A Year in Triathlon: 2025 Long-Distance Triathletes of the Year

Kat Matthews wins IRONMAN Texas. Photo: Eric Wynn

Last week we kicked off our three “triathletes of the year” awards with our middle-distance winners – Hayden Wilde and Lucy Charles-Barclay.

Today we’ll tackle a much tougher category – the long-distance triathletes of the year. In theory, as with the middle-distance category, there are two different world championships that could come into play here – the IRONMAN World Championship races in Nice and Kona, along with the World Triathlon Long Distance Championships – but in practice the World Triathlon event in Pontevedra, Spain in June really doesn’t garner anywhere near the kind of competitive field seen in Kona or Nice. That’s not to take anything away from Antonio Benitez and Marjolaine Pierré, the two winners in Pontevedra this year – a world title is a world title – but I don’t really feel like their wins in Spain put them in the running for this award. (Yes, I know the T100 World Tour is also officially recognized by World Triathlon, but that fell under our middle-distance category.)

There is another major “championship” that comes into play in this category, though – the IRONMAN Pro Series – which rewarded athletes who could post top results at three IRONMAN and two IRONMAN 70.3 races, with bonus points awarded for the world championship events. Read on to see how I came up with our two winners:

Consistent Kat

Kat Matthews is met at the Kona finish line by husband Mark. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

It always seems most logical to steer the triathlete of the year decision towards the world champion. That person might not have excelled all year long, but when it came to performing on the big day, they came through and, one hopes, topped the sport’s best. And it certainly wouldn’t have been a stretch to name Solveig Løvseth the winner of this category. She posted the worlds’ fastest full-distance debut in coming third in Hamburg, won IRONMAN Lake Placid, and then scored a stunning victory in Kona.

Solveig Løvseth runs her way to the Kona title. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

As I wrote in my story on “world bests” from last year, though, Kat Matthews had an incredible season that might not have included the world title, but she was just 35 seconds back in second. That runner-up finish was her third at the worlds (St. George in 2022 and Nice last year) to go along with a pair of runner-up finishes at the 70.3 worlds in Lahti in 2023 and Taupo in 2024. Matthews was so far ahead in the IRONMAN Pro Series standings heading into the 70.3 worlds in Marbella that she still won even though she was forced to pull out due to a calf injury.

While Matthews’ “world-best” IRONMAN time from Texas only lasted a little over a month after Laura Philipp blasted to her 8:03:13 time in Hamburg, Matthews was, once again, second on the day, giving her the third- and fifth-fastest times ever over the distance (8:05:13 in Hamburg, 8:10:34 in Texas.) Add to that the second- and fifth-fastest bike times (4:20:08 in Texas, 4:22:45 in Hamburg), the fourth-fastest run split (2:40:58 in Hamburg), along with the second- and fourth-fastest “on land” times ever (7:03:43 in Hamburg and 7:09:27 in Texas), and you have a remarkably impressive year of racing. That’s not all, though – Matthews also set a new run course record for the IRONMAN World Championship in Kona with her 2:47:23 time, which bested Anne Haug’s 2:48:23 set in 2023.

Should Philipp be in the running here? Absolutely – her Hamburg performance was outstanding and she also won in Roth. Add that to a an impressive win at 70.3 Kraichgau along with third in Kona and you have the makings of an excellent season.

Kat Matthews and Laura Philipp on the run in Kona. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

To me, though, Matthews’ successful IRONMAN Pro Series defence, coupled with her runner-up performances at two of the biggest races of the year, makes her the long-distance triathlete of the year.

Constant Kristian

Kristian Blummenfelt on the bike at the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship Marbella. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

Consistency is the name of the game for this category this year. I joked with Kristian Blummenfelt after the race in Nice this year that his training partners, Casper Stornes and Gustav Iden appeared to have missed the memo – the guy who had won all the big races heading into the world championship gets to win the world championship, right?

The Norwegian sweep – Gustav Iden, Casper Stornes and Kristian Blummenfelt. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

Here’s where that “world champion” thing really comes into play. Should Stornes be the winner here? Even if he was fifth to Blummenfelt’s first in Texas, third to Blummenfelt’s first in Frankfurt, second to Blummenfelt’s first at IRONMAN 70.3 Pays d’Aix and third to Blummenfelt’s runner-up finish in Marbella? Were it not for Blummenfelt’s podium finishes at the other two IRONMAN world championship races, along with his IRONMAN Pro Series title, I would have said yes. Beating the top long-distance athlete on the year’s biggest day of long-distance racing would normally be enough, but, as with Matthews, I think Blummenfelt’s consistency in 2025 gets him the nod. (The only race he didn’t finish on the podium this year was Oceanside, where a flat put him out of contention but he still posted the day’s fastest run split.)

The IRONMAN Pro Series was designed to reward the sport’s top long-distance athlete, requiring said athlete to excel at three full-distance races and two 70.3 events. Blummenfelt’s remarkable season might not have lived up to his heady expectations, but it was impressive enough to be our long-distance triathlete of the year.

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