IRONMAN 70.3 Versailles 2026: Mathieu Gallet and Hella Haak take the inaugural titles

The inaugural IRONMAN 70.3 Versailles took place on Sunday, October 11. France’s Mathieu Gallet and Germany’s Hella Haak will go down as the first winners of the event.

1125 male amateur triathletes and 195 female triathletes completed the inaugural edition of the highly anticipated IRONMAN 70.3 Versailles. Originally scheduled for earlier in the year, the race was pushed back to the fall because of the summer heatwave. The swim course also had to be changed at the last minute, moving from the Pièce d’eau des Suisses to the Grand Canal at the Château de Versailles after drought left the former basin dry.

Billed as a royal triathlon given its setting, the swim probably fell short of the hoped-for standards. While the vast majority of triathletes played along and swam conventionally, a number of competitors took something closer to a coastal trek, making the most of the shallow water to walk rather than swim through conditions that were, to make matters worse, fairly muddy….

The start of the inaugural IRONMAN 70.3 Versailles

Once out of those murky waters, the triathletes tackled 90 km on the bike through the Vallée de Chevreuse, with its rolling roads, dense forests and picturesque villages. They then finished with a half marathon taking them past several of Versailles’ iconic landmarks, including the King’s Kitchen Garden, the city’s historic streets and the grounds around the Pièce d’Eau des Suisses, before a majestic finish on Avenue de Paris, facing the Château de Versailles.

This inaugural edition was open exclusively to age-group athletes, and the men’s podium was an all-French affair. Mathieu Gallet took the win ahead of Yann Guyot and Titouan Le Grand.

The women’s podium, by contrast, was an international one, with Germany’s Hella Haak taking first place, followed by England’s Ida Burrows and Germany’s Sophia Lange.

Men’s top 5

1) Mathieu Gallet (France): 3:58:54

2) Yann Guyot (France): 4:01:31

3) Titouan Le Grand (France): 4:07:03

4) Romain Eliasse (France): 4:07:38

5) Jean Berthoud (France): 4:07:48

Women’s top 5

1) Hella Haak (Germany): 4:33:33

2) Ida Burrows (Great Britain): 4:41:55

3) Sophia Lange (Germany): 4:50:32

4) Lisa Jaillet (France): 4:51:29

5) Jordane Jaunin (Switzerland): 5:00:04

Full results