We Noticed: Catching Up With Tyler Mislawchuk, 70.3 and Challenge Start Lists, and More

World Triathlon Cup Chengdu

We’ll begin our preview of the World Cup race in China with a bit of self-promotion – this weekend Canada’s Tyler Mislawchuk will be kicking off his 2026 race season in Chengdu, which gives us a wonderful opportunity to promote this weekend’s Slowtwitch Podcast! (Here’s the Spotify link and you can access the pod from Apple Podcasts, too.) We caught up with the three-time Olympian earlier this winter to get some insight on his journey from hockey player to elite triathlete, his “sort-of” transition to middle-distance racing, the challenges of life as a pro triathlete and whether or not we’ll see him at a fourth Olympics in Los Angeles in a couple of years.

Mislawchuk returns to racing at the sprint event in the capital of the Sichuan province that has been hosting a World Cup event for more than a decade. The Canadian will take on Reese Vannerson, who is looking to defend his title (last year’s win for the American came in his first Olympic-distance race – he was just 20 at the time). Vannerson is coming off shoulder surgery after a crash just five weeks ago at the Haikou World Cup, though. The 2024 champ, Max Stapley (GBR), is back for another go, while Kiwi Tayler Reid contested for the win two years ago, and would love to nail the top step of the podium. You can see the full start list here.

Valentina Riasova will be hard pressed to defend her title on the weekend as she’ll face last year’s T100 Triathlon World Tour champ, Kate Waugh (GBR), and German mixed relay gold medalist Laura Lindemann. After a silver in Haikou, Aussie Sophie Malowiecki is another to watch. The full women’s start list is here.

Adding to the fun, the Chengdu race also features a mixed relay on Sunday, which is slated to see many of the powerhouse countries represented (Olympic champs Germany are a notable absence): Australia, Great Britain, France, Hungary, Italy, United States, Canada, Spain, Portugal, Mexico, Hong Kong/ China, China and Singapore all have teams entered.

Long Looks to Defend His Title at 70.3 Gulf Coast

As far as I can tell, the last time there was a pro race at 70.3 Gulf Coast was 2023. American Sam Long took the win that day (there were only pro men racing that year – the women competed in Chattanooga the following weekend) ahead of Canadians Lionel Sanders and Jackson Laundry. (He beat the pair the week before at IRONMAN 70.3 St. George, too – Long won ahead of countryman Tim Foley, with Laundry taking third and Sanders fourth. Long would keep his string going with a win at IRONMAN 70.3 Boulder the following month.) You can see the full start lists below – Long’s most likely competition for his title defence are countrymen Marc Dubrick and Ari Klau.

American Danielle Lewis will wear race #1 tomorrow, but will face some stiff competition from fellow American Grace Alexander and Brazil’s Vittoria Lopes. (Trivia note – Alexander, a former collegiate swim star, became the first woman to win an age-group race overall – beating all the men and women – in 2020.) Another athlete to keep an eye on this weekend will be Clare Dasso, who has been a mainstay for Queens University of Charlotte’s Collegiate Club team over the last few years, winning last year’s draft-legal sprint race, then finishing third in the draft-legal sprint and second in the Olympic-distance race at this year’s USA Triathlon Collegiate Club Championships in Gulfport, Mississippi. This weekend will mark her pro debut.

Stars Head to Aix-en-Provence

We’ll have more of a preview for this race next week, but we did want to mention that there’s yet another large (and competitive) field set to race at the next IRONMAN Pro Series race. Highlighting the field won the women’s side are Marjolaine Pierré, Laura Philipp, Tanja Neubert, Lisa Perterer and Imogen Simmonds. For the men, Rico Bogen wear’s race number one and will take on Rudy Von Berg, Jamie Riddle, Jan Stratmann, Pierre Le Corr and Kristian Høgenhaug (to name just a few).

Here’s the start lists:

Supertri Austin Pros Announced (A Few, Anyway)

The first race of the Supertri Pro Series in Austin on May 25 will include another Olympic mixed-relay gold medalist – Germany’s Tim Hellwig. He’ll take on Seth Rider, who was part of the American team in Paris that finished second to the Germans. Canadian up-and-coming star Mathis Beaulieu is also confirmed to compete.

Hungarian junior star Fanni Szalai (she’s just 18) will be part of the women’s field, along with Diana Isakova and Suzan Michaličková. The full start list for the draft-legal, sprint-distance race will be announced during race week.

IRONMAN Partners with Coppertone

International sun protection brand Coppertone has become the “official sunscreen of the IRONMAN North American Series.”

“As part of the agreement, Coppertone Sport products will be featured on-site at select events throughout North America,” IRONMAN said in a release. “Athletes and spectators will have access to the sunscreen products at the official IRONMAN merchandise tents. The partnership includes integrated brand activations across event venues and digital platforms. The initiative is intended to reinforce the importance of skin protection during the long periods of sun exposure associated with triathlon training and racing.”

Challenge Salou

As much as we might want to plug Slowtwitch’s own Sarah Bonner this weekend, she’s just one of a number of pro athletes set to compete on the Costa Daurada coast on Sunday. Both defending champions – Thomas Davis (GBR) and Elisabetta Curridori (ITA) are back – but will face some tough competition. Davis will have to contend with fellow Brits Will Draper, Harry Palmer and Jack Hutchens. Curridori will have to take on Spain’s own Marta Sanchez (fresh off a third-place finish at IRONMAN Texas) and Australia’s Milan Agnew.

We’ll just end up with a “good luck” to Sarah – we’ll recap all of these races in Monday’s “We Noticed” column.

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