{"id":843104,"date":"2026-08-02T21:02:21","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T21:02:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/843104\/"},"modified":"2026-08-02T21:02:21","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T21:02:21","slug":"ottawa-ironman-23-year-old-kiyan-sunderji-places-first","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/843104\/","title":{"rendered":"Ottawa Ironman: 23-year-old Kiyan Sunderji places first"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Ironman Canada-Ottawa event kicked off today, sending thousands of people swimming, running, biking and cheering across the capital on a rainy Sunday morning.<\/p>\n

Approximately 3,000 athletes are partaking in the triathlon event, which includes a 3.8-kilometre swim, followed by a 180-kilometre bike ride and a 42.2-kilometre run. <\/p>\n

Kiyan Sunderji of Calgary, Alta. was the first athlete to cross the finish line, completing the race in 8 hours 26 minutes and 53 seconds. Today was Sunderji\u2019s tenth Ironman and his first-ever first place finish. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s amazing. It\u2019s so amazing,\u201d Sunderji said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been dreaming about this since I was a little kid. My dad raced in 2004. He started, and I was just one. I was in the stroller watching Ironman Canada at that time in Penticton, and it\u2019s been so amazing. And I\u2019m so excited that I got to show what I can do on the course.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Ironman Canada-Ottawa Kiyan Sunderji finishing first in Ironman Canada-Ottawa. Aug. 2, 2026. (Kimberley Johnson\/CTV News Ottawa) <\/p>\n

Sunderji completed the swim in 57:57, the bicycle portion in 4:27:37, and the marathon-length run in 2:56:55.<\/p>\n

At the halfway point, Sunderji picked up a bit of extra motivation: a bag of candies.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love to hold them, I don\u2019t eat them, but it\u2019s just because I really like candies, so I hold them with me and keeps me going. Makes me eat them at the all at the end, so I\u2019m excited to have these,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"\"Ironman Canada-Ottawa Kiyan Sunderji holding a bag of candy after finishing first in Ironman Canada-Ottawa. Aug. 2, 2026. (Kimberley Johnson\/CTV News Ottawa) <\/p>\n

Sunderji said he improved upon his previous best performance by nearly 40 minutes. At 23-years-old, the athlete says he\u2019s eager to see what he can accomplish next.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m one of the young guys, so I\u2019m excited to you know see where this sport takes me,\u201d Sunderji said.<\/p>\n

Sunderji was trailed by Luke Evans, who finished with a time of 8:38:20. Evans was the first to complete the Ironman Canada-Ottawa in 2025.<\/p>\n

Arianne Lalancette was the first female athlete to complete the race, earning a time of 9:09:33.<\/p>\n

\"\"Ironman Canada-Ottawa Athletes emerge from the water at Britannia Park during Ironman Canada-Ottawa. Aug. 2, 2026. (Kimberley Johnson\/CTV News Ottawa) \"\"Ironman Canada-Ottawa Riley Dotson (second-to-right) and Sean Dotson (right) watch from the sideline of the Ironman Canada-Ottawa event at Britannia Park. Aug. 2, 2026. (Kimberley Johnson\/CTV News Ottawa) \"\"Ironman Canada-Ottawa An athlete runs on the beach at Britannia Park after completing the swimming portion of Ironman Canada-Ottawa. Aug. 2, 2026. (Kimberley Johnson\/CTV News Ottawa) \"\"Ironman Canada-Ottawa Athletes transition to the cycling portion of the Ironman Canada-Ottawa event at Britannia Park. Aug. 2, 2026. (Kimberley Johnson\/CTV News Ottawa) \"\"Ironman Canada-Ottawa Athletes cycling in the Ironman Canada-Ottawa event. Aug. 2, 2026. (Kimberley Johnson\/CTV News Ottawa) \"\"Ironman Canada-Outtawa Supports cheer on athletes as they bike through the rain for Ironman Canada-Ottawa. Aug. 2, 2026. (Kimberley Johnson\/CTV News Ottawa) \"\"Ironman Canada-Ottawa Two athletes competing in Ironman Canada-Ottawa cycle past the National Gallery of Canada. Aug. 2, 2026. (Kimberley Johnson\/CTV News Ottawa) \"\"Ironman Canada-Outtawa Kristen Kostuch (centre) watches from the sidelines as athletes cycle in the Ironman Canada-Ottawa event. Aug. 2, 2026. (Kimberley Johnson\/CTV News Ottawa) \"\"Ironman Canada-Ottawa An Ironman Canada-Ottawa athlete runs through the capital. Aug. 2, 2026. (Kimberley Johnson\/CTV News Ottawa) \"\"Ironman Canada-Ottawa An Ironman Canada-Ottawa participant runs through on Mackenzie Avenue in downtown Ottawa. Aug. 2, 2026. (Kimberley Johnson\/CTV News Ottawa) \"\"Ironman Canada-Ottawa Kiyan Sunderji finishing first in Ironman Canada-Ottawa. Aug. 2, 2026. (Kimberley Johnson\/CTV News Ottawa) \"\"Ironman Canada-Ottawa Kiyan Sunderji standing in front of the finish line at Ironman Canada-Ottawa. Aug. 2, 2026. (Kimberley Johnson\/CTV News Ottawa) \"\"Ironman Canada-Ottawa Kiyan Sunderji holding a bag of candy after finishing first in Ironman Canada-Ottawa. Aug. 2, 2026. (Kimberley Johnson\/CTV News Ottawa) ‘You got to bring the spirit\u2019<\/p>\n

