A comparatively late convert to triathlon, the Anglo-Swiss athlete Imogen Simmonds has nonetheless collected a glittering array of medals in long-distance racing. Here's everything you need to know about her career to date…
Who is Imogen Simmonds?
There’s no cavalcade of junior titles on Imogen Simmonds’ triathlon CV. Having briefly flirted with the sport at the age of nine, it would be a full 12 years before she returned.
In the interim came a range of team sports – lacrosse and netball in particular – and a stellar academic career which culminated in a Masters from Imperial College London.
Born in Hong Kong, Simmonds initially competed in triathlon for Britain, having gone to school in Cheltenham.
She now competes under the Swiss flag, her family having moved there when she was a child, and now divides her time between the alpine resort of St Moritz and Phuket in Thailand. Indeed, many of her successes have come in her native south-east Asia.
Taking up the sport at the age of 21, Imogen won medals at both world and European level in age-group sprint racing before leapfrogging Olympic-distance competition to specialise at long distance. If it were a gamble, it proved to be an inspired one.
Success came early: in 2017, she made the podium in her only her second Ironman 70.3 race, a feat she bettered two years later when she again took silver in her maiden full-Ironman outing.
Imogen has certainly been no stranger to race podiums since making that decision to go long, racking up medals of all hues, including two bronzes at the Ironman 70.3 world champs, and a torrent of golds at various Challenge races.
Her first climb to the top of an Ironman podium, though, has yet to come. But, bearing in mind the unrelentingly upward trajectory of her career to date, that particular day in the sun can’t be too far away.
How old is Imogen Simmonds?
Imogen Simmonds was born on 8 March 1993, making her 30 years of age.
Imogen Simmonds’ career highlights
August 2014: World sprint age-group bronze
After rediscovering triathlon while at college, after more than a decade away from the sport, Imogen takes bronze in the 20-24 age group category at the ITU sprint world champs in Edmonton behind fellow Brit Hannah Johnston.
July 2015: Age-group silver at the Euros
The following summer, having completed her Masters in environmental technology, Imogen heads to the familiar territory of Geneva for the ETU sprint European championships where, leading into T2 after a lightning bike leg in the 20-24 age group, she has to settle for silver, having been overpowered by Poland’s Malgorzata Wasik.
August 2017: A serious upgrade
After the shortest of flirtations with Olympic-distance competition, Imogen upgrades to half-Iron racing, coming an impressive fourth in her first attempt at Ironman 70.3 Vichy.
November 2017: Medals galore in Asia
Imogen decamps to her other home of Thailand for the colder European months where, in October, she wins Challenge Kanchanaburi.
This is followed by her first Ironman 70.3 podium finish when she takes silver in Xiamen, after which comes gold at Ironman 70.3 Thailand, beating Ireland’s Eimear Mullan, who had pipped her in Xiamen by just 12 seconds.
April 2018: Silver-shaded season starter
Imogen kicks off a new season with another notable performance in south-east Asia, this time coming second at Ironman 70.3 Liuzhou in China.
June 2018: Silver on home turf
Back in Europe for the summer, the good form continues at Ironman 70.3 Switzerland. Now racing as a Swiss national, Imogen comes home second behind compatriot Daniela Ryf.
Despite the huge margin of Ryf’s victory – in excess of 15 minutes – Imogen holds off the rest of the field, including third-placed Skye Moench of the USA, to take a comfortable silver.
October 2018: China in her hand
After taking sixth at her first Ironman 70.3 world champs the previous month, Imogen returns to south-east Asia where she takes second at Ironman 70.3 Shanghai.
The following month sees her converting the silver she won at Ironman 70.3 Xiamen in 2017 into gold with a dominant performance.
June 2019: Medal-winning maiden Ironman
Victory at Ironman 70.3 Luxembourg proves to be ideal preparation for Imogen’s full-distance Ironman debut a fortnight later in Frankfurt, at which she takes a highly impressive silver at the first time of asking.
September 2019: A world champ bronze
Imogen makes her maiden appearance on the 2019 Ironman 70.3 world podium when she’s the third athlete home in Nice behind Holly Lawrence and Ryf.
Among her scalps are the American Chelsea Sodaro, Canada’s Paula Findlay and the highly talented British quartet of Lucy Charles-Barclay, Emma Pallant-Browne, India Lee and Kat Matthews.
November 2019: Signing off in fine style
Back in her other home in Thailand, a maiden Olympic-distance victory comes at the Laguna Phuket Triathlon, rounding off Imogen’s most successful season to date.
February 2020: Paradise postponed
Imogen kicks off the season in fine style with a win at Ironman 70.3 Dubai before the pandemic places its icy paw on the world’s shoulder and the season is curtailed as a result.
March 2021: How the Swiss roll
A season split fairly equally between half- and full-Iron racing begins with silver in the sunshine at Ironman 70.3 Dubai. Her dominant compatriot Daniela Ryf inevitably takes the win, but the gulf between them is clearly narrowing.
August 2021: Pan-European podiums
Imogen heads to Scandinavia where her reward is bronze at Ironman Finland. Her progress at the distance is rapid; another PB leaves her fewer than three minutes outside the nine-hour barrier. She maintains her strong 70.3 form with gold in Pays d’Aix the following month.
November 2021: A barrier is broken
Rather than retreating to south-east Asia as normal, Imogen instead goes in search of Ironman experience (and possible glory) in Florida and South Africa.
A top-10 finish in the former is followed by a top-five performance at the latter, where she also breaks that nine-hour threshold for the first time.
August 2022: Post-operation triumphs
After missing the opening months of the season after a hip operation, Imogen returns to the circuit in the best possible way with victory at Ironman 70.3 Gdynia in Poland in her first race back.
Another victory in this injury-disrupted campaign arrives in October, this time in the sunshine of Challenge Peguera Mallorca.
June 2023: Up for the Challenge
After her triumph in Mallorca the previous October, Imogen makes her stamp right across the season in the Challenge series.
Victory in Cagnes-sur-Mer is followed by a trip to Austria three weeks later where the gold tally is doubled at Challenge Walchsee.
August 2023: Never mind the Baltics
Imogen’s return to the Ironman 70.3 circuit sees her taking silver in the Estonian capital of Tallinn and a second world championship bronze across the Gulf of Finland in Lahti.
October 2023: A rich late-season harvest
October proves to be a highly fruitful for Imogen in the Challenge series, when she harvests an impressive medal haul.
She bags gold in Barcelona in the first running of the race, retains her Perguera Mallorca title and takes silver at Vieux Boucau in south-western France.
Imogen Simmonds in quotes
On the discipline of training: “It’s not just training. I see it more as my job. I just don’t question working out early in the morning. It’s like everyone else driving to work.”
On the bike leg at the 2019 Ironman 70.3 world championships, which set up her bronze medal: “The moment in Nice, when I rolled out of the mountains towards the transition area, was super-surreal. Most of the time, it was very quiet because it wasn’t possible for spectators to stand at the edge of the road. When we arrived at the bottom, a roar broke out. Only then did I remember that I was in the race.”
On the power of the mind: “Physical strength is tangible, but mental strength is less visual, so if often goes unnoticed. But one without the other won’t get you very far in the world of sports.”
What’s next for Imogen Simmonds?
Having notched up two bronzes to date, the world Ironman 70.3 title has so far eluded Imogen, so that must remain high on her agenda.
Added to that will surely be building up experience in the blue-riband full-distance Ironman races. A high placing in Nice/Kona one day would be a welcome addition to her CV; a medal would surely be a career pinnacle.
Top image credit: Jurij Kodrun/Getty Images for Ironman
