In 2019, two-time World Champion and elite coach Siri Lindley received life-altering news: a diagnosis of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), with survival odds of less than five percent.
One of the fittest athletes in the world – and someone who had built a career overcoming what others might call impossible odds – Lindley was suddenly facing a battle far removed from finish lines and podiums. For many patients with this diagnosis, life expectancy is measured in weeks.
“I’m going to overcome this. It’s not my time,” Lindley recalls thinking. “And I am going to make it my most beautiful triumph.”
In her upcoming film Tri Me, scheduled for release April/May 2026, Lindley opens a window into this deeply personal period. Filmed in real time as she underwent treatment, the documentary captures her mindset and resolve long before there was any certainty of survival.
As Mark Allen, who appears throughout the film, reflects: “Siri is a living example of the power of believing in yourself. Whatever you do, whoever you are, make sure you watch Tri Me. It will change your life forever.”
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How It Began
Lindley’s cancer was discovered incidentally during routine bloodwork ahead of hip surgery. The diagnosis was sudden and devastating. There were no guarantees and no assurances, only an uncertain path forward.
From the outset, however, Lindley made a conscious decision about how she would move through it. The mindset she adopted – what she would later call the ChampionMind approach – did not promise survival. But what it did offer was agency: a way to reclaim control over how she showed up each day, and, as she now describes it, a willingness to “go first” in believing what is or is not possible for yourself.
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She anchored herself in the many times she had confronted seemingly impossible challenges as an athlete and carried that same resolve forward. That perspective shaped the choices she made early in treatment.
“Some people might have been afraid at the idea of entering clinical trials with emerging treatments,” Lindley said. “But the moment I heard about them, I wanted to learn more. I would be only the seventh person to receive one of the experimental treatments, and the first of my age to receive the other, but I knew I wanted to do it – for myself, and to help shape the future of treatment for this disease.”
Building the Conditions for Healing
From the beginning, Lindley was deliberate about the environment she created around herself. She asked members of her medical team whether they believed recovery was possible and made it clear that she wanted to be surrounded by people who could hold that belief alongside her. (When her psychologist told her that positive thinking alone would not be enough, Lindley thanked him for his time and chose to move forward without him.)
Importantly, this was not a denial of the odds, nor was it blind optimism. Rather, it was a conscious decision to protect the mental conditions she believed were essential to healing. Lindley understood that if there was any chance of achieving what others deemed impossible, belief had to come first. It was a principle she had lived by before – one that had guided her from learning how to swim at 23 to becoming a two-time World Champion – and she carried that same conviction into the most consequential fight of her life.
“Words also matter…very much,” Lindley shared in our interview. “Be careful to only speak words that reflect the future you intend to create.” And she lived that principle in practice.
When she arrived for chemotherapy, Lindley referred to the treatment not as something to be endured, but as a “healing tonic,” choosing to focus on what the process made possible rather than what it demanded of her. Visualization also became part of her daily routine. Photos lined her hospital room, grounding her in images of health and home: running her favourite trails, being back with her wife Bek, and reconnecting with the life and joy that made the fight meaningful. They were reminders not just of survival, but of everything worth showing up for.
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Even as outcomes remained uncertain, Lindley was intentional about what she wanted to leave behind. “Even if I didn’t make it,” she said, “I wanted to leave a window into my mindset behind for others.” Tri Me follows her journey in real time, allowing viewers to witness this way of moving through challenge as it unfolds, giving the film a rare and powerful immediacy.
From Survival to Service
“I believe everything in life happens for us, not to us,” Lindley shared. “Before this diagnosis, I thought I had reached and achieved everything I dreamed of – finding my wife, winning two world titles. I had found real happiness. What I wanted next was to help others reach that same place.”
No one would ever wish for a terminal cancer diagnosis, and Lindley is clear about that. Yet she also recognizes that moving through AML changed her life in unexpected and meaningful ways. The experience deepened her relationship with herself, sharpened her sense of presence and gratitude, and expanded her capacity for joy. It also strengthened her ability to receive – and be grounded by – the unconditional love of her wife, Bek.
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Perhaps most significantly, it clarified and expanded Lindley’s sense of purpose. Having moved through her own period of profound uncertainty, she now finds herself uniquely positioned to meet others in moments of fear, transition, and hardship, extending her influence far beyond elite sport and allowing her to reach and support people navigating their own impossible-seeming challenges.
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That commitment to service also finds expression beyond people. Together with her wife Bek, Lindley runs Believe Ranch & Rescue, an organization dedicated to saving horses from slaughter. “Horses, and especially my horse Savannah, played a powerful role in my own healing,” she shared. In this next chapter, she is intentional about passing that gift forward, creating space where both horses and humans can heal.
How to Watch Tri Me
Tri Me is not a story about triathlon, nor is it simply a story about survival. It is a rare and intimate look at how one person chose to meet uncertainty – moment by moment, without guarantees – and what became possible as a result.
The film will be released through Giant Pictures this spring and will be available across all major streaming platforms, with a preview available now.
As strength coach Erin Carson reflects, “Siri was born to leave a legacy of inspiration and love.” And long-time triathlon commentator Bob Babbitt adds: “Siri Lindley is one of my all-time favourite people, so I may be a little biased, but Tri Me is simply spectacular. If you have the chance to see it, I think you’ll love every second. Her journey from world champion to coach to cancer survivor is truly unforgettable.”
For those interested in learning more about Lindley’s work beyond the film, additional information is available at sirilindley.com, and in her book Finding A Way.
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The post “Tri Me”: From Survival to Strength – Siri Lindley’s Story appeared first on Triathlon Magazine Canada.