It was also clear that the triumph wasn\u2019t solely about the 24-year-old \u2013 born in England, but who has lived in southern France for most of his life \u2013 and that his family were integral to the success.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n So, asking Laidlow post-race whether winning the Ironman World Championship was a dream come true, the answer was also to be expected: \u201cAnd more,\u201d he explained. \u201cPeople keep asking me to put it into words. All I can say is I wish everybody could feel as I feel right now.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The victory not only made Laidlow the youngest-ever male winner of the title, but also the first Frenchman. For a country so steeped in the sport, it had been a long time coming.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m super grateful to have had this opportunity in Nice,\u201d he continued. \u201cI think it\u2019s great for French sport. Historically we\u2019ve not done so well in iron-distance, but this is a new era and I hope it motivates a generation to come and push straight to long course.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Despite being pitted against a star-studded field including three-time Ironman champion Jan Frodeno<\/a><\/strong> hoping to end his career on a high, Laidlow never looked fazed as he seized control of the race from the outset.<\/span><\/p>\n Initially, it was his surge part way through the first lap of the swim that helped craft a relatively small, but ultimately decisive gap on the dangerous Patrick Lange<\/a><\/strong> and Magnus Ditlev<\/a><\/strong> \u2013 who would both later join him on the podium. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cYou can\u2019t win the race on the swim, but you can certainly lose it,\u201d Laidlow reflected. \u201cIf Patrick was with us [on the bike] he would have probably won the race today.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Then it was an intense effort early in the 112-mile bike leg, even before they\u2019d made inroads into the race\u2019s much-hyped and longest Col d\u2019Ecre climb that helped build his ascendancy.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI knew I had good legs on the bike, but with Ironman you never know,\u201d he said. \u201cI rode to the maximum I thought I was capable of and took some risks thinking I might blow up on the last climb. But the lead just kept growing and growing.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI averaged 339 watts on the bike here, and I had a good thing going on at the start with Clement [Mignon], who has lived here. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI was going up the first climb at 450 watts and he just came flying past me. I said to him: \u2018Let\u2019s push for 30mins and see where this gets us. The first hour I averaged like 370 watts and I\u2019m 74kgs.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Laidlow had a 5min advantage off the bike, and a further 7min to Lange, and despite the German running a world championship record 2:32:41 marathon<\/a><\/strong>, the home hope never looked troubled as he completed four laps of the Promenade des Anglais. But if he looked assured, appearances can also be deceiving.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe marathon is just horrible, it\u2019s always horrible, and until the last 100m you never know. I still thought Patrick was right behind me and it wasn\u2019t until I got on the final straight that I knew I had it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n While Laidlow\u2019s second place finish in Hawaii last year<\/a><\/strong> \u2013 sandwiched between the Norwegians, Gustav Iden<\/a><\/strong> and Kristian Blummenfelt<\/a><\/strong> \u2013 was a surprise to many, this year he came into the race as more of a known quantity. <\/span><\/p>\n But it was also off a hit and miss season where despite two wins over the middle distance, his robustness was in doubt.<\/span><\/p>\n Dropping out in Lanzarote with nutrition issues while leading, a calf tear while duelling with Ditlev on the marathon in Roth, and another DNF in the PTO Open in Singapore following a bout of covid just three weeks ago, put question marks over whether he could perform here.<\/span><\/p>\n Yet those questions that were answered emphatically by a \u201ccareer-best performance by far\u201d, as splits of 47:50 (swim), 4:31:28 (bike) and 2:41:46 (run) resulted in a win by almost 4min from Lange. \u201cTo work 20 years towards something just makes it extra special,\u201d he added.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Laidlow\u2019s father and longtime coach Richard couldn\u2019t have been more proud of his son\u2019s success, which also extended to training partner and fellow Frenchman, Arthur Horseau, running through the field with the day\u2019s third best marathon to finish sixth.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s amazing,\u201d Richard said. \u201cObviously, he\u2019s had a messed up season with a lot going on, but at the end of the day I want Sam to have one good race every year. Given it\u2019s this race, it\u2019s absolutely brilliant.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve been here since he came back from Singapore so it was good for us to get a solid block of training in with him and in the last week we\u2019ve pulled it right back.