Lionel Sanders Smashes Bike Record And Qualifies For Finals Of Arena Games Triathlon Montreal

Lionel Sanders qualified for the Finals of Arena Games Triathlon powered by Zwift Montreal with a stunning comeback performance and in the process smashed the record for the fastest ever bike leg.

The Canadian trailed badly out of the first swim in Heat 2, but slowly clawed his way back into contention during the bike and run legs in Stage 1.

However, it seemed as if he still had it all to do to make it to the Finals heading into Stage 2. His huge engine powered him through and he set a new bike record of 5:06, smashing the previous record held by Jeremy Briand by a full two seconds. Sanders’ first bike leg of 5:09 was the third fastest of all-time.

Sanders was in by far the fastest of the two men’s heats. The top three fastest qualifiers were all from that heat – Jeremy Briand, Aurelien Raphael and Dan Dixon. Sanders finished in the final automatic qualification spot but was fifth fastest across the two heats and only nine seconds back on the fastest time set in the Heats.

Heat 1 was a cruise for Chase McQueen and Henri Schoeman out the front with Chris Perham and Vitali Vorontsov also coming through automatically. The two fastest losers who also made it through to the Finals were Mathis Beaulieu from Heat 1 and Jack Stanton-Stick from Heat 2.

In a smaller women’s field the scene was set for a Finals showdown between Gina Sereno and Sophie Linn, who were both comfortable winners of their Heats. Local favourite Noemie Beaulieu came through with the fourth fastest time.