'The hardest I've ever worked' - Ironman Lewis fifth in the world

Guernsey’s top triathlete excelled at last weekend’s Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Lahti, Finland, placing near the front of a professional field in a true career highlight.

‘It’s not quite sunk in,’ he said. ‘I think still getting waves of being overwhelmed and coming back to earth, and being normal day to day, then being like “Actually, that was pretty epic”. I’m really, really chuffed and happy with that.

‘It was an incredible performance and it was one of those days, let’s put it that way.’

• Hear a full interview with Josh Lewis on this week's Guernsey Press Sport Podcast

The Sarnian covered the course in 3hrs 36min. 45sec. to finish slightly over 4min. behind Rico Borgen, who led an all-German podium in the event.

Unsurprisingly, plenty of hard yards went into that performance, with the vastly-experienced competitor admitting he has never put in so much effort over 70.3 miles.

‘I was going so hard the entire time, I wasn’t sure if my body was going to handle that amount of work, because it’s never done it before,’ he added.

‘I think that’s the hardest I’ve ever worked in one of those races – from the gun basically.’

After a rough, very physical 1.2-mile swim, he left the water in 12th.

It got no easier on the 56-mile bike. He managed to get in a group of seven up-front, leaving behind some classy riders such as 2022 world runner-up Ben Kanute, and rode very hard for the duration with no feedback from official splits.

Hitting final transition tired, but in sixth, he thankfully held up well over the 13.1 mile run – where cool conditions played to his favour – and even gained another position.

Finishing fifth in a professional field meant claiming plenty of scalps.

Way back in 36th came Olympic and reigning world champion Kristian Blummenfelt, who had won big in Singapore the previous week, before suffering stomach issues afterwards and struggling for energy in Finland.

Lewis, by comparison, had learnt from a packed racing season that included notable 70.3 podiums in Staffordshire and London.

‘I don’t think it could have gone too much better in all honesty.

‘I’ve been getting as much out of myself as I could do and I’ve been learning a lot along the way.’

Megan Chapple claimed that same position out in Finland, albeit in a women’s amateur age-group field the previous day.

The London-based triathlete finished fifth out of all the women’s age-groupers in 4-28-03, which was also good for second in the 25-29 category after closing down winner Stephanie Clutterbuck significantly on the run.

She was ranked 40th overall including elites.