Leanda Cave

Separating Athletic Myths From Reality? Breaking Stereotypes About Endurance Sports - Leanda Cave

Leanda Cave joins today’s episode of the Endurance Cartel Podcast to talk about the reality of doing high-intensity endurance sports, and how running triathlons with her severe condition taught her a lot about handling the many aspects of human experience. Leanda is a former British triathlete who was born on March 9, 1978, in Louth, England.

She is the 2002 World Triathlon Champion, as well as the 2012 Ironman Triathlon and Ironman 70.3 World Champion, making her the first woman in history to win both championships in the same year. She represented Wales and the United Kingdom at the international level. Cave won the European Under-23 title in 2001. A year later, she made her international senior debut by winning silver in the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester.

She earned another silver medal at the European Championships before going on to win gold and the World Championship in Cancun, Mexico in November 2002. She was nominated for the Welsh Sports Personality of the Year Award in 2002. She was unfortunately injured in 2003 and was unable to defend her world title, although she did appear in the BBC program Superstars.