Talking Triathlon

This week there is only one event we are talking about, Kona!

Taylor Knibb wins the women's Ironman World Championship in the most dramatic of circumstances. Solveig Løvseth led going into the final mile before collapsing on the road. Knibb went past her to take the title, Løvseth got back to her feet and walked across the line in eighth. Lucy Charles-Barclay led out of the swim but withdrew on the run. Laura Philipp took second, Julie Derron third. Knibb becomes just the third woman ever to hold both the 70.3 and full-distance world titles in the same year.

Vincent Luis wins the men's race on his Kona debut, a race he had said publicly would also be his last. He started the marathon over five minutes down on Magnus Ditlev and ran him down in the closing miles to take one of the great Kona victories. Gustav Iden charged hard and finished second, with Sam Laidlow and Kristian Blummenfelt both falling away in the heat.

Despite finishing second in Kona, Iden's consistency across the season was enough to win the overall Ironman Pro Series title. On the women's side, Laura Philipp takes the series crown.

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Andy Horsfall-Turner joins to give an update on his season and share his thoughts on the Pro Series as a professional athlete living inside the system. We talk about what it actually looks like from the inside, whether the series is working, and what needs to change.

Kona is here. The Ironman World Championship returns to the Big Island with both the men's and women's races on the same day for the first time since 2019, and the fields are stacked. We go through who we think can win, who the conditions will suit, and what a race without defending champion Casper Stornes means for the men's title.

The women's race features defending champion Solveig Løvseth, Lucy Charles-Barclay, Chelsea Sodaro, Laura Philipp, Kat Matthews and Taylor Knibb among others. We break down the contenders and pick our winners.

The men's line-up brings together Gustav Iden, Kristian Blummenfelt, Patrick Lange and Sam Laidlow, with Stornes absent after his training crash on the island last week. We run through the field and ask who steps up to fill the void.

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Jan Frodeno took on the Berlin Marathon and ran 2:23:33, beating his target of 2:25 with a faster second half. We talk about what it means for Frodo to still be pushing himself in new ways post-retirement from triathlon.

Reigning Ironman World Champion Casper Stornes is out of Kona after a training crash on the Big Island. A gust of wind caught his front wheel and sent him over the handlebars, leaving him with a broken collarbone and a fracture to his L3. A devastating blow just days out from a title defence on the very island he came to conquer.

Kona is on October 10 and the start lists are stacked. Seven former world champions are heading to the Big Island, with both the men's and women's races wide open following Stornes' withdrawal. We run through who looks dangerous and who the race suits.

Cassandre Beaugrand was in a class of her own at the WTCS Grand Final in Pontevedra, winning the race and completing five wins from five series starts in 2026 to claim a second world title. Georgia Taylor-Brown was second and Kate Waugh third.

The men's race went down to the wire. Matthew Hauser took the win in a sprint finish, with Vasco Vilaca crossing the line second and in doing so claiming the overall world title. Alex Yee finished third, just four seconds off the winner.

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Taylor Knibb swapped her tri suit for a skinsuit in Montreal, taking on the UCI Road World Championships time trial and finishing 13th against a full field of professional cyclists. We dig into what that result actually tells us about her ability on the bike.

Venice Beach has been confirmed as the venue for the LA28 Olympic triathlon, and the course has already divided opinion. Sand on the bike path is raising eyebrows, but the real talking point is how much the design suits the runners. With Cassandre Beaugrand already an Olympic champion and virtually unbeatable when the run is what matters, the course couldn't have set things up better for her to do it again.

Hayden Wilde won T100 French Riviera, backing up his 70.3 World Championship title just days later and beating Jelle Geens and Kyle Smith in the process.

Pontevedra hosts the WTCS Grand Final this weekend and there is still everything to race for. Beaugrand needs a podium to wrap up the women's world title, while Vasco Vilaca leads the men's standings going into the final showdown.

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Sam Laidlow wins Challenge Samarkand despite a mid-race nutrition crisis that forced him to walk, eventually holding on to win over Emil Holm. Natalie van Coevorden takes the women's race despite being ill all week.

WTCS Karlovy Vary produced a thrilling finale to the regular season on a wet and treacherous course. Dorian Coninx held off an astonishing late charge from Alex Yee, who overturned a two-minute deficit before running out of road, losing by just ten seconds. Georgia Taylor-Brown ended a three-year wait for a WTCS win in an emotional women's race.

Nikki Bartlett wins Ironman Wales for the second time, with Henrik Goesch taking a first full-distance victory in the men's race.

T100 French Riviera is coming up this weekend, with Hayden Wilde heading straight back into action after Nice, joined by Jelle Geens, Lasse Nygaard Priester and Rico Bogen in what looks like a strong field.

Taylor Knibb wins a fourth 70.3 World Championship title in Nice in dominant fashion, setting a new bike course record and finishing well clear of Julie Derron and Alanis Siffert.

Hayden Wilde won his first 70.3 World Championship, with Kristian Blummenfelt producing what is believed to be the fastest ever half-marathon split in 70.3 history to take second just 18 seconds back, and Jelle Geens completing the podium.

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Joe Skipper receives an 18-month suspension for three whereabouts filing failures, with his results disqualified back to May 2025.

Jonny Brownlee has retired from professional triathlon, announcing it at the Supertri Final in Jersey after injury prevented him from taking the start line one last time. He goes out as a triple Olympic medallist and one of the most beloved figures the sport has produced.

Salomon has been announced as the new title sponsor of the Ironman World Championship in a five-year global partnership, with the deal taking full effect from 2027.

