Lionel Sanders charges to huge win at Ironman 70.3 Oceanside

Canadian Lionel Sanders is one of the sport’s most popular stars, but over the last few years he hasn’t been the dominant force on the 70.3 race front as he had been in years past. Make no mistake – Sanders routinely finishes on the podium, but outright wins have been elusive – he won in Oregon last year, and Mont-Tremblant the year before to go along with a number of second and third place finishes.

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

After his third-place finish at Ironman 70.3 Augusta last year (pictured above), Sanders said that he wouldn’t race again until he “was a better athlete.” A podium finish would be a huge result for many, but for Sanders that result signalled that it was time to work on some of his weaknesses – otherwise he wouldn’t ever compete at the top level of the sport. Whatever he did appears to have worked – that Sanders is amongst the best 70.3 racers in the world became abundantly clear today with his impressive performance as he took the win over a stacked field, his third victory in Oceanside to go along with wins in 2016 and 2017.

Strong swim

Sanders has always struggled with the swim, but today he set up his impressive day with an excellent first leg. He exited the water 1:38 behind Germany’s Magnus Manner, who led the men out of the water. (Canadian Matt Sharpe was second out, six seconds behind, with American Matt Dubrick a second behind him.) Fellow Canadian Jackson Laundry, the champion in Oceanside two years ago, was just a few seconds behind Sanders, while American Sam Long, fresh off a runner-up finish at T100 Miami last month, was another minute behind Sanders.

By the halfway point of the ride Sanders, Long and Laundry were all part of a big lead group that included 13 men within 45 seconds of each other. By the 68 km point of the bike, though, Long was up front with Sanders on his tail as a group of five started to pull clear. By the end of the ride that group (Long, Sanders, Germany’s Maximillian Sperl and American Justin Riele) was over 2:30 up on the chasers.

Through the first few km of the run Riele was dropped, with Sperl next to drop off the pace set by the two Canadians and Long. As the leaders hit the 5 km point of the run Sanders had made his move and was starting to pull clear of the other two. Sanders kept the pressure on and would hold his lead to the line – finishing in 3:46:24, 1:11 up on Long (3:47:35) and 1:58 ahead of Laundry (3:48:22).

Belgium’s Jelle Geens would run his way from the chase group to fourth, with Sperl rounding out the podium.

Big win over some big names

While all three of the podium finishers were considered likely to vie for the win, there were a number of stars who weren’t in the picture at the front of the race, signalling just how competitive the day was. Three-time Ironman Asia Pacific champion Braden Currie would have to settle with sixth, 7:12 behind Sanders, while multiple Ironman champion Joe Skipper would take tenth. Two-time Ironman world champion Patrick Lange was almost 15 minutes back in 17th place.