In 90 degrees-plus Fahrenheit temperatures on a midsummer Idaho day, Sam Long broke away from an early duel with Lionel Sanders and held off fellow Boulder triathlete Justin Metzler by 5:23 to win his second Ironman title.

Ironman rookie Fenella Langridge took an early lead and held off 7-time Ironman winner Carrie Lester of Australia until the 13th mile of the run when experience overcame youthful enthusiasm. Lester’s women’s third-best 3:06:32 marathon bested Langridge‘s run by 7:16 and thus finished in 8:54:51 with a 4:59 margin on Langridge and topped third place finisher Linsey Corbin of the U.S. by 18:30.

Men

Balazs Csoke led the swim in 49:43, with Justin Metzler leading the chase pack in 52:04. Joining Metzler were Canadian Cody Beals, Pedro Gomes of Portugal Tim Rea of the U.S., and, in a surprise, Lionel Sanders. Long, meanwhile, found himself an additional 2 minutes and 10 seconds behind the chase.

As one could imagine, though, on the bike it became a blitz to the front for Long and Sanders, working to open as much of a gap to the field as they could. By the end of the 112-mile bike leg, Long held a 1:38 lead on Sanders, with 8:05 behind Metzler, 10 minutes on Gomes, and Matt Russell on 6th place, 13:19 behind the leader.

By Mile 4 of the run, Sanders was closing fast on Long, although Sanders appeared to be working harder in the heat. After 7.4 miles of the run, Long was running at a 6:40 per mile pace and held a 12 seconds lead on Sanders – a mirror of their Ironman 70.3 duel at St. George 70.3. By 9 miles, Sanders trailed Long by one second and slowly the Canadian’s momentum topped off. Shortly thereafter, Long built a 10 meter lead on Sanders, and within 3 minutes increased his margin to 100 meters.

Still, Sanders stubbornly refused to fold and pulled within 14 seconds of Long by 13.3 miles. Lining up behind, Metzler pulled within 8:28 of the leader and Pedro Gomes stood 4th with a 12:47 deficit.

A few minutes later, Sanders seemed to stop absorbing hydration, and slowed into a sadly familiar Ironman shuffle. By Mile 15.8, Sam Long also slowed, to a 6:45 per mile pace, and Sanders surrendered and fell back to a 4:03 deficit. At Mile 17, Sanders stopped to vomit and their duel was over. In the next mile, Metzler passed Sanders and gave him a pat on the back as he and surged into second place, 5:26 behind Sam Long. By Mile 19, while on tarmac temperatures rose to 102F, Pedro Gomes passed Sanders for 3rd place.

Still on the chase, Metzler closed to within 4:42 at Mile 22.

At the finish line, Long was exuberant. “This week was my dad’s 60th birthday, and I aimed at winning by 6 minutes. I came close!” After a disappointing outing last month at Ironman Tulsa, Long was happy with his performance. “After I got an ass whipping at Tulsa, I was hungry today. I am overwhelmed with joy and happiness.”

Metzler was equally pleased with his race. “I have been aiming at Ironman since I was 12. When I got on the bike, I knew I was in good form. It was amazing to run fast marathons when it is 100 degrees. And big congrats to my training buddy Sam.”

Women

Super swimmer Haley Chura, back on there Ironman trail after a year and a half hiatus, led the swim with a 49:41 split that gave her a 3-minute lead on Fenella Langridge, 5:36 on Rachel McBride of Canada, and 5:41 on Lester.

Midway into the bike leg, Heather Jackson suffered a flat tire and dropped a half an hour behind before a fix could be made. Meanwhile Langridge surged to a short lead on Chura, Lester and Lauren Brandon.

After 90 miles, Langridge led Lester by 3:34, with Brandon 3rd, Renee Kiley 4th, Kathryn Morales 5th and Rachel McBride 6th.

At T2, Langridge and Lester rocketed away from the field – Lester with a women’s-best 4:48:52 split, Langridge at 4:49:07. Langridge led Lester by 2:17, followed by Brandon at +13:34, Renee Kiley at +19:47, Kathryn Morales at +20:39, McBride at +20:53, Linsey Corbin at +24:39 and Kelly Fillnow at +24:44.

