Reigning IRONMAN World Champion Solveig Løvseth made it four full-distance victories on the trot as she held off last year’s winner Laura Philipp at IRONMAN Hamburg in what was the women’s IRONMAN European Championship.
The Norwegian became the fastest-ever IRONMAN debutant in this event last year when she was third after an epic race against Philipp and Kat Matthews.
Since then she has been unbeatable in IRONMANs, winning at Lake Placid, Kona and then Texas this season and she bossed this race after setting a course record time on the bike.
That gave her a buffer of just over eight minutes on uber runner Philipp, the 2024 IRONMAN World Champion, and that proved crucial – Løvseth looked strong for the first three laps of four on the run but had to battle on the final one to hang on by less than 90 seconds, with both of them understandably exhausted after crossing the line.
Katrine Græsbøll Christensen (DEN) rounded out the podium in third, with Marjolaine Pierré (FRA) fourth after helping animate the race on the bike.
Swim – Wilms and Lawrence set the pace
Conditions were good for the wetsuit swim in the Alster lake – 15 degrees Celsius and calm, though some crosswinds were forecast later for the bike section.
Last year’s race saw Løvseth, Philipp and Kat Matthews lead out the swim and all finish in around 54:40 but it was a very different story 12 months on.
For Holly Lawrence (GBR) and Lotte Wilms (NED) took it out early, so much so that they were all strung out in a line within the first 500m of the out-and-back 3.8km.
It was an aggressive start and the pattern continued, with Wilms first out of water in 50:29, Lawrence a couple of seconds behind, closely followed by Fenella Langridge (GBR), Kate Curran (GBR) and Charlotte McShane (AUS).
Pierré and Maaike Vooren (NED) were sixth and seventh respectively at just over three minutes back.
The next 10 athletes were all covered by 10 seconds at around four-and-a-half minutes adrift and that included the big two as well as Lisa Perterer (AUT).
And while they were in a very different initial position compared to 2025, both Philipp (54:53) and Løvseth (54:57) were only about 20 seconds down on their swim times from last year.
Bike – Løvseth takes control
After the incredibly long transition through T1 it was Lawrence who was on her way first on the bike and she had opened up a lead of just under half a minute on Wilms inside the first 10km of the two-lap fast and flat course.
Langridge was third at this point and Curran fourth but Pierré was the big mover, wiping out her three-minute deficit in double-quick time and powering to the front of the race by the 35km mark.
By the end of the first loop she was 1:45 in front of Wilms but Løvseth had dropped Philipp and was up to third at +3:40, with Lawrence trying to hang on to her and Philipp and Perterer a further minute back in fifth and sixth respectively.
But any thoughts that Løvseth would quickly whittle down that lead had to be put on hold as Pierré’s advantage grew out to 4:29 on the Norwegian after 123km but that was as big as it would get as the race started to change complexion.
First Løvseth caught Wilms for second and with 40km of the bike to go she was now within 2:59 of Pierré and all the while putting time into Philipp who was more than eight minutes off the lead.
Philipp was hanging on though and pegged the gap to just under nine minutes all the way into T2 – and for the last section of the bike a flurry of rain made the roads a little slippery as the athletes headed back into the city centre.
Løvseth clocked 4:20:06 for the bike thanks to that phenomenal second lap, a new course record by 41 seconds, and it all made for an intriguing picture ahead of the run.
Pierré still led but only by 37 seconds from Løvseth, with Wilms third at +2:41, Perterer fourth at 6:52 and Philipp – the quickest runner on paper – having 8:54 to make up from seventh, with Katrine Græsbøll Christensen (DEN) and India Lee (GBR) just ahead of her in fifth and sixth. Lawrence was eighth but her race would unfortunately come to an end soon after as she didn’t start the run.
Run – Line comes just in time
Just to give the gap between Løvseth and Philipp some context, Philipp was 8:13 quicker than the Norwegian here 12 months ago and there was 8:24 between them starting the run.
And both made a fast start, Løvseth moving into the lead early on as she overtook Pierré while Philipp was soon up to sixth and 7:46 back.
At the end of the first of four laps Løvseth was 1:34 in front of Pierré, Wilms was +4:26 adrift in third and Philipp now fourth at +7:03 and not making enough ground at this stage to threaten the leader.
That was reinforced on lap two and Løvseth was looking super-strong at halfway – her first half marathon was a 1:21:06, with only Philipp quicker at 1:19:01 which took her up to third, 6:18 off the lead.
It was more of the same on the penultimate lap, but Philipp was looking more menacing as she eased past Pierré and into second, albeit with 4:47 still to claw back on Løvseth.
Pierré had been on the front foot since the start of the bike but she lost her podium place before the bell for the last lap as Græsbøll Christensen jumped past her and into third.
Beginning that last lap, Løvseth was on course for an 8:08 overall time and something like a 2:45 marathon but there was still just over 10km and things did start to rapidly change.
For it became obvious in the closing stages that Løvseth was running on fumes – she later admitted she “completely blew up” after an on/off training block hampered by illness – and with 2km remaining her lead over Philipp had shrunk to 2:13.
But it proved just enough. After a 2:49 marathon she crossed the line in 8:11:11 which was under her 8:12:28 debut last year and rounded out a quite incredible 12 months since stepping up to this distance.
It also gave her a commanding lead in the IRONMAN Pro Series.
Philipp was just 1:18 behind in second, sending out a real warning to her rivals having only made her seasonal debut three weeks ago.
Græsbøll Christensen was third, Pierré fourth, Perterer fifth, Wilms sixth, Lee seventh, Marta Lagownik (POL) eighth, Langridge ninth and Curran tenth.
Remember that six Kona slots were on the line too, with Løvseth as defending champion, Græsbøll Christensen (IRONMAN South Africa), Wilms (IRONMAN Western Australia), Lagownik (IRONMAN Cozumel) and Curran (IRONMAN Western Australia) the athletes from the top 10 who had already qualified.
Also already having punched her ticket in 11th was McShane so Kaidi Kivioja’s 12th place gave the Estonian the option of a trip to Hawaii.
IRONMAN Hamburg – European Championship 2026
Sunday 7 June, 2026 – 3.8km / 180km / 42.2km
PRO Women
Full results and splits to follow shortly…
