Norways Solveig L�vseth showed she could be a threat to everyone at the IRONMAN World Championship in Kona in October with a power-packed victory at Lake Placid.
Her compatriots Kristian Blummenfelt and Gustav Iden have both become IRONMAN World Champions and L�vseth could hardly have made a better start to her full-distance career.
She set the fastest-ever time for an IRONMAN debutant when third to last years IMWC one-two Laura Philipp and Kat Matthews in Hamburg in June.
And on what was a tough, hilly course in the Adirondack Mountains she clocked some incredible figures. She surged into the lead thanks to a 2:46:49 marathon less than 10 minutes behind the fastest time in the mens race en route to a new womens course record by nearly 17 minutes.
All of which saw her get the better of Austrias Lisa Perterer, who was super-impressive herself as she overcame a three-minute penalty to claim second place.
That continued her own meteoric progress this season after a second place at T100 Singapore and third behind Matthews and Taylor Knibb at IRONMAN Texas.
Rounding out the podium in third was Marta Sanchez (ESP).
It was a non-wetsuit swim and unlike the mens race where everything stayed together early on we saw things strung out on the first of two 1.2-mile loops.
It was single file as Rebecca Clarke (NZL) and Holly Lawrence (GBR) in her first full-distance race stretched out the field.
That pair were just over a minute ahead of Sanchez, Lotte Wilms (NLD), Perterer and Regan Hollioake (AUS) in third to sixth, with two minutes and more back to the rest.
At end of the swim Clarke out first in 50:51, just a couple of seconds ahead of Lawrence who moved to the front on the long run to T1.
Sanchez was third at +2:31, with Perterer, Wilms and Hollioake all right next to her.
Of the big names in behind L�vseth was in eighth at 5:19 and 2022 winner Sarah True (USA) was at 5:25.
Theyd pulled clear of Jackie Hering (USA) in 11th at 6:34, Penny Slater (AUS) at 6:36 and Tamara Jewett (CAN) at 8:16.
Defending champ Danielle Lewis (USA) was 20th at +12:02 but she was 15:37 back at the same point 12 months ago.
Onto the bike and Lawrence led early. She was joined by Perterer and then Sanchez started to close. After 30 miles Perterer and Sanchez were now in front, Lawrence was +16s and L�vseth was fourth +5:01.
And that would set the tone for a while as those in behind went further and further back Lewis was now more than 14 minutes in arrears.
The big news though was that having got caught up in the back of the mens race, Perterer was hit with a penalty shown a blue card and with three minutes to serve in the tent after the first of two laps.
She and Sanchez stuck together to that point, putting time into the rest and when Perterer was forced to stop she looked calm and composed.
And that was underlined when she exited the penalty tent Lawrence had moved past her second before but Perterer quickly regained second and locked her sights on Sanchez.
It was an immense effort by Peterer to start bridging back up to Sanchez shed more than halved the deficit by the 72-mile point when it was down to 1:06.
And at the 87-mile checkpoint they were back together at the front, with Lawrence +4:08 and L�vseth +7:11.
The front two were locked together heading into T2 but by then L�vseth had overtaken Lawrence for third and was at +5:55 starting the run.
Starting the run and the likes of Hering, True, Jewett and Lewis were surely too far back to contend for the win but the latter made up 10 minutes last year so was dangerous to write off.
But up front Perterer wasted little time in moving past Sanchez and she would ease more than two minutes clear after seven miles.
However L�vseth was by now the fastest runner on course and she was up into second by the halfway point, with the splits suggesting she was now a real threat to Perterer.
With 10 miles to go she had chopped down the gap from over four minutes to 1:30 and the catch came just after 18 miles as she powered to the front.
Just two miles later she led by over a minute and had doubled that by the 22-mile point.
She didnt let up either and to put her 2:46:49 marathon into context the previous run course best was Lewis 2:52:13 from last year!
Norwegian triathlete Solveig L�vseth (Photo Getty Images for IRONMAN). Perterer should take plenty of plaudits for her second place too, with Sanchez rounding out the podium in third.
And mention too for Jewett who only let L�vseth have the run course record for a few minutes as she registered a 2:40:05 marathon to vault up to fourth!
Also for Lawrence who took fifth on her IRONMAN bow and less than a year after giving birth to her first child.
Defending champ Lewis was sixth in 9:01:05 which was nearly a minute quicker than her winning time from last year.
Sunday July 20, 2025 3.8km / 180km / 42.2km
PRO Women
- 1. Solveig L�vseth (NOR) 8:43:29 [56:10/4:54:44/2:46:49]
- 2. Lisa Perterer (AUT) 8:46:50 [53:25/4:51:27/2:55:48]
- 3. Marta Sanchez (ESP) 8:53:07 [53:23/4:51:25/3:02:06]
- 4. Tamara Jewett (CAN) 8:55:18 [59:07/5:09:05/2:40:05]
- 5. Holly Lawrence (GBR) 9:00:46 [50:53/5:01:05/3:02:54]
