Matthew Marquardt raises the Ironman Lake Placid banner after crossing the finish line on the Olympic Speedskating Oval on Sunday. (Enterprise photo — Parker O’Brien)

LAKE PLACID — Matthew Marquardt nearly won Ironman Lake Placid a year ago. However, the Cincinnati, Ohio, resident, who led the way for most of the 2024 race, was caught on the run by Trevor Foley with just a few miles left.

When Foley once again took the lead on the run this Sunday, Marquardt knew that he had to be patient.

“But I also knew what I could do, and you just have to wait and when it was clear that he was starting to fade, I made the move and made sure that I got past and didn’t look back,” he said.

Marquardt stormed back, taking the overall win in a time of 7 hours, 50 minutes, 8 seconds. His performance broke Foley’s course record from a year ago by nearly 5 minutes, but it wasn’t even the best he thought he could do.

“My goal coming in was to break 7:50, and I almost did that,” Marquardt said. “But still super happy to go 7:50 and the bike and the run that I put together, I’m really, really happy with and I think bodes well for the rest of the season.”

Foley finished in third place overall, crossing the finishing line in 7:57:13, while Kristian Hogenhaug of Denmark was second in 7:56:16.

“It was a great day and really phenomenal racing by Trevor and Kristian,” Marquardt said. “I couldn’t be happier to share the podium with them.”

Marquardt said this course has always been special to him. In the past, he’s excelled here. Along with his second-place finish last year, he stunned Ironman Lake Placid officials in 2022 when he placed fourth overall as just an age-group competitor. He beat out 11 different pro athletes.

“I love Lake Placid, I love coming to Upstate New York and I’ve had great success here in the past,” he said. “To break the course record here on this day, I think, just means the world, because this is my first domestic win. It’s my second win ever and it’s just incredible.”

While the Lake Placid Ironman course is known as one of the more challenging courses due to its hills, Sunday’s weather — which featured an intermittent downpour at times — didn’t make it any easier. Marquardt said it made it a bit scary at times, but he actually likes it when the weather presents more of a challenge.

“Because then that just brings out the strongest athlete and it just adds a little bit more of a mental challenge,” he said. “I was all for the kind of crazy weather and thankfully, at least all of the pros that I was racing with made it home safely. So I guess it turned out all right.”

However, the weather wasn’t the only challenge Marquardt dealt with on Sunday. After coming away with the sixth fastest swim time, he started experiencing cramps on his way to the bike transition area.

“It was a really, really tough day. It was incredible, incredible racing and it hurt a lot, but I’m super, super proud of how the day went off. I learned a lot about myself and definitely think that I found a new level, which is super exciting. The only downside is that I still had some cramps coming out of the swim. But, we’re still making progress and it’s just lasting shorter each time.”

Even with those cramps, Marquardt turned in the second-fastest bike time, helping him take the lead in the run transition area.

“To put together the bike and the run that I did is just kind of mind-boggling because the bike was all gas the whole time and then you still almost run sub 2:40 on this course is pretty crazy,” he said. “So I’m super proud all the way around and I’m just really, really happy and it was a great day of racing with the guys.”

Marquardt’s run time was the second-fastest time overall, and good enough to seal the victory for good this time. He said that a big reason for Sunday’s success was that his run fitness was much better than it was last year because he was coming off an injury then.

“I’m still progressing in this sport and so everything just keeps getting better,” Marquardt said. “The competition was really high last year, and then it was even higher this year. I think all of those things just really helped make it a really fast day and break some records that I think people weren’t necessarily sure could be broken.”