Lionel Sanders pleased with progress after day in ‘survival mode’ at IM 70.3 Gulf Coast

Lionel Sanders was pleased with his progress after his second-place finish at IRONMAN 70.3 Gulf Coast on Saturday.

‘No Limits’ was coming off a disappointing fourth place at IRONMAN 70.3 St George just seven days later – when the Canadian admitted he “felt horrible”.

The 35-year-old revealed he was in “survival mode” throughout Saturday’s quick return to action in Panama City Beach, but he was able to make his way through the field to claim second behind a resurgent Sam Long.

Sanders on Gulf Coast second

Afterwards he stressed that he had wanted to see improvement from St George, and with that in mind, job done.

“I’m looking at it as a season, so I want each race to be a little bit better,” Sanders explained.

“And this was a little bit better than last weekend. Still have a long way to go, but I’m happy with the performance, and I’m happy being able to fight back for second.

“I felt horrible last weekend. I don’t feel that I recovered really, like, the day before the race. Still felt bad. And so I was in survival mode the entire time.”

Going deeper

Sanders of course is probably the biggest personality in triathlon from a box-office perspective, and his YouTube race previews and race debriefs are now popcorn-worthy stuff. So we may get a more detailed review from Lionel once the dust has settled.