I think I’m still trying to process what happened over the weekend in Kona, at the IRONMAN World Championship.
Apart from being the third closest finish in the history of the race, the women went next level in pushing themselves and each other to new limits.
Whilst there was all the pre-race talk of favourites and dark horses, I’m not sure anyone would have predicted what happened out there.
Kona is unique. Whilst ‘it’s just another race’, it’s not as well. There is something about the island, the course, the conditions, the World Championship title on the line and the number of athletes here. The months, years, leading up to the start. But it does funny things to people. It breaks and strips down the very best, and at the same time, lets athletes rise.
There is no rhyme nor reason, and whether you believe in the myths and legends and the power of Madame Pele or not – this race does funny things and just hits different.
Brutal – and questions to be asked
We had four prior champions on the start list, three from the IRONMAN World Championship and one, a three-time IRONMAN 70.3 World Champion. Only one of those athletes finished.
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It was brutal out there. It is every year. But having had relatively decent conditions for the past few years, it does appear from the athlete feedback, and seeing the battles out there, that this year was particularly tough.
There’s also lots to digest and decompress from the last week. The last time we have a women’s only race, and you definitely noticed the low numbers and a slight sadness in the air. Compared with 2023, when it was women only and felt like a bit celebration and excitement about the future of the sport and the women’s rave. This year it definitely felt like a sense of loss.
I think we also need to ask questions of medical support out on course. When Lucy started to wobble, why wasn’t medical called to the front of the race, just to monitor and follow her, in case things turned south? It took, from what I understand, a phone call from someone watching online, to the coach on the ground, to call medical for Lucy.
Then Taylor, again why did it take time to get support to her? Whilst her body had shut down, she was present enough to be saying “I’m done, I’m done” and had to repeat this a lot, before medical support.
‘Just heartbreaking’
I also had the honour of being in the studio, commentating the last few kilometres. It was difficult to watch. Taylor is a friend as well, as we train in the same squad in Boulder, and seeing her suddenly staggering, her race unravelling but her body shutting down, was just heartbreaking.
But as an athlete, I know how hard these women work, I know what they put in every day to be the very, very best. You never want to see any athlete not have their day, be it Chelsea, Lucy, Taylor or any of the women out there.
But I was also incredibly grateful and aware of having the opportunity to commentate on and have a front row seat to one of the most incredible races we have ever seen in World Championship history. I hope I did the race and athletes justice in this.
‘Strong house’ and ‘sun strength’
Then, what is it in the water in Norway! A clean sweep of the men’s podium in the IRONMAN World Championship in Nice, and then Solveig* Lovseth taking the win in Kona for the women.
It’s also interesting to note that all the Norwegians have won on their debut at the IRONMAN World Championships. Not only is this remarkable, it’s also against all the statistics, that generally show you have to have been on the podium at the IMWC prior to taking the top step of the podium.
Another thing to note is that the last two women to win on debut in Kona have both been on the podium at IRONMAN Hamburg in the same year, and both times behind Laura Philipp. In 2022 Chelsea Sodaro raced her first IRONMAN at Hamburg and finished behind Philipp who won. Sodaro then went on to win In Kona that year. In 2025 the same thing happened with Solveig Lovseth.
*Also to note, Solveig is pronounced without the ‘g’ and apparently in Norwegian it means either “strong house” or “sun strength”. It combines the elements of ‘sol’ which can mean ‘sun’ or ‘house’ and ‘veig’ meaning ‘strength’ or ‘power’ – I think this just matches what we saw in Kona from her.
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