Yes, the final kilometers were painful, but it’s no wonder: just one week after her dominant victory at the T100 season opener in Gold Coast, Taylor Knibb has just won Ironman 70.3 Oceanside in equally impressive fashion. Knibb led the race virtually from start to finish.
That might not be 100% accurate; during the swim, it was Brazil’s Vittoria Lopez who took the initiative, exiting the water first in 23:23. However, Knibb was right there in the lead group alongside Lara Hernandez-Tome, Kirsten Kasper, and Marta Sanchez, ensuring she remained in contact with the fastest swimmers.
The Knibb Show on Two Wheels
Once on the bike, any talk of a “lead group” quickly vanished. Knibb began her trademark display of power, distancing herself from the rest of the field. By the halfway point, she had built a 3:21 lead over Sanchez. Meanwhile, Ironman World Champion Solveig Lovseth, who started the bike leg in tenth place with a 2:50 deficit, had moved up to third, trailing by four minutes. Lovseth spent this phase riding alongside Sif Bendix Madsen, a pairing that would hold until T2.
While both women eventually overtook Sanchez and saw their gap to the front grow to five minutes, they managed to claw back some ground in the final kilometers of the bike leg. Despite their late push, the American leader still started the half marathon with a comfortable 4:30 cushion.
A Tough Finish
During the run, the gaps remained stable for a long time – at least between Knibb and Lovseth, as Bendix Madsen faded from the picture. However, in the final five kilometers, the fatigue of two back-to-back world-class performances began to set in for Knibb. She lost several minutes in the closing stages, but her victory was never truly in jeopardy.
Taylor Knibb took the win in 4:01:39. Solveig Lovseth claimed second place in 4:03:34, while France’s Audrey Merle rounded out the podium in third with a time of 4:10:33.
