How far can fast go? Broken records lie shattered on the course like the aftermath of a bar brawl
The rate at which records are falling signals a new era in Ironman racing
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Getty Images for Ironman
The 2025 pro season has exploded out of the gates with record-breaking performances dominating race recaps and begging the question, how far can this go? It’s phenomenal, but also confusing, as limits continue to surpass our expectations.
So early in a season, what does this spell for the remainder of the racing calendar? Do these staggering performances early on spell disaster for athletes hoping to peak in the fall for the penultimate show-down at the Ironman World Championships? Or, can we expect to see advancements in human performance, technology and science continue to blow our minds with what this generation of triathletes are capable of achieving?
It feels like the bar scene has extended beyond the weekend rowdiness, with records being broken so frequently as of late. Whether its an athlete stepping outside of triathlon to compete in a running race and resetting the bar ahead of their return to the swim, bike, run course, or dropping the mic on course in spectacular fashion, this latest generation of athletes has the endurance to party all night long a la Lionel Ritchie. And with the current streak, it doesn’t appear that they are “almost there” in reaching the proverbial finish line of record-setting performances.
The woman get rowdy
The party really got out of hand at Ironman Texas last weekend. Despite riding the fastest bike split of any woman ever in triathlon, American Taylor Knibb didn’t even clinch the win. She hammered the course in Knibb-fashion in a time of 4:19:46. Knibb also holds the record for fastest Ironman 70.3 bike split, which she set at the 2024 Ironman 70.3 World Championship in a time of 2:10:09.
Texas winner Kat Matthews from Great Britain finished the bike only 22 seconds behind Knibb’s, in a time of 4:20:08. The women weren’t even riding close to each other, Matthews having exited the water almost six minutes behind Knibb (#noexcuseLongandSanders).
Closing time put Kat Matthews on the map with the record-shattering performance that saw her deliver the fastest time by a woman ever at an Ironman-branded race. She essentially drank Laura Phillip under the table with a finish time of 8:10:34, smashing the German’s record finish in 8:18:20, which Phillip set at the 2022 Ironman European Championship in Hamburg. It was the third consecutive win for Matthews in Texas, who had won a 5km road race in 16:04 at the Podium 5k event in Leicester leading into Ironman.
Still faster, Ann Haug came close to breaking eight hours at Challenge Roth in 2024 with a finish time of 8:02:38, beating the previous record of 8:08:20 held by fellow German Daniela Ryf. The records stand apart from Matthews’ performance as they are not Ironman-branded races.
The men dig deep
Overall male winner, Norway’s Kristian Blummenfelt, blazed his way to the finish in the scorching time of 7:24:20, while setting a new run and overall course record. Not his first rodeo, Blummenfelt is a repeat record-breaking offender. He – briefly, held the record for fastest Ironman time ever when he went 7:21:12 in 2022 at Ironman Cozumel. Unfortunately, there was noise and controversy over recognizing the record due to the “downhill” swim and the record was not formally entered into the books.
But no one can stop a speeding bullet, and Blummenfelt has proven his dominance time and again for, despite Cozgate. Project Sub7/8 in 2022 served as a foreshadowing, with Blummenfelt and Matthews dipping well under the bar with finishing times of 6:44:25 and 7:31:54, respectively.
A cowboy tip of the hat to the men’s field in Texas, as Australian pro Cam Wurf set the fastest men’s bike split in any Ironman with a 3:53:32 ride. Wurf’s performance bested the previous record set in 2024 by Sweden’s Robert Kallin in 3:54:33 at Ironman Vitoria-Gasteiz.
With the expectation that athletes haven’t even peaked yet this season, it promises to be a sizzling summer. With the highs always comes the lows, so fans can expect more record-breaking performances, but also some catastrophic racing and unravelling as the show rolls forward to the grand finale at the world championships, and the temperatures cool while the competition heats up even further.