Kona women’s list: Løvseth leads 50+ pros into Oct 10 world title fight

By Endurance Sports & Gear · Mon Sep 07 2026

Kona women’s list: Løvseth leads 50+ pros into Oct 10 world title fight
IRONMAN swim start in Kailua Bay, Kailua-Kona, Hawaiʻi — World Championship venue. Wikimedia Commons.
IRONMAN swim start in Kailua Bay, Kailua-Kona, Hawaiʻi — World Championship venue. Wikimedia Commons.

More than 50 professional women are now on the published start list for the 2026 IRONMAN World Championship in Kailua-Kona on 10 October — sharing the same Hawaiian day as the men, with $375,000 in pro prize money and the Experience Oman IRONMAN Pro Series finale on the line.

A stacked October showdown

Lava fields at sunset on Hawaiʻi’s Big Island — Queen Kaʻahumanu Highway bike-course terrain. Wikimedia Commons.
Lava fields at sunset on Hawaiʻi’s Big Island — Queen Kaʻahumanu Highway bike-course terrain. Wikimedia Commons.

IRONMAN’s published women’s list runs deep past bib F50, mixing Olympic-distance speed (Knibb, Julie Derron) with proven Kona and IRONMAN veterans (Charles-Barclay, Sodaro, Philipp). Matthews and Philipp sit directly behind Løvseth on the provisional order — a podium band many bookmakers already highlight.

Kona Bay shoreline at Kailua-Kona, Hawaiʻi — finish approaches along Aliʻi Drive. Wikimedia Commons.
Kona Bay shoreline at Kailua-Kona, Hawaiʻi — finish approaches along Aliʻi Drive. Wikimedia Commons.

Same day, same island

Unlike recent split-venue experiments, 2026 puts both professional fields on the Big Island the same Saturday. Heat, crosswinds on the Queen Kaʻahumanu Highway and the Energy Lab still decide careers. With Day 1’s coverage already mapping the men’s Norwegian trio, today’s list confirms the women’s race is equally loaded — and only five weeks out.

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