It’s been a long and frustrating road, but it appears that things might just be starting to fall into place for Sam Laidlow as he bids to return to triathlon action.

The 2023 IRONMAN World Champion has not raced since the 2024 race in Kona, where he blew up spectacularly on the run after holding a healthy lead into T2 following a course-record bike split.

Since then he’s been suffering from an undiagnosed health issue and in a recent video he revealed he had just started a course of antibiotics to get rid of “a parasite” in his stomach.

Laidlow laid low by ‘parasite’

He revealed: “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.”

Fast forward a few short weeks, and there are more positive signs now from the Laidlow camp as he looks to build towards what he hopes will be his first big target of the year at Challenge Roth on July 6.

First TT ride of 2025 for Sam

Sam released a video on Thursday on his Instagram account showing his first ride on a TT bike this year, and he was clearly delighted to be back doing what he does best.

He told his 156,000 followers: “First ride of the year on the TT bike 😬 Kind of a scary stat as a pro triathlete but boy was I stoked to be back doing what I love most. Been so long I forgot to put the chain on the right gear for the pic 🫠”