As he gets set for his triathlon return in a fortnight, Lionel Sanders says he’s “the most excited I’ve been in probably a decade”.
The Canadian superstar was restricted to just three outings in 2025 – back-to-back 70.3 wins at Oceanside and St George before injury ruled him out until 70.3 La Quinta / Indian Wells at the back-end of the campaign.
But ‘No Limits’ is set to race IRONMAN 70.3 Dallas – Little Elm on March 15 on the back of what sounds to have been a productive off-season.
Coaching ambitions
His latest YouTube video, embedded below, starts by quashing speculation ignited by his previous one (which was titled ‘Wrangling Up the Troops One Last Time’) that this could be his last year as a pro.
And he also suggested that when the time does come to hang up his competitive trisuit, a move into coaching beckons.
“That’s not really my decision,” he said when asked how many more years he has left in him.
“When I can’t compete for the win and when I don’t believe I can be competitive anymore then I would probably do a couple of years where I transition to something else and probably still do this – the logical thing would be coaching.
“I think I would really get a lot of fulfilment and satisfaction from coaching and working with people to try and help them get the most out of themselves.”
Lots to look forward to
And then it becomes clear just how much he’s looking forward to the 2026 campaign.
He first of all commended IRONMAN for moving the draft zone up from 12 metres to 20 metres for pros.
“It’s going to change the dynamic a lot – it’s really interesting, no one’s going to get a free ride,” he suggested. “If you want to express your strengths, you should now have great confidence in doing that.”
Sanders has has twice been runner-up in the IRONMAN World Championship – to Patrick Lange in Kona in 2017 and then behind Kristian Blummenfelt in St George in 2022 and he’s definitely not given up hope of challenging again on long-distance triathlon’s biggest stage.
“Kona would be my goal for the year, my focus. I went there 13 months prior and did a baseline camp. I’ve got that data point and will go back in May for a mid-year camp.
“I’m going to make it my Olympics and I will not do anything to jeopardise that day and going for the win. I’m the most excited I’ve been in probably a decade.”
