Harry Palmer Three Beats in Ironman 70.3 Swansea after Mika Naudt collides with the ambulance; Lizzy Rayner gets her first win in the Pro Series

The violent bike ride pushed Palmer to the front of the chase, and eventually three of the British men started running together. It was initially a close battle between Palmer and good friend Kieran Leyendars, but the two-time Swansea champion pulled away about halfway through and impressively closed out with the fastest round of the day, although he said he wasn’t at his best after that.

However, the race looked a long way off for both athletes early on, with Germany’s Mika Naudt building a four-minute advantage by the end of the bike and approaching the turn when he rounded a corner at high speed and narrowly avoided a head-on collision with an ambulance stationed in his lane.

Naudt swerved to the side but hit the ambulance with his thigh. He couldn’t continue. The cockpit was cut off from his bike, and the broadcast revealed serious road rash, though thankfully there were no serious injuries. He later shared how shaken he was and how bad it was With an update on Instagram:

On the women’s side, India Lee also fell while leading late in the race, losing control of her rear wheel and hitting the curb. Fortunately, she was able to continue and finish, but the accident allowed Britain’s Lizzy Rayner to take advantage.

Rainer started the race with enough of a gap to narrowly edge out Anne-Sophie Pierre by just 14 seconds, claiming the best victory of his career.

It was an impressively fast men’s swim in the Welsh coastal town, and the non-wetsuit conditions may have contributed to the early gaps. A five-man breakaway team that included pre-race favorites Noodt and Pierre Le Corre was formed.

Palmer, the two-time defending champion, found himself a minute down in a large chasing pack, with plenty of work to do on the bike.

Despite working his way up to third shortly after the halfway point, Palmer was still losing time to Noodt at the front. The German’s advantage continued to grow, and he eventually surpassed a four-minute lead before a tragic accident dashed his hopes of claiming his first Ironman win in nearly two years.

That left three British athletes battling it out at the start of the race. Lindars went through transition first and initially looked the stronger, while Josh Lewis, who had tried to stay with Naudt early on the bike, quickly dropped out.

Palmer and Linder were then side by side, fighting to hold off onrushing Frenchman Simone Vian, who moved to within 30 seconds of the race at the halfway mark.

At that mark the race began to take shape. Vian dropped off the pace quickly, while Palmer broke away from Lindars, who had raced recently Shortening Ironman Frankfurt. He powered into the finish chute to claim his third successive Swansea title – a rare feat in today’s highly competitive racing scene.

Palmer said after the race that it was “bittersweet” to get the victory after what happened to Naudt. He added that there was a “99.9%” chance that the German would win if he had not been involved in an accident.

Lindars retained second place, while German Joran Driessen took third place to achieve the podium for the third time in a row in the Ironman 70.3 race. He finished ahead of French duo Vianne and Le Curé, who were probably hoping for more as they head towards the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship on home soil in Nice.

Ironman 70.3 Swansea 2026 Men’s Results

The women’s race has been shaken up before it even starts, with Solveig Lovseth (NOR) the pre-race favourite. Announced late that it would not start. Despite making the trip to Swansea, Loveseth said her body had not recovered well from Ironman Hamburg and she was not ready to race again.

As in the men’s race, the swim created a breakaway, with India Lee continuing her quest to get back to top form, making up the front group before leading the way on the bike.

Myla Moyson and Ellie White, who led Lee in the swim, followed at the start with a 45-second gap separating them from the rest of the field, including British hopefuls Kate Curran and Rayner.

The other two favorites, Pierre and Rebecca Underbury (GBR), exited the swim more than four minutes late. However, they impressively worked their way through the field and moved into third and fourth shortly after the halfway point, cutting the gap to Lee to around two minutes.

Lee looked poised to hold the perfect advantage on the run, but she crashed with about 10 miles to go after entering a corner too quickly. Although she remounted almost immediately, her chain fell, adding to the time she had already lost.

This allowed Reiner to take the lead in T2. She started the race 40 seconds ahead of Lee, two minutes behind Underbury, who had the fastest split, and three minutes ahead of Pierre – setting up a four-woman battle for victory.

At the halfway mark, Reiner appeared to comfortably maintain her advantage. However, the gap with Pierre continued to shrink until the end of the race appeared on the cards.

In the end, Reiner only had enough left to take her first Ironman Pro Series win, holding on just 14 seconds. Pierre celebrated her second-place finish in style, imitating French soccer star Kylian Mbappe as she crossed the goal line, while Polish Marta Lagunec claimed third place with a similarly impressive run.