IRONMAN World Championship Kona 2025: Full start list unveiled for BLOCKBUSTER clash

The best full-distance women’s field of the season – and by some margin – will line up for the IRONMAN World Championship in Kona on Saturday 11th October.

Reigning champ Laura Philipp (DEU) headlines the blockbuster start list which also features two other IRONMAN World Champions, Lucy Charles-Barclay (GBR) and Chelsea Sodaro (USA).

Kat Matthews (GBR), who won the IRONMAN Pro Series last season and leads the way this year, lines up alongside the 19 top ranked athletes in those standings.

Matthews was runner-up to Philipp in the IMWC in Nice 12 months ago and the two fought out another epic battle earlier this season at IRONMAN Hamburg, with the verdict again going the German’s way.

Favourites all in top form

Philipp has had a perfect season so far – three races and three wins, including Challenge Roth in addition to that Hamburg epic.

She has raced in Kona three times before, with a third and two fourth place finishes.

And the beauty of this year’s IMWC showdown is that the three big favourites – Philipp, Matthews and Charles-Barclay, who won in Kona two years ago after a string of second places – all go into the race in prime form.

Charles-Barclay raced Spain T100 last weekend on the back of a big full-distance training block but still ran out an impressive winner and here at TRI247 we’ve been chatting to her about all things Kona and will be publishing the interview in the build up – but it’s fair to say she couldn’t be happier with her preparation.

Matthews meanwhile has two IMWC runner-up spots to her name but her only defeat this season was in Hamburg when she pushed Philipp all the way.

The other athlete on the podium in Nice last year was Sodaro, who in 2022 became the first American woman to win the IRONMAN World Championship since 1996 and her form looks to be trending nicely in the right direction this year.

Don’t rule out Taylor Knibb

But another person who has to be added to the top bracket of favourites is Taylor Knibb (USA), who secured her third IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship title on the bounce in Taupō, New Zealand last year.

This will be just her third IRONMAN triathlon – her first attempt was in Kona two years ago, where she was fourth, and her second was in April this year where she finished second in Texas behind Matthews.

Another past IRONMAN 70.3 World Champion is Holly Lawrence (GBR), who claimed the title in 2016. She qualified for Kona on her full-distance debut, just nine months after the birth of her daughter.

The astonishing Norwegian clean sweep in the men’s IMWC in Nice recently, headed by rookie Casper Stornes, could be a good omen for Solveig Løvseth (NOR) who has really made her mark at long-distance this year with a third to Philipp and Matthews in Hamburg and then a win at IRONMAN Lake Placid.

And another Kona first timer to watch out for is last year’s Olympic silver medallist Julie Derron (CHE). She was second at IRONMAN Emilia Romagna in 2022 and recently dominated IRONMAN Vitoria-Gasteiz, with a winning margin of nearly 40 minutes.

In addition to the returning 2024 IRONMAN World Championship podium, the fourth place finisher from the race in Nice, Marjolaine Pierré (FRA), is also set to start in Kona, as are the sixth to 10th place finishers. The only one to miss out is fifth-placed Nikki Bartlett.

Kona start list in full

As with all start lists, please note this is subject to change.

Those who have qualified for Kona but aren’t taking up their places are Kate Gillespie-Jones, Kylie Simpson and Sarah True.