SHOCK news as world number two is OUT of Kona after making “difficult decision”

Get the ultimate guide to destination racing

Swiss superstar Julie Derron will miss the upcoming IRONMAN World Championship.

Last year’s individual silver medallist at the Paris Olympics has made a stunning transition to middle and long-distance racing.

She gave the near-unbeatable world #1 Taylor Knibb plenty to think about when runner-up to her in three successive T100 races after Paris – Ibiza, Lake Las Vegas and the grand finale in Dubai.

And then she inflicted a first T100 defeat on her in San Francisco earlier this year before stepping up in trip and winning IRONMAN Vitoria-Gasteiz by nearly 40 minutes.

That qualified her for Kona in what was only her second full-distance race and she could have been a real threat to all in Hawaii with her blistering run speed, for which she’s ranked second in the world, as she is in the overall standings.

‘Too big a risk’

But almost exactly a week out from next Saturday’s race (11th October) came a shock announcement on Instagram.

Derron said: This week I’ve had to make the difficult decision not to race the IRONMAN World Championships in Kona.

“I believed I could be ready but I’ve been struggling with health issues since my crash in August and to race an Ironman at this point would be too big a risk in the long term.

“I am very disappointed as I was really looking forward to the experience and to racing the best women in the world. But for now I will focus on getting healthy and will be cheering extra hard for my partner in crime @nina_derron . She’ll do us both proud on the big island 🥰

“I am very motivated to get to the race next year 💭 “

A race for the ages

The crash Derron refers to came on the bike in the lead up to the French Riviera T100 and she said at the time: “It left me a bit battered. Not bad but not well enough to race on Saturday.”

Julie Derron at Vancouver T100 2025 [Photo credit: PTO]

As she says, her sister Nina Derron is anong the starters in Kona in what is looking like a race for the ages, with former champions Lucy Charles-Barclay, Laura Philipp and Chelsea Sodaro among the big favourites along with Kat Matthews and Knibb.

Fingers crossed Derron’s recovery goes smoothly and she’s back in race action soon.

The latest start list is here.

Written by

Jonathan Turner

Jonathan Turner is News Director for both TRI247 and RUN247, and is accustomed to big-name interviews, breaking news stories and providing unrivalled coverage for endurance sports.

Discover more

Let’s race… Challenge Forte Village Sardinia

Are calf sleeves actually worth it for triathletes? How many watts aero calf compression sleeves could save you

Are we in a triathlon boom, or hurtling towards burnout? Laura Siddall on the growth of the sport

Is sports nutrition bad for you? Ultra-processed foods are under siege, and athletes are caught in the cross fire – but should we be worried?

The ultimate city break triathlon race-cations: from Challenge Barcelona to Singapore T100 these are the best city centre races to combine multisport with sightseeing