Updated October 1, 2026 06:54AM
SUMMARY
- Tim Heming outlines where every female winner of the Ironman World Championship is now, interviewing several to catch up on life after retirement from the sport.
- While many champions on the list are now retired from professional racing, they’ve remained deeply involved in the sport through coaching, event organizing, sports commentary, and advocacy.
- Other world champions went on to compete in other sports or took on a traditional career, such as nursing.
The title of “Ironman World Champion” is one that can never be taken away – just ask four-time winner Chrissie Wellington or eight-time champ Paula Newby-Fraser. But as many of these legends will tell you, being first down Ali’i Drive on the Big Island wasn’t their only accomplishment in life.
Yes, these athletes have all won the coveted Ironman World Championship title – some of them on multiple occasions – but what are they doing now? We take a look at the full roster of women’s Ironman world champs, starting with our most recent and those still competing and stretching all the way back to the first woman who raced in 1979. (And if you’re looking for the men’s list, check it out here: Men’s Ironman World Champions: Where Are They Now?)
Women’s Ironman World Champs: Where are they now?
Solveig Løvseth
Years won: 2025
Country represented: Norway
Løvseth was a surprise winner of the 2025 Ironman World Championship in a drama-filled race that saw first Lucy Charles-Barclay and then Taylor Knibb succumb to conditions. However, no one should have been totally shocked by Løvseth’s ascendancy. An accomplished short course athlete, she set the fastest women’s Ironman debut time in history in Hamburg four months before success on the Big Island. This year she returns as one of the women to beat.
Aged 27, with the North American and European Ironman titles already secured in 2026, Løvseth is only improving. “It’s such a strong field, but I do think I have a chance, and will do everything I can,” she told Triathlete in Nice recently.
Laura Philipp
Years won: 2024
Country represented: Germany
Philipp makes this list by virtue of winning the Ironman World Champs in Nice in 2024 when she used her bike and run talent to maximum effect on the Côte d’Azur. But Kona remains the elusive prize, and at 39, she would become the oldest woman to win the pro race on the Big Island should she triumph in 2026. While she’s had a series of near misses in the past, placing fourth (2019, 2022) and third (2023, 2025), she’ll also realize that her opportunities are not limitless. A disrupted start to the season means she’s raced more frequently closer to the race than in previous years, with the plan (and hope) to sharpen her fitness rather than creating too much fatigue.
Lucy Charles-Barclay
Years won: 2023
Country represented: Great Britain
Victory in the 2023 Ironman World Championship slayed any thoughts of a Hawaii heyday for Charles-Barclay after four successive second-place finishes there from her Big Island pro debut in 2017. After withdrawing injured on the eve of the 2024 edition in Nice, conditions got the better of her when leading in Kona in 2025, less than 10 miles from the finish. This year, the Brit, one of the world’s most popular triathletes with almost 600k followers on Instagram, has put full focus on regaining the title – even opting not to defend her 70.3 world title to make sure the preparation is on point.
Chelsea Sodaro
Years won: 2022
Country represented: USA
As a mother and an American, Sodaro broke through plenty of barriers when she became world champion on a historic Thursday in Hawaii in 2022, the year Ironman was uniquely granted two days of racing on the Big Island. Life following that triumph hasn’t been straightforward. Sodaro has been candid about her mental health struggles, including anxiety and postpartum depression, and not helped by injury; performances have been patchy. However, there is no doubting her talent, particularly on the run, and there has been an Ironman win in New Zealand and a standout third place in the 2024 World Championship in Nice. There are few expectations on Sodaro as she returns to Hawaii this year. But then there weren’t any in 2022 either.
Daniela Ryf
Years won: 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2021
Country represented: Switzerland
Retired in 2024 after a glittering career where she racked up five Ironman world titles and five Ironman 70.3 titles, including three times doing the 70.3-full distance double. There were occasions during that spell that Ryf looked unbeatable, but having finally broken Wellington’s then-iron distance record time at Challenge Roth in 2023, the body eventually said no more. Not that Ryf hasn’t been active in retirement. “From chasing one clear goal in sport to juggling many projects, work now challenges my mind in new ways,” she says. Those challenges include corporate speaking and sports commentary, as well as cycling with keen amateurs – although at a more leisurely pace – with Ride & Vino in Malans, a winegrowing municipality of Switzerland, where the tagline is “come for the ride, stay for the wine”.
Anne Haug
Years won: 2019
Country represented: Germany
The two-time Olympian retired in summer 2025 after a stellar career that also included four podiums at the Ironman World Championship, including a memorable victory in 2019. Haug was always known for her footspeed as she burned through courses and the competition, and a 2:38:52 in Challenge Roth in 2024 brought her tantalisingly close to being the first woman to break eight hours for the iron distance; the finish time recorded at 8:02:38. Since calling time on her career, Haug has stayed in triathlon, using her sports science background and knowledge she’s learned throughout a long athlete-coach partnership with Dan Lorang, to launch physiology testing programs and sports training camps in her favorite training location of Lanzarote.
