IRONMAN Hamburg results 2025: Philipp sees off Matthews in record-breaking RACE FOR THE AGES

Germany’s Laura Philipp showed why she is the reigning IRONMAN World Champion with a record-breaking win at IRONMAN Hamburg after an epic battle in a race for the ages with Britain’s Kat Matthews.

The duo had treated the triathlon world to a stunning show when first and second in the IRONMAN World Championship in Nice last year – but this showdown for the European Championship was arguably even a level up on that.

For there was virtually nothing between them throughout, Philipp only asserting with just under 8km of the run to go before stopping the clock in 8:03:13.

That – and Matthews’ 8:05:13 – smashed the previous fastest time ever by a woman in an IRONMAN-branded full distance race which Matthews had set herself at IRONMAN Texas in April when she clocked 8:10:34.

And it also came incredibly close to Anne Haug’s fastest full-distance triathlon time of 8:02:38 from Challenge Roth last year. And but for the super-long transitions in Hamburg, it’s not far-fetched to say that sub-eight could have been under threat.

In an incredible third place with an 8:12:28 was Norway’s Solveig Løvseth after an outstanding full-distance debut which saw her mix it up with Philipp and Matthews for the first two thirds of the race.

But it was a day to forget for defending champion Jackie Hering (USA) as a bad puncture on the bike saw her drop down the field before eventually exiting the race as it proved to be unrepairable.

Swim – Kat sets the tone

Thunderstorms in the area prompted the pro start to be put back 45 minutes to 7am local time.

But we still had the full 3.8km swim and it was Matthews who set the tone for what was to come as she threw down the gauntlet at the front.

However there were at least a couple of occasions where she was seemingly unimpressed at having to do nearly all the work and virtually stopped swimming, even having time to make her feelings known to the others.

But by the end of the swim we had a line of four women – Matthews in front, Løvseth second, Philipp third and Hering fourth.

Just six seconds covered them and they already had a significant lead on the rest.

Bike – Late dig opens up a gap

Onto the bike then and any thoughts Løvseth would drop away were quickly dispelled as she was more than happy to lead from the front.

Hering’s problems would start early though as a slow rear puncture saw her lose touch with the front group and try and she might to fix it, she would plummet through the field before eventually having to admit defeat.

Løvseth was next to suffer as one of her aero bars came loose and she had to stop for over a minute to get it tightened up.

When we spoke to her earlier in the week she had said: “I hope I can find the balance between respecting the distance enough, but also being offensive and not too conservative.” And she was good to her word on debut as she gradually worked her way back to Matthews and Philipp – and then swooped straight past!

On the second of two bike laps that trio would come back together but in the closing 15km Matthews put the hammer down and the elastic finally snapped.

Heading into T2, Matthews’ effort had seen her open up a 53-seconds advantage over Philipp, with Løvseth a further 30 seconds behind in third and daylight to the rest, with Anne Reischmann (GER) nearly nine minutes off the lead in fourth.

It was proving attritional further back too – Marjolaine Pierre (FRA) one of those athletes to call it a day at T2.

Run – Down to the wire

Matthews continued to be positive and aggressive at the start of the run but Philipp also looked strong and the two would pretty much match each other stride for stride for the first half.

There were 32 seconds between them at the start of the run and at the halfway point it was 37 seconds after they clocked 1:18:22 and 1:18:27 half marathons respectively!

Løvseth was obviously in unknown territory and she did find things hard early on the run as she quickly dropped five minutes off the pace. However she was able to get things back on track and that gap hovered pretty steady to the halfway point, where she was at +5:44.

And the good news for her was that she still had a big buffer to Reischmann in fourth.

Indeed given the various DNFs the field was now barely in double figures by this point so Kona spots – especially as Matthews and Philipp already had their tickets booked – were likely to go to the majority of the finishers.

Back to the Matthews vs Philipp battle and the gap went out to over 45 seconds after 25km only for Philipp to drag it back to 37 seconds at the next checkpoint at 30km and a couple of kilometres later, with 10km to go, it had shrunk further – to just 21 seconds.

The momentum was suddenly with Philipp and the catch would come soon after. It was a calculated pass too as she first took on a gel before easing onto Matthews’ shoulder and then accelerated past. But Kat responded and the two were locked together for a while before Laura, to the delight of the home crowd, finally started to forge clear.

Neither gave an inch though and the gap continued to hover at around the 20 seconds mark – would there be another twist on what was proving to be an historic day for the sport?

The answer was an emphatic ‘no’ and the gap would suddenly go out in the last few kilometres with Philipp clocking a 2:38:27 marathon to Matthews’ 2:40:58 as she finished exactly two minutes ahead in what were now torrential conditions as the heavens opened. That 2:38:27 from Philipp was the fastest-ever full-distance marathon by a female, 25 seconds quicker than Haug’s 2:38:52 at Roth last year.

And while Løvseth may not make the majority of the headlines given what happened up ahead, she crossed the line in third in 8:12:28 to complete a remarkable full-distance debut which obliterated the previous record for a rookie.