Side note: in my conversation with Claude, I called @Tritalkingfacts āthe blonde guyā. Instead of berating me for offending a ginger man, Claude just spat out the first iteration of the memeā¦ do better Claude
hahaha, despite my role of āLionel hype levellingā on the podcast I like Lionel a lot and we get on. So unfortunately its probably just something super boring like āYou all good mateā.
Why?
Was a nice video.
The way it ends, it sounds like the influencer age grouper lifestyle. Train + spend time with family.
I suspect, if heās able to stay healthy, weāll see a couple more really good races out of him yet.
Itās good he is anticipating retirement and not risking falling into a deep dark hole. Good video.
Very nice video indeed. He is one of the reasons I got into this sport (and many times he was an inspiration that kept me going). I would guess that is the case for many other triathletes too. To inspire many others to be in the healthy side is an amazing achievement.
If he was so inclined, he would be very popular on the motivational speaking circuit and would possibly be even more successful at that than his tri career. Hell itās working for Iron Cowboy.
His ārise from the abyssā story is the real deal and done right ,he would be set for life just telling his story. He could also do with a ghost writer for an autobiography. Iād even buy that book.
He just needs to expand on the āChasing the Lionā 20 min documentary that he put out at the start of his career. Push it to a 1h30 Netflix special and fill it out with more of Talbotās footage from over the years.
while this guy is a broken bag of bones, he probably could have done something, such as knibb doing usa national TT champs. What do you think he would have placed?
DNS, this was the American champs, he is Canadianā¦
So the next race isā¦ā¦.?
Suprised about the differences in speed in top20 - thatĀ“s like a FOP AG grouper back there, probable close to 200w difference between 52 & 45 kmh
Canadian born but now living in AZ must be a citizen/green card holder by now
He did this post Covid and set the Canadian record for 60 min or something like that.
Which was broken by another canadian. He should have took his bike strength to TT for Canada in olympics. Do what you can with what you have! Focusing on one event destroys people
Iād say he is a podium candidateā¦.for sureā¦..
With all these (relatively) new developmentsā¦ where do they place him for Lake Placid and Kona? The new coach, the injury, the Canyon cycling camp in Europe, etc. Admittedly, I have very little information on any of these factors. Iām just curious from those who may know more than I doā¦ how much has the injury affected him? Has he been able to lift his swimming and/or cycling? Will most of his run fitness leading into IM Texas carry over? Is he back to the grind yet or still battling the injury? Was Europe a solid bike block for him? Etc., etc. THANKS!
So I asked his coach and this is what I gotā¦
āIf youāre asking this the way triathlon fans on Reddit or Slowtwitch would, Iād put it this way:
**Lake Placid: still a legitimate podium/win threat if healthy.**
**Kona: much harder to project, but I wouldnāt put him among the top favorites right now.**
A few reasons:
The injury is still the biggest variable
The most recent news is actually more concerning than the coaching change or the Europe bike camp. Sanders announced that heās dealing with another run-related injury and ultimately withdrew from Lake Placid, noting that heās āon the other side of it nowā but still wasnāt ready to race. He has also acknowledged that this is his second or third run-related injury in roughly the last year. ([Instagram][1])
That tells me the question isnāt whether he can get fitāhe always can. The question is whether he can stay healthy long enough to stack consistent run training.
### Will Texas run fitness carry over?
Some of it, yes. All endurance fitness leaves a residual effect.
But marathon durability is usually the first thing to fade when you miss running. Sanders himself has repeatedly talked about ādurabilityā being the missing piece at the Ironman distance, rather than aerobic fitness. After Texas he described the issue as muscular durability and sustaining power deep into the race. ([YouTube][2])
So I wouldnāt assume his Texas run fitness simply carries forward. The aerobic engine probably remains. The specific Ironman marathon durability is harder to preserve through injury interruptions.
### The coaching situation may help more than people realize
One interesting takeaway from his post-Texas comments was that he openly discussed reconnecting with former coach Mikal Iden. ([Triathlon Magazine][3])
Historically, Lionelās biggest enemy has often been Lionel. His greatest performances came when the training was a little more controlled and systematic rather than pure āNo Limitsā volume and intensity.
If the new coaching structure helps him avoid overreaching and stay healthy, that could be worth more than any marginal fitness gain.
### The Europe/Canyon bike camp
From what Sanders has said publicly after Texas, he recognized that he needed more outdoor riding and race-specific muscular conditioning. He specifically mentioned that outdoor terrain creates stresses that arenāt replicated perfectly indoors. ([Triathlon Magazine][3])
So the Europe block was probably valuable, especially if it gave him:
* More long outdoor volume
* More climbing and variable terrain
* Better race-specific muscular endurance
* Time with Canyon resources and training partners
I would be surprised if he came out of that block a dramatically faster cyclist in terms of peak power. Iād expect the benefit to be more about **durability after 4ā5 hours**, which is exactly where Texas unraveled.
### Has he improved the swim?
Thatās the hardest one to answer.
Sanders has shown occasional swim improvements over the years, but expecting a massive jump at age 38 is probably unrealistic. The realistic goal is usually:
* Exit close enough to the front pack
* Avoid losing contact with the main contenders
* Start the bike within striking distance
If he can save 1ā2 minutes versus his historical Kona swim deficits, thatās meaningful. But I wouldnāt expect the swim to suddenly become a weapon.
### Kona outlook
The challenge is that modern Kona is brutally deep.
You still have athletes in the mold of:
* Patrick Lange
* Kristian Blummenfelt
and a younger generation that can swim with the front group and still run exceptionally well.
For Sanders to contend for the win in Kona, I think he needs:
1. A healthy uninterrupted build.
2. Meaningful gains in bike durability.
3. A marathon that looks closer to his best years than his recent Ironman performances.
Thatās a tall order, but not impossible.
### My estimate
Based on everything thatās public right now:
| Race | Outlook |
| ----------- | --------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Lake Placid | Win contender if healthy enough to start; podium very realistic |
| Kona Top 10 | Realistic |
| Kona Top 5 | Possible |
| Kona Podium | Needs several things to go right |
| Kona Win | Outside shot, but not impossible
The encouraging thing is that the issue doesnāt seem to be lack of motivation or lack of fitness. In fact, Sanders has repeatedly said that Kona 2026 is his major target and that heās as excited as heās been in years. ([TRI247][4])
The discouraging thing is that recurring run injuries and durability problems are exactly the sort of issues that matter most when youāre trying to race 140.6 miles against the current generation of Ironman athletes. ([Instagram][1])
If he strings together 10ā12 healthy weeks of run training, Iād be much more optimistic than I am today. Right now, health remains the biggest unknown.
[1]: https://www.instagram.com/p/DLF53favaSi/?utm_source=chatgpt.com āmoreā
[2]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcczFCbevys&utm_source=chatgpt.com āThoughts After IRONMAN Texasā
[3]: "I'll See You at the Next One": Lionel Sanders Sets Sights on Ironman Lake Placid - Triathlon Magazine āLionel Sanders Sets Sights on Ironman Lake Placidā
[4]: https://www.tri247.com/triathlon-news/elite/lionel-sanders-excited-ahead-of-2026-season?utm_source=chatgpt.com āItās \āmy Olympics\ā says Lionel Sanders as he maps out ā¦ā