IRONMAN 70.3 Oceanside 2024 women’s results: The INCREDIBLE Taylor Knibb takes emphatic victory
Starting her build to the Paris Olympic Games in style, Taylor Knibb quelled any doubts that her focus on the short course would detract from her non-draft ability, as she took a tremendous win at IRONMAN 70.3 Oceanside.
The champion here in 2022, Knibb validated her slot for the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship with a dominant ride, as the American came off the bike with more than a ten minute buffer.
Chasing Olympic gold this summer, Knibb now also looks like an overwhelming favourite to take a third successive IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship later this year, with nobody coming close to the 26-year-old over this distance.
Swim – Langridge takes the lead
Taking the race to the field right from the gun, Great Britain’s Fenella Langridge led out of the water in Oceanside, having dropped everyone bar Taylor Knibb and fellow Brit Kate Curran over the 1900m swim.
With just a couple of seconds separating the front trio, the gap was much bigger back to the second pack, which consisted of former champion Paula Findlay, Australian Grace Thek and American contender Grace Alexander, who were around +1:00 down.
Behind the front six, there was a vast deficit to the rest of the field. Brittany Vocke in seventh was +4:05 back, ahead of one of the pre-race favourites Emma Pallant-Browne, with Lisa Becharas and defending champion Tamara Jewett right on her heels.
Bike – Knibb ramps up the tempo
After losing a minute in transition, Knibb reversed the deficit and led through the first checkpoint at 20km, with more than +1:15 over Langridge as the 2022 champion started to show her cards.
(Getty Images for IRONMAN).
Continuing to push the power, Knibb had more than doubled her lead by the halfway mark, as Langridge continued to ride strong +3:15 down in second. By now, Findlay was up into third, a further +1:45 behind the Brit and clear of Pallant-Browne in fourth.
Dominating the bike course like we have so often seen her do, Knibb had an almost unassailable lead by the time she entered T2, with Findlay, who had moved past Langridge into second place, more than ten minutes in arrears.
With the race for the win seemingly tied up barring disaster, the battle for the podium looked set to be an intriguing one, with Langridge, Findlay and Pallant-Browne all within two minutes of each other.
Run – No stopping Knibb
With a substantial lead, Knibb could have happily eased off over the run, but in typical fashion, instead kept pushing the pace at the front and extended her lead.
Behind, in the battle for second, Pallant-Browne had moved into second by the five mile mark, with Findlay holding strong ahead of Langridge and the fast moving pair of Thek and Danielle Lewis in fifth and sixth.
Pulling away from Lewis, Thek made up the gap to Langridge and moved into fourth with four miles to go, as the battle for third between the Australian and Findlay looked set to go down to the wire.
Up front, Knibb was home and dry after a 1:20:15 run split, as she extended her unbeaten streak over the middle distance to five races, extending back to her first win here in 2022.
Having crossed the line in second, Emma Pallant-Browne was then disqualified for excessive speeding in a controlled zone, leading to Paula Findlay being upgraded from bronze to silver and Grace Thek rounding out the podium after jumping from fourth to third.
IRONMAN 70.3 Oceanside 2024 Results
Pro Women
Saturday April 6, 2024 – 1.9km / 90km / 21.1km
1. Taylor Knibb (USA) – 4:09:55
2. Paula Findlay (CAN) – 4:21:48
3. Grace Thek (AUS) – 4:23:16
4. Danielle Lewis (USA) – 4:25:11
5. Fenella Langridge (GBR) – 4:25:20
6. Kate Curran (GBR) – 4:28:25
7. Grace Alexander (USA) – 4:32:02
8. Lisa Becharas (USA) – 4:33:02
9. Gurutze Frades Larralde (ESP) – 4:37:51
10. Annamarie Strehlow (USA) – 4:37:56
