\u201cI want to thank my family for everything. I was a kid who wanted to win this race and lots of parents would say: \u2018Go and get a real job.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were moments when I wanted to quit [the sport] and they said: \u2018We think you\u2019ve got it in you.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
On a record-breaking day in Kona, the 23-year-old set a new bike course record of 4:04:36, lowering Cameron Wurf<\/a>\u2019s<\/strong> existing mark by an incredible 5mins, on his way to a time of 7:42:24.<\/p>\n It meant he split the Norwegians on the podium, with reigning champion Kristian Blummenfelt<\/a><\/strong> 60secs back in third.<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div> <\/section> \u201cI\u2019m pretty speechless,\u201d Laidlow added, having led until the 22-mile mark in the marathon. \u201cIt\u2019s been a long time coming and it means the world to me, my dad [Sam\u2019s coach], and my whole family.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve dreamt of winning this race. Today I put 8mins or so into Jan [Frodeno\u2019s] record but it wasn\u2019t enough.<\/p>\n \u201cWe knew from a few years ago that my numbers are there, I just needed a race to come together.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve had races where I\u2019ve done good bike splits and crumbled at 35k on the run.<\/p>\n \u201cToday I had good legs, I PB\u2019d power on the bike and I PB\u2019d on my run. It was 315 watts on the bike and a 2:44 marathon, which is great in these conditions.<\/p>\n \u201cWe knew I was capable of it, but it feels special when you do it.\u201d<\/p>\n Laidlow was born in Bedfordshire in the UK but moved to the south of France at the age of three when his parents set up a triathlon training camp in Am\u00e9lie-les-Bains-Palalda in the Pyrenees.<\/p>\n Despite the epic performance, the day hadn\u2019t got off to the best of starts for Laidlow who is one of the best swimmers in the sport.<\/p>\n \u201cComing out of the swim it was probably the worst race situation it could have been for me,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n \u201cIn St George it was just a small group and we already had 4-5mins on Kristian and even more on the other guys.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I stuck to my plan, which is always to race aggressively. I was worried there\u2019d be a massive pack behind and they\u2019d barely be pedalling, but I made the race hard and that was to my advantage.<\/p>\n \u201cI knew at the turnaround I still had a lot in me. I was slightly over target wattage but I felt great the whole day.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I came off the bike, I knew I\u2019d ridden fast, and I wanted to go under 8hrs, which I believed would have got me a great result.\u201d<\/p>\n In fact, in by far the fastest Ironman ever seen on the Big Island, a time of 8hrs would only have resulted in 10th place.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter St George, I predicted that the top eight guys in Hawaii will all go sub-eight,\u201d Laidlow added. \u201cIt\u2019s just a new era. Up until now there were only four guys in history [under 8hrs]. Now there are 14.\u201d<\/p>\n Laidlow also revealed that he was struggling with foot pain that flared up during the race.<\/p>\n \u201cThis past week I\u2019ve had a pain in my foot. It really started to get bad on the last few kilometres.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve had this pain before when I had a stress fracture. I hope it\u2019s not that, but if it is, it was worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n As for holding off Iden, today he just couldn\u2019t quite manage it.<\/p>\n \u201cI thought if I could get to 10km to go with a 2min gap I could hold him off. But at 12k suddenly Gustav got to about 75secs.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen he came past me I tried but after 30km in the marathon you don\u2019t even know what is going on. Your mind is blurred and you just keep going.<\/p>\n \u201cThat last 10km is when your deep motivation kicks in and the reasons you really do it.\u201d<\/p>\n Top images credit:<\/strong> Ezra Shaw\/Getty Images for Ironman<\/p><\/body><\/html>\n By Tim Heming Published: Sunday, 09 October 2022 at 12:00 am \u201cI knew my reason why,\u201d says Sam Laidlow, having produced one of the most spectacular front running performances seen in the Ironman World Championship before eventually behind pipped by Gustav Iden. \u201cI want to thank my family for everything. I was a kid who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":18331,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"4"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/47\/2022\/10\/ironman-world-championship-runner-up-laidlow-credits-family-for-keeping-him-in-the-sport.jpg",445,357,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/47\/2022\/10\/ironman-world-championship-runner-up-laidlow-credits-family-for-keeping-him-in-the-sport-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/47\/2022\/10\/ironman-world-championship-runner-up-laidlow-credits-family-for-keeping-him-in-the-sport-300x241.jpg",300,241,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/47\/2022\/10\/ironman-world-championship-runner-up-laidlow-credits-family-for-keeping-him-in-the-sport.jpg",445,357,false],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/47\/2022\/10\/ironman-world-championship-runner-up-laidlow-credits-family-for-keeping-him-in-the-sport.jpg",445,357,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/47\/2022\/10\/ironman-world-championship-runner-up-laidlow-credits-family-for-keeping-him-in-the-sport.jpg",445,357,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/47\/2022\/10\/ironman-world-championship-runner-up-laidlow-credits-family-for-keeping-him-in-the-sport.jpg",445,357,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/220triathlon\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Tim Heming Published: Sunday, 09 October 2022 at 12:00 am \u201cI knew my reason why,\u201d says Sam Laidlow, having produced one of the most spectacular front running performances seen in the Ironman World Championship before eventually behind pipped by Gustav Iden. \u201cI want to thank my family for everything. I was a kid who…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/220triathlon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/18330"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/220triathlon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/220triathlon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/220triathlon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/220triathlon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/220triathlon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/220triathlon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Lost for words<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\u201cI wanted to go under eight hours\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>A painful finish<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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