That her victory at the World Championship in Kona last October was not just a stroke of luck – and only because favorites Lucy Charles-Barclay and Taylor Knibb dropped out in the final phase – was proven today: Solveig Lovseth has once again won a major race and in a lightning-fast time as well. The Norwegian top athlete sped to a magnificent victory at Ironman Texas, clocking 8:11:09.
For a long time, it did not look like Lovseth would win, as halfway through the race it really seemed to be turning into yet another big Taylor Knibb show, especially after three-time winner Kat Matthews suffered a flat tire, lost fifteen minutes as a result, and despite trying for a short while, pulled out not much later. The second half of the bike leg, however, painted a completely different picture than the first; where Knibb saw her lead grow steadily to about three minutes in the first ninety kilometers, Lovseth managed to shave about 2:30 minutes off that lead in the second half. Especially in the last forty kilometers of the bike leg, she made up time rapidly.
Knibb, who was visibly having a harder time in the final phase of the bike leg, did start the marathon in first place, but Lovseth passed her after only six kilometers. From that moment on, the ‘Taylor Knibb show’ turned into a ‘Solveig Lovseth show’ and no one could keep her from her victory anymore.
Lovseth won the race in a time of 8:11:09. Knibb finished second in 8:14:48 and the Spanish Marta Sanchez finished third in 8:31:06.
