Dynamic Debut! Kona Bound Paula Findlay Takes IRONMAN Lake Placid

The much-anticipated debut lived up to the anticipation. Canada’s Paula Findlay has enjoyed a storied career that includes the Olympics, 14 70.3 victories and a pair of 70.3 world championship podium finishes. Today she made her full-distance debut at IRONMAN Lake Placid and put together an impressive performance that saw her set a new bike course record and finish just over four minutes behind reigning IRONMAN World Champion Solveig Løvseth’s course record set last year (8:43:29).

American Lara Hernandez-Tome would lead the way out of the hectic swim, who came out of Mirror Lake in 52:13, over a minute ahead of countrywoman Rachel Zilinskas, who is normally at the front in the water, but said after the race that the start had been quite hectic, so she missed getting out at the front with Hernandez-Tome and Spain’s Marta Sanchez.

Former Kona champ Chelsea Sodaro, making a return to racing after surgery earlier this year, would come out of the water in fifth, 2:28 behind, while Findlay would head into T2 3:30 behind. Aussie Grace Thek was seventh out of the water about five minutes back, while Canadian Tamara Jewett was just over nine minutes back, no-doubt wishing it had been a wetsuit-legal swim.

Once out on the bike it didn’t take long for Sanchez and Findlay to make their mark – even before the start of the big descent roughly 10 miles into the bike course Zilinskas was in the lead with Sanchez and Sodaro close behind, but Findlay was just over a minute back. The three leaders would hold Findlay off through 30 miles, but once the climbing started Findlay’s bike power came to the fore and she moved to the front. Through the halfway point Findlay led the way with Sanchez six seconds down and Zilinskas 23 seconds back and Sodaro hanging tough just over a minute back. Some of the other women we expected to be in contention found themselves losing time – Austria’s Lisa Perterer, second here last year, was 5:36 back, Thek was in seventh, 5:41 behind and Jewett was 13:45 behind.

By the end of the bike Findlay had made a biking statement, breaking Sanchez’s bike course record set last year thanks to her 4:50:26 split. Sanchez was just three seconds back, with Zilinskas now over four minutes down, Sodaro a shade over five minutes behind, Perterer sitting at 8:21, Thek and 11:21 and Jewett hitting T2 23:33 behind her countrywoman.

Sanchez flew by Findlay as the run started, but the Canadian quickly marked the move and start to pull clear of the Spaniard at about the five-mile point of the marathon. Sodaro was keeping pace through the early stages of the marathon, and had gained back a bit of time at seven miles, but that charge started to fade. Through the halfway point of the marathon Findlay was out in front, 1:20 up on Sanchez, with Sodaro starting to really struggle, now almost eight minutes down. Zilinskas was hanging tough in fourth, 11:33 back, with Perterer at 13:23, Thek at 17:12 and Jewett surprisingly 24:45 behind still.

Sodaro would eventually start walking, struggling but seemingly determined to get her Kona validation out of the way (her win in 2022 provides an automatic qualification), and by the 18-mile point Zilinskas was in third. Jewett would make her charge through the second lap of the run, eventually blasting past Thek and Perterer and giving Zilinskas a scare over the final few miles.

There was no touching Findlay, though, who finished off her IRONMAN debut with a solid 2:55:49 marathon to take the win by just under four minutes over Sanchez. Zilinskas would hang on for third, just 40 seconds ahead of Jewett.

“I liked a lot of it,” Findlay said after the race. “That last 10K was so hard. I knew it was going to be hard, but man, it was just like one foot in front of the other, a death march. I’m really proud to finish, regardless of the result. I mean, it’s amazing to win, but that was so hard.

“The first half (of the marathon) felt really good and my cadence was up,” Findlay continued. “I felt relaxed, I felt like I was running well. But it fell apart a little bit in the last 10K, which I expected it would … I honestly didn’t know I was going to win until I literally crossed the line, because I thought I could start walking at every moment.”

The Canadian now has a spot on the start line in Kona this October. With so many of the women already qualified, the next spots would go to Rhianne Hughes, Hernandez-Tome and Samantha Skold. Sodaro would also eventually validate her Kona slot, crossing the line in 10:11:21 after walking much of a 4:14 marathon.

Tags: