Sport
16 October, 2025
Miller races to podium finish at world champs
Horsham triathlete Kelly Miller has achieved her best-ever finish at the Ironman World Championships in Kona over the weekend, finishing an incredible fourth in her age category.
Completing a 3.9km swim, 180km bike ride and 42.2km marathon, Miller crossed the line in 10 hours, 23 minutes and 18 seconds to earn a top-five podium finish in the female 45-49 age category, while being the sixth Australian woman over the line across all ages.
Miller was overjoyed at the podium result, admitting it was a goal of hers after falling agonisingly short at the 2019 world championships.
“I didn't like to say it out loud too many times, but it was sort of a silent goal, or a dream,” Miller said.
“But I’m absolutely stoked with the result, really happy.”
With her ocean swimming limited to races, Miller admitted the choppy conditions made for a difficult start.
“The first couple of hundred metres, you’re trying to get your own water as people are just swimming on top of each other,” Miller said.
“I sort of settled into a rhythm, but it was pretty choppy with the swell, so it was quite hard going.
“Coming from a country town like Horsham, the opportunity that I get to swim in the ocean is generally just in a race, so it's quite different to swimming in the pool.
“I was a little bit slower than I had hoped for, but I sort of realised that a lot of people were as well because of the conditions.”
Having exited the swim in 28th place, Miller made up ground on the bike, her preferred leg of the Ironman.
“On the bike, I knew I had to get to work,” Miller said.
“I felt really good, and I was able to just keep passing people all day.
“My age group was the last wave to start, so there were about 1300 competitors before me, so I wasn't sure who I was passing, whether they were in my age group or not.
“The conditions were pretty hot, and it got quite windy up towards Hawi, the turnaround point. “I managed the nutrition and water quite well, was pretty happy with the bike, and when I came into transition to start the run, I hear this, ‘Go Kelly, you’re in third’, which definitely surprised me.”
Dealing with 30-degree temperatures and high humidity all day, Miller admits the run pushed her to both her physical and mental limits.
“With the run, we did a loop in town before heading off on the famous Queen Kaʻahumanu Highway,” Miller said.
“We ran up Ali’i Drive, and it was just very humid and hot, felt like a sauna.
“I just tried not to go too fast and manage that part, and then I got this big hill up to Palani, and then you get on the highway, which is about 12 kilometres of a very long stretch of road, where it just really became a mental game then.
“At about the 38-kilometre point of the run, I had a niggle in my hamstring, which was probably due to low sodium, but I made it through to the finish line.”
Highlighting the difficulty of the race, the two leaders of the professional event were unable to finish after pushing themselves in the brutal conditions, with Miller herself requiring a drip afterwards.
The day after the event, Miller attended a ceremony, where she felt honoured to be celebrated for her high placing.
“To get up on the world stage and be presented with the award for fourth place, it was really, really cool to do that,” Miller said.
“I was presented with a Yukine bowl, which is a famous tradition in Ironman, so to come home with the bowl is a dream come true.”
Asked about her plans in the sport, Miller admits she still has the hunger to continue.
However, she will focus on recovery after an extraordinary season, having won her age category at both the Ironman New Zealand and Ironman Cairns events earlier in the year, in addition to her world championship achievement.
“I haven’t got anything set in stone,” Miller said.
“I’ve done three Ironmans this year, so it’s really just about recovery for now.
“If I feel like I perhaps would like to try to qualify again, I think I'd target New Zealand in March.
“But I’m definitely not done.
“I sort of thought to myself, ‘If I reach this goal, will I feel that that's it?’ But now I think, ‘No, I'm still happy to see how far I can go in the sport.”
Miller was also very appreciative of all the support coming from Horsham.
“I would like to say a big thank you for all the support from back home, it means the world to me.”
