Sam Long has confirmed that he will focus much of his 2026 season on the IRONMAN Pro Series after admitting that he was ‘pretty much done’ with his T100 World Triathlon involvement.
The American athlete produced a string of impressive IRONMAN results last season, winning three of his six starts and finishing runner-up in a further two events, with his 14th place in the World Championships the only time he did not achieve a top-two place.
In stark contrast, his four T100 World Triathlon Tour events saw him break the top ten only once, with his 8th place in the season opener at Singapore, followed by 11th, 12th, and 15th in London, Vancouver, and the French Riviera.
Grateful for the T100 experience
Appreciative of the opportunity to take part in the 2025 Tour, Long believes his experiences have made him a much better competitor, particularly when it comes to the swim section, where the distance splits make the opening discipline so crucial in T100.
However, with no contracts being distributed in the T100 for the forthcoming season, he is now ready to throw pretty much everything into the rival IRONMAN Pro Series – although he has not ruled out the possibility of maybe one or two T100 outings.
Long announced his decision on an Instagram post this week, having already given a big hint at what his plans were going to be in a short Christmas update message on his YouTube channel.
‘I didn’t listen…’
“Last year, I asked you all whether I should race the T100 or the Ironman Pro Series. You voted Pro Series… and I didn’t listen 😅”, he wrote on Instagram.
“Fast-forward to the end of the year: 10 total races, 6 of them Ironman races. Other than the Ironman World Champs, I finished 1st or 2nd at every Ironman-branded race I did, with three wins 🥇
“T100? Four races… only cracked the top 10 once. 🧐
“So this year, I already know which direction I’m heading. Can you guess what the right call is?”
Swimming lessons have been learnt
He went into more detail on his video message, which has been embedded in the article below, highlighting the importance of how he now lines up for the swim and navigates a path through the course.
Having made a concerted effort to improve his swimming skills during 2025, he feels he is already feeling the benefits of that work and has more confidence in his abilities as he eyes more IRONMAN and 70.3 success in 2026 – following wins at Chattanooga, Eagleman and La Quinta
“I’m very thankful for all my experience in the T100 this year, because it has taught me some big things,” he says. “This year, I just feel I’ve made huge steps in my IRONMAN abilities. After maybe a couple of years of being in fear of the IRONMAN and having some bad races.
“I will be doing the Iron Man Pro series next year. The T100 challenged me, but I also think it brought great growth. I’ll be pretty much done with the T100.
“There are no contracts next year, so that’s not to say that I won’t jump in on one or two, but I don’t have to have the full contract cycle, which I’m happy about, and can now kind of focus on the IRONMAN Pro Series.”
