PLUS Holly Lawrence qualifies for Kona in her first ever Ironman!
Unfortunately, cramping entering T1 is just something Matthew Marquardt does now.
The multi-disciplined (and not just in the swim/bike/run sense) Ohioan has seized up out of the swim in every race he’s started this year. But every race, he seems to mitigate the pain better and better, and he has now won two straight Ironmans after winning in Cairns late last month.
“Before the race, I certainly was like, ‘Man, it would be really cool to win here.’ But also, the focus is never on winning, the focus is on executing the plan and performing to the best of my ability,” Marquardt said after the race. “I’m just incredibly thankful that I was able to race a smart race and stay patient and be very strategic, while also performing at a really, really high level.
“And I think it bodes well, hopefully, for World Champs and Nice.”
Matthew celebrating after crossing the tape first in Lake Placid. | Photo: @ehaggerty.media
Marquardt is a full-time medical student at Ohio State University. The fact that he’s competing in full Ironmans is a mind-blowing feat on its own, much less winning at a pro level. He has a clearheaded approach to the sport stemming from the fact that it’s not his only career path, and it has helped him put together one of the most fascinating competitive campaigns you will ever see from any athlete.
In Lake Placid on Sunday, Marquardt set a new course record, cramps and all. He also battled downpours that affected visibility and traction on the bike, as well as an animated group of competitors that repeatedly pushed the pace on the bike and the run.
Marquardt began the race with another characteristically strong swim, then settled into a fast group of six riders at the front of the race after his legs loosened up. He was part of a trio that would go on to start the run close together and eventually make up the podium, with Kristian Høgenhaug and Trevor Foley.
Matthew's exploits have raised money for cancer research. At every race, he writes the initials of people in his life who have been touched by the disease on his bike. | Photo: @ehaggerty.media
“Trevor was just pushing an incredibly high pace for an Ironman, but I wasn’t gonna let him get up the road. So I went with him,” Marquardt said. “We were pushing really, really hard — like Ironman 70.3 watts, if not even harder than that. It was definitely a little bit of a risk, but it was a risk that was worth taking, because I certainly did not want those guys getting up the road from me.
“It was like attack after attack after attack. And I certainly felt like, ‘Man, this might end poorly on the run.'”
As the run began, Foley quickly came to the front, and looked strong enough to pull away from the field. Nine miles in, he had nearly a minute over Marquardt. But that gap never widened, and with roughly 10 miles left, Marquardt began reeling in his compatriot. At Mile 18, he passed Foley for good and went on to complete a 2:39:51 marathon and 7:50:08 Ironman, beating a record that Foley had just set in 2024.
“Even when Trevor came through, I was like, ‘You know what, I’m gonna stick to my plan,'” Marquardt said. “With about 18 miles to go, it became clear that Trevor was really hurting, and so I started to put the pace on just a little bit. Not as big of a surge as I did in Cairns, because the last six miles of Lake Placid is basically all uphill, so I wanted to make sure that I still had some juice left for that.”
Marquardt left the race happy with his performance, especially for what it may signal for the men’s Ironman World Championship in Nice this coming September. He learned that he could handle a higher-than-expected pace — in adverse conditions, no less.
“[I approached the race] not as necessarily getting a specific result, but as a step towards Nice,” Marquardt said. “And the kind of bike that we put together was definitely the type of bike that will be needed to have a good result at Nice, and so I was like, ‘OK, well, this is the perfect opportunity to see if I can handle that kind of higher power and still put together a good run.'”
Matthew congratulating finishers in Lake Placid long after his race ended. | Photo: @ehaggerty.media
The race also held personal significance to Marquardt as one of the few he is racing in the United States. Though a 10-hour drive away from Ohio, he called Lake Placid “the closing thing to a hometown race that I have.” As the winner, he had the privilege of bestowing medals upon Ironman finishers for the rest of the day, many of them friends. Marquardt was at the finish line until midnight decorating many of the final finishers.
“Just a super meaningful day, super memorable, and another great race,” Marquardt said. “Lots of twists and turns, but I’m really happy with how everything turned out.”
In the women’s race, decorated middle distance triathlete Holly Lawrence took on her first ever full Ironman. And though she’s no doubt feeling sore today, her fifth-place finish represents an incredible effort, qualifying her for Ironman World Championships in Kona, which will take place this October almost exactly one year after she gave birth to her first child, Poppy.
Lawrence is gunning for Kona this year, completing a bucket list item that had gone unchecked for too long. In Lake Placid she showed that she has the strength and fortitude to perform well in the legendary race.
Lawrence swam fast, and quickly moved to the front of the race on the bike. Perhaps unsurprisingly given her specialty, Lawrence faded on the bike as she approached the half-distance Ironman length. She was fourth into the run, and would hold on for fifth at just 19 seconds ahead of a charging Danielle Lewis.
Lawrence is in the midst of an impressive season. She took fifth at T100 San Francisco against an elite field in her first race back less than eight months after giving birth. Her resurgent form and rejuvenated enthusiasm for racing has made her comeback one of the best stories in the triathlon. Between her and Marquardt, there’s no shortage of immaculate vibes atop Speed Concepts these days.
