Lanzarote can turn the best athletes in the world into shadows of themselves, which is why Saturday 23 May amounted to more than two wins. Lucy Charles-Barclay came back to racing after winter surgery and dominated from the first metre to the last. In the men’s race Sam Laidlow rode away from the field hard enough to make the old course record irrelevant.
The hardest IRONMAN in the world rewards only the athletes who are genuinely ready.
Laidlow takes almost 19 minutes off the record
Sam Laidlow raced Lanzarote in 2023 and did not finish. On Saturday he came back for it. The Frenchman led from start to finish, left the water 14 seconds up on Niek Heldoorn, and rode away from everyone.
His bike split was 4:27:52, a course record for the leg and more than seven minutes quicker than the previous best. He reached T2 over ten minutes clear of Damien Le Mesnager. Patrick Lange came off the bike ninth, close to 19 minutes down.
His finishing time was 8:03:40. The previous course record belonged to Arthur Horseau, 8:22:30 from 2023. Laidlow took almost 19 minutes off it.
In the finish interview the Frenchman was not celebrating:
“The first thing I said to my dad after crossing the line was that I ran really badly. That is just how I am built. But of course I am very happy.”
The closing kilometres hurt despite the size of his lead. He admitted he spent the last ten minutes lying at the finish, shaking and nauseous. An IRONMAN is never in the bag.
Lange breaks the run record, and it is not enough
Patrick Lange started the run around 19 minutes down. He picked off rivals one by one and moved up to second. His run split was 2:33:43, a course run record on Lanzarote by over five minutes. He finished in 8:12:29.
The German took the podium place, secured a Kona qualifying slot and said he is already thinking about a Roth and Kona double at the end of the season.
Jordi Montraveta Moya (ESP) was third in 8:16:16. Fourth place and the last men’s Kona slot went to Damien Le Mesnager.
Lucy Charles-Barclay: three titles, one operation
The women’s race was led from the water to the line.
Lucy Charles-Barclay started after surgery earlier in the year to remove the plantaris tendon, with a question mark over her form just 16 weeks after the operation. She swam 47:02, taking four seconds off her own course swim record of 47:06 from 2017, and immediately built a lead of several minutes. She extended it on the bike and again on the run.
She took a third Lanzarote title by over 25 minutes. That result put her alongside Paula Newby-Fraser as the only women with three wins on this course. She was emotional afterwards:
“To come back here after everything and win for a third time is really something special. To be in the company of Paula Newby-Fraser, who is a legend of this sport, is great.”
Nina Derron (SUI) was second in 9:42:02, France’s Nikita Paskiewiez third in 9:47:36 and Rebecca Anderbury (GBR) fourth. All three podium finishers took women’s Kona slots.
T100 Pamplona: Taylor-Brown breaks through
The same weekend, the women’s T100 race in Pamplona went to Georgia Taylor-Brown. The Olympic medallist won in 3:38:03, running down Julie Derron, who was second in 3:39:23. American Taylor Spivey completed the podium in 3:41:29, her first T100 podium. It was Taylor-Brown’s first win in the T100 series.
What it means for Kona 2026
Laidlow goes to Roth, then Kona. So does Lange. Lanzarote gave the Frenchman confidence that his numbers add up, and that Kona, faster by as much as an hour, will be a completely different tactical problem.
“More and more short-course athletes are coming to Kona with an aggressive mindset, the way I used to. So now I just hold my numbers and count on a solid, complete performance.”
Lucy Charles-Barclay is targeting Kona too. After Lanzarote she is hard to read as anything other than one of the main favourites.
More on this: Charles-Barclay Skips Nice to Focus on Kona. Racelify lists triathlons worldwide with dates and organiser links.