Mirinda Carfrae
Years won: 2010, 2013, 2014
Country represented: Australia
Carfrae may have retired from racing in early 2023, but is still a familiar face and voice with Ironman fans as a commentator or roving reporter on the coverage. With husband and US Navy Academy graduate Tim O’Donnell having also stepped back from long course racing, the couple now have more time to focus on raising their three children, Isabelle, Finnian and Jameson, and coaching their Salty Bears triathlon team (Salty meaning “experienced” in Navy speak). Living in the endurance hotspot of Boulder, Colorado, O’Donnell is also starting out as a property developer and a keynote speaker.
Leanda Cave
Years won: 2012
Country represented: United Kingdom
Born in England, brought up in Australia, and won triathlon silver for Wales in the Commonwealth Games of 2002, the much-travelled Cave now splits her summers and winters between Aspen, Colorado, and Miami, Florida. The 2012 Kona winner has never left the triathlon scene and still coaches a select group of endurance athletes.
“I still ride or run with my athletes,” she told Triathlete recently. “Some of them like to have someone to kick their ass!” Cave is certainly in the shape to do that. Despite retiring from the pro ranks in 2018, she has since competed in the Ultraman World Championships, placing third in familiar territory on the Big Island.
Chrissie Wellington
Years won: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011
Country represented: United Kingdom
Four-time and undefeated Ironman champion Chrissie Wellington lives in north Somerset in the UK, raising her daughter, Esme, with her husband and former British triathlete Tom Lowe. Following retirement, she spent 12 years as Head of Participation and later Global Head of Health and Wellbeing at parkrun – the charity that organizes free 5K events all over the world.
Alongside this, she undertook charity work, campaigned for the return of the women’s Tour de France, and even authored children’s books. Having stepped down from her role at parkrun in January 2025, Wellington works as a consultant on diversifying participation in physical activity and improving public health outcomes. She also delivers talks and workshops around sustainable high performance and is working with leading sports brands on product development. Keeping active is still a priority, with open water swimming and cycling currently replacing trail running due to injury, as well as taking the family on as many extended backpacking adventures as she can.
Michellie Jones
Years won: 2006
Country represented: Australia
Few former Ironman World Championship winners still relish racing as much as Jones. The Olympic silver medalist is a constant on the age-group scene, most recently racing at the Ironman 70.3 World Championship in Nice, France, before a quick turnaround to the World Triathlon Age-Group Championships in Pontevedra, Spain – where she competed in the sprint, standard and mixed relay events.
Unsurprisingly, Jones is also still a constant on the podium at these races too. Outside of competing, she runs popular Giddy Up Multisport Coaching and is part of the Endurance Sports Coaching Institute (ESCI). When she’s not in triathlon mode, bike riding is often replaced with riding horses at home in Southern California.
Natascha Badmann
Years won: 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005
Country represented: Switzerland
Six-time Hawaii winner Badmann finally stopped racing on the Big Island in 2016, but like many past Kona champions has kept her hand in the sport. As she approaches her 60th birthday, coaching, mentoring, motivating, and being an ambassador for events, particularly in her homeland of Switzerland, keeps her busy, much of it alongside long-time performance coach Toni Hasler, with VIP triathlon training camps in places such as Gran Canaria and Tuscany.
Lori Bowden
Years won: 1999, 2003
Country represented: Canada
Two-time Ironman world champion Lori Chestnut (née Bowden) was inducted into the Ironman Hall of Fame in 2015. She’s married and settled down in Victoria, British Columbia, where she remains connected to the Canadian running community, helping organize the annual Royal Victoria Marathon (formerly the GoodLife Fitness Victoria Marathon).
Heather Fuhr
Years won: 1997
Country represented: Canada
After retiring from professional racing in 2007, Fuhr stayed close to Ironman, working as the Pro Athlete Liaison and VIP Services Manager, before ascending to her senior directorial role, where she helps manage the logistics, VIP experiences, and athlete relations for global Ironman World Championship events.
Paula Newby-Fraser
Years won: 1986, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996
Country represented: Zimbabwe/USA
Ironman continues to play a huge role in the life of Newby-Fraser. The record eight-time champion has worked at the corporate level for the organization for more than two decades in various roles, including helping build Ironman’s anti-doping program, driving women’s participation initiatives, and coaching celebrities for Hawaii, such as Olympic speed skater Apolo Anton Ohno and former NFL star Hines Ward. More recently, she has become involved in helping select locations and schedule the calendar for the Ironman’s Pro Series, which will kick off at Ironman 70.3 Oman in 2027.
