The first IRONMAN triathlon of the 2025 European season took place today at Qatar Airways IRONMAN Hamburg European Championship, and it did not disappoint. Records fell as the reigning IRONMAN World Champion, Laura Philipp, clocked her second victory in Hamburg, and relinquished her IRONMAN best time, which had only just been broken by Kat Matthews a month ago. Kat Matthews, who dominated the majority of the run, came second, breaking her own aforementioned time of 8:10:34 from the IRONMAN Texas North American Championship triathlon. The podium was rounded off by Solveig Løvseth who raced a phenomenal 8:12:28, making her the fastest IRONMAN professional woman on debut.
Race morning began with dramatic skies as a stormy start to the day led to a delayed swim start. Despite the weather, anticipation remained high, and the energy around Alster Lake was electric as the professional women took to the water. Undeterred by the delay, the female pros had fire in their belly as this fast-paced swim kicked off at Alster lake. A strong lead pack consisting of Kat Matthews, Laura Philipp, Solveig Løvseth and Jackie Hering (USA) quickly formed and took charge of the ROKA swim course. The quartet exited the water within seconds of each other, with Kat Matthews leading the way, followed by Laura Philipp, Solveig Løvseth and Jackie Hering a couple of meters behind.
Leaving T1 and onto the bike, the pack of four began to set the pace. Around 30km into the ZOOT bike course Solveig Løvseth’s left aero bar came loose, leaving her bike computer was hanging off; however, that did not stop this tenacious Norwegian on her IRONMAN debut who, after receiving mechanical support, quickly bridged back to the front females and remained in a strong position most of the way.
Matthews, Philipp and Løvseth remained up front, with a chase pack made up of Marjolaine Pierre (FRA), Anne Reischmann (DEU), Els Visser (NLD) and Jenny Jendryschik?(DEU) over five minutes behind. The pro women saw the best sights of Hamburg, such as the Landungsbrücken piers, the fish market and the UNESCO-listed Speicherstadt out into the idyllic Vier- und Marschlande as they cruised round the two-loop bike course, before Matthews led the race into T2.
First out of T2 and on to the HOKA run course was Matthews, closely followed by Philipp only 30 seconds behind, with Løvseth firmly in third. In what appeared to be a replay of the epic run battle that unfolded on the Promenade des Anglais back at the IRONMAN World Championship in Nice last year, Philipp continued to apply the pressure on the run, until she caught the Brit with less than 10km to go. Philipp, who remained focused and controlled throughout, finally let the emotions sink in as she crossed the finish line as a two-time IRONMAN European Champion, and owner (yet again) of the fastest recorded IRONMAN time for a professional woman.
Philipp said: “It was absolutely mental, we (Laura and Kat) were kind of glued together for the entire race...it was super tough and for a long time it looked like Kat would win. I just tried to remain calm and patient, because a marathon is a long game, and luckily it paid off that I let her go a little bit and just did my own thing. The crowd was crazy, they were screaming, and it was next level cheering that really helped me big time to go all out on the last lap. I am still speechless....I am super super proud.”
Top Five Female Professional Results – IRONMAN Hamburg
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Pro Series Points (unofficial)
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News and Notes????
- Laura Philipp made history today with the fastest ever IRONMAN time for a female, with a time of 08:03:13. Kat Matthews also took the accolade for second fastest ever IRONMAN time recorded with 08:05:13.
- This comes just over a month since Matthews broke Philipp’s standing IRONMAN best time (which she set in Hamburg, 2022) at Memorial Hermann IRONMAN Texas North American Championship.
- Solveig Løvseth had a phenomenal race for her IRONMAN debut, with a time of 08:12:28. This was fastest ever IRONMAN debut and 4th fastest IRONMAN time ever.
- Kat Matthews secured the fastest swim of the day with a time of 54:38, with Solveig Løvseth a meter behind.
- Kat Matthews landed the fastest bike of the day checking a time of 04:22:45.
- Jackie Hering unfortunately got a puncture midway through the bike, slowing dropping back and making the decision to DNF at 97.5km.
- El Visser, who was well in the top 10, unfortunately took a wrong turn on the run which resulted in a DQ.
- Marjolaine Pierre finished the bike leg, but pulled herself out of the race before she started on the run.
- Winner, Laura Philipp ran the fastest ever IRONMAN marathon in a time of 2:38:27.
- Notable changes in the IRONMAN Pro Series standings are Kat Matthews moving five places, Danielle Lewis (USA) moving ten places and Henrike Güber (DEU) jumping forward 11 spots.
The IRONMAN Pro Series™ is a year-long performance-based triathlon race series with professional triathletes being able to earn points at 18 select races in 17 locations globally. Open to approximately 1,000 eligible professional triathletes worldwide, the IRONMAN Pro Series ushers in a new era of IRONMAN racing where Every Second Matters™ with every second behind the race winner equating to a point earned or lost. For any athlete, only their top five event results count towards their overall Pro Series points and standing, of which a maximum of three IRONMAN results can be counted. How it works can be found
here.???
Laura Philipp walked away with the maximum IRONMAN Pro Series points available for an IRONMAN triathlon of 5,000. Athletes finishing behind the race winner saw their points diminish by one with every second that ticked off behind the race winner. Post race, big movers and shakers from today, are Kat Matthews who came in second, who has moved up five places and Danielle Lewis who has moved up ten places in the IRONMAN Pro Series standings.
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Overall IRONMAN Pro Series Standings – Top Five Female (After Eight Events)???
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Total IRONMAN Pro Series Points (Max Top 5 events)
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Total Eligible Races Scored
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Eligible IRONMAN Races Scored
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Eligible IRONMAN 70.3 Races Scored
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Overall IRONMAN Pro Series Event Prize Money
In addition to the IRONMAN Pro Series’ $1.7M year-end bonus prize pool, there is an event pro prize purse payout of $2,450,000, distributed across IRONMAN Pro Series events. With the first eight IRONMAN Pro Series races complete, a total of $712,500USD has been earned by professional athletes so far – leaving just under $1.7million USD to be claimed at the remaining events.?
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Top Five Female Prize Money Earned (After Eight Events)???
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IRONMAN Hamburg Prize Money??
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Next IRONMAN Pro Series Events Coming Up
Next up, the 2025 IRONMAN Pro Series heads to the IRONMAN 70.3 Eagleman on Sunday 8 June.
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