Tulsa Woman Wins First in Her Age Group At Ironman World Championship

A Tulsa woman placed first place in her age group at the Ironman worldwide stage.

She completed the 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike ride and full marathon in 9 hours, 57 minutes. News On 6’s Eden Jones has her story. 

When Jessica Jones Lasley looks at these pictures and videos she says she remembers feeling pure joy because that was just seconds before she became an Ironman world champion

Jones Lasley grew up running and says she had a background in swimming, so adding cycling to the mix seemed doable.

“I kind of had it in the back of my mind that I would just add cycling in and be a triathlete, so I probably started triathloning in 2000,” she said.

She moved to Ironman distance about a decade ago and raced professionally. But after having her youngest child and retiring from pro racing, she stopped.

But when Ironman came to Tulsa in May, things changed.

“I had no intention of ever racing Ironman again, but since it was in Tulsa, I felt like it was this serendipitous sign," she said.

Jones Lasley beat every other woman and won the overall title, automatically qualifying for what would be her 12th Ironman - the world championships in Kai’lua Kona, Hawaii.

“After I qualified at Tulsa, I'm like ‘well, I have to do Kona’,” she said. 

On top of the pressure of the world stage, she says she was dealing with a bit of a sickness and also was pretty stressed out after her daughter stepped on a sea urchin.

“I had a solid race, but I didn’t have that same feeling I had in Tulsa, where I was firing on all cylinders,” said Jones Lasley.

But she says crossing that finish line first made it all worth it.

“How often do we actually accomplish exactly what it is that we set out to do? That doesn’t really happen that often, so it was elation, of course, I’m in a lot of physical pain, so there’s like ‘oh my God, thank goodness I’m done’,” she said. 

Now she’s back home recovering and spending time with her family…as a world champion.