After 2.3 miles of the run, Langridge led Lester by 2:06, with Lauren Brandon leading the chasers at 19 minutes back. Next were a tightly packed crowd of 5 including Rachel McBride, Renee Kiley, Kathryn Morales, and LInsey Corbin in 7th. Of all of these, Corbin had the record to take the final clot on the podium.

After 10.8 miles, Lester pulled within 48 seconds of Langridge, while Corbin, on her way to a women’s-fastest 3:02:07 run split, pulled up to 3rd place while Brandon fell to 5th.

By 12 miles, Lester had a 30 second lead on Langridge. By 17.5 miles, Lester held a 58 seconds lead on Langridge, followed well back by Corbin, McBride, Chura and Brandon. Lester finished in 8:54:51 with a 4:59 lead on Langridge and 18:30 on third place finisher Corbin.

Ironman Coeur D’Alene
Coeur d’Alene, Idaho
June 27, 2021
S 2.4 mi. / B 112 mi. / R 26.2 mi.

Men

1. Sam Long (USA) S 54:14 T1 1:39 B 4:18:57 T2 1:38 R 2:51:13 TOT 8:07:40
2. Justin Metzler (USA) S 52:04 T1 1:48 B 4:29:03 T1 2:10 R 2:47:59 TOT 8:13:03
3. Pedro Gomes (POR) S 52:08 T1 1:48 B 4:30:51 T2 2:21 R 2:49:59 TOT 8:17:06
4. Jason Pohl (CAN) S 54:17 T1 1:49 B 4:34:52 T2 2:13 R 2:47:46 TOT 8:20:57
5. Matt Russell (USA) S 59:12 T1 2:12 B 4:26:45 T2 2:00 R 2:54:46 TOT 8:24:54
6. Cody Beals (CAN) S 52:06 T1 1:46 B 4:37:35 T2 2:03 R 2:56:30 TOT 8:29:59
7. Karl-Johan Danielsson ( ) S 54:08 T1 1:55 B 4:35:07 T2 2:05 R 3:10:41 TOT 8:43:49
8. Tim Rea (USA) S 52:09 T1 1:55 B 4:35:13 T2 2:26 R 3:19:59 TOT 8:51:40
13. Lionel Sanders (CAN) S 52:13 T1 1:48 B 4:22:20 T2 1:44 R 3:53:07 TOT 9:11:11

Women

1. Carrie Lester (AUS) S 55:22 T1 1:58 B 4:48:52 T2 2:09 R 3:06:32 TOT 8:54:51
2. Fenella Langridge (GBR) S 52:41 T1 2:00 B 4:49:07 T2 2:17 R 3:13:48 TOT 8:59:50
3. Linsey Corbin (USA) S 1:02:17 T1 2:02 B 5:05:01 4:48:52 T2 1:56 R 3:02:07 TOT 9:13:21
4. Haley Chura (USA) S 49:41 T1 2:08 B 5:22:44 T2 3:43 R 3:05:47 TOT 9:24:02
5. Kelly Fillnow (USA) S 1:02:25 T1 1:56 B 5:10:01 T2 2:18 R 3:20:36 TOT 9:37:14
6. Rachel McBride (CAN) S 55:17 T1 1:52 B 5:09:24 T2 2:07 R 3:2:21 TOT 9:40:59 9:25:29
7. Renee Kiley (USA) S 58:20 T1 2:29 B 5:05:00 T2 3:04 R 3:33:37 TOT 9:42:28
8. Lenny Ramsey (USA) S 1:09:24 T1 3:06 B 5:19:32 T2 2:39 R 3:21:07 TOT 9:55:47
9. Kathryn Morales (USA) S 57:18 T1 3:09 B 5:07:26 T2 2:28 R 3:48:17 TOT 9:58:36
10. Fiona Moriarty (USA) S 1:02:46 T1 2:321 B 5:14:50 T2 2:14 R 3:36:40 TOT 9:59:01