Tokyo 2020 Olympic mixed-relay bronze medalist Vincent Luis insists he has maybe “three more years” to achieve his bucket list dream of winning the IRONMAN World Championship title in Kona.
One of the stars of short-course racing over the last decade and more, Luis has enjoyed an extremely successful start to middle-distance racing. He has won three consecutive races. Clash Daytona and IRONMAN 70.3 Bahrain in 2022 before repeating his Bahrain success two years later.
And now the Frenchman, a two-time Super League Triathlon Championship Series victor in 2018 and 2019, has discussed his full-distance ambitions on the new Grid, Grind, Girona podcast (listen to the full episode here).
The 2024 Bahrain champions Vincent Luis and Georgia Taylor-Brown [Photo credit: IRONMAN 70.3 Bahrain]
Kona dream for Vincent Luis in 2026
The 35-year-old admitted that he has just a few years left in professional triathlon, speeding up the clock on his bid for glory in Hawaii.
“To be honest with you, I have three more years maximum in triathlon so I do want to have my shot at Kona. I do want to prepare for it they best way I can. I am 35, 36 in five months and I have never raced a full-distance triathlon.”
“This is not for 2025 obviously [the Men’s IRONMAN World Championship will take place in Nice this year], so I have a bit more freedom. I don’t need to qualify for the IRONMAN World Championship this season.”
It has already been confirmed that Luis will take part in the 2025 T100 Triathlon World Tour as a contracted athlete of the Professional Triathletes Organisation’s (PTO) flagship series.
With almost two years to plan for his assault on the Big Island, Luis has already highlighted one particular race where he’d love to kick-start his full-distance career.
“I am thinking about different races over the full distance. I have always been a massive fan of Challenge Roth. That was my dad’s first Ironman in 2025, so if that could be my first one 20 years after that would be amazing.
“I’ve done the bike course a few times, so I know it pretty well. I’ll go again and recce it in May – if I am racing it – but that is still a question mark. It’s not set in stone, there are talks I am not involved in.
“If that can happen, and the organisers can make it happen, that would be great.”
Nutrition challenges
Luis was confident that the Challenge Roth course would suit his style. He did, however, admit that his approach to nutrition over a potential eight-hour race is an unknown.
“It would be a fast race, I know it could be really good for me. I mean I’m not expecting anything, I’m going with a lot of humility – I just want to learn, want to see what my stomach can handle.
“I’ve never raced much more than three-and-a-half hours, my longest race would be 3:38. So I need to learn all that stuff (nutrition etc) and I think Roth would be a really good option.
“I won”t go if I am not ready of course because I don’t want to waste people’s time. However, Roth is exciting and fits in the calendar.”