The 2027 Ironman Pro Series calendar has been revealed, featuring seven new races, equal men's and women's programmes at every race weekend, and $1.7 million in bonuses. New venues include Leipzig, Lanzarote, Valencia and Muscat.

At the Supertri Grand Final in Jersey, Beaugrand made it an unbeaten season with another dominant win, while Hauser took the men's title with Alex Yee suffering a cruel exit from the race.

WTCS Karlovy Vary is this weekend, the last regular season race before the World Championship Final in Pontevedra on September 27, and we look at the start lists and what's at stake in the standings.

We close with a full preview of the 70.3 World Championships in Nice, with Geens chasing history, Wilde under pressure, and a wide-open women's race with Charles-Barclay absent.

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Sam Appleton announces his retirement after 13 years and 20 career victories, with one or two bucket list races still to come before he calls it a day for good.

Taylor Knibb is adding the UCI Road World Championships time trial in Montreal to an already extraordinary month, racing the 70.3 World Championships in Nice first before flying straight to Canada just eight days later.

Jan Frodeno has won his age group at the UTMB OCC, the 55km trail race in the Alps, dominating the 45-49 category by nearly 25 minutes. The man cannot stop winning regardless of what sport he turns up to.

Lucy Charles-Barclay has made the difficult decision to skip her defence of the 70.3 World Championship title, going all-in on Kona instead. It makes her the first reigning champion to miss the race in 15 years, and we discuss what it means for the women's race in Nice.

At WTCS Weihai, Beaugrand makes it four wins from four this season while Max Studer defends his title in the men's race, with Tyler Mislawchuk completing the podium.

Ironman 70.3 Zell am See serves as the final Pro Series race before Nice, with Laura Philipp winning the women's race for the fourth time and Lasse Nygaard Priester breaking the course record to beat Jelle Geens in the men's race, a significant result just days out from worlds.

The Supertri Grand Final in Jersey is coming up, with Yee, Wilde and Hauser all confirmed for an $800,000 showdown. We look at what to expect from the first meeting of Yee and Wilde in 2026.

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Ruth Astle has been diagnosed with Hashimoto's disease, an autoimmune condition that attacks the thyroid, after years of searching for answers through countless tests and specialist appointments. It's a significant moment for an athlete who has spent too long being told everything looked normal.

Jelle Geens has shelved his Kona ambitions to chase an unprecedented third consecutive 70.3 World Championship title in Nice, something no man has ever done. We discuss what that decision means and whether he can do it.

Ironman Leeds had its swim cancelled due to a blue-green algae bloom in Waterloo Lake, with athletes racing a duathlon instead. It's the latest in a growing pattern of swim cancellations driven by extreme heat.

Cassandre Beaugrand continues to rewrite what a triathlete can be. We look at her new approach since relocating to Girona, how competitive athletics is feeding back into her triathlon, and what it means for her dominance heading into the rest of the season.

At Ironman 70.3 Northern California, the Long versus Sanders rivalry took another twist as both were beaten by Jason West, with Grace Alexander dominant in the women's race.

Laura Philipp sends an ominous Kona warning with a course record at Ironman Kalmar, while Jonas Schomburg takes a dominant men's win in his first ever Ironman victory, completing the Kona qualification picture.

Julie Derron returns to winning ways at T100 Vancouver, chasing down Kate Waugh to take the victory, with Georgia Taylor-Brown third and Paula Findlay fourth.

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We look at Mika Noodt's recovery from his crash at Ironman 70.3 Swansea, where he hit an ambulance while leading with 10km to go, and what the journey back to racing has looked like since.

Hayden Wilde has been announced for the Supertri Pro Series Final in Jersey, setting up a reunion with Alex Yee and Matt Hauser. We dig into whether the grand final concept actually works, if Yee versus Wilde is still a storyline anyone cares about in 2026, and what Supertri needs to do to make it matter.

Ironman 70.3 Northern California features a mouth-watering head-to-head between Sam Long and Lionel Sanders, who makes his return from injury, with both men bringing serious form into the race.

Ironman Kalmar rounds out the Kona qualification picture, completing the women's Pro field for October's World Championship, with Katrine Christensen defending and Laura Philipp among the key names.

T100 Vancouver rounds out the week, with Alanis Siffert, Georgia Taylor-Brown, Paula Findlay and Kate Waugh among the headline names.

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Harry Palmer has ended his season early with a stress reaction, unfortunate news after a brilliant run of form through the summer.

World Triathlon has submitted a formal bid for triathlon to return to the Commonwealth Games at Amdavad 2030.

Alanis Siffert wins the Alpe d'Huez Triathlon for the third consecutive year, an extraordinary hat trick on one of the hardest courses in the sport. She had a notable issue in T2 that could have cost her, but pulled away to win regardless.

Alistair Brownlee finished second at Norseman, making defending champion Kristian Grue work hard for his title. He's no longer competing as a professional but it's great to see one of the all-time greats taking on a race like this.

Looking ahead to the 70.3 World Championships in Nice, the women's field is stacked, with Lucy Charles-Barclay, Taylor Knibb, Solveig Løvseth, Laura Philipp and Kat Matthews all lining up. On the men's side, the spotlight is on Hayden Wilde as world number one and the pressure is on him to deliver, alongside Geens, Van Riel, Stornes, Blummenfelt and Iden.

Ironman Kalmar is also on the radar, offering the final women's Kona qualification slots ahead of October's World Championship.

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Tilly article: https://www.triathlete.com/culture/news/how-tilly-offord-survived-a-near-fatal-crash-and-found-her-way-back-to-triathlon/