On December 6th, American triathlete Sam Long posted a simple wish to Instagram: “Dear Santa, all I want for Christmas is to win 70.3 La Quinta. We will find out if I have been naughty or nice. Good luck to everyone racing.”
Behind the tongue-in-cheek message was a very real milestone. A win in La Quinta would give Long his 20th professional victory before his 30th birthday on December 23rd.
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Long delivered. He claimed the win ahead of Lionel Sanders and Jackson Laundry, who rounded out the podium in second and third. And the result raised a bigger question: what does reaching 20 professional wins by the age of 30 actually mean? How rare is it, and how many athletes in long-course triathlon have managed it?
Here’s what we found.
Methodology Note: For this analysis, we considered long-course racing only across Ironman, Challenge Family, and T100 events. Victory totals are based on publicly available PTO athlete profiles. (If you spot an omission, we’d love to hear from you and take another look!)
How Rare is 20 Wins Before 30? Extremely.
Sam Long’s first professional victory came in May 2019 in Chattanooga. His 20th arrived six years later in La Quinta, just weeks before his 30th birthday. The full list of Long’s professional wins appears at the end of this article.
Among men, only one other long-course athlete has surpassed that benchmark: Long’s friend, training partner, and frequent rival Lionel Sanders. Sanders claimed his first professional win in 2013 at Ironman 70.3 Muskoka and reached his 24th in January 2018 at the Pucon 70.3, one month shy of his 30th birthday. Their parallel trajectories, and the repeated head-to-head battles that have defined much of the past decade, make the comparison especially fitting.
On the women’s side, the standard-bearer is Daniela Ryf. Widely regarded as the greatest long-course triathlete of all time, Ryf recorded exactly 20 professional long-course wins before turning 30. Her first came in June 2014 at the Switzerland 70.3, with her 20th secured at Ironman South Africa in April 2017 – again, roughly one month before her 30th birthday. Notably, four of those wins were world championship titles (two Ironman World Championships and two 70.3 World Championships).
The other athlete to surpass the mark before age 30 is Ellie Salthouse. Salthouse collected 21 professional long-course wins before her 30th birthday, beginning with Challenge Melbourne in January 2016 and culminating with a victory at the Tasmania 70.3.
Taken together, the list is strikingly short. Sam Long’s inclusion places his La Quinta victory in rare historical company, and as he turns 30 on December 23rd, it is certainly a milestone worth raising a glass to!
Sam Long’s Professional Victories
2019
Ironman 70.3 Chattanooga
Ironman 70.3 Victoria
Ironman Chattanooga
2020
Bear Lake Brawl
Ironman 70.3 Cozumel
2021
Ironman Coeur d’Alene
Ironman 70.3 Boulder
2022
Clash Miami
Challenge Puerto Varas
Ironman 70.3 Gdynia
Ironman 70.3 Indian Wells La Quinta
2023
Ironman 70.3 St. George
Ironman 70.3 Gulf Coast
Ironman 70.3 Boulder
2024
Ironman 70.3 Pucon
Ironman St. George
Ironman Chattanooga
2025
Ironman 70.3 Chattanooga
Ironman 70.3 Eagleman
Ironman 70.3 Indian Wells La Quinta
The post How Rare is 20 Wins Before 30? Sam Long Joins an Elite Long-Course Club appeared first on Triathlon Magazine Canada.