Kat Matthews was simply incredible as she produced a record-breaking victory at IRONMAN Texas on Saturday.
The British triathlon superstar roared to a sensational victory over her brilliant US rival Taylor Knibb in a blistering course record time of of 8:10:34 – also the fastest ever by a woman in an IRONMAN-branded full distance race.
And speaking afterwards, she revealed it was the sheer level of the competition which inspired her to new heights.
Matthews pride at record-setting day
Matthews said: “I’m really proud to pull together that (performance) against this field. Seriously, I’m really happy. I wasn’t feeling great to be honest.
“I thought, just ease into it, but the speed came quite easily, and the time just haemorrhaged. I feel lucky to sort of claw back time really quickly and stay positive for most of it.
“I really feel like the depth of the women’s field is growing and the competition level of the these (IRONMAN) Pro Series races really brings everyone together.”
Matthews produced a stunning closing marathon to surge past the three-time IRONMAN 70.3 World Champion, who was having just her second race over the full distance. Kat had already produced a pretty sensational bike leg, just 22 seconds slower than the record-setting 4:19:46 posted by Knibb.
It was a third consecutive IRONMAN Texas victory for Matthews, who finished second behind Laura Philipp at the IRONMAN World Championships in Nice last year and second behind Knibb at the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship.
Matthews knows she needs to improve on the bike to be crowned No 1 this year, and that’s why she has brought in some elite help from Alex Dowsett, a two-time stage winner on the Giro d’Italia and a six-time British National Time Trial Champion.
Her eye-popping performance in The Woodlands will have the rest of the sport sitting up to take notice as she homes in on her targets this year.
Philipp had held the previous IRONMAN record time with 8:18:20 set at the 2022 IRONMAN Hamburg European Championship. But Matthews absolute destroyed that mark, with Knibb finishing just under 10 minutes behind her.
Laura Siddall: 10 things I’ve learned from my professional triathlon career
