Anne Haug (PTO #3, Germany, 39)
Qualified: IM World Champion 2019 – 8:40
Haug followed up 3rd in St George by retaining her title at Challenge Roth, throwing down a 2:46 marathon. With her current run form her competitors may need up to a 10 minute lead out of T2 to be in clear. She will having athletes looking over their shoulder. Can she stay in touch on the bike to challenge for the win?

Lucy Charles-Barclay (PTO #4, Great Britain, 28)
Qualified: IM 70.3 World Champion 2021 – 4:00
An unexpected addition to the start list after missing six months with a career threatening injury. She hasn’t raced at the full distance since Kona in 2019, since then she has become a more well rounded triathlete and this showed at St George in 2021 where she had the fastest split over each discipline. She will lead from the front and we’ll have to wait and see if anyone is able to catch her. With three silver medals from Kona, she will be determined to go one better in her return to Ironman racing.

Laura Phillip (PTO #5, Germany, 35)
Qualified: IM Austria 2021 – 8:35
A rollercoaster year for Phillip as she set a world best time at IM 70.3 Dubai before missing St George with illness. She bounced back strong and was only 9 seconds away from another worlds best, this time over the full distance at IM Hamburg. In 2019 she made her debut in Kona and came away with 4th. She had only raced one full distance race before her debut, 3 years on she will bring a lot more experience with her that will see her challenge for the top spot on the podium.

Skye Moench (PTO #8, USA, 33)
Qualified: IM Chattanooga 2021 – 8:34
She comes to Kona off the back of a strong year where she placed 4th in St George and dominated IM Des Moines to win by 20 minutes. In both races she showed her consistency across all three disciplines. She has been outside of the top 10 at both PTO Tour events but she has shown what she can do over the full distance. She could finish in the top 5 again with another strong performance.

Fenella Langridge (PTO #11, Great Britain, 30)
Qualified: IM World Championships 2022 – 9:09
A superb second place to Anne Haug at Challenge Roth sets her up well for Kona. She struggled at the PTO Tour events with two DNFs but has demonstrated what she can do over the full distance with the performance in Rother and finishing 8th in St George. She is one of the strongest swimmers in the race so will be near the front from the start.

Chelsea Sodaro (PTO #13, USA , 33)
Qualified: IM Hamburg 2022 – 8:36
Qualified for Kona in her first ever full distance race where she came second to a near record setting performance by Laura Phillip. Sodaro had got the better of Phillip at the Canadian Open, beating her in the final 400m to take the final spot on the podium. She is a strong runner so we expect to see her picking off athletes on the run.

Lisa Norden (PTO #14, Sweden , 37)
Qualified: IM World Championships 2022 – 9:03
6th place in St George earlier this year and a surprising top 5 finish at the recent US Open. Norden is coming into Kona on fine form and has demonstrated that she can deal with tough conditions after holding off many of the middle distance specialists in Dallas. She will be hoping to crack the top five in Kona.