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The 247 Endurance ‘Daily Split’ team – click here to subscribe to our free newsletter if you haven’t already – have crunched the numbers and weighed up the form to give their verdict on two compelling IRONMAN World Championships in Kona this weekend. Reputation alone wasn’t enough: athletes needed results to support their case… Although it has to be said that the heart did rule the head on one or two of our picks, as ‘gut feeling’ also nudged its way into the equation.

The 247 Endurance ‘Daily Split’ team – click here to subscribe to our free newsletter if you haven’t already – have crunched the numbers and weighed up the form to give their verdict on two compelling IRONMAN World Championships in Kona this weekend. Reputation alone wasn’t enough: athletes needed results to support their case… Although it has to be said that the heart did rule the head on one or two of our picks, as ‘gut feeling’ also nudged its way into the equation.

Winning the IRONMAN World Championship is the ultimate goal in Kona. But for several leading contenders, Saturday’s race also carries a second major prize: the IRONMAN Pro Series title. The financial stakes are substantial. Each Pro Series champion earns a $200,000 bonus – $75,000 more than the $125,000 first prize for winning Kona. An athlete who claims both titles on Saturday will therefore collect $325,000 from those two prizes alone.

The distances tell only part of the story in Kona. A 3.8km ocean swim, 180km bike ride and 42.2km marathon stand between athletes and the famous finish on Ali‘i Drive. But the heat, humidity and exposed roads of Hawaii’s Big Island make this a challenge which goes well beyond covering 226km. On Saturday 10 October, professional men and women will race on the same day in Kona for the first time since 2019, alongside age-group athletes chasing their own world championship ambitions.

Defending champion Solveig Løvseth heads a formidable women’s field for the IRONMAN World Championship in Kona on Saturday 10 October. The Norwegian wears F1 after winning on her IMWC debut last year, but faces three former champions in Laura Philipp, Lucy Charles-Barclay and Chelsea Sodaro, alongside three-time runner-up Kat Matthews and reigning IRONMAN 70.3 World Champion Taylor Knibb.

Four former IRONMAN World Champions headline the men’s field for Kona on Saturday 10 October – but defending champion Casper Stornes will be missing after a training crash ended his hopes of retaining the title. Gustav Iden, Kristian Blummenfelt, Sam Laidlow and Patrick Lange are all set to line up as the men and women race together on the same day in Kona for the first time since 2019.

Kate Waugh produced a sensational solo bike attack to set up a dominant Great Britain victory in the Rome World Cup Mixed Relay, with Olympic champion Alex Yee bringing the team home 57 seconds clear of hosts Italy. Olivia Mathias, Connor Bentley, Waugh and Yee combined to win in 1:17:23, with all four contributing to an impressive Sunday morning performance. Bentley had put Britain ahead at halfway before Waugh transformed a slender advantage into a commanding lead on Leg C.

IRONMAN Calella-Barcelona has been cancelled less than 24 hours before more than 3,000 athletes were due to race, with severe weather prompting authorities to suspend outdoor activities and sporting events. The age-group-only event had been scheduled for Sunday 4 October, based in Calella on Catalonia’s Maresme coast, around 50km north-east of Barcelona.

Alex Yee delivered a running masterclass to win the Rome World Cup, but the British Olympic champion believes his emphatic victory offered only “a small glimpse of what could be”. Yee overturned a 40-second deficit after the swim, chased his way back into contention on the bike and then took the lead less than a minute into the run.

Alex Yee produced a running masterclass to win the Rome World Cup, turning a testing start into an emphatic victory before high-fiving spectators down the blue carpet. The British Olympic champion had emerged from the swim around 40 seconds behind the leaders, but worked hard on the bike to get back into contention before taking command less than a minute into the run.