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Richard said the team could have done without the enforced rest because of the Covid infection, but believes his son benefitted from the vitality of youth in recovering quickly.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt didn\u2019t help at all, but we caught it straight away, and someone at that age is going to recover quickly \u2013 the same as his calf tear [in Challenge Roth]. Plus, his nutrition and everything else is dialed right in.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The victory automatically qualifies Sam for next year\u2019s Ironman World Championship in Hawaii, which remains the holy grail for the Laidlows.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe goal was to win the world championship, but to win it in Kona is the big thing. Nice is not Kona, I feel today that everything is great, but the town is bigger than the event here.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIn Kona, it\u2019s the other way around, and it\u2019s the same in Roth, where the town really embraces the event. I don\u2019t feel here does that yet. But the course here is really good, a bit dangerous, but that\u2019s part of racing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The Laidlows\u2019 tight-knit family group extends to mother Michelle, Sam\u2019s partner Flo, and his 15-year-old brother Jake, who might soon be pushing Sam in training harder than he was pushed on the Promenade des Anglais.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe have just taken him out of school this year,\u201d Richard said. \u201cWe homeschool him and therefore he can train with us the whole time. He\u2019s a really, really good swimmer, naturally a very good runner and very sporty. I think he\u2019s following Sam\u2019s footsteps, so we\u2019ll see.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n As for the secret to their success, Richard has a simple message.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe support them, and for me training is about absorption. If they are not absorbing the training they are not going to improve, and it\u2019s about getting the right absorption of training sessions each time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n As for now, while Richard continues to plot the path of the Laidlow dynasty, in typically offbeat style, Sam has other things on his mind. \u201cI might just end my career here,\u201d he says tongue-in-cheek. \u201cFor now, I\u2019m just going to go pole dancing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Top image credit:<\/strong> Donald Miralle for Ironman<\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n Victory in Nice saw Sam Laidlow become the youngest male Ironman world champion. Here’s what the new champ and his father, Richard, had to say at the finish line <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":25379,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"7"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/47\/2023\/09\/sam-laidlow-for-now-im-just-going-to-go-pole-dancing.jpg",1200,798,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/47\/2023\/09\/sam-laidlow-for-now-im-just-going-to-go-pole-dancing-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/47\/2023\/09\/sam-laidlow-for-now-im-just-going-to-go-pole-dancing-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/47\/2023\/09\/sam-laidlow-for-now-im-just-going-to-go-pole-dancing-768x511.jpg",768,511,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/47\/2023\/09\/sam-laidlow-for-now-im-just-going-to-go-pole-dancing-1024x681.jpg",800,532,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/47\/2023\/09\/sam-laidlow-for-now-im-just-going-to-go-pole-dancing.jpg",1200,798,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/47\/2023\/09\/sam-laidlow-for-now-im-just-going-to-go-pole-dancing.jpg",1200,798,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":"Victory in Nice saw Sam Laidlow become the youngest male Ironman world champion. Here's what the new champ and his father, Richard, had to say at the finish line","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/220triathlon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/25378"}],"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\/25379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/220triathlon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/220triathlon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
Executed to perfection<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"Sam](\"https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/34\/2023\/09\/patrick-lange-and-sam-laidlow-in-nice-9db7add.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C412\" "\\"2023")
\n<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n<\/div>Hitting form at the right time<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"Laidlow](\"https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/34\/2022\/10\/iden-and-laidlow-kona-finish-2022-80d6fcf.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413\" "\\"IRONMAN")
\n<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n<\/div>A family affair<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"Sam](\"https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/34\/2023\/09\/sam-laidlow-french-flag-ironman-nice-243e974.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413\" "\\"2023")
\n<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n<\/div>
","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"