The athletes aren\u2019t the only ones trekking across the city on race day, as the event brought out thousands of eager supporters seeking to cheer on family and friends. <\/p>\n

Sean Dotson travelled all the way from Florida to support his wife, Sarah Powers, who is competing in her third Ironman. <\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s been doing triathlons for probably 15 years now,\u201d he said. \u201cShe kind of retired from it a while ago but she said she wanted to do one more, so she\u2019s got to do one more \u2014 get it over and get it out of her system.\u201d<\/p>\n

The race kicked off with the swimming portion at Britannia Park at 6 a.m. <\/p>\n

Sean and his daughter Riley were among a group of 12 people who travelled to Ottawa to offer their support, and they were on the sidelines early Sunday morning as Powers made her way out of the water and onto her bicycle.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was really exciting. I\u2019ve been to a few of her and my dad\u2019s half marathons, but this is the first one we\u2019ve really traveled super far for,\u201d Riley said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe energy of the crowd\u2019s always really great.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Ironman Canada-Ottawa Riley Dotson (second-to-right) and Sean Dotson (right) watch from the sideline of the Ironman Canada-Ottawa event at Britannia Park. Aug. 2, 2026. (Kimberley Johnson\/CTV News Ottawa) <\/p>\n

For others, the trip to the sidelines was much shorter. Christopher Lindsay, who lives near Britannia, braved the rain on Sunday morning to cheer on the racers.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy goal here is just to thank everyone for coming out. It\u2019s fantastic having 3,000 of these athletes out here at a local course here in Ottawa,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, I\u2019m lucky that I live right on the course. It\u2019s down at my beach. It\u2019s a great use of the facility, and it\u2019s just so wonderful being motivated by all these athletes.\u201d<\/p>\n

The event spans the east, west and south ends of Ottawa, sending athletes and spectators alike across the city.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is crazy as a spectator running from the swim to the bike, then to the run after. It\u2019s a whole-day ordeal,\u201d spectator Kristen Kostuch said. <\/p>\n

Despite waking up in the early hours of the day, Kostuch said she\u2019s bringing the energy to cheer on her brother, Matt Kostuch. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe woke up at 4 a.m. We are here. We drove all the way. We\u2019re super excited,\u201d Kostuch said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou got to bring the positive energy. You got to bring the spirit. You got to bring those cowbells and cheer on everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

Volunteer Barb Unrau had an even earlier start but says she\u2019s happy to be lending a hand for the once-per-year event. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m enjoying myself so much,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t mind getting up at one o\u2019clock in the morning because it\u2019s only once a year, and just supporting all the participants that are in the race, and it\u2019s great. I love it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Ironman Canada-Ottawa The finish line for the Ironman Canada-Ottawa event is in Major’s Hill Park. (Peter Szperling\/CTV News Ottawa) <\/p>\n

Last year, Evans was the first to cross the finish line with a time of 8 hours and 40 minutes. Aliisa Heiskanen was the first female to cross the finish line, completing the course in 9 hours and 32 minutes. <\/p>\n

Athletes will finish the race with a view of Parliament Hill at Major\u2019s Hill Park. There, Sean and Riley Dotson will be waiting to watch Powers take her final step. <\/p>\n

The key to crossing the finish line? A whole lot of tenacity. <\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s amazing. She\u2019s tenacious. Just goes out and doesn\u2019t quit, you know. And that\u2019s the important thing. As long as you don\u2019t quit, that\u2019s the most important thing. Just keep trying,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

With files from CTV\u2019s Kimberley Johnson<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Ironman Canada-Ottawa event kicked off today, sending thousands of people swimming, running, biking and cheering across the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":843105,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,44],"class_list":["post-843104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=843104"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843104\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/843105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=843104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=843104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=843104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}