Fan favourite Lionel Sanders has had a challenging couple of years with injury, but the Lion intentionally skipped the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Nice to prioritize a deliberate and measured return to racing, with the goal of competing at the sport’s biggest championship events again in 2027.

Of course, there was some FOMO watching the recent action unfold up the Col de Vence and along the Promenade des Anglais, as Sanders shared on Instagram. But he’s keeping his eyes on the bigger picture and is excited about his next opportunity to race at Ironman 70.3 Cozumel this coming weekend.

As he shared: “Solid threshold effort yesterday & almost taper time for Cozumel 70.3. Excited to toe the line again. I put in some good work since Northern California and I’m curious to see where that gets me. Of course having a little FOMO seeing all the content from Nice but I am just not ready for a world champs quite yet.”

 

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Sanders’ first comeback race following his post-Ironman Texas injury was Ironman 70.3 Northern California in mid-August, where he placed fourth. With more healthy training under his belt since then, Canadian fans will undoubtedly be rooting for the win. If he can secure it in Cozumel, it would mark victory number 45 of his career and his 35th Ironman 70.3 win.

Yes, the man has had a challenging couple of years. But let’s not forget everything he’s accomplished, or the passion that still clearly burns inside him to deliver more outstanding performances before his career is done.

You can follow the race live via the Ironman Tracker app, with the men’s race starting at 6:30am local time on September 20th.