Norway’s Solveig Løvseth has wasted little time in making her mark at middle-distance triathlon racing and now she’s looking to do the same when she makes her full Ironman distance debut this weekend.
The 25-year-old, who competed in both the individual and the Mixed Team Relay at the Paris Olympics, couldn’t have chosen a much tougher first assignment.
Not only is IRONMAN Hamburg the women’s European Championship race, but it also boasts a field befitting of that status, including the defending champion in Jackie Hering and the one-two from last year’s IRONMAN World Championship – Laura Philipp and Kat Matthews.
70.3 Worlds a real catalyst
We caught up with Solveig just before her flight to Germany this week to talk about her impressive move up in distance, and her future plans.
She first dipped her toes in the water at middle distance in 2023, the same year she won two short-course gold medals at the European Games in Krakow.
Her 70.3 bow came in December of that year and what a start it was with victory at Indian Wells when she got the better of Tamara Jewett and Hering, who she will face again on Sunday.
She then made it two wins out of two when landing IRONMAN 70.3 Warsaw but the hat-trick bid – coming just a few weeks after the Olympics – was always a big ask, though she still made the podium behind Caroline Pohle and Matthews at 70.3 Tallinn.
Last season was rounded off with 13th at the 70.3 World Championship in New Zealand – and that race would prove to be the catalyst which has led to this week’s Ironman debut.
She told TRI247: “The thought of doing a full distance first crossed my mind in December last year while training for the 70.3 Worlds. Until that point, my focus had always been short distance, and my plan was to continue on that path.
“However, while training in New Zealand, I felt so excited for the race, more excited than I had been for any short-distance race in a while. And even though my race at the 70.3 Worlds wasn’t anything spectacular, the lead-up made me question what I really wanted next.
“After the 70.3 Worlds, I had a very nice season break, and during that time I became more and more certain that I wanted to focus on longer distances.”
Asked if that means the 2028 Olympics are now out of the equation, she replied: “Right now, I’m taking it year by year. This season, I’m all in on long distance, and after that, I’ll evaluate what I want to do next. I haven’t completely closed the door on L.A., but right now, I really enjoy the middle/long distance life.”
Solveig ‘more in control’
Her one outing to date so far in 2025 came at IRONMAN 70.3 Venice-Jesolo, part of the IRONMAN Pro Series, and she bossed it from the bike onwards to win by a huge margin and really make people sit up and take notice.
Three wins out of five is a standout early record at middle distance and when we asked how it compares to short-course for her, Solveig said: “I definitely think middle/long distance suits my current strengths more than short course.
“In short course, I’ve always been vulnerable because the swim is often “make or break” for the whole race. What I really like about long distance is that you’re more in control of your own race and less dependent on others.
“My training actually hasn’t changed that much. The start of the year wasn’t great. I had a lot of schoolwork in January and was sick quite a bit in February and March, so my long-distance career had a bit of a rookie start.
“But in the past few weeks, I’ve done some longer brick sessions on Sundays, and of course I ride more on my TT bike, but apart from that, my training weeks are quite similar to when I was racing short course.”
She is coached by Mikal Iden (brother of Gustav) and says of him: “He’s the coach of the Norwegian national team and was my short-course coach too, together with Arild Tveiten.
“So when I decided to go long this year, I asked if Mikal wanted to continue coaching me. It definitely made the jump from short course to long course less scary knowing I could continue with someone I really trust and who already knows me well as an athlete.”
No sitting back for Norwegian prodigy
She’s already up to number 22 in the overall middle / long distance world rankings – and also inside the top 25 for both bike and run.
And while her swimming is going in the right direction too, she says that’s the discipline she is really putting focus on, explaining: “I definitely feel like I’ve worked the hardest on my swim, both physically and mentally.
“I still prioritise the swim the same way I did when racing short course, and I probably do a little less volume on the bike than many long-course athletes, so I can be as fresh as possible for the swim sessions.”
There are five World Championship spots up for grabs in Hamburg on Sunday and one of those is a primary aim for Solveig in what she freely admits is something of a voyage into the unknown.
She added: “I’m very excited to race in Hamburg. Since it’s my first Ironman, it’s hard to know exactly what to expect, but I hope to secure a spot for Kona and gain a lot of experience.
“I hope I can find the balance between respecting the distance enough, but also being offensive and not too conservative. And I definitely think it’s extremely cool that I get the chance to do my first Ironman in such a high-quality field!”
Putting Norway’s women on the map
Looking ahead to the rest of the year, it’s both Kona and the IRONMAN 70.3 Worlds in Marbella which are not surprisingly top of the list in terms of target races.
“Those are definitely my big goals for the season,” she confirmed. “Kona has actually never been a big dream of mine. I grew up as a swimmer, so the Olympics was always the biggest goal. But now, Kona is definitely a dream.”
Of course Norway has had world champions in both races in recent years thanks to Kristian Blummenfelt and Gustav Iden and Solveig hopes she can now encourage the next generation of the country’s female triathletes.
She said: “Kristian and Gustav have always been a big inspiration to me.
“Of course, I want to do well in races, and if I can achieve something close to what they’ve done, that would be awesome!
“Norway doesn’t really have many female triathletes, so if I can inspire someone to start doing triathlon, that would be very cool.”
