Paula Findlay wins her first Ironman appearance while Martin van Riel sets the course record at Ironman Lake Placid

On a moody day in the Adirondacks, Belgian Van Riel claimed a gunnery victory, smashing the course record by eight minutes. He led the swim, bike and run to dazzle the field and showcase what could be a Kona win.

Making her Ironman debut, Canadian Findlay booked her place in Kona in style, emphasizing her prowess on the bike before finally taking off early in the marathon and never looking back. She eventually won by about four minutes.

It was an ominous, bleak day that reflected the severity of what was at stake in North America’s oldest Ironman race — four Kona slots, a $125,000 prize purse, and second-to-last Ironman Pro Series points for the full distance before the championship season began.

Fighting for those points was Van Riel, who arrived in impeccable form after a second-place finish at Ironman Texas and a win at Ironman 70.3 Elsinore. But can he defeat the two recent Lake Placid champions who have gone head-to-head over the past two years, Trevor Foley (USA) and Matthew Marquardt (USA)?

On the women’s side, it was the debut of Findlay and the return of 2022 world champion Chelsea Sodaro (USA) that stole the headlines leading up to the event. Findlay was desperate to win a Kona slot as she entered the twilight of her career, while Sodaro just needed to validate her 2022 title position with a finish.

It started off as expected for Findlay and Sodaro, who swam behind the group of swimmers and stayed neck and neck until the halfway mark. Sodaro eventually managed to gap Findlay by about a minute heading into T1.

Marta Sanchez (Spain) and Lara Hernandez Tomei (USA) were more than two minutes ahead of them, while Rachel Zielinskas (USA) started cycling behind them.

From there, it wasn’t long before Sodaro and Findlay were showing off their muscle on the bike as they made their way to the front. Sodaro began closing the gap early before Findlay joined her about a third of the way through the ride. It was Sodaro’s first race since a DNF in Kona last year, where early-season surgery has sidelined her for now.

It initially looked like Sanchez, Findlay, Sodaro and Zielinskas might form the group that would go the rest of the way together, but Sodaro left the gap open and was the first to fall off the pace. Zilinskas followed shortly after.

Looking back, Lisa Berterer, last year’s runner-up, was out of form after the swim and continued to lose a lot of time, as did Grace Thicke (Australia). They eventually entered T2 trailing by more than eight and 11 minutes respectively.

That left Sanchez and Findlay in front to start the race, with Sodaro five and a half minutes behind, still positioned behind Zielinskas. Initially, it was Sanchez who built the pace, but shortly after the 5km mark, she was overtaken by Findlay, who looked strong and in control in her first marathon.

This theme continued throughout the race as Findlay’s lead steadily extended. Even as she entered uncharted territory after the halfway mark, she looked poised to win impressively on her debut.

The drama unfolded behind her after the 15.5-mile mark, when Sodaro’s Kona hopes were put in jeopardy as she completely faded from the tracker and it looked as if a DNF was imminent. However, she somehow managed to cross the line in the marathon at 4:14:00, validating her standing in Kona by a whisker. Otherwise she would have had to travel to the Ironman Kalmar race to confirm her place.

In the end, Findlay completed an impressive first-ever marathon in 2:55, making an emotional finish line crossing for the 37-year-old, who was embraced by her husband, Erik Lagerstrom. In the end, she won by almost four minutes over Sanchez and more than 16 minutes over third-placed Zielinskas, who narrowly edged out Tamara Jewett (Canada).

Findlay delayed her Ironman debut until this year, and judging by that performance on a difficult course, it was worth the wait. It will now have to prepare for another one in October – Kona’s highly anticipated debut.

Ironman Lake Placid 2026 Women’s Results

On the men’s side, it was Van Riel’s powerful swimming that split the field from the start, with only Britain’s Fraser Minikan able to join him. They built a one-minute advantage over strong American swimmers Ben Canute and Thomas Gordon.

The most impressive gaps were behind them. Defending champion Marquardt came out of the water in 2:44, while Jason West (USA) and Rudi von Berg (USA) were nearly three minutes behind.

It was worse for Frederik Funk (DEU), who started the bike 5:30 behind, while Foley, the 2024 champion and Pro Series contender, was 8:20 behind alongside Cameron Worf (AUS).

Van Riel quickly got off the front and set a strong pace on the bike, riding as if he had raced this track many times before. Canute initially kept in touch before being caught and passed by the pursuing Marquardt.

Despite the medical student’s best efforts, the gap with Van Riel was not closing on the notoriously difficult Lake Placid bike course. Meanwhile, Foley reduced the gap to six minutes by halfway and moved into fourth place

With 90 miles to go, Foley moved into third place, but he quickly started to slow down and lost more time to Van Riel, who had already shown how good his marathon was at Ironman Texas. His lead was starting to look like more than enough to keep the field away from behind on the run.

Once inside the marathon, it quickly became clear that Van Riel was not just going to protect his own interest. His lead over Marquardt was just over a minute from T2, but he set an incredible pace rarely seen before on the quiet running track.

Foley delivered a sharp turnaround, but with seven minutes to go, it was likely he was really just fighting for Pro Series points that were dwindling by the second.

Marquardt impressively held the gap to Van Riel through nine miles, but it quickly began to grow after that as the rest of the field, with the exception of West, lost more and more time. By the halfway mark, Marquardt was the only athlete still within 10 minutes of the leader.

Van Riel’s pace remained steady all the way to the end, resulting in one of the most emphatic wins of the year. He broke the overall course record and the course record, foreshadowing what would have been a Kona win just a few months earlier.

Even Von Berg, who ranked fifth, acknowledged the magnitude of the performance, Writing on Instagram: “I don’t think people realize how fast this is going.”

Marquardt finished impressively inside his previous course record after four minutes, while Canute took a well-deserved third place, 16 minutes behind Van Riel.

In the end, Foley dropped a slew of Pro Series points after finishing 28 minutes behind. He now heads to Boise for the next race in the series.

The countdown now begins towards the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in September, before the Kona Stadium is finished after the next Pro Series battle at Ironman Kalmar on August 18.