They Said It: How the Top 5 Men and Top 5 Women Feel Ahead of the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship

Paula Findlay and Lucy Charles-Barclay at the pro press conference in Marbella. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

The IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship pro press conference took place in Marbella, Spain, on Thursday, with the five top athletes from both the men’s and women’s races present to discuss the upcoming race. Of the 10 athletes on the panel, six were former 70.3 world champions, including reigning champions Taylor Knibb and Jelle Geens. The athletes had a lot to say with the races just days away. The women kick off the weekend of racing on Saturday morning, followed by the men on Sunday.

Løvseth’s Chill Year

Solveig Løvseth arrived in Marbella less than a month after her incredible IRONMAN World Championship win in Kona in October. She shocked the field that day, coming from behind to take the title, and she enters Marbella with all eyes on her.

“It’s been a really weird period for me,” said Løvseth. “It’s been very fun, very overwhelming. A lot going on, a lot more attention than I’m used to.”

After Kona, Løvseth returned home to Norway, which she said is exactly what she needed in such a hectic stretch.

“It was so great to have the time at home,” she said. “Kona was just so crazy and I went back home and everything felt exactly as normal. It was rainy and it was five degrees and it was great. After that Kona heat, it was exactly what I wanted.”

Although Løvseth has spent a lot of time on the road this season, it seems like she was able to take those chill Norwegian home vibes with her as she travelled around to different races throughout the year. She said she enjoyed this season, which has “sort of been a year for [her] to try new things” — a tactic that worked out pretty well for her.

Solveig Løvseth is coming off the IRONMAN world title. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

“I don’t know why or what has changed, but I’ve just felt really good this year and felt really relaxed and chill and haven’t really felt any pressure in racing,” Løvseth said.

She said her post-Kona recovery hasn’t been perfect, but she definitely appears to be relaxed and stress-free, which could be very good news for her on Saturday (and very bad news for her competitors).

Stornes Looks to “Make it Count” in Marbella

Stornes said “it’s been hectic” in the months since his win at the IRONMAN World Championship in Nice, but, like Løvseth, he got some time at home to decompress and reset his focus ahead of Marbella. Since then he and his training partners — Kristian Blummenfelt and Gustav Iden — travelled to Sierra Nevada in Spain for an altitude camp.

“It’s been good to get into a training routine again and just grind in the mountains,” Stornes said. It was certainly necessary for him to get some solid work in over the weeks leading up to Marbella, as he said he believes “you need to run 1:06 [at the 70.3 worlds] to win.”

While he knows what it takes to win on the run, he said the hilly bike ride could be what really decides the race.

Casper Stornes won the IRONMAN World Championship in Nice in September. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

“The bike course is going to take a lot of the legs,” he said. “So you need to play it smart.”

If he can play it smart enough, he could find himself in the position to fight for another world title. Even with that in mind, he said he isn’t too stressed.

“I have a big target on my back, but I don’t feel the pressure,” he said. “I just looking forward to the race. It’s the last race of season […so I] better make it count.”

Charles-Barclay and Knibb Get Back in Action

Knibb and Lucy Charles-Barclay put on an incredible show in Kona last month. Charles-Barclay had a commanding lead on the run before the heat got to her and she had to pull out. Then Knibb was in the same position, just miles from winning the race, but her legs gave out and she fell to the road.

The two women haven’t had a lot of time to recover after that wild day in Hawaii, but both said on Thursday that they feel good and ready to race once again this weekend in Spain.

“I’m glad I’m not missing out [on this race],” Charles-Barclay said. “One thing I’ve learned over the last few years is that if I feel healthy enough to be on the start line then I’ll definitely be there.”

Lucy Charles-Barclay is keen to get back to racing after a tough day in Kona last month. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

Charles-Barclay added that, in the weeks after Kona, she and her family lost “someone really special” to them, which has given her another reason to race hard and well on Saturday.

“He was a huge fan of mine,” she said. “I feel like he will definitely be giving me some angel wings in the race and, yeah, I hope I can honour him out on the race course.”

As for Knibb, she echoed Charles-Barclay’s sentiments when it came to being able to race this weekend, but she said that being in Spain wasn’t a sure thing until recently.

“It was a very last-minute and spontaneous trip to Europe,” she said, noting that she didn’t book her flight over to Spain until last Friday. “At the end of the day, I’m grateful to be here.”

Like Charles-Barclay, Knibb couldn’t finish the race in Kona. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

Knibb will, of course, be looking to defend not one, not two, but three 70.3 world titles on Saturday. Charles-Barclay was the last woman to win the world title before Knibb hit the scene, so she will be aiming to get back to the top of that podium once more.

Findlay and Matthews Want More

Paula Findlay and Kat Matthews have a combined three second-place finishes at the 70.3 world champs. Matthews finished second in Finland in 2023 and New Zealand last year, and Findlay grabbed second place in 2022 in St. George. The two women have come so close to winning the world title, but it has eluded them (mainly because of Knibb).

Even though Findlay has had a ton of success in her career, she said she still feels she is “flying under the radar” leading into this race.

Paula Findlay is four for four in 70.3s this season. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

“I think I’m the only one on the stage that’s not a world champion,” she said, forgetting about Matthews. “I feel very proud that this far into my career I’m still in contention.”

She might be under the radar for some people, but she is certainly a threat to have a big race on Saturday, as she has entered four 70.3s this year and won each of them. Unfortunately, she has dealt with some illness and a hip injury in recent months, so she said she isn’t coming into Marbella in perfect form.

