Ironman Kona: Taylor Knibb wins redemptive world title after leader hits the wall in final mile
· Yahoo Sports
A year ago, U.S. Olympian Taylor Knibb, struggling in 80-degree heat, helplessly sat on the Queen Ka’ahumanu Highway as Norwegian Solveig Løvseth passed her with two miles left to win the 140.6-mile Ironman Kona triathlon title.
On Saturday, the roles reversed. Løvseth, having overtaken Knibb with five miles left of the iconic endurance race, began wobbling on Palani Road, just one mile from the finish of the closing marathon run, following a 2.4-mile swim and 112-mile bike.
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Løvseth came to a stop with seven tenths of a mile to go — after more than eight hours of racing on Hawaii's Big Island.
2026 Ironman Kona World Championship ResultsIronman Kona World Championship results from Oct. 10, 2026.Knibb reclaimed the lead, and minutes later recorded a redemptive victory — just the second for an American in Kailua-Kona in 24 years.
"I'm stunned," she said. "The amount of times on the course where I'm just like, I'm done, this is awful. But then, somehow, we keep coming back."
Knibb is the first American to pair an Olympic medal with a Kona title. She won silver medals in the (much shorter) Olympic triathlon's mixed-gender relay in Tokyo and Paris.
"I had to learn from last year," Knibb said. "It was just like get to the finish line, get to the finish line, get to the finish line.
"I was actually ready to just not come about two weeks ago. Dramatic, I know. But I'm just like, oh, this is way too much."
Knibb first came to Kona at age 12 in 2010 to see her mom, Leslie, finish 11th in the 40-to-45 age group.
“I remember standing on Ali‘i Drive drive watching the helicopter following the race leader,” Knibb said. “In my family we call it chasing the helicopter. That’s what I wanted one day, to be the athlete underneath it, chasing it, leading the race.”
Knibb entered her first triathlon at age 11 (a 30-minute race), inspired by her mom.
She matriculated at Cornell — just like mom — where she ran and swam. In 2021, she became the youngest American to race an Olympic triathlon (32 miles), placing 16th.
Knibb won her first Half Ironman (70.3 miles) world title in 2022, then placed fourth in her 140.6-mile debut in Kona in 2023. She returned to the Olympic distance (32 miles) in 2024, finishing 19th individually in Paris.
Knibb also won the U.S. road cycling time trial title in 2024, earning an Olympic spot in that event. She was 19th in Paris, crashing four times in the rain but becoming the first American since 1988 to compete in two sports with different international governing bodies at one Summer Olympics.
After last year's heat stroke in Kona, Knibb spoke with eight-time Ironman world champion Paula Newby-Fraser, who famously hit the wall with less than half a mile to the finish in 1995.
Newby-Fraser's advice: Take care of yourself to get to the finish line.
This year, Knibb raced everything from short course, 16-mile triathlons (winning a World Cup in July) to claiming a fourth Half Ironman world title. Eight days after prevailing over 70.3 miles, in Nice, France, she was the top American woman in the World Road Cycling Championships time trial in 13th place in Montreal.
Three weeks later, she wins Ironman Kona.
“I hope I’ll be back chasing that helicopter again,” Knibb said after the 2025 race in Kona. “One day I’ll make it to the top of Palani again. And this time I’ll finish the job.”
Ironman Kona men’s race: Vincent Luis caps career
Vincent Luis of France won the men's title in an unofficial 7:47:27 in both his Ironman World Championship debut and what he said going in would be his last race.
"I just felt really good; the last three months I prepared, and I was like, this is the last time I have to commit that hard for a race," said Luis, a 37-year-old who won Olympic mixed relay bronze in Tokyo. "I said if I win maybe I will (continue), but I went through some dark places in the last three or four (kilometers). 100% worth it, but let's see. I have a few nights out to decide what I'll do with my life now."
He overtook a struggling Magnus Ditlev of Denmark with just under five miles left in nearly the same spot where Løvseth later passed Knibb.
Luis trailed Ditlev by 5:34 going into the run. He still trailed Ditlev by 3:31 with 7.7 miles left, but that's when Ditlev began intermittently walking.
Luis then held off 2022 Ironman champion Gustav Iden of Norway by 95 seconds for the victory. Iden served a three-minute time penalty for drafting on the bike.
Triathlon courses, maps detailed for 2028 LA Olympics, ParalympicsThe women’s triathlon will be the first medal event of the 2028 LA Games.