The women’s professional start list for the 2026 IRONMAN World Championship is confirmed, and defending champion Solveig Løvseth of Norway will wear bib F1 in Kailua-Kona.
Løvseth won her first IRONMAN World Championship in 2025 in 8:28:27. In 2026 she won IRONMAN Texas and the IRONMAN Hamburg European Championship.
The next bibs go to Kat Matthews and Laura Philipp. Matthews, a two-time IRONMAN Pro Series champion, was runner-up in Kona last year and ran a marathon more than eight minutes faster than any other athlete. She also won IRONMAN New Zealand, IRONMAN 70.3 Geelong and IRONMAN 70.3 Elsinore in 2026. Philipp, the 2024 champion, took third last year for a third consecutive IRONMAN World Championship podium and won IRONMAN Kalmar with a new course-best time.
Lucy Charles-Barclay and Taylor Knibb both retired late in the 2025 IRONMAN World Championship. Charles-Barclay won the 2025 IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in Marbella, and Knibb finished second there.
Two first-timers are also on the list. Paula Findlay won IRONMAN Lake Placid in her first IRONMAN start and has 14 IRONMAN 70.3 wins. Julie Derron, the Paris 2024 Olympic silver medalist, qualified by winning IRONMAN Switzerland.
Hannah Berry and Lisa Perterer return after finishing fourth and fifth at Kona last year. Berry’s result was the best by a New Zealand woman at the IRONMAN World Championship since 2007, and Perterer was in her first championship appearance.
Chelsea Sodaro, the 2022 IRONMAN World Champion, is also listed after retiring from last year’s race.
Kona is the final event of the 2026 IRONMAN Pro Series season, with a maximum of 6,000 points for the winner and the season title still to be decided.
The race covers a 2.4-mile swim in Kailua Bay, the 112-mile bike course through Hawi and the lava fields of Queen Kaahumanu Highway, and a 26.2-mile marathon finishing on Alii Drive. Live coverage will be free on IRONMAN Pro Series channels and YouTube.
Source: ironman.com
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