Originally published at: Matthew Marquardt Charges to Big Win in Lake Placid; Solveig Lovseth Confirms Her Status as One to Watch - Slowtwitch News
Matthew Marquardt wins IRONMAN Lake Placid. Photo: Hector Vivas/Getty Images for IRONMAN
Matthew Marquardt on his way to the win at IRONMAN Cairns on June 15, 2025. Photo: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images for IRONMAN.
The oldest IRONMAN event on mainland USA continued its legacy as one of the sport’s marquee events as American Matthew Marquardt took his second IRONMAN Pro Series race of the year (after winning in Cairns, Australia, last month), while Norway’s Solveig Lovseth firmly established herself as one to watch as she took a convincing win in just her second IRONMAN race.
Solveig Løvseth takes the win. Photo: Hector Vivas/Getty Images for IRONMAN
The weather in the Adirondacks can certainly offer up some challenges, and this year’s race in Lake Placid proved that as the athletes dealt with almost constant rain throughout the day. Adding to the fun was the water temperature in Mirror Lake sitting at 75.7 F on race morning, which meant the swim ended up being a non-wetsuit swim for the pros, which changed the dynamics of the first leg dramatically. Both defending champions, Trevor Foley and Danielle Lewis, traditionally struggle in the water, and the deficits into T1 were likely to be even bigger if they weren’t able to wear wetsuits.
A Back-and-Forth Race for the Men
The non-wetsuit swim did separate some of the strong swimmers from the rest in the men’s race as American Thomas Gordon cruised out in front to lead the men out of the water in 48:51. Roughly 30 seconds behind him was a group that included Brit Andrew Horsfall-Turner, Italy’s Mattia Ceccarelli, along with Americans Matt Schafer and Jason West, who was making his IRONMAN debut.
Marquardt would finish the swim just under a minute down, only to succumb to the same cramping issues that felled him at IRONMAN Cairns last month, which left him walking through transition and bleeding time – he would end up almost three minutes behind as he started the bike.
Hitting T2 roughly 90 seconds back were some of the pre-race favourites including Kristian Hogenhaug (DEN) and Braden Currie (NZL).
Foley would finish the swim 6:18 behind the swim leader.
Surges Through the Bike
Initially it looked as though Hogenhaug was on his way to another devastating bike split similar to the one he put together in Frankfurt last month as he rode to the front and continued to pull clear of the lead group. Through 31 miles the Dane was a minute up on the first chase group that included Horsfall-Turner, Sweden’s Robert Kallin, South African’s Bradley Weiss, Currie, Henrik Goesch, Ceccarelli and West. Sitting just under three minutes at this point was the next chase group with Foley, France’s Leon Chevalier and Marquardt.
As he hit the long climbing section from Whiteface Mountain up to Lake Placid, though, Hogenhaug’s lead quickly evaporated, and by the time the men finished the first lap and were biking through town Foley was leading a group of six that included Marquardt, Weiss, Kallin, Chevalier and Hogenhaug.
As they hit the climb the second time Marquardt tried to make a move and pull clear of the rest of the group, only to pop his chain and give back all the time he’d gained as the Shimano support crew helped him get back into the mix. Marquardt regrouped, though, and would use the climb to once again pull clear, eventually hitting T2 with a lead of 28 seconds on Hogenhaug, 1:26 on Foley and 3:36 on Chevalier.
More Back and Forth on the Run
Through the early miles of the run Foley looked to be in cruise control as he steadily moved to the front. By the seven-mile point the defending champ was 34 seconds on Maquardt, with Hogenhaug at 1:12 back. Through 10 miles the gap was up to a minute over the American and almost two minutes on the Dane, and through the halfway point of the run things still looked good as the lead had somewhat stabilized to 1:12 and 2:36.
Then things started to crumple for Foley as his pace began to slow drastically. Marquardt seized the opportunity and flew into the lead through 18 miles and continued to power clear of the rest of the field. Hogenhaug would quickly make the pass into second, but was never in a position to challenge for the lead as Marquardt simply looked amazing as he pushed through the final miles – the lead was up to 4:22 through 23 miles with Foley now 6:10 back and desperately trying to hang on to the final spot on the podium as Chevalier was roughly 90 seconds back.
Behind all that action, IRONMAN rookie Jason West was putting together an impressive run, too, running much faster than all the men ahead of him as he ran 2:30 marathon pace to close his 14:24 deficit off the bike to run himself close to the podium, too.
