James sits down with Vincent Luis fresh off his victory in Kona, in what was both his first and last Ironman World Championship. They talk through what it means to be world champion, the journey that brought him to the Big Island, and how he is processing a result that few saw coming. Luis takes James through the race itself, from the marathon charge that brought down Magnus Ditlev in the closing miles to the moment he crossed the finish line knowing he had done it. A wide-ranging conversation with one of triathlon's most compelling figures at the peak of his career.

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This week there is only one event we are talking about, Kona!

Taylor Knibb wins the women's Ironman World Championship in the most dramatic of circumstances. Solveig Løvseth led going into the final mile before collapsing on the road. Knibb went past her to take the title, Løvseth got back to her feet and walked across the line in eighth. Lucy Charles-Barclay led out of the swim but withdrew on the run. Laura Philipp took second, Julie Derron third. Knibb becomes just the third woman ever to hold both the 70.3 and full-distance world titles in the same year.

Vincent Luis wins the men's race on his Kona debut, a race he had said publicly would also be his last. He started the marathon over five minutes down on Magnus Ditlev and ran him down in the closing miles to take one of the great Kona victories. Gustav Iden charged hard and finished second, with Sam Laidlow and Kristian Blummenfelt both falling away in the heat.

Despite finishing second in Kona, Iden's consistency across the season was enough to win the overall Ironman Pro Series title. On the women's side, Laura Philipp takes the series crown.

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Andy Horsfall-Turner joins to give an update on his season and share his thoughts on the Pro Series as a professional athlete living inside the system. We talk about what it actually looks like from the inside, whether the series is working, and what needs to change.

Kona is here. The Ironman World Championship returns to the Big Island with both the men's and women's races on the same day for the first time since 2019, and the fields are stacked. We go through who we think can win, who the conditions will suit, and what a race without defending champion Casper Stornes means for the men's title.

The women's race features defending champion Solveig Løvseth, Lucy Charles-Barclay, Chelsea Sodaro, Laura Philipp, Kat Matthews and Taylor Knibb among others. We break down the contenders and pick our winners.

The men's line-up brings together Gustav Iden, Kristian Blummenfelt, Patrick Lange and Sam Laidlow, with Stornes absent after his training crash on the island last week. We run through the field and ask who steps up to fill the void.

SAVE 60% OFF GOGGLES AT WWW.HUUBDESIGN.COM USING THE CODE 'talkingtriathlon'

To support the podcast please head to: patreon.com/talkingtriathlon

To watch this podcast as a video visit: https://bit.ly/3vzSss2

Or check us out on Social Media:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/talkingtriathlon

You can follow James at https://www.instagram.com/bale.james85

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You can follow Andy at https://www.instagram.com/andrew_h_t

Check out Andy's podcast: https://www.instagram.com/uncomfortabletriathlon