They Said It: the Pro Women Are Ready for a Fast Day in Kona

Laura Philipp enters the pre-race press conference in Kona on Thursday. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

The pro women took to the stage in Kona on Thursday for the pre-race press conference, with eight top athletes featured. The IRONMAN World Championship is less than 48 hours away, and the women are keen to hit the waters of Kailua Bay and get the race started. Each of the eight women on the panel were given time to chat and answer questions, so we’ve got insights from all of them ahead of the big day in Hawaii.

Solveig Løvseth’s IRONMAN Worlds Debut

Norway’s Solveig Løvseth burst onto the IRONMAN scene this season. She hasn’t missed a podium in 2025, finishing third at both the IRONMAN European Championship (the first full-distance race of her career) in Hamburg and 70.3 Zell am See-Kaprun. She took the top of the podium at 70.3 Venice-Jesolo and IRONMAN Lake Placid. All of these results have led to her second-place ranking in the IRONMAN Pro Series.

She was asked about her standout season as an IRONMAN rookie, and she said a big key to her success is simply that she loves to train and race.

“This year for me has just been about doing something new,” Løvseth said. “Last year was all about the Olympics for me. After that, it was fun to do something else.”

Solveig Løvseth speaks at the press conference. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

She continued, noting that she is just trying to have fun with this new pursuit at the longer distances.

“If I don’t enjoy it anymore, I’ll stop doing it,” she said. “It’s that simple.”

When asked if she expects to add another podium result to her 2025 campaign here in Kona, she gave a shrug and said this year is all about “getting everything” out of herself on race day.

“I think I have the possibility to do well, but at the same time, I don’t really think I know that until I’ve tried the course and tried the conditions,” she said. “I think it could go either way.”

Jackie Hering’s Return to Kona

American Jackie Hering’s last race on the Big Island came 11 years ago, which she said “feels like a whole lifetime” ago. She said that coming back to Kona and getting the chance to race here again is a fun and exciting opportunity.

“It’s been a great year,” Hering said. “I’m glad to be here healthy and with the family and just enjoying being part of all the hype.”

With wins at IRONMAN Cairns and 70.3 Louisville, along with several other podiums at big events this year, Hering currently sits in fourth place in the IRONMAN Pro Series. She said she credits consistency to her strong results this year.

Jackie Hering is excited to be back racing on the Big Island. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

“I don’t do anything epic,” she said. “I just show up every day.”

For some added fun, it’s Hering’s birthday on Saturday. While she joked that her husband keeps trying to make plans to celebrate, she said she is 100 percent focused on her race.

Taylor Knibb Wants the “Best Race Possible”

Taylor Knibb has raced in Kona once before, back in 2023 when she placed fourth. She returns to the Big Island as one of the favourites to take home the win, but she said on Thursday that while she of course hopes to become IRONMAN world champion, that isn’t the only way she’ll leave Hawaii happy.

“[My goal is] to have the best race possible,” she said. “You see this field, I don’t know anyone who could predict [what’ll happen], but we’ll see what happens on the day.”

Knibb said she is looking to get the most out of herself on Saturday, but when it comes to reaching one’s potential, she said it’s not something that can be forecast.

Taylor Knibb is looking to do the best for herself on Saturday. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

“You can’t know that answer until you’re in the moment and out there on the race course, and that’s why it’s fun,” she said. “With Kona you just don’t know what you’re going to get.”

Lucy Charles-Barclay’s ‘Sense of Calm’

Lucy Charles-Barclay won her first world title in Kona back in 2015, when she came to the Big Island as an age grouper. Since then, she has had multiple big days in Kona, with four second-place finishes and an IRONMAN world title in 2023. With so much experience here, she said it “feels like coming home” whenever she comes back to Kona.

“I feel this weird sense of calm when I land here,” Charles-Barclay said. On that note of being calm, she said she doesn’t feel too much pressure returning to the Big Island after finally winning the world championship in 2023.

“I think when you’ve been second four times, that weight on your shoulders grows and grows and grows and I definitely feel like, ‘Oh, I’ve done it now,'” she said. “I feel free of that and I don’t have to have that tie to second place anymore.”

Lucy Charles-Barclay is the last woman to win in Kona. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

That being said, she added that “there’s still a lot of me that knows I can do better than I did in 2023,” so she is of course still driven to reach her best.

