“So it really is true what they say about Kona – it’s never really over until it’s over!” Solveig Løvseth discusses her epic Ironman World Champs win.

The newly-crowned Ironman world champion talks to 220 about how she prepped for Kona in her bathroom, why she only enjoyed 70% of the race… and her expectations for the 70.3 Worlds in just three weeks’ time.

Solveig Løvseth is in demand. She’s been back in her hometown of Trondheim, Norway, since Wednesday, four days after winning her first Ironman world title in only her third-ever full-distance race. She hasn’t stopped talking to the world’s media, and here we are taking up more of what should now be rest time but is in fact training prep for her next, and final, fling for 2026 – the 70.3 Ironman Worlds at the start of November. 

But the 26-year-old former Olympic-distance athlete and Paris Olympian is, as she explains, trying her best to enjoy this new-found attention – and stay awake! So, let’s talk Kona… 

220: I saw that you’d said you were disappointed with your swim, and that you called your start weird because you had a paddleboard in the way!

SL: Yeah, I basically went over the tip of it. The guy just wasn’t expecting the gun to go off when he did. We were both just like ‘what is going on?’. I saw a video and it didn’t look like I lost that much time but in my head it was just like the worst start. I wish I was a bit further up, but looking back at it now it wasn’t too bad. Obviously losing six minutes is not what you want to do in a race so I was sort of lucky to be able to win the race with that deficit.

What was nice was that I saw quite early on that I was in a group with Kat [Matthews], Lisa [Peterer] and Laura [Philipp] – lots of good cyclists. And Lisa had been swimming better than me in most races so I was thinking ‘okay, this is actually not the worst situation to be in. I’m actually here with good cyclists and also decent swimmers’.

And I was also honestly not doing any work in that [swim] group. I just stayed on someone’s feet the whole swim so that also set me up for a good rest of the race. 

Out on the bike

220: And then talk us through the 180k bike. 

SL: So first I decided to put on my calf sleeves in T1 so I lost a little bit of time on that, but then Kat had some problems with ice in her helmet and Laura also put on calf sleeves, so I was maybe expecting to have to chase a bit more than I did.

So I settled into that group and was a bit uncertain how much work should I really do here. Because I know that Kat and Laura are such strong runners. But at the same time, I also didn’t want to lose too much time to the people in front – and I actually wanted to gain time on those in front. 

So I took a turn, probably after like 40, 50 minutes, and I stayed at the front for quite a bit, and hit a downhill. I think it was there I got the gap, but it took quite a bit of time before I realised I was on my own! Which was nice because then I was thinking that there’s no point waiting. Now I have this quite solid gap and I didn’t even get it on purpose, which means that I must be riding quite well. So then I was thinking ‘okay, I just need to go for it then’.

220: And what do you think about during those moments when you’re completely on your own?

SL: You have so much time to think about everything really. It’s quite funny with long races like that, I just let my head go in all directions. I don’t really feel like I need to be 100% focused on the race all the time. Because it’s such a long day.

But on the one hand, I was a bit uncertain about what was the right pace to push. Especially when it’s really hot and humid and I’ve never raced in that before. So it’s ‘am I over biking now?’ But it felt good, and this gave me confidence that I was riding away from them. But I also didn’t really get many time updates out there, so it was a bit unknown if I’d extended the lead or not. 

220: As the race progressed into the run, had you accepted third place? Had you thought, right, that’s me, I’m gonna be on the podium? 

SL: No, not really. I really wanted to get on the podium, but I didn’t take that for granted. I hadn’t raced in those conditions before and I really didn’t know how my run would turn out. I felt confident because I’m usually quite a good runner, but still, I know Laura and Kat have shown a faster run than I have. I knew it was a possibility that they could catch me as well.

I think I had an eight-minute lead [at the start of the run over Philipp], which was way more than I had expected, but in Hamburg, Laura ran eight minutes faster than me, so it’s not like an impossible gap to close, and especially in conditions like this where you’re even more likely to blow up than in Hamburg. So I was really happy with being in third – my mindset wasn’t really aggressive. I wasn’t really thinking that much about the win. I was thinking more about staying in this position and not getting caught from behind. It was more about defending that. 

Taking the lead

220: And once you were in the lead [after leaders Lucy Charles-Barclay and Taylor Knibb both pulled out] were you getting updates as to where Kat was at this point?

SL: Yeah, so on the broadcast people were making it feel exciting that Kat was catching me, but in my head I felt really relaxed about that. Because I think when I got in the lead, there was only 2 or 3ks left, and at that point I had two or three minutes [over Matthews]. So I also had people shouting to me to try to relax a bit, probably from seeing what happened to Taylor and Lucy. And I didn’t really think about winning with a margin, I just wanted to be first.

My biggest fear was tripping up or something or getting an unexpected cramp or something like that. But I was thinking if nothing like that happens I should still have a good gap and I won’t be caught. I was just looking a lot at my watch and I was thinking ‘okay, maybe she runs 3:45 then I need to run no slower than 4:30’. So I was calculating in my head and just thinking ‘how slow can I run?’. I was obviously also really tired, but I felt in control with that gap. So yeah, it wasn’t as exciting in my head as I think people made it out to be.

