Laura Philipp wins IM World Championship

For the first time since 2013, the IRONMAN World Championship Women’s Race did not include either Daniela Ryf or Anne Haug on the podium. Ryf retired from the sport earlier this season. Haug, who had been on every World Championship podium since 2018, had a mechanical shortly after coming out of T1 today. That, unfortunately, ended her day early. Defending champion Lucy Charles-Barclay was forced to pull out of the race on Saturday with a grade 1c muscle strain. With some big names taken out of the race, opportunity came knocking for the other top contenders. Germany’s Laura Philipp and Great Britain’s Kat Matthews took control of the race on the bike. They created a gap on the rest of the field and took turns at the front. They changed positions multiple times in the last few kilometers and came into T2 together. Matthews set a furious pace through transition, with Philipp closely following. Matthews got onto the run course first and gapped Philipp by about 100m. Both women set off at a furious pace, that was not going to be sustainable but would eventually separate the two.

Philipp pulled even with Matthews and the two would run stride for stride until the 7 mile mark. At that point, Philipp moved in front and would stay there until the finish line. Philipp is one of the best triathletes on the planet but wins at the biggest races in our sport have eluded her until today. Her best previous finish at the IRONMAN World Championship was 3rd last year. She has been 2nd at Challenge Roth and has made the podium at a T100 race. This is a big breakthrough for her. Matthews had had better run splits than her in their previous three head to head match-ups. Today, it was Philipp who ran 2:44:59 to Matthews’ 2:53:06. Philipp won by just over 8 minutes. She broke down her incredible day, “It was really one of those days. It was super tough. I have no idea about my swim time but I think it wasn’t too bad. I saw that I came out with Anne (Haug) so I thought okay this is not too bad. She was my clear favorite for this race course. So I thought okay from now, let’s just push the bike as hard as possible. And I definitely overdid it a little bit but I really wanted to catch the girls in the front and once I caught up with Kat and Marjolaine in the front I couldn’t get rid of them and then it was a bit of cat and mouse with Kat. So something I already got used to over some races in the past. And then yeah coming off the bike with her, yeah, I felt like okay this is going to be tough but, yeah, I just tried to believe that I could actually do it.” 

How the Race Unfolded:

Without Lucy Charles-Barclay to push the swim and with wetsuit legal water temperatures, ten women swam within 30 seconds of the lead. Fenella Langridge came out of the water first in 49:13. Marta Sanchez, Rebecca Clarke, Lauren Brandon, Lotte Wilms, Hannah Berry, and Rachel Zilinskas followed closely. Kat Matthews was just 30 seconds behind, grouped with Marjolaine Pierre and Chelsea Sodaro. India Lee came out 3:04 down. Maja Stage-Nielsen, Anne Haug, Julie Derron, and Laura Philipp came out next about 4 minutes from the lead. Jackie Hering and Alice Alberts were 6 minutes back. Ruth Astle and Penny Slater were more than 7 minutes back. Els Visser was almost 10 minutes down and Danielle Lewis 12.

With a large lead group heading onto the bike together, the neutral support car went with that group. Anne Haug heard a big bang about 200m out of T1 and needed help to fix a puncture. The support car was 5k down the road and Haug waited more than 25 minutes for help to come. By that point, she knew her day was over so she called it. This was a tough way to watch her World Championship podium streak come to an end. She did seem to be in good spirits, having no control over today’s outcome. Pierre was the first to make a big move on the bike. The Frenchwoman lives close to the bike course and built a nearly 3 minute lead. Matthews led the chase group. Zilinkas crashed out of the race and broke her collarbone. Matthews put in a big effort up Col de l’Ecre. Around that point, Philipp had biked through most of the field and was closing in on Matthews. Philipp made the catch and the two began to work together. They reeled in Pierre and continued to put time into the rest of the field. Around 89 miles, Philipp looked like she was going to drop Matthews on the descent. Matthews hung strong and the two would trade leads multiple times in the closing stages of the bike leg. 

