The 2025 Women’s Ironman World Championship turned from a test of endurance into a battle of attrition that ultimately went to rookie Solveig Løvseth of Norway – competing for the first time in Kailua-Kona and ending up the last woman standing at the end of a brutal day, which claimed more than one prominent victim.
Løvseth captured the title in her first-ever attempt, defeating Kat Matthews of Great Britain by just 35 seconds in the third-closest world championship finish in the sport’s history – men or women.
“It still feels weird,” Løvseth said during the post-race press conference, noting that she hadn’t stopped smiling since crossing the finish line roughly three hours before.
But the story of the day was less about the 8:28:27 time Løvseth posted (55:40 swim, 4:31:54 bike, 2:55:47 run splits), and more about her ability to cross the finish line at all. That was because two competitors who were swimming, cycling and running ahead of her for most of the day succumbed to the rigorous conditions on Hawai‘i Island and failed to complete the full course.
Lucy Charles-Barclay of Great Britain, the 2023 champion, built a 90-second lead after the ocean leg and held a first-place margin of some type for much of the bike ride up and back down the Kohala Coast. However, an unintentional littering infraction cost her a one-minute penalty, during which American Taylor Knibb grabbed the advantage.
Charles-Barclay clawed through the remainder of the ride and the early portion of the marathon to catch up to Knibb and eventually recapture the lead. But signs of potential overexertion began to show roughly halfway through the run, as Charles-Barclay took to walking through multiple aid stations and appeared unstable on her feet. A little more than halfway through the marathon, her husband met her on the course and convinced her to resign from the competition.
At that point, Knibb had retaken first place and built a lead of over two minutes. But with approximately two miles to go, she also slowed down, eventually stopped and took a seat on the asphalt — her day over, as she was unable to continue.
“I actually saw both of them stopping in front of me, with Lucy first. And obviously, it’s heartbreaking to see someone collapse that way,” Løvseth said. “When I also saw Taylor stop running in front of me, I was just like, ‘What is going on now? Is it me that just, like, has some powers now?’”
“It was like not the way I wanted to overtake people,” she continued. “At the same time, I was just like, ‘I’m in the lead now.’”
But Løvseth’s advantage wasn’t safe, despite how long she spent running alone on the marathon course — no one close on her heels and the island claiming the two competitors in front of her one by one.
And as the race neared its end, Matthews began to close the gap.
“It was maybe at sort of six or seven [kilometers], [my race adviser] was like, ‘You’re gonna finish about 90 seconds behind Solveig, if you could try a bit harder,’” Matthews said during the press conference to a chorus of laughs.
Matthews ended up clocking the fastest marathon split in the history of the Kailua-Kona track, logging a time of 2:47:23 over the 26.2-mile gallop. And she found an even stronger pace as the finish line approached, and victory appeared potentially within reach.
“The last two-kilometer pace probably suggested I had more to give,” Matthews said, “but I definitely feel that was my best triathlon performance I could give today.”
Løvseth admitted after the race that if there were but a few more kilometers to run, Matthews likely would have caught her. Instead, Matthews finished in second place at an Ironman World Championship for the third time in her storied career.
Given how close Matthews came to catching Løvseth, and how the elements brought down Charles-Barclay and Knibb in front of the eventual winner, the 2025 Women’s Ironman World Champion could sum up the day with only one word: “supernatural.”
Final results/top five:
1. Solveig Løvseth (Norway) / 8:28:27
2. Kat Matthews (Great Britain) / 8:29:02
3. Laura Philipp (Germany) / 8:37:28
4. Hannah Berry (New Zealand) / 8:46:25
5. Lisa Perterer (Austria) / 8:48:08
