Sam Long and his wife Lara are celebrating the birth of their second child – who arrived just a day after Sam came second at IRONMAN Arizona to book his spot at the 2026 IRONMAN World Championship in Kona, where he will race for the first time.
American middle and long-distance star Long made a late call to race Arizona – rather than IRONMAN Cozumel the week after – so that he could be there for the birth.
And things couldn’t have worked out better – he first clocked a full-distance PB of 7:37:22 at what is pretty much his local course to earn one of the three slots for the IMWC.
Then the following day came the arrival of Sebastian, a brother to Leo.
‘Our hearts are so full of love’
Announcing the news on Instagram, Sam said: “At 10:18 PM on 11/17/2025 Sebastian Gruden Long was born.
“That has to go down as the most insane 40 hours we could ever have as a family. From doing an Ironman in 7h37m to having water break at 10 am the next morning.
“Lara and I were through every step of the race and the birth together. Our hearts are so full of love and enjoying the family.”
Congratulations to all of them and kudos on the perfect timing!
‘Truly a crazy experience’
After the race but before the birth, Sam had called it a “nearly perfect fairytale weekend”, with only the fact that Dutchman Menno Koolhaas had finished ahead of him in a sensational time of 7:28:52 preventing it from being perfect.
Long said: “A nearly perfect fairytale weekend 2nd place at IM AZ and a baby coming any day/minute – which makes you @mennokoolhaas the ruiner of fairytales! But huge congrats to you on an exceptional performance! And also to @benkanute for a great battle and 3rd.
“Truly a crazy experience racing with my wife 5 days overdue and I’m so happy to have done another great Ironman performance across all 3 sports. A big PR for me.
“The week was a great mental challenge of compartmentalizing and showing that Anything Is Possible. And my Kona curse is over – I was supposed to go in 2020 and will finally make my debut!
“Thank you also to Ironman for making the weekend feasible logistically for me. Of course, thank you to my wife but the truth is she is the one who insisted I race!!! Much love ❤️ everyone.”
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