Matthews and Philipp came into T2 together, with Philipp clocking the fastest bike split of the two in 5:02:25. Matthews set off at a fast tempo through transition, with Philipp right with her. Matthews would get onto the run first, with Philipp 100m back. Pierre came off of the bike next and then Sodaro after her. By 5k, Philipp had erased the gap and they were back to running together. Commentators had said that they were running 3:30 per kilometer pace. At an aid station near the 10k mark, Matthews took two cups from a volunteer and Philipp was left without another volunteer to help her. It was not an intentional move from Matthews. Aid stations are not always ready when the first elite athletes roll through. It seemed to get under Philipp’s skin a bit and she soon after put in a little bit of a surge. That move proved to be enough to decide the race. On paper, Matthews has been the stronger runner but today was going to be Laura Philipp’s day. Philipp broke 2:45 for the marathon on a day where temperatures settled in the seventies (Farenheit) with a 60 degree dew point. She would put 8 minutes on Matthews and comfortably take the win. This is the first major victory for Laura Philipp, having previously been on the podium at several high profile races but never on top step. Matthews had to walk aid stations in the back half of the marathon but hung on for second. Sodaro ran into 3rd but could not make up any more ground from there, showing how much this bike course can take away from strong runners. Pierre earned a strong 4th place finish and Nikki Bartlett was 5th.

2024 IRONMAN World Championships – Women’s Top-15

1. Laura Philipp 8:45:15

2. Kat Matthews 8:53:20 (+8:04)

3. Chelsea Sodaro 9:04:38 (+19:23)

4. Marjolaine Pierre 9:09:34 (+24:19)

5. Nikki Bartlett 9:15:47 (+30:31)

6. Marta Sanchez 9:19:08 (+33:53)

7. Penny Slater 9:21:47 (+36:31)

8. Lotte Wilms 9:23:28 (+38:12)

9. Jackie Hering 9:25:09 (+39:53)

10. Hannah Berry 9:32:13 (+46:57)

11. Danielle Lewis 9:33:50 (+48:35)

12. Jeanne Collonge 9:34:42 (+49:26)

13. Maja Stage Nielsen 9:36:34 (+51:19)

14. Merle Brunnee 9:38:58 (+53:43)

15. Gurutze Frades Larralde 9:41:01 (+55:45)

Quick Take #1: It feels like women’s triathlon is having a changing of the guard moment, similar to what has happened in men’s tennis over the last few years with some of the bigger players on the tour reaching the end of their careers. It has been more than a decade since a World Championship podium did not feature Anne Haug or Daniela Ryf. Laura Philipp has officially arrived and rising stars will continue to emerge over the next few years.

Quick Take #2: Laura Philipp 100% earned this win. People will say that Lucy Charles-Barclay did not start, that Anne Haug did not finish, and that Taylor Knibb was not at this race. They will be right but the reality is that we do not know how any of them would have finished in today’s race. We do know that Philipp put together a career defining performance. She rode 5:02 to Lucy’s (admittedly unchallenged) 5:16 on this course in June. She broke 2:45 for the marathon on a warm and humid day. That put 8 minutes between her and 2nd place. Kat Matthews typically gets the better of her on the run and that did not happen today. Further, 2022 World Champion Chelsea Sodaro was not able to gain on her on the run.

Quick Take #3: I am a big fan of the IRONMAN Pro Series and the T100. I am not, however, in love with IRONMAN making top finishers validate. I do not know how popular this opinion will be but these events are brutal. It is very possible that Charles-Barclay would have been on the start line if she did not have to do 140.6 Nice in June. On the flip side, it is also very possible that she would have been healthy if she was not trying to balance T100 events and focused on the biggest race of the year. IRONMAN benefits from getting athletes to race their biggest races. There is no real incentive for them to change their policy but I would think they would have wanted a healthy Charles-Barclay on this start line. After the Sam Laidlow validation controversy, we will see in future years if anybody tries to utilize the wildcard policy IRONMAN has at its disposal. I wonder how they would have reacted if Charles-Barclay did not race Nice but said she wanted to race at the World Championships.

Quick Take #4: The first women’s World Championship in Nice looked like a success from the outside. The allure of Kona is probably something that IRONMAN wants to live without but I liken that to the way people think about the Boston Marathon. It would be hard to just stick that marathon in a different city. The issue, however, is that Kona cannot accommodate full field sizes and that that actually should matter to a lot of Kona purists. Many amateurs strive for a World Championship qualifier. Many would not like it if qualifying was cut significantly to keep the World Championships in one location. Kona would not accommodate a two day format, or even two single day races spaced weeks apart. There is going to be plenty of discussion on what should happen moving forward. Today’s race was great, even if you would have liked it to take place elsewhere.

Photos: Slowtwitch

Tags: