IRONMAN South Africa results 2026: Davies and Marquardt DOMINATE

There could hardly have been two more clear-cut winners of IRONMAN South Africa in Nelson Mandela Bay than Britain’s Daisy Davies and America’s Matthew Marquardt.

Davies led by more than four minutes after the swim and extended that to double digits on the bike before closing out an emphatic success over Katrine Græsbøll Christensen (DEN).

And medical student Marquardt won his third IRONMAN race in less than 12 months by taking control on the bike before running away from his rivals – Britain’s Joe Skipper taking a distant second in a welcome return to form.

There was more than $150,000 in prize money and four Kona slots for each gender up for grabs and here’s how the races played out…

Women’s race – Davies underlines her talent

Davies made the triathlon world sit up and take notice with an emphatic success at full-distance Challenge Almere last year, beating Els Visser by more than 14 minutes.

And that kind of dominance was repeated here.

She bossed the swim, with fellow Brit Claire Hann 4:16 back in second.

It continued on the bike – halfway through the 180km Davies was 11 minutes to the good, with Daniela Bleymehl – the winner here in 2022 and racing for the first time since the birth of her third child – now up to second place.

Græsbøll Christensen had a mechanical issue on the bike course and lost around 20 minutes which obviously made a huge difference to her chances.

Daisy Davies bike IRONMAN South Africa — Daisy Davies puts the power down on the bike [Photo credit: IRONMAN]

By the time they reached T2 the gap was over 15 minutes and it was then a case of Davies just managing her effort on the run.

She crossed the line in 8:46:30 after a 3:08:11 marathon for another hugely impressive success.

Græsbøll Christensen battled back brilliantly to take second, 11-and-a-half minutes back, with Bleymehl third.

Men’s race – Marquardt call pays dividends

There can be few professional sports people with a busier schedule than Marquardt. He’s combined important med school exams with an eight-day mountain bike race in recent weeks and his decision to head to IRONMAN South Africa rather than much-nearer-to-home Texas paid off in brilliant style.

It was local favourite Jamie Riddle, fifth on his full-distance debut in this race last year, who showed off his swim prowess to take the early lead with a healthy 1:43 advantage over another strong man in the water, Andrew Horsfall-Turner (GBR).

But Marquardt clearly still had his bike legs after recent exploits but it wasn’t until the second half that he really began to close Riddle down.

The catch came with 40km remaining and the two rode together for a while before Marquardt powered clear and he reached T2 with a two-minute advantage.

That was gradually extended on the run and as Riddle began to struggle it was Skipper who worked his way up to second.

Marquardt stopped the clock in 7:42:57 with a 2:39:07 marathon and took the win by more than 13 minutes.

“Thank you so much, arguably the best spectator crowd I’ve ever seen,” he said afterwards. “Even better than the World Championships! Absolutely amazing, I had so much fun out there.”

Matthew Marquardt wins IRONMAN South Africa 2026 [Photo credit: IRONMAN]

There was plenty for Skipper to smile about too – this was his first podium since IRONMAN New Zealand just over a year ago.

Tristan Olij (NED) rounded out the podium in third.