Former IRONMAN World Champ Chelsea Sodaro makes an early exit at Singapore T100

Former IRONMAN World Champion Chelsea Sodaro became the first woman to retire from the Singapore T100.

The American had enjoyed a superb start to the season, with victories at 70.3 Tasmania and IRONMAN New Zealand in February and March respectively, her first wins since that famous triumph in Hawaii in October 2022.

Chasing from the start

But in brutally warm and humid conditions in Singapore, things never went to plan.

The swim had been led out by Britain’s Lucy Charles-Barclay, who succeeded Sodaro as the IRONMAN World Champion in Kona last year.

Charles-Barclay, Lucy Buckingham and Rebecca Clarke put more than a minute between themselves in the rest in the water but Sodaro was almost exactly four minutes back heading towards T1.

Early exit on the bike

And things didn’t get better on the bike.

Symptomatic of her struggles came when she needed around six attempts to grab a water bottle as she – like the rest of the field – did everything they could to mitigate against the heat.

By the end of the second of eight 10km laps on the bike, Sodaro had slipped more than five minutes adrift and her retirement would come soon afterwards.

She walked off the course, led by a rules official, and writing later on Instagram she said: “A very tough day to have a very tough day. 💔 Didn’t get it right this time, but I’ll be back for more.”