ELITE PROFILE / PRO KIT

Jackson Laundry

When I wrote about Jackson Laundry in the editorial of our January issue this year, I really didn’t envision that I’d be writing about him again later in the year as the Canadian Professional Triathlon Champion. It’s not that I had any doubt of his talent. It was the extent of the injury that he’d endured at the Ironman 70.3 World Championship in Nice in September 2019. He broke his clavicle and scapula in 12 places. There was surgery in three different places in his shoulder to re-align the bones. He couldn’t swim properly until January, when the surgeons removed the plate in his shoulder that had held things together while the bones healed. About four months after my interview with him for that editorial, when I got to see the huge scar on his back from the surgeries, the 27-year-old took second at Ironman 70.3 Campeche in Mexico. After the accident, Laundry said he was determined “to get back to the level he was over the 70.3 distance.” His long-time coach, James Loaring, was confident that Laundry would be back, too, citing the 2019 Ironman 70.3 Mont-Tremblant

champion’s “work ethic and training consistency” as keys to his success.

That runner-up finish in Campeche seemed to indicate he was well on his way to achieving that goal. In fact, as far as Laundry was concerned, it was time to move on.

“After finishing second at Ironman 70.3 Campeche, I’ve shifted focus from my shoulder injury,” he said. “I don’t use it as an excuse any more. I am happy to be back racing and being able to do what I do. I feel like my shoulder isn’t a factor any more.”

It should come as no surprise that an athlete who managed to overcome such a serious injury would find a way to stay positive and motivated through the challenges of the pandemic. In addition to all the training he and training partner Taylor Reid were doing this summer, they were key players in putting the Canadian Professional Triathlon Championship together, which offered a $20,000 prize purse courtesy of the Professional Triathletes Organisation. Laundry’s masterful performance at the event saw him ride through the 10-man field after finishing ninth in the swim, then hold off his competition to nail the win.

As if coordinating a pro event while also racing in it wasn’t enough, during the week after the race, Laundry proposed to his girlfriend, Montana Fisher-Shotton. Then it was off to Ironman 70.3 Cozumel. After a decent swim, Laundry found himself riding with Ironman record-holder Matt Hanson. The two managed to catch up to the group of about 10 who were chasing leader Sam Long, eventually dropping them to hit T2 near the lead.

“I was a bit worried that we pushed a bit too hard on the bike,” Laundry said after the race. “I started the run up there in third or fourth, but Hanson and [Tyler] Butterfield pulled away from me.”

“In the end I was happy to grind it out for sixth on what I would consider to be an off day,” he said. “I learned a lesson – to trust my instincts on the bike.”

One would imagine his results over the past couple of years will make Laundry a shoe-in for a wildcard spot at Challenge Daytona in December, where he’ll have the chance to go after some of the US$1 million prize purse. That would certainly bring to an end a very eventful and, despite the COVID craziness, successful 2020.

That’s what happens when you stay positive through adversity.

“It should come as no surprise that an athlete who managed to overcome such a serious injury would find a way to stay positive and motivated through the challenges of the pandemic.”