After an unexpected development on race morning shortened the professional swim to the 1000 metres, Sam Long and Grace Alexander took advantage of strong bike and running performances to take the victories.
Read race analysis from the 2026 Ironman 70.3 Gulf Coast with all the details leading up to Sam Long and Grace Alexander’s win.
Updated May 9, 2026 at 11:34 AM
Just three weeks after Ironman Texas, Sam Long (USA) Once again showed his strength in bike running, taking victory in the IRONMAN 70.3 Gulf Coast race. Recorded a long time ago The fastest split bike ever at Ironman 70.3 Before backing it up with the fifth fastest split of the day to secure the win by just over a minute.
On the women’s side, Grace Alexander (USA) faced a tougher battle. After emerging from the water with the second fastest swim, she gave up the lead on the bike before regaining it on the run with one of the strongest performances of her career, narrowly beating Vitoria Lopez (BRA) by just 20 seconds.
It has been several years since the last men’s pro race in Panama City Beach, and since 2019 for the women’s. As a non-Pro Series event, the race featured a smaller professional field – 35 men and 15 women – with two World Championship spots available at 70.3, creating an opportunity for several athletes to capture a valuable fifth-place finish.
It is likely that many strong swimmers relished the opportunity to race a rare ocean swim under more stringent conditions, which provided an opportunity to gain time. However, the morning of the race, the athletes woke up to news that the professional swim had been shortened to 1,000 meters due to overnight waves creating strong currents.
This is not the first time this season that the 70.3 swim has been changed, following the shortened swim at Ironman 70.3 Dallas at the beginning of the season. In last year’s edition of this race, swimming was completely canceled for age group athletes due to bad weather conditions.
Dallas’ decision sparked controversy among professionals, many of whom argued that professionals should have the opportunity to complete the full course to a different standard than age-group athletes to maintain the integrity of the race. This conversation may intensify if short swims continue to become more popular.
However, the men’s race quickly turned into a water sprint, with swim times dropping to under 10 minutes. Greg Harper (USA) topped the field in 7:10, while 2023 champion Long – who reported making the trip at the last minute – came away with a time of 1:22 behind 18 other athletes, including powerhouse names like Mark Dobrik (USA) and Olympian Seth Ryder (USA).
Over the next thirty miles, Long systematically outpaced the entire group in front of him to move into the lead. At the start, only Ryder and Benjamin Zorgnotti (PPT) were able to stay with him before he eventually opened up a 20-second advantage heading into T2.
Taking into account the effect of the shortened swim, Long’s bike split of 1:49:32 was still impressive — the first sub-1:50 bike split ever recorded at Ironman 70.3, averaging 30.25 mph across the flat course.
From there, Long maintained a consistent 20 to 30 second gap on Ryder throughout the round while Dobrik moved into third. A half marathon time of 1:10:38 sealed the victory for the defending champion as Long celebrated with an appropriate sprinkler dance in the rain. He now plans to race again next weekend at 70.3 Chattanooga. Ryder finished second, with Dobrik rounding out the podium.
2026 IRONMAN 70.3 GULF COAST MEN’S RESULTS:
In the women’s race, it was no surprise that Lopez had just taken the lead after competing at the WTCS Championships in Samarkand a few weeks earlier, with Alexander right behind her. Both athletes likely would have benefited from swimming longer, but they still opened up a 30-second to two-minute gap over the remainder of the field, including top seed Danielle Lewis (USA), who exited 1:35 behind.
Lewis, like Long, moved quickly through the field into third place during the first 10 miles of the bike. By the 40-mile mark, she had completed the hunt and moved into the lead, with only Alexander able to stay with her as Lopez lost significant time heading into T2.
Given her impressive running background, Lewis seemed well placed to take the win. However, she was still recovering from a severe crash at Ironman Texas three weeks ago, when a nail punctured her tire. Lewis shared before the race that she “wasn’t quite sure if (she was going to race)” while waiting for her injuries to heal and shared that she only returned to the time trial site a few days before the event.
However, things initially went perfectly for Lewis as she extended her lead by another 45 seconds over Alexander early on. But around the 5K mark, the momentum shifted. Alexander brought it back before the five-mile mark, while Lopez had already cut her deficit from around four minutes to just over two minutes, setting up a dramatic finish.
In the end, Alexander ran fast enough to hold off Lopez’s attack for 20 seconds after Lopez overtook Lewis late in the race. Six years after winning the amateur title in the same event, the win marked Alexander’s third career Ironman 70.3 win.
She now heads to Chattanooga looking to defend her title against much deeper competition that is expected to include the likes of Jackie Herring (USA) and Paula Findlay (CAN).
