Sam Long said he felt “robbed” by the fact there was no swim when he looked back at his impressive victory at IRONMAN 70.3 Chattanooga.
The first discipline was cancelled 48 hours before Sunday’s race due to a strong-flowing river being over the threshold limits.
Long has been on a well-documented journey to improve his swim and tends to have a hefty deficit to make up on the bike after exiting the water, though that hasn’t stopped him collecting no fewer than 11 race wins since 2022.
‘I commit to the swim’
So his reaction on hearing the news that the race would be a duathlon and begin with a time trial bike start may surprise plenty of people.
In his race recap video, which is embedded below, he started by saying: “First off, I feel robbed by there not being a swim.
“Everyone wanted to say to me ‘oh you must be so happy there’s not a swim’. But that’s the exact opposite of how I came into this.
“When I heard that the swim was cancelled on the Friday morning I said to Lara [Gruden, his wife], maybe we should consider not going. Because a huge part of the reason for coming here was to practice my swim as I was so rusty with the big mass start at St. George.
“I do this because it is hard. I do this because I like it to be hard. I commit to the swim. I signed the T100 contract this year because I’m trying to seek difficulty in order to improve my swim.
“So for people to say that the swim is cancelled, I must be stoked, actually makes me a little upset.”
Something to prove
What unfolded was a lonely day for Long as he started the bike 44th of the 47 pros, with 15 seconds between each of them.
And while that impacted the racing dynamics and made for a muted finish line, there was no doubt who the deserving winner was.
For when the bike and run times were added up, Long won by nearly four minutes from fellow American Matt McElroy.
And he was happy with his day’s work a week on from finishing second to great friend and rival Lionel Sanders at 70.3 St George.
Long continued: “I think [no swim] made no difference overall.
“I executed a much better race than St. George in terms of power and pace.
“I had frustration and resentment from St. George because I felt I didn’t execute my best race and didn’t get the most out of myself.
“So I was out to prove something and I think I did that.”
And Long also confirmed that unlike St. George, where Magnus Ditlev was the beneficiary, he did take up his IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship spot this time after Sunday’s race.
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