Your Shoulder's Savior

Reader: What a race, true grit from every competitor there. Every athlete should be proud of what they achieved, it looked brutal.

Reader: I sat watching the entire thing from start to finish. I was rooting for Gustav, then Vincent, then Gustav, then Vincent. Then to watch Solveg run by Taylor and seemed to leave no doubt about her legacy.

Then the stumble and almost taking out the cameraman. I felt sick to my stomach watching her. But the grit to get back up and keep moving. Wow what a race.

My wife, who really doesn't pay much attention later in the day was talking about the end of the womens race. I think we have a new fan.

Reader: It was indeed absolute cinema, BUT...I'm surprised, after the Taylor situation we watched in 2025, Ironman didn't have a better logistical plan when Solveig went down. While it makes for great theater, from a health and athlete preservation perspective, there needs to be a clear decision tree on how these situations are handled. If/when it doesn't turn out positively (if we can call both Taylor 2025 and Solveig 2026 turning out positively), this could be a huge reputational risk for Ironman in broadcasting a tragic event

Reader: We were volunteers: bike check-in, morning clothes bag, finish line catchers. Honored to be able to support these amazing athletes and witness the courage, grit, and determination to keep going to make it across the line.

Reader: I was shocked how hard Solveig seemed to be going the last hill rather then back down - she had a big enough lead. Maybe she thought she was untouchable at that point. And who the hell ks that French guy? Gustav should have won.

Reader: Returning to men and women on one day was a terrible experience for the age group women. So many women were brought up through the field by packs of men drafting.

As expected not ONE man announced his pass and many who passed nearly clipped my bike during their pass. The change tent was disgusting and overcrowded making it hard to find a space to tend to transition. There was no ice left in transition for the women who started in later waves. It was terrible.

If ironman is going to keep this co-ed. Do better to ensure the women’s race is supported instead of paying us lip service with the woven initiative. We don’t want our hair braided and bedazzling stations.

We want a seat at the table and we want our race to be fair, similarly supported regardless of when our race starts, and we want to be taken seriously.

Reader: I think the 3-minute drafting penalties for pros are far too severe, especially given the doubling of the draft zone. Make it a minute.

Reader: Ditlev cried about Matthew even though it was not a penalty. Ref wouldn’t have issued a penalty except for Ditlev. Karma got him

Reader: Hats off to Ironman for great YouTube coverage!

Reader: The pro races were great & fun to watch. The 20m draft zone was a factor. Ironman has to do something about drafting for the age grouper. Fewer participants? You can't spread out the waves further & have some unfortunate people start at 9am or even later.

Reader: Alas, the epically bad commentary continues to take away from the drama on screen. What a day though.

Reader: It was great, but they should 2 races for women and men on different days.

Reader: The race itself? Crazy drama. One, the queen K at Palani in the spot where the women’s race was decided last year, we thought we knew the end but should have been at the finish- it’s never over til it’s over here!

On the ground, there were SO few women comparably to recent years and obviously Nice. While IM media said 30%, it was then said 27, and later 22.7. and AG women reported it affecting their race quite a bit. An interesting time to launch your Woven women’s initiative. The racing was AMAZING!