The IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship was a one-woman show at the front of the race as American superstar Taylor Knibb dominated from early on the bike – but there were many absorbing battles and stories in behind.

Olympic silver medallist Julie Derron was 11th after the bike but ran through the field for second.

And her Swiss compatriot Alanis Siffert underlined her talents again with a hard-fought third place to round out the podium.

Pro Series tussle

Next up came the battle for IRONMAN Pro Series supremacy between Solveig Løvseth and Laura Philipp, with the Norwegian banking nearly 100 more points than her rival as she finished fourth to Philipp’s sixth, with home hope Marjolaine Pierré splitting them in fifth.

Løvseth and Philipp along with Knibb and Derron were all in most pundits’ top five going into the race – with Britain’s Kat Matthews completing the quintet.

But it wasn’t to be Matthews’ day as she was never able to get in contention on the bike and then surprisingly lost more time on the run.

She crossed the line in 11th and will look to bounce back at Kona in four weeks.

Full finishing order and DNFs

The one big name to miss the race – in order to focus fully on those IRONMAN World Championships – was Lucy Charles-Barclay but this was still one of the greatest fields ever assembled and the full finishing order, along with the swim, bike and run splits, can be viewed below.

There were just three DNFs.

Position	Athlete	Nationality	Swim	Bike	Run	Overall time
1	Taylor Knibb	USA	25:59	2:32:07	1:17:56	4:19:24
2	Julie Derron	SUI	27:20	2:39:40	1:13:04	4:23:30
3	Alanis Siffert	SUI	26:03	2:37:40	1:18:06	4:25:10
4	Solveig Løvseth	NOR	27:29	2:38:46	1:16:03	4:25:50
5	Marjolaine Pierré	FRA	27:21	2:35:23	1:20:27	4:26:38
6	Laura Philipp	GER	28:54	2:38:00	1:16:57	4:27:28
7	Imogen Simmonds	SUI	25:59	2:37:47	1:20:52	4:28:01
8	Audrey Merle	FRA	26:09	2:40:20	1:19:16	4:29:08
9	Paula Findlay	CAN	27:26	2:39:25	1:20:05	4:30:33
10	Caroline Pohle	GER	26:10	2:40:42	1:20:25	4:30:53
11	Kat Matthews	GBR	27:28	2:38:36	1:22:06	4:31:51
12	Anne-Sophie Pierre	FRA	31:45	2:37:34	1:18:58	4:32:07
13	Cathia Schär	SUI	27:22	2:42:25	1:19:52	4:33:26
14	Sophie Evans	GBR	25:49	2:43:36	1:20:56	4:33:57
15	Marta Sánchez	ESP	26:04	2:40:46	1:24:05	4:34:53
16	Aurelia Boulanger	FRA	30:58	2:39:31	1:21:10	4:35:18
17	Lizzie Rayner	GBR	28:41	2:42:34	1:21:30	4:36:23
18	Bianca Bogen	GER	26:06	2:43:17	1:24:57	4:37:53
19	Kirsten Kasper	USA	25:55	2:48:01	1:20:40	4:38:08
20	Rebecca Anderbury	GBR	31:55	2:41:32	1:21:38	4:39:05
21	Hanne De Vet	BEL	27:28	2:44:05	1:24:13	4:39:28
22	Tamara Jewett	CAN	28:57	2:50:06	1:16:47	4:39:40
23	Leana Bissig	SUI	28:53	2:44:54	1:22:25	4:39:40
24	Bridget Theunissen	RSA	28:44	2:46:50	1:21:45	4:40:58
25	Lena Meißner	GER	25:52	2:40:35	1:31:30	4:41:22
26	Anna Buettner	GER	31:48	2:43:15	1:23:47	4:42:37
27	Lotte Wilms	NED	26:15	2:47:24	1:24:51	4:43:04
28	Nikita Paskiewiez	FRA	33:11	2:46:29	1:23:56	4:47:31
29	Lisa Becharas	USA	30:16	2:46:38	1:27:07	4:47:48
30	Kaidi Kivioja	EST	28:53	2:48:52	1:26:40	4:48:00
31	Sarah Schönfelder	GER	33:04	2:46:31	1:24:49	4:49:02
32	Pâmella Nascimento de Oliveira	BRA	26:05	2:56:23	1:24:12	4:50:20
33	Lisa-Maria Dornauer	AUT	31:52	2:50:25	1:26:10	4:53:37
34	Lydia Russell	USA	28:41	3:01:31	1:19:33	4:54:17
35	Adele Likin	USA	32:59	2:53:00	1:24:48	4:54:57
36	Caroline Kaplan	USA	28:43	3:00:37	1:23:07	4:56:22
37	Shiva Leisner	DEN	31:50	2:52:42	1:27:15	4:56:31
38	Megan Foley	USA	27:29	2:59:04	1:26:56	4:57:22
39	Francisca Garrido	CHI	31:53	2:54:46	1:27:21	4:57:31
40	Jenna Campbell	USA	25:52	2:57:13	1:32:15	4:58:56
41	Diana Marcela Castillo	COL	26:09	3:05:06	1:28:17	5:04:12
42	Pietra Meneghini	BRA	33:02	3:03:08	1:30:41	5:11:04
43	Laura Mathews	USA	30:59	3:03:49	1:36:01	5:15:18
44	Bruna Stolf	BRA	30:11	3:11:27	1:30:00	5:16:14
45	Giovanna Opipari	BRA	30:14	3:11:21	1:31:16	5:17:17
46	Kelly Barton	USA	33:18	3:10:04	1:31:12	5:19:02
47	Kristen Marchant	CAN	28:47	3:02:15	1:45:11	5:21:15
DNF	Ellie Salthouse	AUS	27:21	2:53:21	–	DNF
DNF	Kayla Bowker	USA	35:25	3:14:48	–	DNF
DNF	Julie Iemmolo	FRA	28:49	–	–	DNF