn’t having any fun,” he says of the race in Augusta, pointing out that the US$2,000 pay check for third wouldn’t cover his expenses.

Sanders admits that he “sounds like a broken record,” regaling the fact that he hasn’t spent any time in the wind tunnel or velodrome to work on his position on the bike, or managed to improve his swim to the point where he can be more competitive. Until he’s done those things, we won’t see him on a race course, he says.

“When I have made measurable gains in the swim,” he says, “When I have made measurable gains aerodynamically and put them under the test under the power to be competitive, and done a bit of good running after that. But, I have no desire to return to racing until I have done those things. Now we will go into improvement mode, evolution mode, and the next time you see me I will be a better athlete.”

“I’m surrounding myself with people whom I trust, and people who I think have a proven track record,” Sanders continues. “This is my final push. This is truly my final push. That’s what I felt out in Augusta – it’s now or never. It’s important for me to build the team out in a way that I can fully commit to and I am fully confident in and that I can trust, so that I can fully commit because I feel that its a two or three year process to really take it to the absolute limit of my capacity.”

Sanders didn’t provide any more insight on who that “team” is, or whether or not there will be a new coach added to the mix.

Coaching

In case all this sounds familiar, just under a year ago Sanders posted a similar video earlier this year after a disappointing performance at the 2022 Ironman World Championship. Seemingly many of the issues Sanders is bemoaning are exactly the things a coach would be on deck to ensure he either did, or didn’t do. Sanders, though, has a history of working with coaches for a short period of time, then moving on – typically deciding to coach himself.

Has Lionel Sanders dropped another coach?

“I know how to do it … the thing I’ve lacked is confidence in myself and my process,” he said in a video recapping his 2022 season. “I had it right years ago. I still believe my bike/ run combo, when I was good, is on par with anyone now. I know how to get there, I will get there. I know how to get back to where I need to be … I am hungry, I am ready, I believe I have what it takes and I know how to do it. That’s where I head from here.”

Sanders had dropped coach Mikal Iden by that point, a surprise move to many triathlon fans who felt the Canadian had been making some good gains under the Norwegian.

In 2017 Sanders worked with David Tilbury-Davis, which ended in the Canadian’s first runner-up finish at the Ironman World Championship. Shortly after that breakthrough day, though, Sanders stopped working with the British coach, only to start working with him again a few years later. The pair parted ways again in 2021, and shortly after that Sanders started working with Iden.