Kat Matthews made it two IRONMAN Pro Series wins from as many races as she followed up her opening victory in New Zealand with a commanding display in the 70.3 at Geelong.
Never out of the picture, she impressed in the swim, took charge on the bike and then powered through on the run in a performance which left the majority of her rivals struggling in her wake.
The reigning Pro Series champion already looks in the type of form which would not only make her favourite to retain that title but also finally see her win one of the world championships that have so cruelly eluded her in an otherwise incredible career.
Just as Blummenfelt’s display earlier in winning the men’s race had laid down a marker, so too did this win from Matthews as she sets out on a 2026 campaign that already promises so much in the way of success.
Here’s how the race played out…
Swim – Green looking good in the swim
Britain’s Sophia Green made a stunning start to the swim as she took advantage of the clear, calm conditions to build a healthy early lead over the women’s field in Corio Bay.
Sian Munks (AUS) and Matthews were among those in the chasing pack, along with Gabrielle Lumkes (USA), Grace Thek (AUS), Milan Agnew (AUS), and Charlotte McShane (AUS).
Green was clear by more than 40 seconds when she came out of the water in a time of 23:13 and entered T1 as the clear leader.
There was a moment of concern when Britain’s Steph Clutterbuck, exiting second, seemed to be struggling with dizziness issues and was seen grabbing the crowd barriers to steady herself. She then walked into T1, instead of running.
Clutterbuck has spoken of her battles with POTS disease – Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome – which is a chronic disorder of the autonomic nervous system causing a rapid heart rate and lightheadedness upon standing.
After taking some time to recover, she seemed to make a full recovery and was soon in the saddle as she joined Matthews, Munks, Lumkes, Agnew, Thek and Slater in setting off to chase down Green.
Bike – Matthews makes her decisive move
Green set off with a lead of 1:14 over Matthews, but the Pro Series champion was quickly into her rhythm and hit the front after 25km of the leg – it was a lead that she was never really in any trouble of losing.
Rather than falling away, Green clung on to the real wheel of Matthews, and they maintained a steady pace in front of a chasing pack that included Slater (+1:19), Clutterbuck (+1:22) and Agnew (+1:24), with Lumkes and Thek not far behind.
Indeed, by the halfway point, both Lumkes and Thek had worked their way to the head of that group, which had fallen to a full two minutes off the pace of the leaders.
That gap grew to more than three minutes with 28km to go as Matthews’s pace, in particular, made it tough for the field to stay within touching distance.
Even Green, who had done so well to stick with her fellow Brit, was now starting to tail off as Matthews built a commanding lead and went into T2 looking comfortable with a full 2:20 gap between her and the chasing pack.
Matthews recorded a bike time of 2:14:09, while Green clocked 2:17:45, Thek 2:18:17, Slater 2:18:26, and Clutterbuck 2:18:47.
The race was now very much in the hands of Matthews.
Run – Thek pushes hard, but it’s not enough
While the men’s race had earlier witnessed a dramatic come-from-behind victory by Kristian Blummenfelt, there was never any real danger of that happening in the women’s field – although not for a lack of trying from Thek.
From the moment Matthews left T2, she looked in complete control, and it seemed the only issue left to resolve was who would be joining her on the podium, as the pack started to thin out behind her.
Green, clearly tiring after her exploits in the swim and on the bike, had dropped to more than three minutes behind the leader with 16km still to race, while Thek had moved up into third and was looking menacingly quick.
It was no surprise that by the time they had hit the 10km mark, Thek had overhauled Green and become the only serious threat to breaking the dominance of Matthews.
Green continued to drop down the field as Thek started to eat into the three minutes that she needed to make up on the leader – a deficit that she had whittled down to under a minute at the 18km mark and just 36 seconds by the time they eventually crossed the line.
Matthews, having done enough on the bike and in the early stages of the run, completed her second Pro Series win of the season, following on from her successful opening at IRONMAN New Zealand just two weeks ago.
With the pace clearly too hot for many of the field to handle, the majority of those who had been chasing Matthews fell away, leaving Canada’s Tamara Jewett – who was a distant six minutes behind at one point on the bike – to steal what had looked an unlikely podium spot.
Green, who had impressed for so long, ended up in ninth.
IRONMAN 70.3 Geelong women’s results
| Position | Athlete | Swim | Bike | Run | Overall | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kat Matthews | 00:24:43 | 02:14:09 | 01:22:29 | 04:06:15 | 2500 |
| 2 | Grace Thek | 00:24:48 | 02:18:17 | 01:19:01 | 04:06:51 | 2464 |
| 3 | Tamara Jewett | 00:26:12 | 02:24:22 | 01:19:55 | 04:15:27 | 1948 |
| 4 | Penny Slater | 00:24:53 | 02:18:26 | 01:28:09 | 04:16:36 | 1879 |
| 5 | Skye Wallace | 00:26:20 | 02:21:32 | 01:25:18 | 04:17:57 | 1798 |
| 6 | Gabrielle Lumkes | 00:24:46 | 02:18:41 | 01:29:19 | 04:17:59 | 1796 |
| 7 | Alexia Bailly | 00:26:13 | 02:23:12 | 01:26:00 | 04:20:06 | 1669 |
| 8 | Charlotte McShane | 00:24:48 | 02:27:37 | 01:24:19 | 04:21:41 | 1574 |
| 9 | Sophia Green | 00:23:13 | 02:17:45 | 01:37:17 | 04:23:41 | 1454 |
| 10 | Laura Gillard | 00:26:07 | 02:30:07 | 01:23:39 | 04:24:32 | 1403 |
