If you’re a Norwegian pro triathlete, next year will feel like you are wearing a bull’s eye on the back of your race jersey. Anyone with an Æ, Ø, or Å in their name is going to attract more heat than usual at any long-course start line.
Meanwhile, Canadian pros can mostly slip under the radar.
Two decades ago, it was the Maple Leaf that was looking more like a bull’s eye. Canadian women like Lisa Bentley, Samantha McGlone, Lori Bowden, Heather Fuhr, and Melanie McQuaid weren’t just cracking the top five — they were winning World Championships, sometimes more than once.
On the men’s side, Canada had Peter Reid, who almost single‑handedly held off the German invasion of the Kona lava fields. But that was a different era, in a different triathlon world.
To put it in perspective: when Reid last won Kona, the next big thing in Canadian long‑course racing was still in junior high in Harrow, Ontario — firing spitballs in math class and running cross‑country meets.
Fast-forward to 2025 and, sure, Canada still has enough pros to clog the lineup at a Tim Hortons, but the big wins were about as rare as a fresh honey cruller after 10 a.m.
The season didn’t exactly set off fireworks, yet it’s still worth shining a light on the best of the bunch to see how they held up on the world stage.
To give each pro a letter grade, we look beyond their CRA T2125 tax forms. We also consider their social media and how they engage with the triathlon community.
Tamara Jewitt. A-
Ahead By a Century
In her sixth year as a long-course pro, Jewett put together a standout 2025. She took risks, gained experience, and turned plenty of heads with her run speed. She figured out the Ironman distance fast — really fast — going 8:48 for 6th in her debut in Texas. Three months later, she followed it up with a breakout 2nd place at Lake Placid, running a 2:40:05 marathon on a rainy July day — faster than Dave Scott ever ran in Kona and just one second off Mark Allen’s time during the 1989 Ironwar.
Her Kona debut was more subdued, finishing 15th in 9:07, but the experience will serve her well heading into 2026.
At the half-Ironman distance, Jewett proved she’s front-page material: 4th at the ultra-stacked Oceanside 70.3, then a world-class 1:17:34 run to win 70.3 Santa Cruz. She wrapped up her season with 8th at the World Championship in Marbella, finished 19th in the Ironman Pro Series, and ended the year ranked 22nd on the PTO list.
With proven results at 70.3 and a remarkable rookie year at Ironman (by any non-Norwegian standard), 2026 may be the year her social media presence catches up. She’s steady but modest on Instagram (14k), X (3,500), and Facebook (2,000), and she recently launched her own YouTube channel. If she finds her own Talbot Cox, we might be looking at Canada’s newest entry into triathlon’s “Big Three” media empires.
Jackson Laundry B
Looking For The Summer
Jackson Laundry’s 2025 season was steady but unspectacular. With a PTO ranking of 65th and an Ironman Pro Series ranking of 54th, it didn’t match the highs of his past five years.
He opened with a few top‑10 finishes at 70.3 events and 13th at the Vancouver T100. Boise was the standout — a 2nd‑place finish highlighted by a blistering 1:55 bike split, a personal best that rivaled Magnus Ditlev’s power.
With a 6th in Santa Cruz and a DNF at Augusta, Laundry was looking for redemption when he lined up at the 70.3 World Championships in Marbella. A time just over four hours on a tough bike course suggested promise, but a lacklustre swim left him chasing all day. He finished 44th, a result that may fuel his drive to sharpen the swim and rebound in 2026. His 3rd place, mere seconds behind Sanders at Indian Wells in December hints that Laundry is on his way up.
Away from racing, Laundry’s year was far from quiet. He kept fans entertained on The Real Triathlon Show and grew his social media presence — 8,000 followers on Instagram, 2,000 on Facebook, and over 4,000 on YouTube. He’s also hinted at a “give back to the community” project for 2026, with details still under wraps.
Paula Findlay. B+
Silence is Golden
The Edmonton native now living in Tucson had a season the envy of any woman not named Lucy-Charles Barkley. With wins at every North American 70.3 event she entered, she was without a doubt the shining star of Canadian long course triathlon. In the spring, she talked about maybe doing her first full-distance Ironman but by summer the plan changed. She fully committed to winning the 70.3 World Championships. That didn’t work out.
In PTO events, 2 races of note were 8th place at the inaugural T-100 event in Vancouver and 2nd at the event in France. At the time of this writing she is 41st in the Ironman Pro Series Points race and is ranked 9th by the PTO.
On the social media side, she and husband Eric Lagerstrom kept That Triathlon Life (TTL) machine humming across Instagram and YouTube. The videos still serve up the classic TTL cocktail—smiles, puppies, and a steady IV drip of coffee—but when a race goes sideways (hello, DNF in Spain), she’s more inconspicuous than a wetsuit in Kona. What really props up Findlay’s spot on this list, though, is her work with the TTL development squad, where she’s helping shape the next wave of pros.
Tyler Mislawchuk A-
Courage
2025 was the year Manitoba’s Tyler Mislawchuk made his splash on the long‑course scene — and unlike his infamous tumble on the carpet in Paris, this one didn’t need a clean‑up crew. In fact, he cleaned up in his 70.3 debut at Pucon, Chile, winning by 90 seconds over Jason West. He capped his season with a wild dog chase, a bike crash, a brutal run, and a gritty third place at 70.3 Langkawi.
Between those two long‑course podiums, Mislawchuk stuck to his short‑course roots. He returned to the podium for the first time in three years, taking silver at the WTS stop in Saida, Morocco, another second at SuperTri Chicago, and ninth at the WTS Grand Finale in Australia. His PTO year‑end ranking of 34th reflects that focus — still more short‑course than long.
On social media, Mislawchuk isn’t the open book that “King Lionel” is, but he does engage with the triathlon community. He’s just shy of 20,000 followers on Instagram, 6,000 on X, and 3,000 on Facebook. While he doesn’t run his own YouTube channel, he’s happy to appear on others — most notably his summer chat with Ironman Joe Skipper on the Junkyard Dogs show.
And with Mislawchuk spotted alongside Skipper checking out Ironman Arizona, signs point to a budding bromance with long‑course’s agent provocateur. It smells like Tyler might just be catching a case of Iron Fever heading into 2026.
Lionel Sanders. B+
The Lion Sleeps Tonight
2025 must have been a tough year to be Lionel Sanders. Not one to shy away from racing against the sport’s fastest, he was sidelined for both the 70.3 and Ironman World Championships due to injury.
It was heartbreaking to watch his YouTube videos, training alone on the lava fields in September while Laidlaw, Long, and those pesky Vikings were living it up in the French Riveria.
And although neither world championship course would have suited his strengths, and his chances of cracking the top 10, slim, Sanders mere presence at any race is good for the sport.
When he did race he was almost unbeatable, taking gold at Oceanside and St. George, and silver at Indian Wells.
Another area Sanders was unbeatable in 2025 was social media, specifically You Tube. With just under a quarter of a million subscribers, his reach is triple That Triathlon Life. Even without racing world championships his brand remained relevant. Sanders sits at 31 on the PTO list and 12th in the Ironman Pro Series points.
Perspective is key when measuring the success of a pro triathlete. Had Sanders bagged the IRONMAN Pro Series Crown he’d be staring at a payday in the ballpark of $200K–$250K. But thanks to his YouTube empire — with hundreds of thousands of subscribers and millions of views — it’s entirely possible he made just as much, if not more, by filming sweat, watts, and witty one‑liners. In today’s triathlon world, the finish line might pay less than the upload button.
