Laidlow arrives in Nice as the defending champion from 2023, where he claimed his first Ironman World Championship title on home soil. But his road back has been anything but smooth.
Health issues kept him out of competition for much of the early season, and it was only after his win at Challenge Roth in July that doctors confirmed a reactivation of Epstein Barr Virus (EBV) as the root cause of his struggles.
In conversation with Bob Babbitt, he admitted that not knowing what was wrong had been the hardest part. “It kind of explained a lot,” Laidlow said. “I’ve never really been able to train that much. I think now it’s allowed me to accept the cards I’ve been dealt, rest a bit more, and focus on my health.”
The irony is the insights from illness may have given him a sharper edge. Instead of chasing the Norwegians’ relentless training volumes or Magnus Ditlev’s massive bike miles, Laidlow was able to average just over 10 hours a week before Roth. While hardly a recipe for world-class performance on paper, he still ran one of his best marathons. The lesson was clear: sometimes less is more, and perhaps his ideal volume is somewhere between what he did for Roth and what he did in the past.
Laidlow notes that Roth was the real turning point. “It was a special day for me and my family,” Laidlow recalled. “If I would have gone to Roth and had a bad race, I probably would have called it a year. But there’s a certain power in inertia and momentum,” he said. “That really kickstarted that inertia. I think I’m on an upward trajectory.”
He was also quick to credit Felix Walchshöfer and the Challenge Roth team for giving him the belief he needed. “They promised me some magic if I showed up to race,” he said. “It really turned my season around. We’ll see what happens in Nice.”
He admitted that his health issues forced him to arrive in Roth “10 percent under fitness,” but now, he added, “I’m hoping that I’m just hitting 99 or 100 percent and we can have a good day.”
“I feel in a really good place,” he continued. “Not just because I’m kind of healthy and fit, but also because I think I have a little bit of a different perspective after what I’ve been through. I have the confidence to properly just do my own thing and not be worried about doing junk miles or comparing myself to anybody else.”
Laidlow has also learned to see racing itself as a privilege: “What a privilege it is to be able to not just race but to be able to push our bodies to the maximum…that is a true privilege,” he said.
He enters Nice 2025 facing what many believe is the deepest men’s field in Ironman history. Four world champions, Olympic pedigree, and proven race winners will line up on September 14th.
Laidlow knows the course suits him, but he also knows he cannot force it. “I think I can go faster in all three disciplines,” he said. “Whether that is enough to win, we will see. I just want to put myself in a position where, like I did in both my races this year, I don’t blow up. And it turns out…every Ironman where I haven’t blown up I’ve won.”
Watch the full Bob Babbitt interview below
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