TRIATHLON – Bahrain Victorious 13 superstar Taylor Knibb became a four-time Ironman 70.3 world champion after winning the women’s race at this year’s Ironman 70.3 World Championship held in Nice, France.
Knibb put in a dominant performance across the 1.9-kilometre swim, 90km bike, and 21.1km run to finish in four hours, 19 minutes, and 24 seconds – a new course record and more than four minutes ahead of a star-studded elite women’s field.
Knibb secured her fourth Ironman 70.3 world title in the last five years, adding to her three consecutive crowns from 2022 to 2024.
“This one is very special and I am just very grateful,” said Knibb after her triumph.
“Once you feel the other side, you just have a lot more gratitude because I can tell you for New Zealand for my third, I was not a happy camper and I was not happy with my race, and I think that version of Taylor would have been very pissed on this race because of the last seven to eight km of the run.”
“But at the end of the day, I did what I needed to do and so I need to be grateful for that and excited for what’s to come.”
Almost 50 of the world’s top professional women hit the water for the opening swim leg.
Knibb returned to the shore in fifth, nine seconds behind leader Sophie Evans and with the top 14 covered by 25 seconds.
On the bike course, Knibb made her move within the first 10km, taking control at the first hint of a climb and opening up a 30-second gap by the time she hit the 13km mark, with the gap quickly blowing out to more than two minutes over Imogen Simmonds 10km later.
Knibb continued to power ahead, and at the 30km mark the lead was over four-and-a-half minutes.
As the athletes hit the daunting Col de Vence climb Knibb showed her cycling prowess, extending her lead over Siffert to more than six minutes, and heading into the transition to the run, Knibb was still in control but with a slightly reduced gap.
But Knibb picked it up right where she left off – extending her advantage once again over the opening kilometres.
She maintained her incredible pace until the finish, securing not only her victory but also $75,000 in prize money.
“The climbs were great, I loved them, the descents were actually fun – I felt great coming back in and was like, okay, good you didn’t overcook yourself,” said Knibb, who posted swim-bike-run splits of 25 minutes 59 seconds, 2:32:07, and 1:17:56.
“Heading onto the run was hard, I think it just got hot, running under the hills it was actually cooler, the last 10k got really hot; the run was a slog, definitely the last 10k, and I made it to the finish line this time.”
Knibb also came away with 3,000 points for the Ironman Pro Series standings with her victory.
Joining her on the women’s podium in Nice were the Swiss pair of Julie Derron in 4:23:30 and Alanis Siffert in 4:25:10.
Meanwhile, Knibb’s Bahrain Victorious 13 teammate Kat Matthews from Britain finished in 11th in 4:31:51.
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