A devastating puncture has ended the hopes of in-form Pro Series leader Kat Matthews as she recorded a DNF at IRONMAN Texas.

The British athlete, who had won both of her opening two races of the 2026 season, was handily placed in third when her rear wheel seemed to blow and she was forced to stop and wait for mechanics to arrive.

Having enjoyed an impressive swim in a time of 56:49, she had exited the water in sixth place and was only five minutes and 39 seconds behind leader Taylor Knibb (USA) when disaster struck with 88km remaining of the bike course.

Mechanical issues for Kat

To add to the frustration, Matthews was not only forced to wait for around ten minutes as the mechanic made his way to her, but when he did reach her, there were clearly further complications in terms of his ability to fix the issue.

While Matthews could be seen on IRONMAN’s YouTube live coverage, smiling and chatting with the support staff, her nearest rivals, Hannah Berry (NZL) and Marta Sanchez (SPA) – who had been more than 11 minutes behind her at one stage – were soon seen speeding by and taking full advantage of her misfortune.

Matthews eventually rejoined the race more than 25 minutes behind Knibb, who had continued to power away in a very strong bike performance that was keeping Norway’s Solveig Løvseth at bay in second.

Looking for a fourth successive win in Texas, Matthews would have been buoyed by the fact that in last year’s race, she hunted down Knibb during the marathon after the American had exited the water ahead and then executed a fast bike section.

Unlikely to press for a podium

Having already won at IRONMAN New Zealand and the 70.3 at Geelong, Matthews knows her Kona place is secure for the world championships later this year and was always unlikely to risk injury by trying to force her way back through the field for an unlikely podium push.

While she did continue to ride for a short while, the decision was made to save her legs for when it really matters, in Kona.

Her frustrated husband, Mark Matthews, posted an update on his Instagram page, where he suggested the puncture had to have been a bad one for Kat not to have even tried to resolve the issue herself.

“My worst nightmare has finally happened. Kat’s had her first puncture in 46 races or something. She’s got gas and plugs, but if she stops and didn’t even try, it must just be a giant slit; you saw by the way it just went bang,” he said.

We have to take it on the chin

“And then the motorbike’s pulled up, and I’ve been screaming about this for years. I’ve talked to them always. He’s clearly got a 160 rotor on. It’s obvious why you can’t get it on. Most pros run a 140 on the back… they should all be 140.

“We have to take it on the chin, but it’s a GP 5000 TT. It has done like 30 miles to bed it in, and I reckon it’s just kind of got a giant slit in it. Otherwise, she would have tried.”

And afterwards Matthews confirmed: “Tyre split, immediately obvious it was not fixable.”

As the bike leg came to a close, Knibb remained out in front, with Løvseth almost three minutes behind, and both Berry and Sanchez fighting for third spot.

Here’s how it all finished.