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Lucy Charles-Barclay back to defend Ironman World Championship title – pro field announced for Nice

A spectacular race field will be on hand for the first women's championship in Nice

Photo by: Kevin Mackinnon

When the Professional Triathletes Organisation announced the T100 Triathlon World Tour earlier this year, we were left wondering whether or not we were going to see some of the world’s top long-distance triathletes take a pass on the Ironman World Championship races this year. Turns out that concern was completely ill-founded – despite defending Ironman world champion Lucy Charles-Barclay initially saying she would take a pass on defending her title in Nice, the British star highlights the field that includes pretty much all of the sport’s biggest names. This will be the first time the women will race in Nice as we embark on the second year of the Nice/ Kona split for the men and women, and based on the women’s field, we’re in for an exciting race.

Charles-Barclay will take on the two women who joined her on the podium last year – Germany’s Anne Haug and Laura Philipp – along with a who’s who of distance racing in the sport. The only two major players missing from the mix are American Taylor Knibb, who is recovering from being sick after the Olympics, and Daniela Ryf, who was forced to retire a bit earlier than originally planned thanks to a nagging injury (see below).

Daniela Ryf announces early retirement

Up for grabs is a US$375,000 prize purse with the winner taking home $125,000.

A long list of contenders

Any thoughts that the course might not suit Charles-Barclay were dispelled earlier this year when she dominated the Ironman France event. After a disappointing T100 London race where she was forced to pull out due to calf injury, Charles-Barclay has been training hard in Lanzarote, her go-to training destination for Ironman prep, and will no-doubt be ready to go for another world title in Nice.

She’ll have her work cut out, though. So far this year Haug, the 2019 Ironman world champ and last year’s runner-up, has posted two incredible full-distance races – she broke the great Paula Newby-Fraser’s Ironman Lanzarote course record in May, then went a whole lot better at Challenge Roth, shattering the world-best time there.

Anne Haug shatters world best time and almost breaks 8 hours at Challenge Roth

Philipp finished second to Haug in Roth and has enjoyed a solid year that appears to be building nicely towards a big day in Nice. The German has finished fourth, fourth and third in her three Ironman World Championship appearances, so she’s typically in the mix for a podium finish.

Kat Matthews

Despite some challenges this year (a pulled calf muscle at T100 Miami, along with an unfortunate DQ in Hamburg for an inadvertent pass), Kat Matthews has had an impressive 2024, too. The British star has two Ironman titles to her name this year (Texas and Vitoria Gasteiz), along with a number of top finishes in T100 events, so she’s managed to put herself in a position for a couple of world championships this year. She proved her ability to excel on tough courses with lots of climbing when she finished second at the Ironman World Championship in St. George in 2022 and has enjoyed a remarkable comeback to racing after a horrible bike accident later that year.

Another to add to the list of podium contenders includes 2022 Kona champ, Chelsea Sodaro, who started the year off with a bang with a series of wins including Ironman New Zealand. Fellow American and current Ironman Pro Series leader Jackie Hering has also enjoyed a stand out year.

Here’s the complete pro list for the Ironman World Championship in Nice. We’ll have lots more coverage of the worlds over the next few weeks – Triathlon Magazine editor Kevin Mackinnon will be in Nice to cover the event.

Bib First Name Last Name Country Rep.
1 Lucy Charles-Barclay GBR
2 Anne Haug DEU
3 Laura Philipp DEU
4 Chelsea Sodaro USA
6 Kat Matthews GBR
7 Jackie Hering USA
8 Danielle Lewis USA
9 Alice Alberts USA
10 Fenella Langridge GBR
11 Hannah Berry NZL
12 Gurutze Frades Larralde ESP
14 Regan Hollioake AUS
15 Marjolaine Pierré FRA
16 Marlene Helen De Boer NLD
17 Marta Sanchez ESP
18 Maja Stage Nielsen DNK
19 Kylie Simpson AUS
20 Daniela Bleymehl DEU
21 Erin Schenkels CAN
22 Lotte Wilms NLD
23 Els Visser NLD
24 Giorgia Priarone ITA
25 Lauren Brandon USA
26 Penny Slater AUS
27 Julie Iemmolo FRA
28 Katharina Wolff DEU
29 Elisabetta Curridori ITA
30 Rebecca Clarke NZL
31 Simone Mitchell GBR
32 Ai Ueda JPN
33 Ruth Astle GBR
34 Rachel Zilinskas USA
35 Laura Jansen DEU
36 Katrine Græsbøll Christensen DNK
37 Diana Castillo Franco COL
38 Fiona Moriarty IRL
39 Nina Derron CHE
40 Nikki Bartlett GBR
41 Barbora Besperat CZE
42 Merle Brunnee DEU
43 Jeanne Collonge FRA
44 Diede Diederiks NLD
45 India Lee GBR
46 Anne Reischmann DEU
47 Bruna Stolf BRA
49 Rosie Wild GBR
50 Laura Zimmermann DEU
51 Julia Skala DEU
52 Susie Cheetham GBR