Taylor Knibb is a two-time Olympic silver medallist, a four-time IRONMAN 70.3 World Champion, and a little over three weeks ago was crowned the 2026 IRONMAN World Champion in one of the most dramatic closing stages of the race we have ever seen on the Big Island.
Kona has been part of her story since childhood. She watched her mum race there from a young age and made her own IRONMAN World Championship debut in 2023, finishing in fourth place. In 2025, despite an incredible race, she did not finish, ending her day with heat stroke. Twelve months later, she came back and won the coveted World Title on the back of a very unorthodox and remarkable season.
She raced three world championship events in 28 days: the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in Nice, the UCI World Time Trial Championships in Montreal eight days later, and Kona 20 days after that. In Nice, she claimed her fourth IRONMAN 70.3 World Title breaking the tape in 4:19:24. In Kona, she retook the lead in the final kilometre to win on Ali’i Drive in 8:36:29, to become one of only five athletes to win both World Titles in the same year.
In this conversation, Taylor talks us through her recovery from Kona last year and how advice from Paula Newby-Fraser kept her focused on looking after herself in Kona this year, why nerves are good, how she struggles with rest, and why, for all her cycling success, triathlon is still where her heart is.
Taylor is refreshingly honest, thoughtful, insightful and unchanged by her new title. This is a great chat, centred on resilience, courage, letting go, and a reminder that sometimes the biggest wins come from learning to listen to yourself.
