IRONMAN 70.3 St. George men's results: Lionel Sanders sees off Sam Long for fifth win at iconic venue

The Lionel Sanders renaissance continued as he extended his perfect start to the season by following up his 70.3 Oceanside win with a hugely impressive victory in the last ever IRONMAN 70.3 St. George in Utah, which doubled as the North American Championship.

The Canadian superstar was 20th after the swim but it was on the bike where he excelled as he cut through the field and clocked a new course record to give himself an advantage two-and-a-half minutes on 2023 and 2024 winner Sam Long (USA).

And Sanders, who had four previous wins at 70.3 St. George (2021, 2018, 2017, 2016), looked in control throughout the run as he signed off at the iconic venue in perfect style.

‘No Limits’ crossed the line in 3:37:54, 2:14 ahead of Long, with Colin Szuch (USA) rounding out the podium in third. The big disappointment of the race was Denmark’s Magnus Ditlev who led briefly on the bike but then dropped right down the standings.

Swim – Rider shows the way

Conditions were pretty much ideal for the one lap out-and-back swim and it was short course star Seth Rider who proved quickest.

He and fellow American Mark Dubrick put distance between themselves and the rest, with Rider out of the water first in 22:15, 36 seconds ahead of Dubrick.

There was then a further gap of nearly a minute to a group of 10 – Kevin McDowell (USA), Justin Riele (USA), Max Neumann (AUS), Jake Birtwhistle (AUS), Robert Wilkowiecki (POL), Matthew Sharpe (CAN), Matthew Guenter (USA), Matt McElroy (USA), Magnus Ditlev (DEN) and Dylan Gillespie (USA).

That meant Ditlev was in prime position of the three big pre-race favourites, with Sanders at +2:45 in 20th and defending champion Long at +3:45 in 32nd – he was +3:17 at the same point before last year’s win.

Bike – Sanders a class apart

It was all change early on the bike as it didn’t take uber-biker Ditlev long to power past Rider and into the head – but that would prove the high point of what would become a frustrating day.

Meanwhile, Sanders wasted little time in cutting through the field and was up to third after overtaking Justin Riele, who soon after would drop back after a rear-wheel puncture.

Long too was making great progress but the story was all about Sanders who not only bridged up to Ditlev but then wasted little time in surging into the lead.

And he was a man on the mission as he started to put time between himself and the rest, so much so that with 20 miles to go when he started the Snow Canyon climb he was 1:43 ahead of Rider.

Rider by now was back in second as Ditlev was losing chunks of time, something clearly not optimal with the bike or him.

All the while though Sanders was stretching his lead – at the 42.4-mile point he was 2:42 in front of Rider but the big news was that occasional training partner Long was now up into third at +2:48.

As the descended towards transition the bike course record of 1:59:57, set 12 months ago by Long, was clearly under threat.

And Sanders would take a whopping 90-plus seconds off it with his split of 1:58:13 and Long himself would go four seconds faster than last year.

All of which meant that ahead of the run Sanders would have a 2:32 buffer.

They were followed by a trio of Americans – Szuch at +3:57, McDowell +4:00 and Rider +4:18 but it looked between the front two.

Ditlev meanwhile was out of it at over 10 minutes back.

Run – Cruise control for Lionel

Both Sanders and Long started the run looking strong and they’ll have had an inkling of each other’s current form after a couple of recent track sessions together.

Long closed a few seconds in the first third of the run but at that point nothing to suggest he was going to set up a grandstand finish – indeed by the halfway point Sanders had taken a few seconds back and with 5k to go the gap was almost as it had been at the start, with no one else threatening a charge from further back.

And Sanders didn’t ease down, bar lots of high fives on the finish straight, as he clocked a 1:11:49 half marathon for another superb success.

Long followed him home with a 1:11:30 of his own, with the excitement coming via the battle for third as Szuch just held off McDowell.