The Women to Watch at the Ironman World Championship

Who will take the title of Ironman World Champion? We assess the field and highlight which of the world’s top female long-course athletes to watch. 

With just days to go until the women’s Ironman World Championship in Nice, France, we take a look at the start list of the 50 athletes vying for the title of Ironman World Champion. 

The Background

This will be the second year that Ironman has “split” its world championship, with the women racing in Nice on September 22 and the men racing in Kona, Hawaii, on October 26. Up until 2022, both the men and women had raced on the iconic Kona course, but now the venue alternates each year with the women this year taking their turn in France for the first time. 

There will be 50 women racing, with Germany, the UK, the USA, Australia, and the Netherlands among the most represented nations. Athletes qualify during the preceding season (the qualifying period ran from August 21, 2023, to August 19 this year) by earning a slot at a qualifying Ironman race. 

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The Nice race course differs greatly to Hawaii, which can, of course, impact the dynamics and strategy of the race. The 2.4-mile swim in the more protected waters of the Mediterranean Sea could mean less of an advantage for stronger swimmers, who typically fare better in the ocean in Hawaii, especially if conditions are choppy. 

But it’s really on the bike where the Nice race could be won or lost. The 112-mile bike course features some challenging climbs and highly technical descents, which will give a great advantage to the best bike handlers and will prove tougher for those not as accustomed to the more technical switchbacks that are commonplace on these French mountain roads. With almost 8,000 feet of elevation gain, there is also the very real risk of riding the hills too hard and having little left for the marathon run.

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The four-loop run course, held on Nice’s fashionable Promenade des Anglais—is fast, flat, and fierce. With crowds lining the street on almost every stretch, it will be high octane and high energy, but if the weather is hot there can be little to no shade. And those who might’ve thrown down too many watts on the bike might be feeling it by the third or fourth loop on this exposed course. 

Those athletes who can stay in contact in the water, who can climb and descend confidently and competitively on the bike, and can execute a patient and measured run will be the ones who have their greatest days on September 22. 

The Favorites

Top of the list of the athletes who can do all of that—and more—is defending Ironman world champion Lucy Charles-Barclay, who had the race of her career in Kona last year, leading from gun to tape. After four runner-up finishes in Kona and months away from racing due to injury in the 2022/23 season, it was an emotional and well-deserved victory for the popular Brit, who raced and won Ironman France in June this year as preparation for Nice. She executed a textbook race there, leading from the water once again, and posting her first ever sub-2:50 marathon. She hasn’t raced much since then, DNF-ing on the run at T100 London in July with injury concerns. Based on her recent Strava activity, it looks as though she’s preparing for Nice in Lanzarote. Providing she’s healthy and injury-free, expect Charles-Barclay to show up in Nice ready to put up one hell of a fight in the defense of her world championship title. 

With 10-time world champion Daniela Ryf recently announcing her retirement, this leaves only two other past champions on the Nice start list: Anne Haug, the 2019 world champion, and Chelsea Sodaro, the 2022 winner. 

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There are very few who will bet against Haug if it comes down to a run race, so Charles-Barclay will no doubt be looking to follow a similar strategy to last year’s race and put as much time as possible between her and the German by the time they hit T2.

Haug, who finished second in Kona last year, ran an incredible 2:38 marathon at Challenge Roth this summer and looks to be having the best season of her career so far, so if she can execute a strong swim and intelligent ride then she could be a huge threat for the win on a run course as fast as this one. Yet so too could Sodaro, who showed flashes of her 2022 form earlier this year in winning Ironman New Zealand in indomitable style. Since then she’s made some big changes, with a new bike sponsor and a new coach. If she’s done her homework on this bike course and rides it to her potential then Sodaro is a strong podium threat.

The Contenders

As with any world championship field, for every former champion looking to repeat history there are plenty more hungry for their maiden title. Great Britain’s Kat Matthews and Germany’s Laura Philipp will no doubt be in Nice ready to give it everything on a course that suits them both. Philipp has finished in the top four in her three previous Ironman world championship campaigns, which says plenty about her consistency and pedigree—and perhaps even more about her hunger to take that elusive victory. And you can usually bet on Matthews to rise to the occasion, as she did at the 2021 World Championship in St. George, Utah, finishing second. After winning the Ironman North American Championship in Texas in April and Ironman Vitoria in July, Matthews sent a clear message to her competitors that she’s ready for championship season. Having DNF-ed in Kona last year, Matthews will be wanting to show her finest form on the biggest stage this year. 

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Women to Watch

American Jackie Hering is having a superb 2024 season and currently sits atop the Ironman Pro Series standings after winning the Ironman European Championship in Hamburg in June and finishing second at Ironman Lake Placid in July, running sub-3 hour marathons on both occasions. If she has a solid swim-bike day, her run prowess could see her deliver a huge world championship performance. 

On a bike course such as this one, there will undoubtedly be strong riders who have a great impact on the race. Three-time Olympian and 2012 Olympic silver medalist Lisa Norden is one such athlete. The Swede has competed in the UCI Time Trial World Championships on multiple occasions, has won Sweden’s national time trial championships four times, and has years of ITU racing experience. Don’t be surprised to see Norden near the front of the race at T2, and after that it’ll be exciting and interesting to see how her race unfolds. 

Another athlete with notable bike prowess is Britain’s Ruth Astle. An up-and-comer who’s still relatively new to the pro ranks, Astle is fast proving she’s got bike-run pedigree that could see her finishing inside the top 10 in this race. Els Visser, from the Netherlands, is another relative newcomer who’s shown good form so far this season, finishing in the top five at Hamburg and currently ranked fourth in the Ironman Pro Series. 

As is always the case at every Ironman World Championship, it’ll be predictably unpredictable—and we wouldn’t want it any other way. 

Pro Start List: Women's Ironman World Championship

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)