Laura Philipp dominates Ironman World Championship in Nice

It seemed inevitable that at some point Laura Philipp would win a world title. The German burst onto the international stage for real with her third-place finish at the Ironman 70.3 World Championship in 2017, then won every race she entered in 2018, including her Ironman debut. Along the way there were two fourth-place finishes in Kona, followed by last year’s third-place finish on the Big Island.

At today’s Ironman World Championship race in Nice everything came into place perfectly for the German. Earlier this week she talked about how much she loved this bike course – she loves climbing and there certainly was lots of that on tap here in Nice. Then, when defending champion Lucy Charles-Barclay pulled out yesterday morning, it meant Philipp wouldn’t be dealing with as much of a deficit out of the water as usual, which would make the chase for the front of the race that much easier.

A dramatic show at the Ironman World Championship Nice … and we’ve got pictures to prove it

There was still a deficit to make up, though. Fenella Langridge ensured that the fastest swim split would remain in British hands, leading Martha Sanchez (ESP) out of the water as the two both clocked 49:13 splits. New Zealand’s Rebecca Clark, Lauren Brandon (USA), Lotte Wilms (NED), Hannah Berry (NZL) and Rachel Zilinskas were all within seconds of the leaders, with Kat Matthews (GBR) having a great swim at 30 seconds down, and Marjolaine Pierre (FRA) and Chelsea Sodaro (USA) hitting T1 about 45 seconds back. Germany’s Anne Haug and Philipp were both out together about four minutes back of the leaders.

The stars continued to align early on in the bike when Haug, who has been on fire over the full-distance this year with a record-breaking day in Lanzarote and a world best time in Roth (where she beat Philipp by about 12 minutes), was forced out of the race with a mechanical issue on the bike. (Zilinskas would also crash early and pulled out on the first climb with a reported broken collarbone.)

It’s not like Philipp needed any assistance, though. She relentlessly pursued Pierre, the early leader on the bike, and would eventually join the Frenchwoman and one of the last of the pre-race favourites still standing, Matthews, at the front after the first couple of major climbs on the incredibly challenging bike course. The threesome would stay together until the final descent back to Nice, at which point Matthews and Philipp surged clear for a huge lead into T2.

“I am only 24 and I wanted to see more of life, so I had to let them go on that descent,” Pierre said after the race.

Matthews had made it abundantly clear earlier this week that she was set to fly down the descent, and she did, but Philipp was never more than a few seconds behind, setting up an exiting marathon between the two. Matthews would officially hit T2 in first, but Philipp was right there. Pierre was a whopping 6:43 back at that point, with Sodaro at 9:48, Sanchez at 11:58 and Wilms at 17 minutes.

The first 10 km of the run featured a Kat and mouse game of tactics (sorry, I just couldn’t resist) as the two leaders stayed together, but by halfway through the second of four 10 km out-and-back stretches Philipp had pulled well ahead of Matthews. By the end of the first loop Sodaro was in third, but she was losing time to the leaders, and not running a whole lot faster than Pierre.

By the start of the fourth loop it was clear that unless something crazy happened the race was going to be Philipp’s, with Matthews getting another runner-up finish at a world championship (after her second place finish in St. George in 2022). Then something crazy did happen – Matthews suddenly stopped with a cramp. The former Army officer displayed her toughness, though, and quickly got back to running.

All of which set up the glorious finish for Philipp, who ran an impressive 2:44:59 marathon to take the win in 8:45:15. Matthews would hang tough for a 2:53:06 marathon split and an 8:53:20 finish for second, with Sodaro getting to the line in 9:04:39. Pierre finished her second Ironman with a brilliant fourth (9:09:54), thrilling the Nice crowd (she moved to Nice four years ago to take up the sport). Great Britain’s Nikki Bartlett rounded out the top five (9:15:47).

Stay tuned for more coverage from the Nice worlds – we’re off to the winner’s press conference shortly.