WATCH: Young triathlon Kiwis now have first-hand experience of French GP’s robust reputation

🥊 The Lindahls Pro+ Triathlon Series – aka French Grand Prix racing for old school fans – has a reputation for robust, elbows out action from start gun to finishing tape. The jostling for position under the cover of water can be especially murky and is most definitely not for the faint of heart.

Sam Parry, an up-and-coming Kiwi swim, bike, runner who is quite literally coming back from a heart scare, can now corroborate that well-earned infamy.

The Palmerston North 22-year-old, racing for Team Vienna Condrieu Olympic in his Lindahls Pro+ Triathlon Series debut, has finished 48^th in Sunday’s 2025 season opener in Albi, Languedoc.

New Zealand teammate Brea Roderick, representing Stade Poitevin Triathlon, was 24^th in an equally eye-opening women’s race.

Parry spent nearly a year out of the sport after a battle with long Covid manifested heart flutters that had one cardiologist so concerned, the specialist urged the recently qualified carpenter to stop physical activity immediately for fear he might go into cardiac arrest.  

The world No. 290 was eventually cleared to make his comeback at February’s World Cup Napier where he finished 21^st and has since rattled up 20^th, 11^th, 45^th and 60^th placings at Continental events in Mooloolaba (Oceania Sprint), the Gold Coast (Oceania Super Sprint) and in Poland (European Cups in Olsztyn and Kielce) respectively.

Sunday was an exercise in experience gathering ahead of the next races of Parry’s northern hemisphere campaign– European Cup Holten on June 21 and World Cup Tiszaujvaros early next month. And Albi delivered, in spades, as Parry clearly articulates in this video.

For the record, Parry came out of the water 66^th of the 86 starters in 10:07 – just shy of a minute down. He produced a bike split of 26:27 and ran home in 14:45 to finish in 54:53, 2min 28sec down on winner Oliver Conway, the U23 Brit who captured Europe Cup Olsztyn. Parry’s team was 9^th.

World No.52 Roderick, meanwhile, was 24^th (of 72 starters) in 1:00:42. That left her 2min 15sec down on recent WTCS Yokohama winner and world No.4 Jeanne Lehair.

The 25-year-old Cantabrian was 32^nd out of the water, produced the 4^th fastest bike split of 28:49 and a run split of 17:27 to be the leading performer for Stade Poitevin Triathlon who also finished 9^th in the teams classification.

Roderick, who now heads to Andorra with teammate Eva Goodisson for a block of altitude training, is next scheduled to race at World Cup Saidia in Morocco on June 29.