Paula Findlay secured a stunning debut long-distance victory as she held off the challenge of long-time challenger Marta Sanchez to complete a quite brilliant IRONMAN Lake Placid win.
Having won the 70.3 Pennsylvania earlier in the season, this was something altogether more impressive as she joined her Spanish rival at the head of the race midway through the bike and then powered on to the end – only showing any signs of fatigue once she had crossed the finish line.
While she had said before the race that it was not about securing passage to Kona and a shot at the World Championships in October, the very fact that she now heads off for a showdown with the best of the best at this distance is just reward for her incredible display.
American Rachel Zilinskas just about held on to take third despite some late challenges from Austria’s Lisa Perterer and Canadian Tamara Jewitt.
Swim – Hernandez-Tome sets early pace to open up gap
Right from the off, it was American Lara Hernandez-Tome who controlled the women’s swim, setting off at a fierce pace and immediately opening up a sizeable gap on the rest of the field.
In the warm waters of Mirror Lake, the majority of the non-wetsuited swimmers were left in her wake as only Sanchez was able to stay somewhere close to her heels as the duo stretched away.
Zilinskas was the closest to the leaders, but there was plenty of water between them as they headed towards the halfway point and the Aussie exit.
Hernandez-Tome was 19 seconds ahead of the second-placed Sanchez and 31 seconds ahead of Zilinskas. Further back, Emily Pincus trailed by almost one minute, while America’s Chelsea Sodaro (1:14) and Findlay (1:17) were just about in touch.
The second half of the swim, as is always the case at Lake Placid, was made more difficult by the fact that thousands of age-group athletes were now feeding onto the course, leaving the professionals with a fair bit of crowd management to negotiate.
It didn’t seem to bother Hernandez-Tome, however, as she continued to power her way through the 23C waters.
By the time they had reached the end of the opening discipline, the American had opened up a 1:06 lead on Zilinskas, leaving the water in a time of 52:13. Sanchez exited in third, 1:14 back, while Pincus (+2:26) and Sodaro (+2:28) were a little further in arrears.
Findlay, making her debut at full distance, left the water in sixth (+3:30); Australia’s Grace Thek was seventh (+5:07), and Perterer was eighth at +6:21 and left with ground to make up on the runaway leader.
Hernandez-Tome, however, despite her impressive swim performance, was to pay the price for an almost five-minute transition, and she eventually started the bike section behind Zilinskas.
Bike – Findlay and Sánchez pull away on the bike
Zilinskas and Hernandez-Tome left transition pretty much together, with Sanchez just 19 seconds behind them in third and Sodaro just over a minute back in fourth. Findlay started the bike at +2:15 in fifth.
It didn’t take long, however, for Findlay to start hauling in the leaders, and as they reached the 50km point, she had climbed her way into fourth and within striking distance at only 46 seconds back.
She made her move with calculated precision at 60km; powering past Zilinskas, Sanchez and Sodaro in a swoop that only the Spaniard was able to match as she clung on to her rear wheel.
From here on in, Sánchez and Findlay would trade blows at the front of the field, slowly and steadily eking out a handy lead over the chasers, who had spread out behind them.
Zilinskas and Sodaro tried to hold on for as long as possible but didn’t have the pedal power to stay with the lead duo, and while Perterer did make her way into the top five, she too was struggling to get anywhere close to the pace setters.
As they closed out the bike leg, Findlay was first to dismount in a time of 04:50:26, with Sanchez a matter of seconds behind her. Zilinskas was third, but the gap had grown to +4:09, while Sodaro was next in to T2 at +5:05.
While pre-race favourite Perterer had looked to be making some decent ground, she arrived at T2 more than eight minutes behind in fifth. Thek was sixth at +11:21.
As Findlay and Sanchez set off on the marathon course, the big question was whether the Canadian would be able to maintain her challenge in what was not only her debut full-distance race… but also her first-ever run at marathon distance.
Run – Findlay and Sanchez battle it out and Zilinskas holds on
Sanchez, probably aware that her rival Findlay was now heading into uncharted territory, was the first to try and break away, pushing the pace almost immediately in the hope that she could put some time and distance between the front two.