In the end Marquardt would fly through a 2:39:53 marathon to shatter Foley’s course record from last year to win the race in 7:50:08. Hogenhaug would finish second, 6:07 behind after a 2:46:00 marathon on Lake Placid’s tough course, finishing in 7:56:16. Foley would hang tough to round out the podium in 7:57:13, with Chavalier breaking the eight-hour barrier thanks to his 7:59:01 finish. West would make his debut with an impressive fifth-place finish (8:01:59) and a 2:37:20 marathon.
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Lawrence Makes a Statement Early
One of the most anticipated questions of the day was how new mom Holly Lawrence would make out in her IRONMAN debut. The British 70.3 star showed from the gun she was well prepared as she jumped on Kiwi swim specialist Rebecca Clarke’s feet. The pair would finish the swim in 50:L:51, well ahead of Spain’s Marta Sanchez and Austria’s Lisa Perterer, who came out of the water about 2:30 back alongside Lotte Wilms (NED).
Lovseth would finish the swim 5:19 behind, with some of the other pre-race favorites including American Jackie Hering at 6:34, Maja Stage-Nielsen (DEN) 7:23 and Canadian super-runner Tamara Jewett hitting dry land at 8:16. Lewis would end up being 12:02 back as she headed to T1.
Costly Penalty for Perterer
Lawrence would use her 70.3 chops to rip through transition and lead the way onto the bike course, but didn’t push the pace early on as she appeared to be waiting for some company at the front. It was Perterer who would join the Brit at the front of the race, but somewhere along the line the Austrian got dinged for a drafting violation, which meant she would have to serve three minutes in the penalty box at the halfway point of the ride. Sanchez would ride her way up to the front, and through 31 miles of the ride those three were in front, with Lovseth about five minutes behind.
Lawrence would finally fall off the group as they rode up the long climb into Lake Placid. Perterer would lead the way through town, but would have to give the lead back as she spent her three minutes in the penalty box. That left Sanchez alone up in front, but Perterer was determined to get back to the front, which she had done by the 85 mile point of the ride as the leaders started to climb back up to Lake Placid. The pair would finish the bike together, with Lovseth managing to catch Lawrence to finish the bike a shade under six minutes down, with Lawrence a shade over seven minutes behind in fourth. Defending champ Lewis was 14:30 behind at the end of the bike, with Hering another 11 seconds behind and Jewett a distant 14th and 23:31 back as she hit the transition area in the middle of Lake Placid’s speed skating oval.
Lovseth Charges
Heading into Lake Placid the big question was whether or not Lovseth could follow up on her incredible IRONMAN debut in Hamburg. The Norwegian managed to overcome mechanical issues on the bike to finish the ride not far behind reigning IRONMAN world champ Laura Philipp and Brit star Kat Matthews. She followed that up with a 2:46 marathon and the world’s fastest IRONMAN debut (8:12:28).
The answer wasn’t immediately apparent as the Norwegian didn’t seem to be interested in riding her way to the front, but once she started the run it became apparent that Lovseth is the real deal and will be one to watch in Kona later this year. While Perterer quickly ran her way clear of Sanchez, Lovseth was steadily gaining time on the women ahead. While Perterer had opened up a gap of three minutes on Sanchez through 10 miles, Lovseth was in the process of moving into second, hitting that checkpoint just 24 seconds behind the Spaniard.
From there the inevitable move to the front was just a matter of time and eight miles later Lovseth flew to the front and just kept pulling away.
After coming off the bike so far back, Jewett made the most of her second full-distance race and flew through the field, and would eventually pass Lawrence with less than five miles to go as she ran at 2:37 pace through the first 20 miles of the run.
Up ahead, though, Lovseth was in complete control, flying through an impressive marathon of her own, running 2:46:49 to take the win in 8:43:29, a course record by a shade under 17 minutes. (Sarah True went 9:00:21 in 2022.)
Perterer would cross the line in second in 8:46:50, 3:21 behind Lovseth, while Sanchez would have to keep her wits about her to hold off Jewett, finishing third in 8:53:07.
Jewett wasn’t quite able to hold the sub-2:40 pace all the way to the line, but did manage to come close, finishing the tough Lake Placid run course in 2:40:05, moving up 10 places to take fourth thanks to a 8:55:18 finish.
Defending champion Lewis pushed Lawrence to the limit – getting to the final mile of the run just 48 seconds behind. The Brit would hold on to round out the top five, finishing in 9:00:46, with Lewis crossing the line 19 seconds later in a time of 9:01:05.
