Kat Matthews

In 2018, as an amateur, Matthews won Ironman 70.3 Calgary as well as the UK National Championships later on in the year.^[9][10] Early in the 2019 season, Matthews won Challenge Gran Canaria as an amateur thus securing her pro licence and, as a professional went on to podium at four middle distance events including winning the ETU European Championships.^[11] In her first Ironman: IM Western Australia she was 4th with a debut time of 8:53:58.

In 2020 Matthews won the first post-pandemic IM 70.3 (Tallinn) and the first post-pandemic Ironman: Ironman Florida with a time of 8:40:50 (at the time the 3rd fastest ever British woman).^[12][13] Notably she also won the UK national 100-mile cycling TT in 3 hours and 55 minutes.^[14][15]

In 2021, Matthews finished fourth at the Ironman 70.3 World Championship in St George. In the inaugural PTO Collins Cup she had the 4th fastest time, winning her match.^[16][17] She also won IM UK in Bolton^[18] and came 2nd to Daniela Ryf at IM Tulsa.^[19]

In 2022, Matthews won Ironman Lanzarote 70.3 beating the reigning Ironman world champion Anne Haug by over 3 minutes.^[20][21] Racing in her first Ironman World Championships in St George, Utah in May 2022 she was second to Daniela Ryf.^[22] She had been invited to participate in the Sub7Sub8 challenge racing against Nicola Spirig.^[23] Matthews smashed the 8-hour 'barrier' finishing ahead of Spirig with a time of 7:31:57, the fastest ever Ironman distance time.^[24] While acclimatizing in Texas for the 2022 Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii, a driver drove into her resulting in very serious injuries.^[25][26] Once sufficiently recovered her structured rehabilitation moved to an active return to training in December.^[27] She was ranked ninth in the Professional Triathletes Organisation 2022 ranking list.^[28] Matthews was named British Army and UK Armed Forces Sportswoman of the Year 2022.^[29]

In 2023, recovered and rehabilitated,^[30] Matthews returned to racing 'grateful' to finish third at IM 70.3 Oceanside behind Tamara Jewett and the current world champion Chelsea Sodaro.^[31] and followed this 3 weeks later with a win at Ironman Texas in a new best Ironman time for a British woman of 8:32:51.^[32][33] In the 2023 Ironman 70.3 World Championship in Lahti, Finland, Matthews finished second to Taylor Knibb.^[34] With a win in the IM 70.3 Bahrain^[35] Matthews was ranked sixth in the Professional Triathletes Organisation 2023 world ranking list.^[36]

In 2024 with the inaugural Professional Triathletes Organisation T100 Tour and the first Ironman Pro Series she set out to be the only athlete in the world to race both series.^[37] Wins at Ironman Texas,^[38] Ironman Vitoria-Gasteiz (in a new British fastest ever Ironman time of 8:24:23) and podia at T100 San Francisco, T100 London and Ironman 70.3 Tallinn set up success in both the Ironman Pro Series^[39][40] and the T100 Tour.^[41] In the autumn Matthews was second in the 2024 Ironman World Championship in Nice to Laura Philipp,^[42] finished the Professional Triathletes Organisation T100 World Tour in fourth place^[43] and in the 2024 Ironman 70.3 World Championship in Taupō, New Zealand, Matthews finished second to Taylor Knibb.^[44] With that result Matthews won the Ironman Pro Series with an overall score of 20,761 (out of 21,500 max).^[45][46]

In 2025 Matthews opened her season with a third consecutive win at Ironman Texas, notably beating Taylor Knibb the current Ironman 70.3 World Champion.^[47] Her time was an Ironman_Triathlon World best of all time: 8:10:34, beating the previous mark by 8 minutes. A month later she backed this up placing second to the World Champion Laura Philipp at Ironman Hamburg in an even faster time of 8:05:13.^[48] In the 2025 Ironman World Championship in Kona on 11 October she placed second behind Solveig Løvseth and ahead of Laura Philipp, setting a record for the run: 2:47:23.^[49] With those results plus two Ironman 70.3 wins in Swansea and Zell am See, Matthews won the Ironman Pro Series again with an overall score of 20,845 (out of 21,500 max).^[50][51]

Matthews' notable achievements include:

Tours/Series