By Kate Milsom

Published: Friday, 14 October 2022 at 12:00 am

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This weekend saw the world’s best endurance triathletes return to the birthplace of iron-distance triathlon after a long three-year hiatus from the island.

Known for its unpredictable and brutal conditions, the legendary race took no prisoners, with shock performances a-plenty.

For the first time ever, the elite men and women raced over two separate days in a true spectacle of human endurance. Records were smashed in the men’s race and history was repeated – and long overdue – in the women’s.

The men’s race saw France’s young Sam Laidlow, 23, take the lead early on and dominate much of the race. Meanwhile, Norway’s Gustav Iden and pre-race favourite Kristian Blummenfelt battled it out on the sweltering marathon run, with Iden having the legs to take the lead with only four miles to go.

The 26-year-old smashed the previous course record by a huge 11mins, with Laidlow holding onto second and Blummenfelt rounding off the podium.

Relive all the action from the men’s race through the gallery below.

• Full race report: Gustav Iden wins Ironman World Championship in record time
• Gustav Iden: “Now we have won everything!”

Two days earlier, the women’s race was equally dramatic with BMC’s Chelsea Sodaro taking the tape as the first home victor in 27 years. Sodaro, who gave birth to daughter Skye just 18 months ago, delivered a brilliant marathon and achieved the second-fastest women’s time ever in Kona.

She also repeated the incredible feat of Chrissie Wellington back in 2007, by winning on debut in only her second-ever full-distance Ironman, and became the first mother to win since Switzerland’s Natascha Badmann in 2005.

In a remarkable comeback-from-injury narrative, Lucy Charles-Barclay led out of the swim and managed to keep all but one of the field behind her to take her fourth, consecutive Kona runner-up spot.

While Germany’s Anne Haug and 2019 winner put in a strong performance to claim third.

Catch-up on all the drama in the women’s race through the gallery below.

• Full race report: Chelsea Sodaro wins 2022 Ironman World Championship
• Lucy Charles-Barclay: “This second place means the most out of all of them”

Top image credit: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images for Ironman

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