Twenty-two professionals failed to finish in Kona, from Patrick Lange’s farewell to race-week flu

Twenty-two professionals did not finish the Ironman World Championship in Kona on 10 October, eleven men and eleven women, according to a tally by Triathlete. Among them were three former world champions, Patrick Lange, Sam Laidlow and Lucy Charles-Barclay, and Magnus Ditlev, who led the men’s race for most of the marathon.

Triathlete put the withdrawals at 21 per cent of the men’s professional field, similar to 2024, and 23 per cent of the women’s, up from 19 per cent in 2025 and 6 per cent in 2023. Athletes cited a choppy swim, strong winds on the bike and humidity on the run.

Lange’s last Kona ends at Hawi

Lange, 40, a three-time world champion who last won in Kona in 2024, had said this would be his last race on the island. He swam with the leaders, 11th out of the water in 48:30, according to Slowtwitch.

He was then seen slumped over his handlebars at the end of the Queen Ka’ahumanu Highway, at the spot where he withdrew in 2022, Slowtwitch reported. He got back on and rode on to the turnaround at Hawi, where he stopped. Jan Frodeno, who spoke to him afterwards, said Lange told him he kept cramping no matter how much water he drank, according to Slowtwitch.

Triathlete reported that Lange later said he could not imagine running a marathon on those legs and that it “simply wasn’t possible”. He then went back out on the course to hand out supplies to age-group athletes at an aid station.

Charles-Barclay stops in the same place again

Charles-Barclay, the 2023 world champion, was first out of the water in 51:29, Big Island Now reported, and started the marathon in second, 3 minutes 6 seconds behind Taylor Knibb. She had skipped the 70.3 World Championship to prepare for Kona.

She faded in the early miles of the run and was passed by Solveig Løvseth at about the ten-mile mark. She stopped on the side of the road “in nearly the same spot as last year”, Triathlete reported, when she also failed to finish. The broadcast showed her vomiting, and mentioned possible seasickness from the swim, but Triathlete said that explanation was unconfirmed. Unbroken Review has not seen a statement from Charles-Barclay.

Ditlev and Laidlow

Ditlev rode the fastest bike split, 4:06:47 according to Triathlete, and started the run with a lead of 1 minute 27 seconds over Laidlow. He had lost the first half of the season to shingles and took the last Kona slot at Ironman Frankfurt, Slowtwitch reported. He led until about mile 20, when he began to walk, and was passed by Vincent Luis and Gustav Iden at the same aid station. He did not finish.

Writing on Instagram, Ditlev said that leading for so long into the marathon was “the craziest experience I’ve ever had and definitely leaves me hungry for next year!”, Triathlete reported.

Laidlow withdrew before mile four of the run. He said he had a blood-flow problem in his left leg from early on the bike and that the leg went numb once he started running, and that he expected to need an operation. Slowtwitch identified the condition as external iliac artery endofibrosis.

Illness in race week

Several withdrawals were put down to illness. Danielle Lewis of the United States woke the day before the race with a sore throat and later tested positive for influenza A, Triathlete reported. She started but stopped on the bike. Chelsea Sodaro of the United States had also tested positive and did not start, according to the same report. Trevor Foley of the United States dropped out with an illness that began the night before.

Others described injuries. Andrea Salvisberg of Switzerland said he felt a pain in his hip “unlike anything I’ve ever experienced” and rode on with one leg until a puncture ended his race. Britain’s India Lee said her quads cramped early in the swim. Germany’s Franziska Hofmann started with a migraine that caused what she called “severe vision problems”.

Triathlete suggested one reason for the higher numbers: with deep fields, athletes are racing hard from the start, leaving little margin. For Brazil’s Pamella Oliveira, there will be no second chance. Kona was the last race of her career, and she withdrew before the run.