Ryf Returns to the Top, Wins 2021 IRONMAN World Title

Daniela Ryf became a five-time IRONMAN World Champion, earning the title today in St. George, Utah. Ryf followed her traditional playbook of moving through the field early on the bike and opening up an insurmountable gap by T2. Kat Matthews, who matched Ryf during the early stages of the bike, took second. Defending champion Anne Haug finished third, unable to close a near 15 minute deficit on the run.

Women’s Race Recap

Haley Chura blitzed to the front in the first 30 seconds trying to break the group up. Fenella Langridge and Lisa Norden tried to stay on her feet, with sizable gap to main pack led by Daniela Ryf. 8 minutes in and Chura snapped the band to Langridge and Norden. Langridge and Norden keep a 20 second gap to the chase pack (Ryf, Haug, Kat Matthews, Jocelyn McCauley, among others) despite Chura pulling away.

Chura charged the swim in 50:29, faster than all but 8 of the pro men. Langridge and Norden came in two minutes down. Langridge got stuck in her wetsuit in T1 and lost approximately 30 seconds to Norden. Next up was Ryf, leading the chase pack of Skye Moench, McCauley, Haug, Rach McBridge, and Matthews — 4:15 behind. Laura Siddall led a small group, nearly 9 minutes down, and Heather Jackson was 10:43 off the pace.

In the opening miles of the bike, Chura remained in the lead, but started to cede time back to Norden in particular — nearly cut in half in 10 miles. Ryf was charging hard, having brought back nearly two minutes to Chura and had brought Moench and Matthews with her. Starting to drop back from that group were McCauley and Haug.

Norden caught and passed Chura at ~mile 18 of the bike. Ryf continued to push the charge toward the front with her group of Matthews and Moench — passing Chura not long after and then linking up with Norden at mile 25. Langridge and Chura rode together about a minute behind. McCauley was another minute arrears, riding solo. Haug was next, also solo, 3:37 behind.

Ryf and Matthews continued to force the issue. They split off from Moench and Norden, opening a 20 second gap by mile 39 of the bike. Langridge was 5th on the road, three minutes off the front. McCauley was 6th (+3:53), Haug 7th (+4:44), and Chura 8th (+4:53).

By mile 51, Ryf had put her foot on the gas pedal. She opened up a 25 second lead on Matthews, two minutes on Norden and Moench, and started to work her way through the tail end of the men’s professional field. Haug continued to push forward, now sitting 6th. However, to put in perspective the pace Ryf was exerting, nearly every chaser had ceded two minutes to the front in 12 miles.

Entering into the climbs, Ryf kept to the front and extended her lead on Matthews to 1:25. Norden was third (+4:04), having separated herself from Moench (+5:22). Haug, McCauley, and Langridge were riding together, another two minutes back. Coming over Gunlock and everyone had lost more time to Ryf: Matthews at 2:33 behind, Norden now at 5:55, Moench 8:02, Haug and McCauley 8:41, and Langridge 8:51 arrears.

Going over the top of Snow Canyon, Ryf’s lead had extended to 6:47 on Matthews. Norden remained third, 9:12 back. Haug was now leading McCauley and Moench, over 14 minutes behind. Ruth Astle was 7th, 17:13 behind. Laura Siddall was 8th (+18:56), Langridge 9th (+19:39), and Heather Jackson closed out the top 10 (+24:26). To put Ryf’s lead in perspective — she was over two miles into the marathon by the time Haug started her run.

After the opening two miles, Ryf padded her lead, now at 7:16 over Matthews. Norden sat third, nearly ten minutes behind. Haug was the fastest runner on the road, but was still 14:47 behind. Moench (+15:58), Astle (+18:14), McCauley (+18:26), Siddall (+20:28), Langridge (+22:36), and Jackson (+25:14) closed the top 10.

The big question would be how far Haug would be able to run up through the field. At every split, Haug was the fastest runner on course, but wasn’t making significant in-roads on Ryf. After 10K, though, Haug had 2:30 to close onto third placed Norden and 5:40 to pass Matthews for second. By ten miles, Haug had made the move into the podium places and had trimmed the deficit to Matthews to three minutes. And by halfway, Haug had 2:30 to move into second and 12:36 to close to Ryf. Norden was fourth, 15:41 back, and Moench was 5th at 19:00.

Ryf was entering territory where, barring catastrophe, she would be guaranteed victory, with ten miles left to run. Matthews had stopped the bleeding of time to Haug and maintained a 1:50 gap. Norden, however, was ceding time to Moench and Astle, who were running quicker than everyone else on course.

With 7 miles left to run, the top three were unchanged, with Matthews clinging desperately to her 2:10 gap to Haug. Moench, meanwhile, had passed Norden for fourth. Astle was still drilling into Norden as well, now 2:30 behind fifth place. Siddall, Langridge, Jackson, and Maja Stage-Nielsen completed the top 10.

Ryf wrapped up her marathon in 2:59:36 to claim her fifth IRONMAN World Championship in 8:34:59. Matthews strong second-half of the run helped her hold second place, while Haug rounded out the podium.

Women’s Results

1. Daniela Ryf 8:34:59
2. Kat Matthews 8:43:49
3. Anne Haug 8:47:03
4. Skye Moench 8:55:21
5. Ruth Astle 9:00:09
6. Lisa Norden 9:03:31
7. Laura Siddall 9:08:34
8. Fenella Langridge 9:09:40
9. Gurutze Frades Larralde 9:13:35
10. Maja Stage-Nielsen 9:14:32
11. Heather Jackson 9:16:53
12. Jocelyn McCauley 9:23:56
13. Nikki Bartlett 9:30:33
14. Renee Kiley 9:35:10
15. Kelly Fillnow 9:36:35

Image Credit
Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images for IRONMAN