Karen Smyers
Years won: 1995
Country represented: USA
Smyers completed the historic double of ITU world title and Ironman World Championship within a few weeks of each other in 1995 and remains central to the endurance world, coaching triathletes, cyclists and runners online and via in-person bike classes, track practices and trail runs outside of Boston. She’s also an event organizer for the Lincoln Kids Triathlon, now in its 22nd year, and the B2VT Ride, an iconic 150-mile one-day ride from Massachusetts to Vermont. After a long quest to solve a heart issue that caused her to pause serious racing in 2011, Smyers tells Triathlete she is also looking forward to getting into age group competition.
After a decade of searching for answers, she was finally diagnosed with the late onset of a genetic disease and has recently started a promising new medication (Myqorzo) that is restoring her oxygen capacity and love of racing. Smyers is being inducted into the Ironman Hall of Fame at the 2026 Hawaiian Ironman World Championship. Along with her husband Michael, she enjoys the occasional Gravel Grinder and confesses that they are both avid pickleball players.
Erin Baker
Years won: 1987, 1990
Country represented: New Zealand
Baker was a powerhouse of triathlon with a staggering 104 wins out of 121 starts in her career, including two Ironman World Championship wins. Having married fellow Kona winner Scott Molina, the couple made a home and raised their children in Christchurch, New Zealand. Following retirement from triathlon, Baker served as a city councilor and helped shape regional healthcare and public initiatives. Contacting the couple for an update on their status, Molina replied for both in a typically cheery manner: “Not much has changed, just a bit slower and older. Life’s good!”
Joanne Ernst
Years won: 1985
Country represented: USA
Ernst still enjoys time on two wheels and frequently enters gravel races and completes bike-packing trips. According to her Instagram, she recently completed a two-week bike tour of Italy’s classic climbs. In other words, she’s living every triathlete’s retirement dream.
Sylviane Puntous
Years won: 1983, 1984
Country represented: Canada
Sylviane is one half of the Puntous Dynamic Duo made up of her and her twin sister Patricia. Sylviane bested Patricia into second place at Kona in both 1983 and 1984. The Puntous sisters went on to have careers as operating room nurses and currently reside just north of Montreal. The two remain inseparable and even in their 60s can be found training for marathons together.
Julie Leach
Years won: 1982 (two World Championships were held in 1982)
Country represented: USA
Leach got her start as an Olympic kayaker and competed in the 1976 Montreal Olympics before switching to triathlon, winning the 1982 Ironman World Championship in her first and only attempt at the race. She subsequently returned to paddling, winning the Molokai-to-Oahu Outrigger Race in 1986 and the Molokai-to-Oahu Surf Ski Race the following year. Today, she resides in Pasadena, California, where she raised two children and keeps a relatively low public profile, as documented in a Breakfast with Bob interview in 2020.
Kathleen McCartney
Years won: 1982 (two World Championships were held in 1982)
Country represented: USA
Based in San Diego, the 2024 Ironman Hall of Fame inductee works as a triathlon coach and mentor at TriDot, coaching athletes from beginners through to highly competitive long-distance racers. An 11-time Kona finisher, McCartney enjoys strength training, yoga and skiing, and remains closely involved with the Ironman community too. Keeping it in the family, she has also competed alongside sons Carter and Patrick Hearst, and daughter-in-law Melissa Hearst. Now a proud grandmother, she says: “I have big plans for all my grandchildren to compete together at the Ironman Dip ‘n Dash 2029 in Kona.”
Linda Sweeney
Years won: 1981
Country represented: USA
Sweeney has had a successful career in philanthropy since her 1981 Kona victory. She is the founder and president of the Alumni and Donors Unite organization, which “believes a college education must allow for thinking outside the box, pressure testing ideas, assuming no ‘settled science’, taking intellectual chances and actually insisting on reasoned debate.” She currently resides in Southern California.
Robin Beck
Years won: 1980
Country represented: USA
Beck proved to be the most elusive of all the former Kona champions when it came to digging up info on her. Even Bob Babbitt, the human encyclopedia for all things triathlon, only had this to say: “No one knows where Robin Beck is or what she is up to. She is a mystery.”
Lyn Lemaire
Years won: 1979
Country represented: USA
Lemaire was the first woman to complete Ironman Hawaii and by default the first female winner. She was the fifth finisher overall (out of only 15 racers!). She came from an athletic background; she was a high school swimmer and the national record holder in the 40K cycling time trial at the time she entered Ironman Hawaii in 1979. She was inducted into the Ironman Hall of Fame in 1998. Lemaire spoke with Bob Babbitt last in 2022 and advised triathletes “not to take the sport too seriously.”
