One of Hannah Berry’s final swim sessions before Ironman Texas offered a telling glimpse of the world she now inhabits.
Sharing a lane with three-time Ironman World Champion Patrick Lange as their German coach Ben Reszel watched on from the poolside deck wasn’t a coincidence. It was confirmation.
The Kiwi No.1 is at the top table of women’s long-course triathlon, and Saturday’s Memorial Hermann Ironman Texas North American Championship in The Woodlands is her next opportunity to prove she belongs that way.
“The lead into Texas has been smooth,” Berry said on social media this week. “Training has been building further on fitness carried into IMNZ and has been tracking well. Life’s good and I’m looking forward to the battle on Saturday.”
The battle is considerable. The fourth round of the Experience Oman Ironman Pro Series has assembled a crazy combined nine world champions. Eat your heart out T100 Singapore.
The women’s field reads like a world championship start list. Kat Matthews arrives as the defending champion — for the third consecutive time — and in the kind of form that makes the rest of the field nervous.
The Brit has already banked wins at Ironman New Zealand and Ironman 70.3 Geelong in 2026, she leads the Pro Series standings, and is the reigning back-to-back series champion. Stopping Matthews right now is a genuine test of anyone’s best day.
Taylor Knibb is one who might provide it. The three-time Ironman 70.3 World Champion and two-time Olympic silver medallist was second here in 2025 and arrives fresh off a dominant win at Ironman 70.3 Oceanside. Reigning Ironman World Champion Solveig Løvseth of Norway completes a top three that would grace any world championship podium. Lisa Perterer, Marta Sanchez, Jackie Hering and Danielle Lewis round out a field where finishing inside the top five requires something special.
Berry’s something special was on display at Kona last year, a fourth-place finish at the Ironman World Championship that announced her arrival among the sport’s elite. A previous Ironman New Zealand champion who finished second at this year’s edition, the PTO world No.15 has built the kind of consistent big-race résumé that seldom lies. A podium in Texas on Saturday would be the next chapter.
The men’s race is barely less stacked. Kristian Blummenfelt — Ironman World Champion, Pro Series champion and defending Texas winner — leads a Norwegian invasion that also includes fellow Ironman World Champions Gustav Iden and Casper Stornes. Three-time world champion Patrick Lange is in the mix, as is two-time Ironman 70.3 World Champion Jelle Geens making his full Ironman debut, a storyline in itself. Americans Rudy Von Berg and Sam Long, and Belgian Marten Van Riel and Jonas Schomburg add further firepower to the chase for a share in the US$175,000 prize purse.
You can catch Ironman Texas live on Ironman’s YouTube channel. The men go at 11.25pm NZ Time Saturday, five minutes ahead of the women. Check listings.
