Lining up in Nice

A look at the Ironman 70.3 World Championship pro start lists that include four Canadians who will line up against the world’s best for the challenging races in Nice, France on September 7 and 8.

2012 Olympian Paula Findlay and Ironman 70.3 Mont-Tremblant champion Jackson Laundry will lead the small Canadian pro contingent to the Ironman 70.3 World Championship in Nice, France on September 7 and 8. Findlay has struggled with injuries for much of 2019 after posting some impressive half-distance results in 2018, including the win at the Ironman 70.3 North American Pro Championship in St. George and a runner-up finish at Ironman 70.3 Santa Cruz. Findlay has shown some promising results of late, though, including a third-place finish at Ironman 70.3 Santa Rosa last month and another third-place finish on day one of the Super League race in Ottawa over the August long weekend. (Findlay had to pull out of day two of the event due to concerns over her Achilles tendon.)

Laundry’s win at Ironman 70.3 Mont-Tremblant continued an impressive run of podium finishes Laundry has enjoyed over the last couple of years. In 2018 the Guelph, Ont. resident won Ironman 70.3 Raleigh and finished on the podium in Chattanooga and Santa Rosa. He continued that impressive string with third-place finishes in Augusta and the Ironman 70.3 North American Pro Championship in St. George, a runner-up finish in Chattanooga, then the win in Mont-Tremblant, where he held off Brent McMahon for the win.

The other Canadian woman in the field is Quebec’s Pamela-Ann Bachelder St-Pierre, who is fresh off a break-out performance at last weekend’s Ironman Mont-Tremblant race, where she finished fourth. Bachelder St-Pierre earned her slot for Nice thanks to a seventh-place finish at Ironman 70.3 Victoria. According to a post on her Facebook page, Bachelder St-Pierre hadn’t intended to complete the run in Mont-Tremblant due to an injury and because she wanted to save herself for Nice, in the end she decided to “go for it.”

Rounding out the Canadian pro men is Calgary, Alberta’s Jason Pohl, who took sixth (he was the fifth-place pro) at Ironman 70.3 Gulf Coast in May to nail his spot on the start line in Nice.

The Canadians will face some incredible competition in Nice. Four-time 70.3 world champion Daniela Ryf leads the impressive list of women’s contenders, with last year’s second and third-place finishers, Lucy Charles-Barclay and Anne Haug also lining up. 2016 world champ Holly Lawrence will wear race number 4 and will certainly be one to watch in the race as well.

For the men, defending champion Jan Frodeno won’t be on the start line, but there’s a literal who’s who of long-distance racing set to line up including two-time Olympic gold medalist Alistair Brownlee, two-time 70.3 world champ (just a couple of his nine world titles) Javier Gomez, two-time Kona champ Patrick Lange and two-time 70.3 world champ Sebastian Kienle all on the start list.

Below you’ll find the official start lists for both the men and women:

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