Norwegian Solveig Løvseth is the new Ironman world champion. She won a crazy heat battle in Hawaii. Defending champion Laura Philipp came third.
The new Ironman world champion is called Solveig Løvseth. The Norwegian won the most important triathlon in the world on Sunday night in 8:28:27 hours ahead of Kat Matthews from Great Britain. In a dramatic race with many leadership changes, the decision was only made at the end of the marathon. For Laura Philipp it was not enough to defend her title, mainly due to a weak cycling race. She ended up in third place.
Botched bike race for Philipp
The 38-year-old Philipp started the World Championships with a solid swim and came out of the water 6:27 minutes behind after 3.86 kilometers in the partly stormy Pacific. Lucy Charles-Barclay was in the lead, having shown from the start why the first section is her favorite discipline. The other favorites Taylor Knibb (+1:37) and Matthews (+6:19) as well as the eventual winner Løvseth (+4:44) also stayed within the expected range.
But what happened next on the 180 kilometers of cycling through the lava desert of the Big Island was no longer according to the planned script. The actually strong cyclist Philipp couldn’t get any closer and instead lost time kilometer by kilometer to the leaders Knibb and Charles-Barclay. After the British 2023 world champion had to go to the penalty tent for a minute because of a lost bottle, Knibb went into the final marathon alone in the lead. Løvseth was still 5:44 minutes behind. Philipp’s distance at this point: more than 14 minutes.
Drama after drama at the marathon
And so for the Heidelberg native, the dream of defending her title was actually over even before her strongest discipline. The goal now had to be the podium – and the 38-year-old started the marathon quickly together with Matthews. But after just a few kilometers she had to let her opponent go. “It was the hardest day I’ve ever done. I actually really enjoyed swimming. But after that it just got harder, harder, harder. It was super hot. I’m glad I did my thing,” said Philipp after the race. She meant that especially with a view to the future.
Because at the top the World Cup got really crazy on the running track. At first Charles-Barclay came out trumps, passed Knibb and looked like the sure winner. But suddenly the Brit collapsed, had to let Knibb overtake her again and took more and more breaks from running. Finally, after about 25 kilometers of marathon, she gave up in tears.
Knibb took the lead, ran confidently for a long time and then fell another victim of the brutal heat just three kilometers from the end. At an aid station she began to stagger, sat on the ground and gave up. Hawaii debutant Løvseth overtook her, but the Hawaii drama race was still not over. Because Matthews stormed up from behind and almost intercepted the Norwegian Hawaii debutante thanks to a new marathon record in Hawaii. In the end, Løvseth saved the finish line by 35 seconds. Philipp ended up in third place, finishing nine minutes behind. Leonie Konczalla came ninth as the second best German.