If it’d been a 44K run, [Kat] definitely would’ve caught me, maybe even 43K. But I just knew exactly how far it was left. I talked to Taylor after the race as well, and she said that 39K for her would have been perfect! 

220: You looked remarkably fresh at the finish line in what was your first hot Ironman. What heat training did you do to adapt for Kona?

SL: I was in Font-Romeu, France, before I went to Kona, and especially in the last week it was actually quite cold, so not ideal for heat training. But in the last one or two weeks before I left for Kona I had, around every other day, just an hour of heat training on my indoor trainer. I just put it in the bathroom and 10 minutes before I started the session I’d just turn on the shower to really hot water and when I got back 10 minutes later it would be really hot and humid in there. And with extra added clothes as well it got really warm just riding about an hour, quite easy, every second day. And then I went to Kona almost two weeks before the race, so I got some sessions in the actual climate there. 

220: And what about your nutrition? How far back have you had to dial that in? 

SL: I feel like I’ve always been good at fueling, but for short-distance races you don’t really need that many carbs in the race. But this year I’ve been counting more like grams per hour and stuff like that. So I’ve just been increasing how much I take and I feel like my body has sort of accepted it. 

220: Going into Kona, where did you realistically think you might place? What was going to be a good day for you?

SL: I’d said that a really good day would be a podium. But I said that would be sort of a dream scenario. There were four big favourites – Kat, Laura, Taylor and Lucy. So obviously for me, to be able to podium, I would need to beat at least two of those. So a podium was a quite high goal, but I thought it could be possible on a really good day. If I was a bit lucky as well. But I would also have been really happy with fifth.

220: What did you learn from racing Kona? 

SL: That it’s true what they say – it’s never really over until it’s over! I was 14 minutes down when the run started, so I definitely didn’t expect to win the race! I also learned that it’s all about pacing the whole day. And I learned that it’s hard to run in the heat! 

220: How did you feel once you realised that not only you’ve won but you’ve got to come back and hand out the medals until the last finisher arrives in? 

SL: Ha! Yeah it’s really cool, and it’s so fun to see all the emotions when people finish. And it’s so impressive to think that they have been running in the dark and been out there for 17 hours. But it’s also a really long day. I think I woke up about 3am and they weren’t finished before, maybe, 1am. My legs were just so stiff and you have to stand there for quite a long time actually. When there was a long gap between people, I was  like, ‘should I sit down now? Is that okay? Or should I still be standing here?’. 

220: Did you actually enjoy racing Kona?

SL: I enjoyed parts of it. I enjoyed the swim actually, and I think I enjoyed most of the ride. I didn’t really feel terrible at the end, which I did in my first Ironman, so that’s good.

My coach Mikal Iden says that I’m not the most aggressive racer. I’m probably not the person you expect to break away really. So he was quite surprised that I did that, but as I said, it wasn’t actually intentional! But now I’ve done it, I felt like this is quite cool.I didn’t really enjoy the run that much – I obviously enjoyed the last part when I started to actually believe that I can actually win this. So all in all, I enjoyed I would say maybe 70% of it!

Hometown hero

220: Did you receive a hero’s welcome when you got back to Norway?

SL: Yes, and I did not expect that at all because, honestly, I’m probably not the person who appreciates that sort of attention all the time. I was thinking surely my mum knows that I just want to go home and chill with the family! But it was really nice – my whole swim club was there [at the airport] and my family and some newspapers. I just really didn’t expect it, but I was so tired, so I felt a bit bad after because I really didn’t show any appreciation. I was just so overwhelmed. I basically didn’t smile because it was just a bit too much. I just wish I was a bit more awake for it.

220: So how do you switch now both mentally and physically from last weekend to another major world championships in three weeks’ time? 

SL: Yeah, it’s actually a bit hard. Kona was my biggest goal for the year. But I feel like the Pro Series is basically decided already – Kat has a really good gap from her performance in Hamburg and I basically need to win and also be seven minutes ahead of her in Marbella. So I basically need to have a really good day and also need Kat to have a very bad day. I just don’t think that will happen. Kat never has a bad day. But it takes a bit of the pressure off as I feel very comfortable sitting in second place. Yeah, I’m really happy with that. I will still try to race my best, but it’s almost hard to find that, I guess, hunger to do well there.

And it’s also a course that I’m probably not suited to. Kona I was suited to, but Marbella is really hilly. I think I’m probably the heaviest girl on the start line there and I won’t consider myself a climber. 

This week is just about recovery basically, and then I have two weeks to train for it. Obviously a bit more speed is required there, so we’ll see. I surprised myself this weekend, so I might surprise myself there as well.

220: You’ve now painted one hell of a target on your back for next year for the rerun. There are going to be two women in particular who are gonna be very hungry for that title.

SL: Yeah, it doesn’t feel that way. I have thought briefly about that. It will be weird to come back there and be the defending champion. That actually sounds weird to me. I talked to Casper [Stornes, the 2025 Ironman men’s world champion] this morning as well and he said he was already starting to feel a bit pressure for next year.

220: Did you talk to Caspar, Kristian [Blummenfelt, 2021 Ironman world champion] or Gustav [Iden, Kona champion in 2022] about Kona before the race? Any top tips? 

SL: No, I didn’t need it.

Credit for all photos in this feature: PF&H