Exiting the water over three minutes down, Sam Long came within a hundred metres of being lapped out during the bike leg at the Miami T100 last weekend.
Somehow, after managing to stay clear of the relentless pace set by Mathis Margirier and Alistair Brownlee, the American came back from the brink and landed himself on the podium.
After such a fantastic performance, Long said that he is now motivated to do even better, with his sights firmly set on a first win over the 100km distance on the T100 Triathlon World Tour.
“I am pretty amped and over the moon”
Debriefing his race on YouTube, the 28-year-old didn’t hide his happiness with the result, which now puts him second in the current T100 Standings behind Miami winner Magnus Ditlev.
“I am pretty amped and over the moon about my finish there, I’m very proud of myself and I feel like I got the most out of myself on race day.”
Recapping the swim, bike and run, the Boulder native said that there were definitely lessons to take from each discipline, but also big positives that boosted his confidence.
“I swam pretty much where I thought I would. I have come a long way in the swim and I know where I need to be. The start of the swim was crazy and I definitely got into a few too many battles, but I was super positive about the swim.
“On to the bike, it was super interesting as I don’t think the live coverage quite captured it, but there was the big lap out rule, which meant if you get lapped you can’t pass anyone in the race and your race is all but over.
“Coming through one of the corners, Talbot Cox was literally screaming at me and when I looked back, I saw Mathis [Margirier] and [Alistair] Brownlee literally 100m behind me, and I was just out front like a carrot for them.
“However, I managed to use it to my advantage, because I gave them a little hope, then started to ramp it up a little in the hope that they would ride outside of their ability levels and cook themselves for the run.”
“My mantra was to race as if I was winning”
After avoiding being lapped out, Long got to work on the bike, where he quickly began to make progress and reaped the rewards for his steady but strong approach.
“Once Mathis and Brownlee started passing other people behind me, I felt safe. I started passing people, and could then focus on my own race a little more and execute my plan.
“Over the last five laps on the bike, I was making up a lot of time and my mantra throughout was to race as if I was winning. I was trying to get the most out of myself in each moment and truthfully I was just racing myself all day.
“Coming off the bike, I counted around eight bikes in transition. Out of T2, I could see three guys ahead of me on the run that looked pretty doable to catch and then everything just started to come together.
“Having the people to catch, let me just build momentum and at the time I was shooting for a Top 5 finish. Then suddenly, everything was coming together and I was moving so well that with two laps to go I could see I would get on the podium.
“I ended up in second and I am so proud of myself and so proud of my team. This was absolutely for my family and the final part of this is even though I have had this success, now I am more hungry to win than ever before and I am so excited for the rest of the series.”
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