But Findlay was going nowhere and, in fact, looked very comfortable as the pair, much as they had done on the bike, took it in turns to lead the way.
If Sanchez was banking on a Findlay collapse, then she was left very disappointed, as not only did the Canadian cling on, but she then started to move ahead and then away from her nearest rival.
At the 18km mark, she was a minute in front; by 25 km, it was two minutes, and as she hit the 35km point, the lead crept above three minutes. The only thing that could stop her now was the fact that she had never run more than 30km in her life before today and had no idea if she could complete the job.
She need not have worried.
Within seconds of crossing the line, she crashed to the floor, partly in exhaustion, possibly also in shock… but certainly in celebration, as the enormity of her achievement started to sink in.
She crossed the line with a marathon of 2:55:49 and a finishing time of 8:47:43, with Sanchez +3:46 behind her.
Sodaro, Zilinskas, Perterer and Thek continued to press from behind in the hope that one or both of the leaders might falter, but as Sanchez and Findlay remained strong, it was the chasers who started to stumble.
Sodaro, who had been in contention for much of the day in this, her first race of the season since recovering from injury, was seen walking around the 28km point while the gap to third, instead of shrinking, started to grow, edging out to more than 16 minutes by the time they had reached 37km.
With Thek and Sodaro falling away badly, it was now left for Zilinskas to try and hold on for third, despite looking extremely tired and wobbly on her feet as she plodded through the final kilometres.
It would not be an easy task for Zilinskas, as Perterer and Canadian Tamara Jewett – who came out of T2 in eighth place and almost 25 minutes behind the leaders – showed some incredible running power late on to threaten the podium.
Indeed, Jewett completed a 2:48:13 marathon as she moved up into fourth, missing out on third by just 40 seconds to a very grateful Zilinskas.
READ MORE: For a report on the men’s race, click HERE.
IRONMAN Lake Placid 2026 results
Sunday, July 19, 2026 – 3.8km / 180km / 42.2km
| Position | Athlete | Nationality | Swim | Bike | Run | Total time | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Paula Findlay | CAN | 00:55:43 | 04:50:26 | 02:55:49 | 08:47:43 | 5,000 |
| 2 | Marta Sanchez | ESP | 00:53:28 | 04:52:26 | 02:59:33 | 08:51:30 | 4,773 |
| 3 | Rachel Zilinskas | USA | 00:53:19 | 04:56:52 | 03:07:51 | 09:04:13 | 4,010 |
| 4 | Tamara Jewett | CAN | 01:01:17 | 05:08:32 | 02:48:13 | 09:04:53 | 3,970 |
| 5 | Lisa Perterer | AUT | 00:58:35 | 04:55:30 | 03:05:16 | 09:06:04 | 3,899 |
| 6 | Grace Thek | AUS | 00:57:21 | 05:00:09 | 03:08:58 | 09:12:19 | 3,524 |
| 7 | Rhianne Hughes | GBR | 01:07:14 | 05:13:11 | 03:02:20 | 09:28:17 | 2,566 |
| 8 | Lara Hernandez-Tome | ESP | 00:52:13 | 05:09:28 | 03:19:17 | 09:28:45 | 2,538 |
| 9 | Samantha Skold | SWE | 01:15:37 | 05:13:24 | 02:55:31 | 09:30:51 | 2,412 |
Women’s Pro Series standings
| Position | Athlete | Nationality | Total points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Grace Thek | AUS | 12,996 |
| 2 | Marta Sanchez | ESP | 12,444 |
| 3 | Solveig Løvseth | NOR | 12,385 |
| 4 | Tamara Jewett | CAN | 12,196 |
| 5 | Lotte Wilms | NED | 10,691 |
| 6 | Lisa Perterer | AUT | 10,053 |
| 7 | Kat Matthews | GBR | 10,000 |
| 8 | Fenella Langridge | GBR | 9,876 |
| 9 | Hannah Berry | NZL | 9,734 |
| 10 | Katrine Christensen | DEN | 9,281 |
