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Paula Findlay 2.0

EIGHT YEARS AGO it was the low-point of the London Olympics for Canadian triathlon fans. Paula Findlay, the woman the Globe and Mail had put on its front cover a year out from the Games, proclaiming her as one of Canada’s top medal hopes, struggled to the finish line in last place. In tears after the race, Findlay apologized to “everybody, to Canada.” A year before, she’d been on fire on the World Triathlon Series (WTS) scene, winning five of her first six WTS events. She remains way ahead of any other Canadian when it comes to WTS success – Tyler Mislawchuk remains the only other Canadian to top a WTS podium thanks to his win at the Tokyo Test Event last year. A hip injury derailed her Olympic hopes, which was followed by a string of injuries that saw her miss the 2016 Games in Rio, too. If you talked to her in 2017, she was gunning after a spot on the starting line in Tokyo, but that dream seems to have been sidetracked of late. Along the way, Findlay managed to finish her biology degree at the University of Alberta and continued to train and race. Her success at middle-distance racing, though, made it harder to focus completely on another Olympic run. In just her third 70.3 race she won the North American Pro Championship in St. George, Utah, putting her in some elite company with the sport’s best middle-distance athletes. Like her impressive run of WTS races in 2010 and 2011, Paula Findlay 2.0 ended the 2019 tri season on a tear with big wins at Ironman 70.3 Indian Wells – La Quinta and Challenge Daytona. In Daytona Findlay managed to outrun Lucy Charles for the title. The win turned out to be a blessing for Canadian triathlon fans – were it not for her year-end success,

Findlay might very well have quit the sport.

“It’s a good way to end the year,” Findlay said of the back-to-back wins. “It was very unexpected, but kind of gives me confidence heading into the off season that I should continue in triathlon.”

As was the case with her tough go in London eight years ago, injury had derailed her for parts of 2019. A 13th place finish at the Ironman 70.3 World Championship in Nice didn’t make sense considering her talent and form.

“Honestly, I wasn’t healthy,” Findlay said of the tough few months that had preceded her wins in December. “[I had a] stress fracture after worlds – I was sitting out for a couple of months watching Eric [Lagerstrom] and going to races with Eric. I was still training through it – I swam a lot, biked a lot and ran a little on the Ultra-G, but didn’t feel like I was in peak running fitness by any means. So, to come out and feel really good running in these races was a bit of a miracle.” It also kept her in the sport. “It’s been a rough journey for the whole family with all the injuries that I’ve had, but having races like this keeps me in for a little bit longer,” she said. “Going into the off season, knowing that I finished this way … gives me the confidence to take a big break, knowing that I finished on a high. There’s no panic to get back early next year.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has ensured that there hasn’t been a hasty return to racing this season, but Findlay has certainly had some opportunities to show both her fitness and talent over the last few months. She’s proven her cycling prowess with Strava Queen of the Mountain laurels for the climb up the famed Mt. Lemon climb near Tucson, Ariz., taking over four minutes off the previous best time.

While she waits for the race season to resume, Findlay is living in Oregon with Lagerstrom and taking care of puppy Flynn.

“My training intensity and volume is significantly reduced these days, since racing isn’t on the schedule for a while,” she said. “Our coach has brought us back into a ‘base/economy’ phase, with a bit of threshold running and big gear intervals on the bike. Overall we’ve lowered training hours (from 25 to 15 a week), and swimming is out of the plan right now.”

In 2012 Findlay arrived in London with the burden of high-performance expectations on her shoulders. Hopefully there’s none of that these days. She’s proven just how talented she is both as a short-course and a half-distance speedster. She’s also proven just how tough and persistent she can be, overcoming obstacle after obstacle to achieve those results.

Paula Findlay 2.0 appears to be in a pretty good headspace these days. We’ll just appreciate that, thanks to those wins last December, we’ll get to keep watching her race.—KM