Triathlon superstar Sam Long opens up on bromance with “crazy” Lionel Sanders and “checking your ego at the door”

They say opposites attract and it certainly seems to be working for Sam Long and Lionel Sanders as they gear up for a big 2025.

American native Long, 29, is eight years younger and six inches taller than his Canadian rival but they have struck up an unlikely partnership.

Back in 2023 the pair were dubbed the Tucson Twins when they trained together in Arizona – and now Long has posted a new YouTube video, embedded below, showing them doing so once again.

“Lionel is a bit crazy”

The difference this time is that Long says they feel like team-mates instead of rivals – because his decision to join the T100 means he won’t be competing much with Sanders this year.

Long said: “I’m training with a good friend, Lionel Sanders. I’m in what I call peak week, my hardest week of the year in terms of volume and intensity. You should have peak sessions in peak week.

“Lionel is a bit crazy and I mean that as a compliment. I mean that as a good thing. The guy’s strong. What’s pretty cool though is we’re kinda doing different series this year.

“It’s nice because we can properly be team-mates in a way. I feel like I can be rooting for Lionel in a great way because I’m not having to race him as much.

“In the past you train and you’re being a bit insecure about yourself or trying to get into the head of your training partner a little bit.”

Long is getting ready for the T100 Singapore on April 5 but his big goal for the year is the IRONMAN World Champs in Nice, where he will be up against Sanders.

Still, the only other date on his schedule where the pair will likely compete against each other is at the 70.3 North American Champs at St. George on May 10.

“It gets complicated”

Long said: “We do have two overlaps – at St George and then at Nice World Champs. It will be a different dynamic in St George. It gets complicated when you want to win.”

But for now the partnership seems to be working, with Long saying: “My run feels in a very good spot. My swim does too, for me. Just trying to pursue that confidence on the bike now.”

Sanders, a four-time IRONMAN champion and 30-time IRONMAN 70.3 Champion, won the 2017 ITU Long Distance Triathlon World Championships.

He won three races last year before ending his campaign with a whimper after a disappointing IRONMAN World Championship performance in Kona.

Sanders, who recently changed his diet due to a health scare, says the key to training well is to “check your ego at the door” – and says doing just that has helped propel Olympic and World Champion Kristian Blummenfelt and 2022 IRONMAN World Champion Gustav Iden to their recent successes.

Norwegian pair Blummenfelt and Iden also train together and Sanders reckons the environment they have created is something he tries to emulate.

“Check your ego”

Sanders said: “You check your ego at the door. That’s a lot of why the Norwegians got so good. Because of a great training environment. They check their egos at the door. Some days it’s not happening and you have got to be able to make that call.”

While Long is in Singapore, Sanders will be defending his IRONMAN 70.3 Oceanside crown against Blummenfelt and Iden in Southern California.