Cody Beals retires after 13 years, saying he chased a storybook ending he never caught
The Canadian won his first three Ironman races in 2018 and 2019. Illness in 2023 and 2024 changed his career, and he says he now needs to recover from burnout.
Canada’s Cody Beals has retired from professional triathlon after 13 years, ending a career that began at full distance with three straight Ironman wins and closed after two years of illness and what he called burnout.
“My friends, it’s time to close this chapter,” he wrote in a statement on social media, reported by TRI247 on 15 October. “My unlikely 13 year career as a pro triathlete showed me the world and even more about myself. What a privilege it’s been to have you along for the ride.”
Beals leaves with 12 professional wins and more than 30 podium finishes, according to TRI247 and Slowtwitch. TRI247 reported that he spent ten consecutive years in the world’s top 100.
Three Ironman starts, three wins
His first Ironman was at Mont-Tremblant in Quebec in 2018. He won it, beating Lionel Sanders, Slowtwitch noted. A few weeks later he won Ironman Chattanooga, and in 2019 he returned to Mont-Tremblant and defended his title.
“For a moment around 2018–19, when I won my first 3 IRONMANs in a row, I glimpsed the peak of the sport just up ahead,” he wrote.
His last professional win came at Ironman Lake Placid in July 2022, TRI247 reported.
Illness and the years after
Beals was ill for much of 2023 and 2024. In September 2025 he told followers that “triathlon keeps breaking my heart”, describing a gut infection that needed several rounds of treatment, followed by fatigue and gastrointestinal sensitivity, TRI247 reported at the time.
There were still good days. At Ironman Chattanooga in 2024 he finished second, 20 seconds behind the American Sam Long. But he did not win again.
“I wasn’t the same athlete after spending most of 2023–24 sick and pushing myself to the brink,” he wrote. “In hindsight, maybe I should have walked away then. But I was stubborn. I chased a storybook ending that I never quite caught despite striving harder than ever.”
His final season was short. According to the Professional Triathletes Organisation’s results database, he did not finish Ironman 70.3 Mont-Tremblant on 21 June, was 28th at Ironman Lake Placid on 19 July and fifth at Ironman Maryland on 19 September, his last listed race.
What the sport helped him face
Beals has described himself as one of the few openly gay professional triathletes, and much of his statement was about life away from racing.
“Off the course, triathlon helped me reinvent myself, purge angst, and gain confidence in who I am and who I want to be,” he wrote. “It began as a way to outrun challenges like compulsiveness, self-isolation, disordered eating, perfectionism and coming out. But the sport eventually helped me face them.”
He added: “There’s no hiding from yourself in the depths of a training block and in the lonely back half of an IRONMAN.”
He said he was leaving “on my own terms with few regrets, good health and the sponsor roster of my dreams”.
A first real break
Beals said rest comes first. “What’s next? My first real break – time to slow down and recover deeply from burnout,” he wrote. “I want to say yes to other people and things for a change – family, friends, creative projects, community involvement.”
He thanked his partner James, his parents, his manager Steph Corker, his sponsors and coaches, and his fellow Canadian professional Jackson Laundry. Several rivals replied publicly, among them Matt Hanson, Skye Moench and Ben Kanute, TRI247 reported.
