IRONMAN World Champion Sam Laidlow’s triathlon future remains unclear but there may be a glimmer of hope after health issues

2023 IRONMAN World Champion Sam Laidlow has released the latest updates surrounding the health issues which have so far ruined his 2025 triathlon season.

The 26-year-old has not been seen on a course racing since his spectacular blow-up at the IRONMAN World Championship in October. Laidlow fell apart on the run in Kona after setting a record-breaking bike split, relinquishing a 5:53 lead to winner Patrick Lange.

Since then, Sam has been struggling with an unknown ailment which has left him unable to train at times as his body feels like it has been unplugged. To get answers, the charismatic star ventured to Red Bull’s Athlete Performance Centre in Thalgau, Austria to meet with doctors, trainers, psychologists and nutritionists.

‘Can I carry on in the sport?’

A YouTube video shared by Sam (you can watch the full version available at the bottom of this page) started off with Laidlow partaking in a series of tests, including running analysis and metabolic analysis. Following that first day, where he also met with a psychologist, Laidlow pinpointed his disappointing performance at the 2024 IRONMAN World Championships as a potential mental barrier in his recovery.

“I think the mental aspect and the kind of psychology side of it will become more and more important as less and less results come back negative,” he explained.

“We kind of discussed what we can put in place in certain situations because in Kona last year I put and incredible amount of pressure on myself to perform and I kind of just shook it off and went forward even though the disappointment was huge.

“I do think that has had an impact on how my recovery has been ever since, despite kind of feeling like I really relaxed quite a lot in Australia in the offseason.

“I don’t think that is the root cause of my issues, but they are things that play on your mind when I’m unfit and struggling to get back to it because right now the season is going to be tough and I’m at a point where I am actually questioning whether I can carry on in the sport – because that’s how bad it has been.”

Genetic heart problems concern

Day two consisted of a MRI scan to rule out any heart issues, with Laidlow emphasising genetic cardiovascular issues have had a impact on his immediate family.

“We really want to look at everything, because my family have had some genetic heart problems with a mutated gene, so we just want to make sure everything is okay.”

The Frenchman admitted the previous day’s testing had taken it out of him, and that he struggled to stay awake during the MRI scan.

“I was in there for 90 minutes, and you have to hold your breath every five seconds over and over again – but I was really struggling to not fall asleep, then they inject fluid and I just had a bad arm.”

He then joked: “I don’t want to say I hope I have a heart problem, because that would be terrible, but that would suck if I have just done that and they say ‘you’re heart is fine’.

Unexplained underperformance

Following a chat with the doctors following the second day of testing, Laidlow appeared to still have zero answers for his current ailments, as he revealed: “I had a chat with the doctor, and because so far nothing has come up – we are still waiting for the MRI results – they can’t find what is up with me either. They have a term for this, ‘Unexplained Underperformance’.

“The plan now is to come back for a whole month, which is probably the best idea. The plan is to track everything I do for a whole month as I hopefully build back up, and if there are days where I do feel really bad then at least we’ll have everything there to check it.

“The good thing from the week so far is that there is no apparent clear illnesses like Lime Disease or Epstein-Barr, and no heart problems – we are almost sure of that.

“I’ve got UU, we have to figure out how to get me me better….”

A glimmer of hope?

It appeared Laidlow would receive no concrete evidence to why his body was letting him down, but in the final meeting with his medical team, a glimmer of hope may have materialised from the monitoring of his heart.

“I was sat in a room with seven or eight people, different experts in every single sector. There was some interesting things that did just pop up.

“When we tracked my ECG and my heart over 24 hours, looking at my HRV (heart rate variability) data, it basically showed my Vagus nerve is not stimulating at all – so basically when my body is trying to sleep it’s not actually resting. It could be worse, there could be no signals at all in the Vagus nerve, but there is some but I’m actually never resting.

“I’m not saying that is the root cause, but it is something to look into and does kind of explain how I feel because when I’m sleeping I don’t feel super sleepy when I wake up but I just feel like I haven’t properly rested, so definitely something to look into there.”

He may not have received a definitive answer, but things are certainly looking to be moving in the right direction for the former IRONMAN World Champion who still boasts ambitions of becoming the “best in the world” once again. He’ll be back at the Red Bull facility for a month of testing in the near future.