IRONMAN Texas has lost another superstar ahead of the massive showdown in the Lone Star State later today (Saturday April 26).

Lionel Sanders and Patrick Lange have already been forced to withdraw from the big showdown at The Woodlands due to illness and injury.

Now Sodaro, best known of course for that epic IRONMAN World Championship victory at Kona in 2022, has been forced to follow suit just hours before the scheduled start time.

Sodaro hit by virus

Writing in a post on her Instagram account, she said: “Hi friends, just wanted to give you a little status update. Unfortunately I picked up a preschool virus before travelling to Texas and I’m just not well enough to race a full distance tomorrow

“Obviously super-devastated, my training went really well leading into this race – had such a fun build and so was excited to see what that meant on race day. But I will save it for another moment.

The women’s Pro race in Texas still promises to be an absolute classic with Taylor Knibb stepping up to the full distance to take on British superstar and IRONMAN Pro Series champion Kat Matthews among others.

The action at The Woodlands gets under way at 0630 local time (1230 UK, 1330 CET, 0730 Eastern, 0430 Pacific).