Calm, scattered cloud cover greeted athletes at the IRONMAN Pro Series™ IRONMAN Hamburg European Women’s Championship swim start on Sunday morning. A stacked start line featuring reigning and former IRONMAN® World Champions alongside the 2025 European Champion set the stage for a fiercely competitive day of racing and it did not disappoint. Norwegian Powerhouse, Solveig Løvseth (NOR) has had a phenomenal season, and it continued here. IRONMAN World Champion, North American Champion and now European Champion, Løvseth took the tape in 8:11:11, beating her time last year by just over a minute. Løvseth was closely followed by last year's European Champion, Laura Philipp (DEU). Denmark’s Katrine Christensen rounded out the podium.
The race started out very differently from how it ended, with Lotte Wilms (NLD) and Holly Lawrence (GBR) leading the swim, exiting the water first in 50:29 and 50:31 respectively, followed closely by Katie Curran (GBR), Fenella Langridge (GBR) and Charlotte McShane (AUS).
Lawrence was first out of T1, with the front swim pack close behind. Marjolaine Pierré (FRA) was around three minutes back on her own, while a second chase group including Laura Philipp, Solveig Løseth, and India Lee (GBR) trailed by approximately four minutes.
The athletes first out of T1 led the bike for around 30 km, before Marjolaine Pierré quickly closed them down, took the lead, and held it all the way into T2. As the race progressed, reigning IRONMAN World Champion Solveig Løvseth (NOR) rode her way into second place. Laura Philipp (DEU) spent the entire bike working to make up time from the swim whilst conserving her energy for the run, entering T2 in sixth place.
Straight out of T2, Pierré led ahead of Løvseth and Wilms, but Løvseth quickly moved into first on the run. She and Pierré stayed at the front for much of the early stages until Philipp, showing persistence, chased them down and passed Pierré midway through, after which Pierré gradually dropped back. Lisa Peterer (AUT) and Kristine Christensen (DNK) remained consistently inside the top five, with Christensen moving up into third place in the closing section.
The IRONMAN World Champion controlled the race from the front, proving she is just that good, finishing her fourth IRONMAN in 12 months, with four wins. Her run time, 2:49:21, producing an ultimate finish time of 8:11:11.
Philipp showed her professionalism and skill to confidently secure second place, finishing just one minute behind Løvseth, also claiming a Kona qualifying slot. Denmark’s Katrine Christensen quietly rose through the field to convincingly claim third place.
Solveig Løvseth, the winner, claims 5,000 Experience Oman IRONMAN Pro Series points, taking her season-leading total to 12,385 points.
Newly crowned 2026 IRONMAN European Champion Solveig Løvseth said: “Right now, I'm honestly feeling awful, but also really happy at the same time. It’s so weird. I feel like I’ve never pushed myself as hard as I did in those last k’s.”
She goes on to say: “I got the question a couple of days ago whether I prefer to chase or to be chased, and I said it’s definitely better to chase than to be chased. So this marathon was so mentally hard, just constantly, I felt like I was running scared for 42k out there, so to actually be able to make it was just really, really, really cool.”
Top Five Female Professional Results
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Pro Series Points (unofficial)
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Katrine Christensen (DNK)
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IRONMAN?Pro Series Standings????
The Experience Oman IRONMAN Pro Series is a year-long performance-based triathlon race series with professional triathletes being able to earn points at 16 races globally. Open to approximately 1,000 eligible professional triathletes worldwide, the Experience Oman 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: www.ironman.com/proseries/about-ironman-pro-series
Overall IRONMAN Pro Series Standings – Top Five?Female (After Six 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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Next Events Coming Up
The Experience Oman IRONMAN Pro Series moves to North America with the IRONMAN 70. Pennsylvania Happy Valley North American Championship on June 14.