Synowiec hopes Ironman win clinches his pro card

SANDUSKY — Tim Synowiec could always run, but an injury helped turn him into a triathlete. Synowiec was slowed by a stress fracture during his sophomore year at Oklahoma State University and started swimming and biking. The cross-training helped him become an elite triathlete. Synowiec, 22, rolled to a smooth victory at the Ironman 70.3 Ohio, finishing the modified course in 3 hours, 23 minutes, 11 seconds. The Salisbury, Maryland, native was bummed when the swimming leg of the race was canceled Sunday morning. "I was disappointed that the swim got canceled," he said. "Usually I get a time over the uber-bikers on the swim. That's how it goes, but we're lucky to have the race. "I biked super hard to try to limit the damage by the uber-cyclists and then ran as hard as I could. I was feeling my legs the last four miles from racing last week, but I tried to hold it together as best I could." Synowiec, who stands 5-foot-7 and weighs 140 pounds, completed the 56-mile bike course in 2:10.01 and had the fastest overall time on the 13.1-mile run (1:11.27). "Bike was hard," he said. "The wind on the bike was a little bit of a problem for me. I was blowing around on the bike. The 70-kilo boys don't have trouble in the wind, but I'm kinda blowing around out there." Sunday's win capped an incredible stretch for Synowiec. He won the Ironman 70.3 race in Geneva, N.Y., last week and won a 70.3 last month in Maryland. "This was my third one that I'm hoping qualifies me for my pro card," he said. "You don't know if you get it until the race scores come out, and you have to hit a certain bench mark. It's a confusing process. If I do get it, hopefully I race in October." Synowiec holds the national high school record in the marathon. He ran his hometown Salisbury Marathon in 2:22 in 2018. "I was always a runner, then I got a huge injury my sophomore year in college," he said. "It went untreated for a year, so I was just swimming for a full year and biking for a half year. I figured I had to switch sports at that point. "I got into swimming and progressed really well and started cycling and here I am." Synowiec drove to Sandusky after his win in New York, and like everyone else in the field watched as smoke from Canadian wildfires rolled into the area. "I wanted to go out and look at the town a bunch, but the air quality was horrible," he said. "I thought it was fine today. A couple days ago it was really bad. Luckily the storm blew most of it out." Synowiec was looking forward to starting the race on the Carlee Emily ferry boat, but his trip to Sandusky worked out just fine. "I wanted to jump off the ferry; that would've been awesome," he said. "The town is super nice and there's amazing crowd energy, especially coming down the finish. Awesome bike course, flat, and good run course, too." After three triathlons in five weeks, it's time for a break. "Now it's time for an offseason for sure because I'm pretty cooked."