For the first time in eight years there will be no Ruth Astle in Kona, with the British triathlon star forced to give up on her IRONMAN World Championship dream for 2025.
Ruth has endured an injury nightmare in the past couple of years after really surging into elite level in 2021 and 2022 with brilliant victories at IRONMAN Mallorca, IRONMAN South Africa and IRONMAN Israel. She also claimed a spectacular fifth-place finish at the delayed 2021 IRONMAN World Championship in St George in May 2022.
Since then though there have been many trials and much agony for Astle as she battles to regain full fitness and that brilliant level of performance.
In March this year she was dealt another blow when the hopes for a bright new season ended in a shattering DNF in South Africa. Afterwards she had written of the pain and emotions her journey had produced.
Fast forward just over two months and Ruth is now dealing with the grim news that while her calf issues are hopefully solved, she has a new problem – a hip injury.
No Kona for Ruth in 2025
The latest bad news has led her to make the momentous decision that a return to Kona for the 2025 IRONMAN World Championship on October 11 will not be happening.
Writing in a post on her Instagram account, Ruth wrote: “Time to replan. . . Again. . .
“Having had a great winter training, and post my South Africa hiccup actually getting consistent running and training in, it seems 2025 wants to throw more shit at me.
“One major positive is that we seem to have figured out the calves, but this time the hip seems to be throwing a spanner in the works. A large hip effusion with no obvious underlying cause has resulted in another steroid injection, more enforced rest, and a replan of the whole season again
“For the first time since 2017, I won’t be going to the Ironman World Champs. I can’t afford, emotionally or financially, to go to the island without feeling in a competitive position, and missing another month of running at this part of the season – with where the run game is going means I don’t think I can give it my best shot.”
Astle reroutes, to Wales
While that difficult decision will bring agony, and a ton of fomo, there is a silver lining for Ruth. Her competitive fire still burns bright, and she will reroute to a different 2025 challenge – one much closer to home on her swim/bike/run bucket list.
She added: “Whilst this sucks, and I will have the biggest fomo it opens up the opportunity to do an absolute bucket list race, and aim for IM Wales.
“I didn’t think I would be able to face another rehab / build back from injury, but actually the fire is still there and I have triathlon goals I want to give myself another shot at achieving.”
We hope to see Ruth back at full fitness and challenging for podiums again soon, and back in Hawaii in late 2026 when IRONMAN once again puts all of its eggs in the Kona basket.
