There was no touching Lionel Sanders (CAN) once he got on the bike as he took yet another half-distance title at Ironman 70.3 Mont-Tremblant in course-record time, following a strong swim with an even stronger bike/ run combo to top a competitive men's field in Quebec. Meredith Kessler (USA) continued her impressive comeback after becoming a mom last year with her second win of the 2018 season.

Sanders' swim is back

After a disappointing swim at the Challenge Championship a few weeks ago, Sanders was back to his much-improved swimming ways in Mont-Tremblant, coming out of the water just over a minute behind swim leader Antoine Jolicoeur Desroches (CAN). By the time he was through the bike Sanders was well ahead of the rest of the field, two-minutes up on a group of three that included Canadians Jackson Laundry and Brent McMahon and American Rodolphe Von Berg. Sanders put together a strong run (1:11:23) that opened up even more time on the men behind, leaving the rest to fight for the second two spots on the podium. Von Berg continued his impressive string of races (he won Wildflower last month and the Ironman 70.3 European Championship in Elsinore last weekend) to take second, while McMahon took the final spot on the podium. 

Kessler keeps going ...

After returning to competition in April at the Ironman North American Championship in Texas (where she finished sixth), Kessler has been racing an ambitious schedule that included five races in less than two months. After winning Ironman 70.3 Raleigh, she kept the winning streak rolling with an impressive win in Mont-Tremblant. The new mom trailed Canadian Rachel McBride by a few seconds out of the water and the two would trade the lead on the bike, with McBride coming off the bike just under 10 seconds ahead. Out on the run, though, Kessler quickly moved to the front and cruised to a convincing win over McBride. American Jodie Robertson was third off the bike and held that position through the run to take the final spot on the podium.