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With many Canadians celebrating the long weekend, Fitspeek looks back at what is probably the busiest month of triathlon in the country and delivers our July top 5 list.

1 Paula Findlay

If you’re old enough to remember the line, “I love it when a plan comes together,” you also probably remember a triathlon world without Paula Findlay. But Canada’s triathlon landscape has become a whole lot more interesting because of her.

Earlier this month, Findlay’s plan came together. Her first-ever IRONMAN. Her first-ever IRONMAN victory at Lake Placid.

Some may say her debut at the distance was a long time coming. But with all of her success at the 70.3 and T100 distances, why mess with a winning formula? Well, Paula’s patience in finally going all in at the IRONMAN distance paid off.

Her winning formula was vintage Findlay: stay near the front in the swim, crush the bike, then seal the deal on the run.

The last Canadians to stand atop the podium at the World Championships were Lori Bowden and Peter Reid in 2003.

Will Canada’s nearly quarter-century drought in Kona finally come to an end this fall?

2 Tyler Mislawchuk.

Tyler Mislawchuk is no stranger to this list. Last month’s No. 1 simply traded places with Paula Findlay—not because he had an off month, but because Findlay’s IRONMAN Lake Placid victory was impossible to ignore.

Mislawchuk spent July travelling like a migrating Canada goose. Hamburg. Toronto. Edmonton. If there were frequent flyer points for chasing podiums, he’d have earned a free trip by now.

The travel never slowed him down. He opened the month with a pair of respectable mid-pack finishes in Hamburg before returning to Canada to really rip things up. He landed in Edmonton and immediately got to work, collecting a pair of silver medals—one in the mixed team relay and the other after a gutsy, jaw-dropping sprint to the finish line in the individual race.

From there, it was off to Toronto for Supertri, where he capped off the month in style with a victory.

It’s another outstanding month for one of Canada’s most consistent triathletes, and more than enough to earn the No. 2 spot on this month’s Fitspeek Top 5.

3 Stefan Daniel

Although Stefan is making his debut on this list, he’s been on several lists of Canada’s Greatest Triathletes for over a decade.

World champion. Paralympic medallist. World Series winner. By now, excellence is simply expected.

July was another reminder of just how remarkably consistent Daniel has become. Racing against the world’s best, he added another international podium to an already overflowing résumé, proving once again that he’s one of Canada’s surest bets whenever he toes the start line.

One of the things that makes Daniel so impressive is that there are no shortcuts. Every race begins with a swim, followed by a bike and a run just like everyone else. The only difference is that he does it all while overcoming a congenital limb difference that has never defined him—only inspired others.

Maybe that’s why Daniel doesn’t always get the headlines he deserves. Winning has become almost routine.

For everyone else, that’s called greatness. For Stefan Daniel, it’s just another month—and it’s good enough for No. 3 on the Fitspeek Top 5.

4 Blake Harris

Before we tell you about this rising star from Manitoba, let’s run through a few names that could have claimed this spot but didn’t: Jackson Laundry, Cody Beals, Luke Tasker and Mitchell Kirby. All four have put together solid seasons, but none had the month Blake Harris did.

The former short-course elite has made the jump to the 70.3 and T100 distances, and he isn’t easing into it—he’s racing. A lot. Five 70.3 starts already this season.

In late June, Harris finished second in a stacked field at Mont-Tremblant. A few weeks later, he backed it up with a third-place finish at IRONMAN 70.3 Boise.

On a day when American Sam Long reminded everyone why he’s considered one of the strongest cyclists in the sport with a blistering 1:52 bike split, Harris hung tough, riding just under two hours before uncorking a blazing 1:10 half marathon. That’s about as fast as Lionel Sanders was running in his prime.

The scary part? Blake Harris is only 22 years old.

Give him a few more seasons of smart racing and steady development, and he just might become the most famous athlete ever to come out of Manitoba.

5 Sidney Clement

When we had Team Canada member Sophia Howell from Airdrie on the Fitspeek podcast, she was recovering from an injury and hoping to be back in time for the WTCS race in Edmonton. Unfortunately, she wasn’t quite ready.

Enter 21‑year‑old Sidney Clement.

She didn’t just fill a spot on Team Canada—she helped the squad capture a silver medal in the mixed team relay. The opportunity, and the result, lands Clement on the Fitspeek Top 5 for the first time.

The Victoria‑based triathlete has been steadily climbing the ranks, racing a busy schedule of Continental Cups and World Cups while gaining the experience needed to compete with the world’s best. Earlier this season, she narrowly missed the podium with a fourth‑place finish at the Americas Triathlon Championships, another sign that even bigger results are just around the corner.

Just as impressive as the silver medal was the confidence Triathlon Canada showed in handing Clement a spot on the team—and the way she rewarded that faith with a podium performance.

At just 21 years old, Sidney Clement may not be a household name yet. But if July was any indication, she won’t stay off the radar for long.

