Will Sam Laidlow’s Decision to Skip 70.3 Worlds Be the Difference in Kona?

Despite the race being on his home soil, Sam Laidlow has decided to skip the 2026 IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in Nice, France, opting instead for a much flatter event at Challenge Samarkand in Uzbekistan. The races are on the same day, Sept. 13, but they offer two very different experiences, with the world championship in Nice featuring double the elevation gain of the Samarkand bike course. Laidlow may not be preparing to fight for a 70.3 world title, but that decision could be the reason he takes home another full IRONMAN crown in Kona a month later.

Calculated but Standard

Laidlow almost certainly made his decision to forgo the 70.3 worlds with Kona in mind, but it’s still not a unique call on his part. In close to a decade of racing as a pro, he has never toed the line at the half-distance world championships. He is no stranger to middle-distance racing — he has won multiple Challenge events, he competed on the T100 circuit in 2024 (he took the win at T100 London that season) and he broke the tape at 70.3 Valencia earlier this season, setting a course record of 3:33:56.

Even so, it has been clear for several years now that the 27-year-old Frenchman prefers full-distance racing over shorter events — and with a resume like his, who wouldn’t? He was eighth at his first IRONMAN World Championship in St. George in May 2022 (which was technically the 2021 edition of the event), then second in Kona five months later. In 2023, he won the IRONMAN World Championship in Nice. He won Challenge Roth last year, then defended his title this summer, laying down a mind-boggling full-distance record of 7:21:04.

Saving His Legs

Laidlow’s 3:33 result in Valencia earlier this year is undoubtedly fast, but it’s clear where his strengths lie. His prowess on the bike is often unmatched (he biked 10 minutes quicker than Norway’s Kristian Blummenfelt in Roth this year), but he struggles to match the pace of other top men on the run.

While a solid runner, he has only broken 1:10 in the half-marathon at 70.3-distance events once in his career, and he has just two sub-2:40 marathon performances on his resume (both at Challenge Roth). Comparatively, athletes like Blummenfelt and Belgian 70.3 world champion Jelle Geens may consider anything north of 1:08 in the half to be a slow result.

The more time Laidlow can get on the bike to extend his lead over the fastest runners, the better, which is why the 112 miles of riding in IRONMAN racing is a much better option for him than the 56 of 70.3 events.

He is an incredible athlete, so he could have fought for a podium finish in Nice if he had decided to race 70.3 worlds, but in all likelihood, he wouldn’t have been in the mix for the win. Instead, he has made what could be the smartest choice of all by skipping the race and letting his top competitors tire one another out while he tackles a much easier course in Uzbekistan.

Norwegians Casper Stornes and Gustav Iden are both reportedly planning to race in Nice. Stornes won the 2025 IRONMAN World Championship on that course last year, while Iden won in Nice the last time the city hosted the 70.3 worlds. They will both be among the favourites to win in September, but their compatriot Blummenfelt said in a YouTube video posted in June that he “might skip [Nice] and go straight to Hawaii.”

If Blummenfelt does race in Nice, it will likely be good news for Laidlow. He will undoubtedly still race hard in Samarkand, but it will be a much different effort than what is required in the hills in and around Nice. If Blummenfelt doesn’t race and instead follows Laidlow’s footsteps by putting everything into Kona, it could change things. (Of course, even if Blummenfelt races in Nice, there is no reason he cannot do well in Kona. Remember, this is a man who raced two 70.3s and an IRONMAN in a span of four weeks and ran 1:06, 1:07 and 2:30 for the two half-marathons and one full.)

Dialling in his Bike

With a little over 2,000 feet of elevation gain on the bike course, Challenge Samarkand isn’t flat by any means, but it requires athletes to do much less climbing than Nice’s punishing 4,000 feet. Similarly, Kona’s bike is far from flat with 5,800 feet of elevation gain between T1 and T2, but it is certainly not close to what racers experience in Nice (relative to the ride’s full distance).

Laidlow’s bike setup is obviously dialled in after his 3:54:58 ride in Roth, but racing Uzbekistan will give him one last chance in competition to make sure it is exactly how he needs it for another blazing-fast result in Kona.

In addition to being much hillier, the bike course in Nice is requires far more technical riding than Laidlow will see in either Samarkand or Kona. That type of course would need an entirely different setup for his bike, and while it would be a great test to see where his fitness stacks up against the other top men who will be at the IRONMAN World Championship in October, the data from that race wouldn’t help him as much as the information he’ll get from riding in Samarkand.

All in on Kona

Laidlow’s decision to skip the 70.3 worlds is a sign that his sole focus for the rest of the season is Kona. After his race in Roth, he has shown the rest of the field that he has what it takes to beat the best of the best — a result that had to leave him brimming with confidence as he moved into the latter half of the season.

Missing Nice to watch as his rivals wear one another down hardly guarantees that he will win in Kona, but it is likely the move that will give him the best chance at breaking the tape on Ali’i Drive in October.

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