Joerg Teuchert
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It’s the last week of long distance Pro racing in 2021 this coming weekend – so it seems fitting that ‘No Limits’, Lionel Sanders is racing. Again.
This next Sunday he will be back at IRONMAN 70.3 Indian Wells – La Quinta, California, a race he won by more than four minutes in 2019. Based on the start list at least, repeating that feat will require something extraordinary this time around.
The women’s race is run by, perhaps, the fastest runner in the sport… and it’s quite possible that you don’t know, at least, her name yet.
Start time, how to follow live
The race starts at 07:00 local time on Sunday 5 December. It’s 1000 Eastern Time / 1500 UK Time / 1600 CET.
There is no live stream / broadcast this weekend, which means the always reliable IRONMAN Tracker app will be your main source of live information.
A (short) story
Located near Palm Springs, CA, the IRONMAN 70.3 Indian Wells – La Quinta has only been held twice so far – in 2018 and 2019. Sanders has won both MPRO races, along with Chelsea Sodaro (2018) and Paula Findlay (2019) topped the PRO women’s podiums.
The race begins with a unique 1.9km loop swim in Lake Cahuilla – a protected reservoir that should ensure flat water conditions.
The 90 km one-loop bike course is flat and fast, while the two-loop course passes through the Indian Wells Gold Resort, which no doubt adds to Lionel’s natural enjoyment of this race as a big fan of this sport as well. Will the low season start with a round of golf on Monday morning?
PRO Men: The “ITU Boys” are coming
Okay, the official brand is now “World Triathlon”, but the major interest of this event for the men’s race will be the first IRONMAN 70.3 races of the two-time world triathlon champion. Vincent Louis (FRA) and recent winner of the WTCS, Jelle geens (BEL).
More specifically, can they challenge the double champion Sanders? Considering the impact that Eden and Blummenfelt have had in recent weeks, the bar has been set high enough for short-lived athletes moving on to long-distance races.
2021 has been (mostly) a year of second places for Lionel – including the Tri Battle, four consecutive second places across the distance since July. Back in the 70.3 format (where he won in Texas and St. George), will a month be enough to recover from this one-on-one with Gustav Iden in Florida and regain his 70.3 speed?
Luis, meanwhile, is not entirely new to the TT bike. He won the Los Angeles Triathlon without a draft last month and finished eighth at the Daytona Challenge, the 2020 PTO Championship, just under a year ago, where he also had to serve a two-minute penalty for the draft.
To complement Luis’s preparations, he also spent time this year at the specialist WINtunnel in Morgan Hill, Calif., Fine-tuning the setup for his Shiv Disc bike. We know he can ride a bike – and he’s one of the sport’s best swimmers too – just catching him will be the first major task of the day for Sanders.
Geens is another class act and a true top athlete in the draft-legal world. His victory in Abu Dhabi added to previous successes in Montreal in 2019. Who finished second in Abu Dhabi? None other than Vincent Luis. They won’t have lost all that speed in a month!
Geens’ outlook for a new format may be a little less clear. He usually doesn’t have the swimming speed of his regular training partner, but he is among the best in the sport at running. Can he bring the power of the bike to the party on the bike? If he wants to win, he’ll probably need it too.
from denmark Miki Taagholt was third in that race two years ago, and produced a career best performance in St. George taking an impressive fourth place at the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship. He added second place to the IRONMAN 70.3 Oceanside by then… could he spoil the “Lionel vs. Short-lived Speedsters†storyline?
There are several British athletes on the men’s Pro start list – and fingers crossed that Omicron doesn’t affect travel plans at the last minute – with Elliot Smales, Ian dempsey, James Scott-Farrington and Morgan davies all featured.
PRO Women: fast feet …
The highest in the PTO ranking (# 18) – and at the top of the start list – is Tamara jewett. The Canadian finished 13th at the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in St. George, where only race winner Lucy Charles-Barclay ran faster.
Jewett won the IRONMAN 70.3 Timberman earlier this year, where she used a superb 1:14 split to win almost 10 minutes ahead of three-time IRONMAN world champion Mirinda Carfrae. It wasn’t unique either, with a 1:13:08 half marathon at the IRONMAN 70.3 Augusta seeing her come within one minute of beating Ellie Salthouse in Georgia. Unsurprisingly, the PTO data black box gives it “100%” for its racing capabilities!
Super swimmer Haley chura (USA) finished second in this race three years ago and is coming back to show again his skills in the water, while the winner that day Sodaro (USA), is also on the start list.
Chelsea withdrew from the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship late with a stress reaction in her fibula, so we’ll wait and see if she was able to recover or stop her 2021 season.
You can click here for full Pro Starter Lists.
Prize money: what’s at stake?
The handbag offered this weekend in California is $ 50,000, which means a maximum of $ 7,500 each for male and female winners. In addition to the money, there are a total of six qualifying locations (three MPROs, three WPROs) for the 2022 IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship – which returns to St. George, Utah on October 28-29 of the year. next.
Total bottoms will be paid at eight depths, as follows:
- $ 7,500
- $ 5,000
- $ 3,750
- $ 3,000
- $ 2,000
- $ 1,500
- $ 1,250
- $ 1,000
In addition to today’s winnings, this is also the last weekend of Pro racing which may impact the 2021 PTO Race for the Rankings, which will see a total of $ 2,000,000 paid to the top 100. athletes, male and female, at the end of the 2021 season.
Can Taagholt, for example, score enough points to drop his current ranking from 28th ($ 5,000) to 20th, which would double his PTO payout to $ 10,000?