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As we put the wraps on 2025, it’s time to take a look at the biggest stories of Canadian Triathlon for the year. It was a year of movement and a hint at who and what’s to come in Canada’s triathlon future.

Desirae Ridenour is Golden Again

In an era when long-course triathlon often steals the headlines, it was a short-course specialist who delivered one of Canada’s standout international seasons. Desirae Ridenour opened her year with a breakthrough victory at the World Triathlon Cup in Napier, New Zealand, becoming the first Canadian woman in 12 years to win a World Cup race. “It’s been a long road to get here, but to finally stand on top of a World Cup podium is an incredible feeling. I just focused on staying patient and running my race,” Ridenour said after the win.

She carried that momentum back to Canada, claiming back-to-back gold medals at the Americas Triathlon Cups in Montreal and Kelowna. Reflecting on the double victory, Ridenour noted, “Back-to-back golds are a testament to consistency and focus. I wanted to finish the season strong and keep building momentum.”

Ridenour capped the year with a career-best eighth-place finish at WTCS Weihai, underscoring her progress at the highest level of the sport. If she eventually turns her attention to longer formats such as the T100 or 70.3 racing, Canada may one day see a speedy successor to Paula Findlay when she decides to step away from competition.

Penticton Moves to Ottawa

In 2025, the Ironman circus packed up and left Penticton once again, this time heading east to Ottawa and a larger pool of participants. Ironman’s return to Penticton after its stint in Whistler from 2013 to 2019 never really stood a chance. The relaunch was delayed by the pandemic in 2020 and 2021 and disrupted by forest fires in 2023.

Even in its final year, Mother Nature dealt Penticton and the athletes a harsh blow, as a rare water inversion in Okanagan Lake dropped temperatures enough to force the cancellation of the swim. If declining participation numbers — fewer than 1,000 finishers — didn’t seal the event’s fate, the rising cost of traffic control, estimated at roughly a quarter of a million dollars, likely did.

Ottawa’s inaugural Ironman, by comparison, drew just under 2,000 finishers. With straightforward logistics and a notably flatter bike course — featuring roughly six times less climbing than Penticton — its outlook appears far more secure. Back in the Okanagan, however, the loss still stings: decades of history, community energy, and tourism dollars are gone. The move underscores a hard truth in modern triathlon — even the most storied races must ultimately follow the money.

PTO T-100 debuts in Vancouver.

Ottawa wasn’t the only Canadian city handed a shiny new triathlon in 2025. On the West Coast, Vancouver rolled out the inaugural T100. Unlike some “new” races, this one arrived fully formed. The event featured two age-group distances alongside the headline T100 race for elites.

The women’s start list justified the hype, with Paula Findlay, Taylor Spivey, Lucy Charles-Barclay, and Julie Derron lining up in Vancouver. The men’s field was just as stacked, showcasing the sharp end of middle-distance racing with Jackson Laundry, Sam Long, Jason West, and Jelle Geens. For a first-year event, age-group participation was more than respectable — roughly 600 athletes in each distance.

Overall, the first-year Vancouver T-100 delivered. The event received good reviews from the local tri-community. It is returning on the 2026 calendar but unfortunately will only feature a women-only pro race. With the long-established Victoria 70.3 in May and now the T-100 in August, Western Canadian triathletes will have quite the challenge in choosing an A race for next year.

Luke Tasker World Champion

In a year when Canada’s professionals failed to reach the podium at the 2025 Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Spain, it was an amateur who carried the Maple Leaf. Vancouver’s Luke Tasker won his age group at the championships, posting a time of 4:08:18 that placed him second overall among amateurs. Tasker also claimed the overall amateur title at his home race, the T-100 in Vancouver. Originally from the UK, the former rower and pentathlete also tested himself at the Ironman distance, recording an 8:35 debut.

In 2026, Tasker will face a different challenge as he transitions to the professional ranks; while wins may be harder to come by, his presence on the Canadian triathlon scene is likely to be felt more widely.

Sophia Howell Puts Airdrie Back on the Canadian Triathlon Map

About a decade ago, the bedroom community of Airdrie, just north of Calgary, produced one of Canada’s most versatile triathletes in Jordan Bryden. An Olympic Team hopeful in his early career, Bryden eventually shifted his focus to long-course racing, where he built a reputation by excelling in some of the sport’s most demanding and unconventional events.

Today, Airdrie is producing another Olympic hopeful in Sophia Howell, and 2025 marked a meaningful step forward in her development at the elite level. Still early in her international career, Howell showed growing consistency throughout the season, highlighted by a second-place finish behind Desirae Ridenour at the women’s elite race in Kelowna in August. She saved her best performance for last, earning her first World Triathlon Cup podium with a third-place finish at the season-ending race in San Pedro de la Paz, Chile — a result that firmly established her as one of Canada’s emerging talents on the world stage. Her season starts in March and Sophia says she’s ready to graduate from the U-23 division and take on the world’s best.