Sam Long took the tricky decision not to try and defend his title at IRONMAN Chattanooga on Sunday.

The popular American had been looking to do what he called a “a Dirty Dog Double”, just two weeks on from the IRONMAN World Championship in Nice.

As well as his IRONMAN Chattanooga title from 2024, Long has also won 70.3 Chattanooga so clearly it’s a venue with many special memories.

“Can’t believe it’s already race week again,” he wrote in the build up. “Listening to my body (and my wife!! 😮🤪🙄😘), resting, doing extra parasympathetic work, but also finding the sweet spot of maintaining fitness. It’s been a fun challenge and I’m excited to see what unfolds.”

But there was then a late change of heart which meant he wasn’t on the start line.

Bags were packed

Posting on Instagram he explained: “I have made a difficult decision to pass on racing Ironman Chattanooga. With my bags fully packed and 30 minutes left till I needed to get to the airport I realized this race wasn’t meant to be. I finally started listening to my body!

“I have gone since 2014 without an injury and my body is telling me that doing another full Ironman carried some risk of putting me over the edge.

“It’s all a big complicated ball of making decisions: around birth of our next child, wanting to use the Nice fitness for an immediate satisfaction, being mentally hungry as can be (wanting to go for win #20), loving Chattanooga, leveraging sponsorships and more. But in the end, we must listen to both what the body and mind tells us.

“I’ll reveal my next plans when I know them.”

Arizona next?

High on the list of possible races for Long would appear to be IRONMAN Arizona on 16th November if that falls right with more important priorities.

That would give him a good chance of booking his ticket to the IRONMAN World Championship in Kona next year.

In his absence at Chattanooga, Rasmus Svenningsson took the win in the men’s race while Cam Wurf bagged the other Kona spot.

For the women, the one-two was Anna Pabinger and Jodie Robertson.