The 2023 IRONMAN World Champion Sam Laidlow has begun the long build back to full fitness – with Challenge Roth on July 6th the big initial aim.
The Frenchman hit the highest heights when he won the IMWC when it was first held in Nice two seasons ago.
And the 26-year-old appeared on course to defend his crown in Hawaii last October when he led the way after setting a record-breaking sub-four hour bike split.
However, his body shut down on the run but he battled on to finish 18th behind Patrick Lange.
Since then he’s been suffering from an undiagnosed health issue and in his latest video he reveals he’s just started a course of antibiotics to get rid of “a parasite” in his stomach.
Lots of questions
Laidlow’s father – and coach – Richard admits in the video, which is embedded below: “At the moment it’s pretty stressful.
“I’m not going to lie, there’s a lot of questions as to why he can’t train what he should be doing at the moment. But we’ve got a good team behind us so we’ll hopefully find a solution.
“I think for the last few years we’ve probably been putting a plaster on the issue and now we’ve got time to sort of find the underlying factor.
“The goal is just for him to get moving.
“It’s difficult to say when he’ll get back to full fitness. The goal is to get him back to have a good race at Roth.
“If that doesn’t go then obviously to get back to fitness for Nice [where the men’s IRONMAN World Championship returns this year].”
Figuring it out
Laidlow still needs to validate his IMWC slot for Nice and the original aim had been IRONMAN South Africa on March 30 but for obvious reasons his name wasn’t on the start list when that was released earlier this week.
Sam himself is just glad to be back in the pool and on the running track, adding: “I’ve been feeling ill over and over again. I know a lot of people will be saying I shouldn’t get my training partners ill but I’ve had this for a while. My own immunity is really low so I keep getting ill but I’ve been around this lot for months and months and they haven’t been, so we’re kind of past that now.
“The next plan is taking these antibiotics and then hopefully figure out what the f*** is wrong with me. But right now we’re just trying to kill off this parasite that is in my stomach.”
Are we in a triathlon boom, or hurtling towards burnout? Laura Siddall on the growth of the sport
