IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship results: US superstar Taylor ...

Taylor Knibb completed an astonishing IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship threepeat with another fabulous performance to close out her 2024 triathlon season in Taupō, New Zealand.

The American prodigy, recently crowned T100 champion, blew the race wide open with a trademark blistering bike split and held on during the run to follow up her successes in St George (2022) and Lahti (2023).

Britain’s Kat Matthews produced another terrific performance to storm home in second, just as she had behind Laura Philipp at the IRONMAN World Championship in Nice. It also assured her of top place in the IRONMAN Pro Series standings and a fantastic $200k bonus.

Aussie superstar Ashleigh Gentle produced a trademark terrific run to surge through the field for the final podium spot, passing Swiss pair Imogen Simmonds and Julie Derron for third.

Taylor Knibb of the United States wins the 2024 IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in Taupo, New Zealand (Photo – Fiona Goodall, Getty Images for IRONMAN). Swim – Knibb poised as Perez Sala blasts off

Ace swimmer Sara Perez Sala (ESP) led the field out of the pristine waters of Lake Taupō after a speedy 24:20 split and onto the long 400m run into T1, just ahead of Lotte Wilms (NED) and Rebecca Clarke (NZL).

Hot favourite Knibb (USA), despite taking a slight wrong turn at the end of the swim, was only a few seconds back with Simmonds and Derron along with Germany’s Caroline Pohle also in close attendance. The American star had been aggressive early and clearly intended to assume control as soon as possible.

Britain’s Matthews, on the brink of closing out victory in the inaugural IRONMAN Pro Series, made an excellent start as she exited the water in 25:03, just 43 seconds back from leader Perez Sala. Gentle (AUS) was right behind her with Paula Findlay (CAN) a minute away from the lead as the field headed for their bikes.

Next up the part of the race where Knibb has destroyed so many fields in recent years, could anybody live with her on the bike this time around? We were about to find out.

Bike – Knibb takes control

Knibb wasted zero time in taking control of the race on two wheels, storming through the field to lead in the opening stages. By the time the field passed through 8km she had built a 42-second advantage over Perez Sala with Simmonds and Gentle close behind. Derron meanwhile was 57 seconds back with Matthews and Findlay just over a minute behind.

By the 20km point Knibb had extended her lead to 1:25, with Simmonds now the closest to her on course. The big mover in the early stages of the leg was Matthews, up to 3rd from 15th after the swim and right behind Imogen. Then came Findlay (1:31 back), who was also powering through the field. Derron meanwhile was at 1:49 with Gentle 1:50.

The good news at 30km was Simmonds and Matthews – who were sharing the work in second and third – were being able to at least match Knibb for now. The gap to the American had grown by only a few seconds to 1:30 overall. Findlay had lost time to fall to 2:04 back with Derron at 2:28 and Gentle 2:31.

Through 40km and approaching the halfway stage of the bike, Knibb was continuing to build her lead gradually – it was now up to 1:42 over Simmonds and 1:44 to Matthews. Findlay was continuing to leak time in fourth and now had a deficit of 2:53 to Knibb while Derron (3:02) and Gentle (3:06) were also losing valuable early seconds.

At 50km Taylor had extended her advantage beyond 2 minutes with Simmonds and Matthews still locked together as they gave vain chase to the American superstar. The other big guns in the field were all continuing to lose further time – Derron (3:38), Findlay (3:41) and Gentle (3:44) had plenty to do to remain in contention for the run. Also in that second chase group, Spanish pair Perez Sala and Marta Sanchez both picked up drafting penalties to hamper their progress.

Heading into the final third of the bike leg Taylor was continuing to build her lead by a couple of seconds every kilometre, and she now led Simmons by 2:25 and Matthews by 2:27. The second chase pack were struggling even harder to keep pace with Knibb – Derron, Findlay and Gentle were now all around 5 minutes off the lead.

Knibb proceeded to blow the race wide open between 60km and 80km as she almost doubled her lead over Simmonds and Matthews with an incredible surge. Taylor now had an advantage of 4:26 to Kat in second, while the second chase pack led by Findlay was now 7:37 away. Blistering stuff from the American star.

Taylor came into T2 looking smooth and composed as she completed a terrific 2:10:09 split, and now we waited to see what the gap was at the end of the 90km leg. The answer was 4:39 to Simmonds and 4:52 to Matthews as they arrived in transition next. The next chase group was headed by Derron – 8:06 back from Knibb – closely followed by Pohle, Hanne De Vet, Findlay and Gentle.

Right now it was very much Knibb’s race to lose – yet again – as she powered on towards that epic threepeat.

Run – Knibb holds off Matthews charge

Knibb headed out onto the half-marathon with a near 5-minute lead in her pocket, but behind her Matthews was not giving up the fight as she quickly stormed past Simmonds to claim second place on course.

Matthews was storming round the course and chipping away at Knibb’s lead, but it was unlikely to be enough with the American still looking strong and composed. Kat though did have another reason to be all business, that $200k IRONMAN Pro Series bonus staring her right in the face. Imogen meanwhile was losing time – almost 6 minutes back by the 5km mark.

Knibb’s victory charge was halted briefly at around the 10km mark as she made a toilet/Porta Potty stop, allowing Kat to further close the gap – it was down to 3:17 by the 11km mark. Still much to do for the Brit and it would take a Taylor blowup surely to alter the standings with 10km left to run.

With 8km remaining, Matthews had cut the gap to 2:58 while the battle for the final podium spot appeared to be between three athletes – Swiss pair Simmonds and Derron and Aussie superstar Gentle. Imogen was about to be caught by Julie and Ash as the heat cranked up a further notch.

Gentle continued her surge to pass Derron and Simmonds for the final podium place with just under 7km remaining, while Kat had cut the deficit to Knibb to 2:35. Taylor didn’t look like she was struggling, but Kat was putting in a storming effort in a bid to make this a race in the final stages.

Knibb’s lead was down to 2:04 with just under 3km remaining but only an epic blowup would deny her that threepeat now, and that was not happening. She duly completed her third successive victory in the race by just over a minute with the British star claiming a fantastic second, and that $200k IRONMAN Pro Series bonus. Gentle filled the final podium spot.

IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship Results

Saturday December 14, 2024 – Taupō, New Zealand

Pro Women

1. Taylor Knibb (USA) – 3:57:34 (24:30 / 2:10:09 / 1:19:20) 2. Kat Matthews (GBR) – 3:58:49 (25:03 / 2:14:41 / 1:15:34) 3. Ashleigh Gentle (AUS) – 4:03:01 (25:04 / 2:18:03 / 1:16:26) 4. Imogen Simmonds (SUI) – 4:05:12 (24:32 / 2:14:34 / 1:22:15) 5. Julie Derron (SUI) – 4:06:02 (24:39 / 2:18:15 / 1:19:38) 6. Paula Findlay (CAN) – 4:07:12 (25:20 / 2:17:37 / 1:20:31) 7. Ellie Salthouse (AUS) – 4:07:48 (25:46 / 2:18:55 / 1:19:15) 8. Caroline Pohle (GER) – 4:08:06 (24:36 / 2:18:18 / 1:21:25) 9. Tamara Jewett (CAN) – 4:08:47 (26:17 / 2:22:30 / 1:16:12) 10. Grace Thek (AUS) – 4:09:08 (25:04 / 2:20:58 / 1:19:14) Taylor Knibb, Kat Matthews and Ashleigh Gentle stand on the podium after the 2024 IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in Taupo, New Zealand (Photo – Fiona Goodall, Getty Images for IRONMAN).