Bike crashes involving the two leaders at the time massively impacted the latest race in the IRONMAN Pro Series before Brits Harry Palmer and Lizzie Rayner ran out the winners.
Mika Noodt (GER) was seemingly in command of the men’s race – more than four minutes ahead with just 10km of the bike section remaining – when he suffered a race-ending crash. He was battered and bruised but thankfully got back on his feet, though his bike wasn’t rideable. It later emerged he had collided with an ambulance – more on that here.
That left the door open for his rivals and it was Palmer, winner in each of the last two years, who grabbed the opportunity to bring up the hat-trick.
Meanwhile in the women’s race, India Lee (GBR) was leading when she had a low-speed tumble on a corner and though she was back on her bike straight after, a dropped chain cost her further time and she lost the lead to Rayner who never looked back as she went on to run away from the field for a much-cherished first victory in this event having finished sixth, fifth, fourth and third in Swansea before.
Here’s how a dramatic day played out…
Men’s race – Nightmare end for Noodt
The men’s race was all about Noodt for the first two thirds.
Lovely sunny conditions meant it was a non-wetsuit swim for the pros and it was Pierre Le Corre (FRA) who led a group of six out of the water, just ahead of Noodt and British quartet Ollie Turner, Kieran Lindars, Josh Lewis and Malachi Cashmore.
Noodt started to eke out a lead early on the bike – he was 45 seconds ahead of Lewis after 38km.
And the gap really went out after that point, so much so that it was over four minutes with 10km remaining and Noodt was looking super-smooth.
But in a split second his hopes were over and suddenly defending champion Palmer was left in the lead – with Lewis, Lindars and Joran Driesen (BEL) all within 15 seconds.
Those four all reached T2 pretty much together and there appeared plenty of surprise when they realised that Noodt was out of the race.
But they didn’t have it between them as in-form Simon Vlain (FRA) was just 55 seconds back in fifth while Le Corre had just under three minutes to make up.
Vlain made a statement start on the run too – halving his deficit to 29 seconds within the first 6km as he moved up to third while Lindars led from Palmer.
But that gap didn’t come down further but instead started to move the other way as Palmer eased fractionally ahead of Lindars.
And Palmer looked unstoppable from that point onwards, powering clear of Lindars as he sealed his third straight success in Swansea.
Lindars was second, 46 seconds behind, while Driesen overhauled Vlain for third.
Women’s race – Rayner holds on
The women’s race had been hit by the withdrawal 48 hours beforehand of Solveig Løvseth, the reigning IRONMAN World Champion not having fully recovered from her exertions when winning IRONMAN Hamburg recently.
That meant India Lee was arguably the favourite in her absence and she was part of a front group of three after the swim.
Maela Moison (FRA) was out of the water fractionally ahead of her and Ellie White (GBR).
Five Brits came next – Jasmine Holmes, Steph Clutterbuck, Meg McDonald, Kate Curran and Rayner, all less than a minute back but well ahead of the rest.
Lee was quickest through T1 and, on roads she knows well, began to build up a lead.
She was over half a minute ahead of Rayner after 17km, with Clutterbuck third but already two minutes back.
That pattern continued as the lead went over a minute by halfway, though there was a scare when a wandering cow almost walked straight into Lee!
Meanwhile Rebecca Anderbury (GBR) was working her way through the field – she had been 4:34 adrift going out of T1 but had reduced that to not much more than a minute with 15km remaining.
Not long after was the moment that Lee had a low-speed crash on a corner and as she was putting her chain back on, Rayner whizzed past and into the lead.
She reached T2 first, with Lee now 32 seconds behind and Anderbury third at +1:29 and three minutes and more to the rest.
Lee seemed relatively unscathed from her tumble but she did struggle on the run and it was Rayner who began to pull clear.
At the halfway point Rayner was 2:07 ahead of Anderbury, with Anne-Sophie Pierre (FRA) up to third and Lee dropping to fourth.
But in the second half of the run no one was going quicker than Pierre – she reduced the gap to Rayner to under a minute going into the last few kilometres and it was just 14 seconds on the line but Rayner hung on for a famous win – and had time to celebrate.
Marta Lagownik (POL) came through late to take third, with less than a minute separating the first three.
IRONMAN 70.3 Swansea 2026 results
Sunday 12 July 2026 – 1.9km / 90km / 21.1km
Pro Men
Full results and splits will appear here shortly…
PRO Women
Full results and splits will appear here shortly…