“I don’t want to sit up here and whine,” she said, “but I haven’t had the smoothest buildup.”

Matthews is fresh off another second-place finish in Kona and, although she has only had a few weeks to recover, she said she feels good and ready to race. It’s not her body that concerns her so much, she said, as it is her tactics.

“It’s going to be really hard to know when to push and when to hold back [on the bike course],” she said.

Matthews also said her mindset might throw her a bit, pointing to the IRONMAN Pro Series. She won the series in 2024, and she is currently sitting in first place, 827 points clear of Løvseth. That means she has a buffer of around six minutes over the young Norwegian, so even if she finishes well back of the lead, she can still walk away with the overall series title.

Kat Matthews has finished runner-up at the past two 70.3 world champs. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

She said this could impact her drive on the course, saying that if she isn’t having the best day, she won’t be surprised if she can’t find the motivation to charge for the win like she did in Kona if she knows that she has the Pro Series win locked down.

“I’d like to say that the Pro Series comes second, and that is the mentality that I want to start the race and finish the race with,” she said, “but how that plays out during the race and where my mind goes … I don’t know.”

Geens Looks to Defend

Geens won the 2024 70.3 world title after a stellar 1:07:34 half-marathon in Taupo, New Zealand. He carried his success into 2025, taking home 70.3 Geelong in March, winning the T100 race in Vancouver and notching four more T100 podiums to date.

He is a very real threat to win back-to-back crowns on Sunday, and he said he knows his competitors have their eyes on him. Even so, he has been able to keep things in perspective after winning the world crown last year.

“The morning after, Siena, our girl, still woke me up early,” Geens said. “So life didn’t change that much. But I guess everything around sports did change a bit.”

Jelle Geens is the defending 70.3 world champion. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

He said he “was quite unknown before” in middle-distance racing, but after his win in Taupo and his success on the T100 stage this year, he has a target on his back. In order to prepare for a hard, fast day of racing in which he will be the man to beat, Geens said he has spent the past three months in Europe (he moved to Australia last year) to train.

“We’re over the jet-lag,” he said with a laugh. “I feel like we have a really good […] system here now.”

Bogen Wants A Strong Ride

It’s no secret that Rico Bogen, the 2023 70.3 world champ, is an amazing cyclist. He often hammers the ride and hopes to hold off the best runners after T2 and, although that can sometimes end in disaster, it has worked for him in the past. With such a tough bike course in Marbella, he said Thursday that he is keen to tackle it and punish his competitors on the ride.

“I think the bike course, it’s very hard,” he said. “I’m known for my bike power, so I think I can push up the hills quite [well].”

He added that, since the course is so hilly, there shouldn’t be “so much drafting” on Sunday, which is another bonus for him, as the weaker cyclists won’t be able to benefit from as much help with bigger groups.

Rico Bogen wants to do some damage on the bike on Sunday. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

Of course, Bogen said he recognized that he will need to have a significant gap over athletes like Kristian Blummenfelt, Gustav Iden or Stornes if he wants to beat them to the line on the run, so it will be interesting to see how much time he can put between himself and the uber-runners by T2.

Iden’s Drop in Fitness

Iden may not have won the IRONMAN world title in Nice, but he said this season has been a great boost for him, as the past few years haven’t been up to the standard he set for himself after winning the 70.3 and IRONMAN world crowns.

“I felt basically, not invincible, but just like everything was going great at every race,” he said, noting that “it’s been hard” ever since Blummenfelt beat him at the 70.3 worlds in 2022. (Iden actually pulled out of the race, which was just a few weeks after Kona, on the run.)

“Nice was an amazing, kind of perfect comeback,” Iden continued. “Except for [Stornes] who ran a sub-2:30 [marathon], which messed up my plan a little bit, but other than that it’s been truly amazing to be able to come back […] even better than I was before.”

Gustav Iden says he is not in great shape coming into this race. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

While Iden has seen his form take a turn for the better this season, he said he is not feeling great heading into Sunday’s race.

“My approach for this race was to be able to perform, but to be honest, I have not been training my best or feeling my best since Nice,” he said. “I don’t see myself as a candidate to win this race, but it’s still cool to be on this stage to talk to you about how I’m not going to win.”

It is to be determined if this is the truth, if Iden is being too hard on himself, or if it’s a tactic to throw his competitors off, but one thing is sure: no matter how Iden is feeling on race day, it will be fun to see him on the course with the other top men.

Blummenfelt’s New Motivation

Blummenfelt obviously wants to win another world title on Sunday, but when asked if his third-place finish in Nice has fuelled the fire in his belly for Marbella, he said it has mainly motivated him to win next year in Kona.

“It’s something special with the full IRONMAN distance,” he said. “[The IRONMAN World Championship is] the biggest race of the year. Of course it [would be] nice to take the title potentially on Sunday, but it’s […] even more [motivation] for Hawaii next year.”

Kristian Blummenfelt wants the win in Marbella, but his main focus is already Kona 2026. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

Another big topic of conversation at the press conference was the Norwegian sweep in Nice. Everyone wanted to know if they could expect similar magic in Spain, but Blummenfelt said it wasn’t likely, taking a jab at Iden.

“He hasn’t been in the fitness he was going into Nice,” he said. “Casper can be hard to beat on Sunday, same with [Geens and Bogen], but I should have Gustav covered.”

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