Simon Lessing

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Simon Lessing (born February 12, 1971) is an athlete from the United Kingdom. He competes in triathlon.

During the 1990s he and his great rival, fellow Brit Spencer Smith, dominated Olympic distance triathlon. Lessing won the ITU Olympic Distance Triathlon World Championship in 1992, 1995, 1996 and 1998. In 1996, he also won the ITU Long Course Championship.

In 1996, Lessing broke the world record in the World Championship triathlon with a time of 1 hour, 39 minutes, 50 seconds at Cleveland, Ohio, USA. He holds the record to this day as one of the fastest triathletes.

Lessing competed at the first Olympic triathlon at the 2000 Summer Olympics. He took ninth place with a total time of 1:49:24.32.

Simon Lessing, now of Boulder, Colorado, qualified for 2005 Hawaii Ironman World Championships, by taking 4th place at Ironman Canada in Penticton, B.C., August 28th, 2005, in a time of 8:43:13. October 15th, 2005 will be Simon's second go at Kona, Hawaii. Last year (2004) he dropped out halfway into the bike leg, due to fierce winds and problems with his back.

In 2005 he set a new half-Ironman course record at the famous Wildflower triathlon.