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Walking. Staggering. Falling to the ground multiple times and trying to get up and keep going every single time: the images will not be forgotten quickly and will be discussed for a long time to come. The fact remains that Solveig Løvseth was completely overcome by the heat in the very last kilometer of the Ironman World Championship, handing over an almost certain victory in Kona. Taylor Knibb capitalised fully, taking the win and her first Ironman world title on the Big Island. It must have been a bizarre sense of déjà vu for Taylor Knibb; last year, the American athlete went down in a similar fashion to Løvseth, making her the one to lose a virtually guaranteed victory back then. This year, with just 1.5 kilometers to go, Løvseth was defending a 1:15 minute lead over Knibb when things went completely wrong. Entirely disoriented and with zero control over her own body, Løvseth hit the ground multiple times, ran in the wrong direction at points, and simply couldn’t keep going. About ten kilometers earlier, things had already gone wrong for Lucy Charles-Barclay, who – also just like last year – was overcome by the heat and was unable to continue.

Saturday’s races in Kailua-Kona will go down as one of the most memorable Ironman World Championships in its 48-year history. In the men’s race, Magnus Ditlev of Denmark looked like he was headed to victory, but with a little more than five miles to go in the grueling 140.2-mile triathlon he began to wobble and at 4.5 miles he was passed by Vincent Luis of France.

USA’s Knibb completed the Ironman and 70.3 world title double after Norway’s defending champion, Solveig Lovseth, collapsed within a kilometre of the finish. Taylor Knibb was first off the bike in the Ironman World Championship. Pic credit: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images for Ironman

Taylor Knibb is the 2026 IRONMAN World Champion, taking the lead in the final kilometer, passing a collapsed defending champion Solveig Løvseth. Knibb had taken the lead early on in the bike, trading the lead with Lucy Charles-Barclay. The two traded the lead at least five times down the Queen K and out to Hawi. Knibb led by 15 seconds at 45 miles and by 54 seconds at the turnaround, but Charles-Barclay pulled her back each time, sitting just outside the 20-meter draft zone. Knibb finally broke the elastic late in the ride, stretching her lead from 57 seconds at 86 miles to 2:32 with 20K to go. She was first into T2 with a 4:40:07 split

The first thing The World takes from me is my passport. At check-in, a crew member files it with those of every other passenger on board for this leg. My identity is not gone, exactly. It’s safely organized behind reception, presumably alphabetically.

In the lead-up to this year’s Ironman World Championship in Kona, no one had Vincent Luis in their podium predictions. (Well, no one except for training partner Marten Van Riel, who publicly named him as one of his podium picks early in the week.) When we ran into Luis at the pro athlete briefing, we asked him about that: why Van Riel was betting on him, and whether he was betting on himself.

In a race packed with spectacle and drama, Frenchman Vincent Luis has just won the Ironman World Championship on Kona. Following a fantastic battle in which big names buckled under the pressure, Luis experienced a golden debut on the island where he had never competed before. It was not only a debut for Luis, but also his farewell as a professional athlete: the Frenchman, a multiple short-course world champion, now concludes his career with an Ironman world title. Today’s race proved to be far from fast, as windy conditions ruled out record times. Right from the swim, a scenario unfolded that few expected: instead of a small breakaway group escaping, a large pack of 25 athletes stayed together, exiting the water within half a minute of each other. Belgian Marten Van Riel was the fastest swimmer (48:17), closely followed by Menno Koolhaas.

Home / News / Vincent Luis wins 2026 Ironman World Championship on first and possibly last appearance Vincent Luis celebrates after winning the Ironman World Championship. Pic credit: Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images for Ironman

Vincent Luis has won the 2026 IRONMAN World Championship, taking the lead late into the marathon and holding off a relentless charge from Gustav Iden. It marks a storybook ending for Luis’ career, as he had announced prior to the event that this would be not just his first IRONMAN World Championship in Kona, but his last. It also marks his third world championship, to go along with his two ITU world crowns in 2019 and 2020.

Liv Morgan regained the Women’s World Championship by defeating Stephanie Vaquer and Becky Lynch in a triple threat match at WWE Money in the Bank. Morgan pinned Vaquer after hitting Oblivion to win the title on Saturday at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans.

Ironman Kona World Championship results from Oct. 10, 2026. All times unofficial ... Men1. Vincent Luis (FRA) — 7:47:272. Gustav Iden (NOR) — 7:49:033. Matthew Marquardt (USA) — 7:49:594. Gregory Barnaby (FRA) — 7:51:025. Pierre le Corre (FRA) — 7:53:296. Sam Long (USA) — 7:55:217. Jonas Schomburg (GER) — 7:56:428. Kristian Blummenfelt (NOR) — 7:58:079. Youri Keulen (NED) — 7:58:2610. Menno Koolhaas (NED) — 7:58:55DNF. Magnus Ditlev (DEN)DNF. Patrick Lange (GER) Women1. Taylor Knibb (USA) — 8:36:292. Laura Philipp (GER) — 8:39:343. Julie Derron (SUI) — 8:46:254. Kat Matthews (GBR) — 8:49:385. Imogen Simmonds (SUI) — 8:51:446. Lisa Perterer (AUT) — 8:52:547. Hannah Berry (NZL) — 8:59:418. Solveig Løvseth (NOR) — 9:02:099. Anne-Sophie Pierre (FRA) — 9:03:4910. Grace Thek (AUS) — 9:06:37DNF. Lucy Charles-Barclay (GBR)