“Anything can happen on this island,” she said. “You need to have your best day, you need the island gods on your side, you need to be lucky. I’m really excited to test myself with these amazing women.”

Marjolaine Pierré Looks for Another Strong Result

After a fourth-place finish in Nice at last year’s IRONMAN world champs, France’s Marjolaine Pierré has arrived in Kona in a bit of the spotlight. She has two wins this year, taking the 70.3 Pays d’Aix title in May and the World Triathlon Long Distance Championships crown in June. A couple of weeks after her world champs win, she finished third at IRONMAN Vitoria-Gasteiz.

Pierré grew up on Réunion Island, a small French territory in the Indian Ocean. She said it reminds her of Hawaii, adding that “you need to race with the island” and work with the conditions presented on race day.

Marjolaine Pierré put herself on everyone’s radar after a top-five finish in Nice last year. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

Pierré trains closely with Charles-Barclay. She said she spent a lot of time with the 2023 world champion in the build to Kona, and she is feeling confident that she can produce a good result on Saturday.

Chelsea Sodaro Says ‘Yes, Yes, Yes’ to the Hard Times

It has been three years since Chelsea Sodaro ran to the IRONMAN World Championship title in 2022, and since then, she has continually showed up to compete at the world’s biggest races. She finished sixth in Kona in 2023 and third in Nice last year, and she has racked up multiple IRONMAN and 70.3 wins and podiums since then.

In that time, she has adopted a mantra: “Yes, yes, yes.”

“My little mantra is just about saying ‘yes’ to the hard moments,” she said.

Sodaro has made some changes in her life, switching things up with her team and working to fine-tune what she needs to get the most out of herself in training and racing. Now, after battling through some tough times and saying “Yes, yes, yes” to get herself over various hurdles, she said she is in a much better place.

Chelsea Sodaro said she is excited to be back in Kona. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

“I think the biggest change I’ve made is surrounding myself with super smart people who respect and love me unconditionally,” she said. “Regardless of the outcome, they’re proud of me … and that frees me up to do what I do best, which is compete.”

Sodaro continued, saying she is “just really happy” to be in Kona.

“I enjoy the big stages and love racing against these women,” she said.

Kat Matthews’s Dialled-Back Season

Kat Matthews had a great season in 2024, finishing second at the IRONMAN and 70.3 world championships, winning two IRONMAN races and taking the Pro Series title. Heading into 2025, however, she and her team shifted their focus to “purely the Pro Series” and Kona. This led to her racing much more sparingly and putting a lot more emphasis on training.

“I like training,” she said. “I like getting better every day.”

Matthews continued, saying that while she loves to race, that’s not why she does this sport.

“I feel very comfortable in the idea that the outcome of one race is not the pure goal,” she said. “We do triathlon because we want to be the best for ourselves.”

Kat Matthews is looking to climb to the top of the podium in Kona. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

With that in mind, she said she has “full embraced what has happened” in her life, accepting injuries, losses and other struggles as they come.

“I think that that’s where I am now,” she said. “I’m very comfortable to talk about what happened and the challenges I went through and still continue to face.”

These challenges, she said, have left her feeling “a bit liberated,” and she said she now has the freedom to shoot for even loftier goals than she ever did before. This mindset change has clearly worked for her, as she has three wins and one second-place finish in her four race starts this year, putting her atop the IRONMAN Pro Series standings once again.

Laura Philipp’s Life as World Champion

Laura Philipp said on Thursday that her life changed considerably after becoming IRONMAN World Champion. With this new title, she suddenly had more responsibilities. Events, interviews and more that she was happy to attend but certainly required careful planning.

“We put a lot of thought into how to set up a good season with knowing how difficult it might be,” she said. “You have more things to do besides training and those are very positive but might distract you a little bit.”

She continued, noting that “a lot of that planning belongs to” her husband, Philip.

Laura Philipp said she hopes to add a world title from Kona to her resume. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

“It worked since day one,” she said. “I think he put a lot of thought into setting up a good training program that will help me still develop, but then also leave enough room for doing other stuff. I think this IRONMAN world title really opens some doors.”

As for the race, Philipp said she is excited to race on Saturday, pointing to the strong and deep field of pro women.

“I think it’s really great to have all of these strong women here, because that is what you need … to push your limits,” she said. “I’m definitely dreaming of putting it all together and showing that I can … win here.

Tags: