As a reminder, voting is still ongoing for the women’s ballot.

Ryan: We had a good spirited debate on the women’s nominations for this award. Let’s turn it over to the men. Who’s on your short list?

Kevin: Well, this should be fun. I am sure you will be shocked that I would put Patrick Lange on the list – while his year wasn’t super-consistent, he came through on the biggest stage in record-setting style. While he ended up short on the IRONMAN Pro Series title, he still finished second in that. As I mentioned earlier with the women – being an IRONMAN world champion in Germany is huge (yes, I know he lives in Austria, but that won’t affect anything on the sponsorship or appearance front). Taking a third Kona title puts him in some pretty rare company, and 7:35:53 … well, that just takes it all to another level, too. 

While I feel Magnus Ditlev deserves mention for his Roth performance and general consistency through the year, I really don’t think he can factor into the discussion as he didn’t get a world title or contend for the top of the podium in either the T100 standings of the IRONMAN Pro Series. 

I think you have to put Marten Van Riel in the equation (especially since we’ve decided T100 distance is “long”) – the guy won three T100 races and finished second in the other one he competed in. He also managed a seventh-place finish in Cozumel despite having to wait to file a police report after his accident. 

And then there is Jelle Geens. He ticks off the box of having won a world championship (Taupo) and was the only person to beat Van Riel in a T100 race this year (Lake Las Vegas). He was consistent in his other 70.3 appearances – second in Zell am See, third in Tallinn and fourth in Oceanside – and also managed another Olympic appearance (his third) before truly turning his sights to the long-distance stuff. 

Is there anyone you think I’m missing, Ryan?

Ryan: I think you have to put Gregory Barnaby in the discussion given the reasoning you have for eliminating Ditlev; winning the IM Pro Series has to count for something. Again, dueling top 10s at the two IRONMAN World Championships, plus three podiums on the year, counts for something.

But I also would put more weight on Ditlev’s season than you did, Kevin. Although he didn’t wind up contending in the season standings, it’s not like his results at T100 were lackluster. In four races he took a win, two fourths, and then an eighth at the finale – which came just a few weeks after his second place in Kona. 

This is probably controversial, but I think we might have to look at eliminating Lange from this. Yes, he’s the reigning IRONMAN World Champion. Yes, he also won IRONMAN Texas this year. But his 70.3 performances were abysmal by comparison. And I think we have to wind up giving more credit to athletes who are able to excel across the spectrum of what we’re calling long course. (No matter how important winning a world title is in Germany.) That logic also tends toward us eliminating Geens, despite the 70.3 world title.

So for me, this becomes a discussion of Van Riel, Ditlev, and Barnaby. Obviously Ditlev and Barnaby were both more successful at the full distance this year than Van Riel was. Van Riel’s got the world title in his pocket. Barnaby’s consistency got him a $200,000 bonus. And Ditlev was really strong at the two biggest full distance events in the world and had a solid run of T100 races.

I feel like now we have to get very nitpicky, Kevin.

Kevin: I hear you. And I agree that Gregory should be added to the mix, for sure. While I believe that we need to acknowledge his season, it seems crazy to me that we’d give him the Athlete of the Year award over guys who beat him at all the major races. The IRONMAN Pro Series rewards consistency, but are we ready to give the award to someone who was sixth at the IRONMAN World Championship and ninth at the 70.3 worlds? 

I would be happy to leave Magnus in the discussion, too, but remain reluctant to leave Patrick out of the equation. Maybe it’s the era I come from. Back when I was racing, Dave Scott won Kona more times than he didn’t, and often didn’t perform super-well at other races through the season. There was a reason his nickname was “The Man,” though – that ability to come through on the one day that really counted amounted to a lot. Patrick did that in style this year – his win didn’t just net him a world title, it put him in some very special company as one of the all-time Kona greats. The list of three-time Kona champs? Dave Scott, Mark Allen, Peter Reid, Craig Alexander, Jan Frodeno and now Patrick Lange. That, to me, is worth acknowledging.

Ryan: Here’s the thing I struggle with on Lange: yes, he won Kona. And he wound up earning the win in Texas, albeit a few months after the fact due to Tomas Rodriguez-Hernandez’s anti-doping sanction. But his record at 70.3 this year was atrocious – his best showing of the year was 16th place at Oceanside, more than 15 minutes behind winner Lionel Sanders. (Yes, forum readers, we’ve officially hit our Lionel quota for an article on men’s racing.)

And yes, to me, “of the year” by definition means we are looking at the entirety of the season, not just one race or performance. Just like a win in Kona or Nice or Roth carries a heavy weight, not being in the mix at another distance (or for a bunch of the year) should also carry a lot of weight. To me, Lange was so far behind in 70.3 events this year that it pulls the value of his two IM wins down.

Perhaps this all puts Ditlev’s season into further perspective – he was competitive every time he started, won the largest full distance race not named IRONMAN World Championships, and took second at IM Worlds (in the fifth fastest time ever in Kona). For as much as I like Barnaby, and that IM Pro Series consistency paid off in a healthy paycheck, I think Ditlev’s year probably outweighs it.

So to me it’s a Ditlev vs. Van Riel conversation. Ditlev was more successful at long course, and competitive at T100. Van Riel was near untouchable at T100 with a well deserved world title, and was on track for an excellent finish in Cozumel until that unfortunate collision. Results are results, though…

But I think we should put it to our readers at this point.

The post 2024 Slowtwitch Awards: Men’s Long Course Athlete of the Year first appeared on Slowtwitch News.

Note that there is no double-dipping at this. With Taylor Knibb winning the voting for Triathlete of the Year, she is ineligible for this award.

Ryan: First, Kevin, I think we probably need to set some parameters as to how we define Long Course, because I’m sure that will ruffle a few feathers.

Kevin: You think? While I don’t necessarily agree with this, I think the PTO has pushed us into a world where T100 and up is now considered long distance. (Which, I note, is hilarious for an organization that was started to help full-distance IRONMAN athletes make more of a living – but that’s fodder for a completely different story or even a podcast!)

Ryan: Yeah. It comes down to thinking that there’s no need to divide up and have a 70.3/T100 distance award – and with World Triathlon dubbing T100 “long course,” we’ll follow along.

Going into the potential nominees, I still think the same case can be made for Kat Matthews that I made for her Triathlete of the Year nomination. Nobody raced more, and across more distances, than she did, and made an absolute killing in bonuses from the IRONMAN Pro Series victory and finishing 4th in the T100 standings. But I think there’s strong arguments for the two women who beat her on some of the larger stages: Ashleigh Gentle and Laura Philipp.

Gentle’s year was similar to that of Matthews; she raced 7 times and was on the podium for 5 of them. Head-to-head, Gentle and Matthews raced 5 times together, with Gentle coming out ahead 3 out of 5 times, including at the T100 Grand Final in Dubai. And although it doesn’t count for the purposes of this award, Gentle also extended her unbelievable win streak in Noosa.

As for Philipp: obviously, she emerged over Matthews in that duel at the IRONMAN World Championships in Nice to take her first world title. She also had her strong second place in Roth. When you race nine times in a year, and your worst finishing position is 7th, that’s an awfully strong campaign. 

For me this comes down to Matthews and Philipp, and it’s not too dissimilar from the point I was trying to make for Triathlete of the Year: I think it’s important that you show the versatility of being able to race both T100/70.3 distance and 140.6. And that’s something that Gentle just has not done.

Kevin: For sure Kat needs to be considered the front-runner on this one. Some notes, though. There was one athlete who actually raced more than Kat last year – I did a profile on Els Visser yesterday. (I did note right off the bat in that piece that she wasn’t likely to be in the running for any Triathlete of the Year awards, but did enjoy a pretty spectacular season.) There’s another name I would add to the discussion – Anne Haug. If you asked me in July who was going to be the Triathlete of the Year, I would have been willing to bet it would be her. I was in Lanzarote when she broke Paula Newby Fraser’s long-standing course record, and wished I had made it to Roth to watch that otherworldly 8:02:38 performance. I truly couldn’t see any way she wasn’t going to win Nice at that point – I hope my beliefs didn’t jinx her.

Unfortunately, as amazing as those two performances were, the rest of the season wasn’t Triathlete of the Year worthy. (Yes, I am also asking myself why I even went down that road, but it just seemed weird not to have any mention of Haug in this mix!)

I agree on your Ashleigh Gentle points, Ryan. I don’t think she ends up ahead of either Kat or Laura based on her mostly T100, with a touch of 70.3 and a dash of Olympic-distance (Noosa) race season.  

Which leaves us with the Kat / Laura debate for this one. I do believe there is an argument for giving Laura Philipp the award here. As you pointed out, her two “worst” performances were the pair of seventh-place finishes at T100 Lake Las Vegas and T100 Dubai, both of which came after her incredible day in Nice. It’s impressive to me she even made it to those races. People in North America have no idea how big a deal it is to be an IRONMAN world champion over in Germany. The sponsor and media requirements for her after winning Nice must have been nuts. 

Philipp’s year was truly focussed on Nice, too. After the race she told me that she’d had it in her head that the race in Nice was her best shot at a world title from the day IRONMAN announced they would be heading there. So, I guess it comes down to what people think is most important when it comes to picking a Triathlete of the Year. Consistency? Being able to take the world title? A combination of the two?

Happy to hear any arguments, or simply send this to a vote!

Ryan: I think this one is awfully close. In my opinion, you have to give some additional weight to performing at both IRONMAN world championship races (and, for that matter, Dubai as well). But I suppose we can send it to a vote.

The post 2024 Slowtwitch Awards: Women’s Long Course Athlete of the Year first appeared on Slowtwitch News.

First up is the big prize: Triathlete of the Year.

Kevin: Well this one is easy. She won the T100 Triathlon World Tour. She took her third straight 70.3 world championship. She also put together an incredible sprint to get the Americans the silver medal in the mixed relay at the Olympics. (There were a bunch of other T100 wins, Oceanside 70.3 and the national TT championship, too.) On the “long-distance” triathlon front – I am anticipating we’ll have a good ol’ debate about that, too – she was unbeaten this year. I really can’t imagine how this can go to anyone other than Taylor Knibb.  

Ryan: I can go different than Taylor Knibb!

When I think of Triathlete of the Year, I think of remarkable consistency across the entirety of the year, regardless of what they were racing. Don’t get me wrong: Knibb’s run of success is remarkable. She’s unbeatable at 70.3/T100. But her individual results at Olympic distance events was lacking, outside of a single second place early in the year: 19th in Paris, 11th in Caligari, her last two races at that distance. I also don’t put too much stock in Mixed Team Relay results, especially when you had the early race collision between New Zealand and France.

So in my mind there’s another woman that comes to mind: Kat Matthews. Ten long course races in her year. Of her nine finishes, eight of them were fifth or better. Two wins and four seconds mark highlights, including her incredible dual silvers at IRONMAN and IRONMAN 70.3 World Championships. She managed to satisfy both T100 and IRONMAN Pro Series requirements, earning $275,000 in year end bonuses (on top of the prize money from her other finishes). 

So I think it really just comes down to how you define your parameters, Kevin.

Kevin: I 100 percent hear you that Kat’s year was incredible. I certainly acknowledged that in the story I did on her IRONMAN Pro Series win last week. I even acknowledged how impressive the year was considering the adversity she faced – torn calf in Miami, DQ in Hamburg. 

In terms of my parameters, normally a season like hers would get my vote. For me, though, the head-to-head competition has to be a factor when you’re handing out the “triathlete of the year.” Yes, Kat got to within 1:15 of Taylor in Taupo, but at no point was Taylor ever threatened in that race – you certainly got the feeling there was another gear there if it was needed. I won’t count the difference in any of the T100 fall races because Kat was still recovering from Nice, but you look back at T100 San Francisco and the gap was pretty close to four minutes. 

The other factor, for me, comes from Kat herself. At the post-race press conference in Taupo, she (and the rest of the women in attendance) acknowledged that Taylor was in a different league this year. Yes, I know they’re likely being professional and respectful (Kat Matthews, Ashleigh Gentle, Imogen Simmonds and Julie Derron are all class acts), but they all made it pretty clear that Taylor was a step above them over the half distance this year.

And I might be a bit biased since I was there watching the Paris Games, but it is really hard to discount Taylor’s performance there. Bouncing back from a brutal time in the Time Trial, and a tough day in the individual, she found another level to get the US up a spot on the podium. I get that France should have dominated that day, but that’s racing. You can only compete with the people who are there.

Back when I used to do this for Triathlon Magazine, one of our criteria for Triathlete of the Year was that the athlete had to have won a world championship or major event (Olympics) to be considered. Part of the logic for that idea was we wanted to celebrate an athlete who “rose to the occasion” – was able to come through on the big day. I feel like Kat even got that – in Taupo there was no thought of “playing it safe” to ensure she took the IRONMAN Pro Series – she was going for the win, plain and simple.

Ryan: I hate the logic that you must have won a world title for consideration for this. You don’t vote for the year-end most valuable player in other sports based on their performance in the playoffs or a series (there’s usually one specifically for those events). It’s off of what they did in the entirety of the year.

Knibb would be my immediate pick for another award that we have coming. Her dominance is undeniable at 70.3 right now. But by that logic of having won a world title, I think we’d then throw Cassandre Beaugrand into the mix for Triathlete of the Year. To take Olympic and WTCS gold in the same year, IMO, is a bigger deal than Knibb’s display at 70.3/T100. She swept WTCS events. She finished second at eSports worlds. And that dominating display on home soil for gold is something else.

Ultimately, though, that’s why I think Matthews winds up the pick; she didn’t just do it at one distance. She does it at 70.3/T100 and at full iron-distance events. From the hilliest of course in Nice to pancake flat ones in Texas, she’s at the front of the field.

This might need to come down to some run-off voting.

Kevin: I totally see where you are coming from, and we argued long and hard over that criteria. In the end, though, we were looking to acknowledge the people who came up big at the major events. It’s funny that you mentioned Cassandre Beaugrand – I was going to suggest that if there was anyone who could arguably win the award not named Taylor Knibb, it would be her. To have won the Olympics in front of a home crowd was an incredible performance – I can’t imagine the pressure she was dealing with. She followed that up with her first world title, showing the consistency required of a world champion by winning the Grand Final to go along with WTCS wins in Cagliari and Hamburg. 

I do feel that there needs to be a level of consistency throughout the year to win the award. Taylor won middle-distance races from April to December – remember, she was unbeaten on that front all year. Cassandre’s only two “losses” in the World Triathlon realm this year came in March, a second at the Europe Triathlon Cup Quarteira, and April, a second at the E World Triathlon Championships in London. That’s why I would happily argue that either Taylor or Cassandre take the award over, say, Patrick Lange. While I would happily give Patrick the “performance of the year” for his incredible race in Kona, he wasn’t nearly as strong through the rest of 2024. I don’t think Patrick will be too worried about that, though – my guess is that even though he wasn’t as consistent, he’ll happily take his Kona win over Gregory Barnaby’s IRONMAN Pro Series title.

While I am not crazy about the coin flip idea, I am more than happy to let this be decided by votes – maybe through the forum?

Since I am the newbie editor here, I will leave that up to you, Ryan!

Ryan: I think that’s a very fair way of doing this.

Alright, Slowtwitchers: it’s now your choice. You can vote now in the forum thread for this article between our final three nominees.

The post 2024 Slowtwitch Awards: Triathlete of the Year first appeared on Slowtwitch News.

Defending champion Rico Bogen was certainly the surprise of last year’s championship event, and arrives here in Taupo for this weekend’s IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship ready to go after a second title. His season has been built towards being in top shape for this race, and his recent runner-up finish at T100 Dubai bodes well for that plan.

Bogen is also coming into the race with a great attitude and approach. He feels like his results this season have proven that his race in Lahti last year was no fluke.

“I proved in the season that I am good, and so now I look at this race as the ‘cherry on on top of the cake,’ so if I have a great race and could do it again and finish on the podium or defend my title, it would be great,” he said.

A former competitive swimmer, Bogen is used to coming out of the water at the front of the race, and has always been known for his strong biking talents. Bogen decided to take a risk and push to the front early on the run at last year’s 70.3 worlds, and the move paid off with the huge win in Lahti.

Bogen realized during his U23 days of draft-legal racing that he wasn’t likely to earn a spot on the German Olympic team, which prompted his move to middle distance racing. He was part of Ku Cycles’ development team as an age-grouper, and they quickly saw his potential. Bogen has become the “poster-boy” for the burgeoning brand, and serves as a speedy example of the company’s approach of custom-designed bikes and extensive aerodynamic testing. From day one the 24-year-old has appreciated the process – the bike is built around his measurements, and he’s seen the speed gains that come from that and the bike’s radical design that features a wide and high fork that helps channel air through the riders legs.

We’ll look forward to seeing Bogen compete on Sunday for a second title. In the meantime, here’s a close look at the German’s speedy ride:

BIKE:

Kú Cycle / TF1

DRIVE TRAIN

Sram Red 1x 170mm Crank W/ Aerocoach 58Tooth “Gold” chain ring and ceramic speed cover

WHEELS & TIRES

Kú Cycle Rear with Contentinental TT 5000 25mm

Evolve TroikaMAX+ Trispoke with Contentinental TT 5000 25mm

The high and wide aero front fork design Kú is known for

COCKPIT, SADDLE & MORE

The cockpit is a mix of Smart Pace and FastTT with Kú Cycle hydration that can hold up to 80 oz of fluid

SADDLE & BOTTLES

ISM 3.0 and Profile Design Vise Kage and what looks like a WOVE Bottle Retention Loop

The post The Champ Returns- We Have a “Stand Up” with Rico Bogen first appeared on Slowtwitch News.

Among them are over 100 professional men and women seeking their shot at their respective IRONMAN 70.3 World Championships. It is a packed field, with defending champions, former world title winners, and Olympic medalists all counted amongst the starters. Nearly all of them cited fatigue heading into the final race of 2024 during yesterday’s press conference. With so many tired bodies, it makes previewing such a field difficult. Still, here are the names we expect to be fighting at the front of the field this weekend.

The Women’s Race: Can Anyone Dethrone Taylor Knibb?

Taylor Knibb comes into the race an overwhelming favorite to retain her IRONMAN 70.3 world title for the third consecutive year. It has been over two years since Knibb lost a middle distance race — her second place at the 2022 PTO US Open. Since then it’s been 9 starts and 9 victories for Knibb at this or equivalent distance. That said, you have to get to the starting line healthy — and Knibb has made mention that she’s dealing with some type of allergy or illness at the moment. Still, you have to factor her dominance in; she’s not just winning races, but controlling them from the front.

The last woman to beat Knibb at middle distance? The one and only Ashleigh Gentle. Gentle earned her way to this race with a thrashing of the field at 70.3 Langkawi, closing out a year where she finished no worse than third in every one of her starts. 2024 has been slightly less kind, with two T100 events off of the podium. Gentle was 2.5 minutes behind Knibb at their last event in Dubai. On the right day, though, Gentle is as dangerous as anyone.

Last year’s runner-up Kat Matthews has had an incredibly busy year, bouncing between T100 and IRONMAN Pro Series events. She’s been very successful at it, with two wins and three seconds, including her runner-up performance at the IRONMAN World Championships in Nice. Matthews typically excels in challenging conditions. Although the weather looks tame for the women’s race, the punchy bike course may favor Matthews’ style.

Olympic silver medalist Julie Derron has proven to have elite middle distance speed, with multiple wins and podiums to her name. In races that she finished second in, she was only beaten by…you guessed it, Knibb. She showed excellent race craft on her way to the silver medal in Paris. If she’s in the front pack of the swim, she’s in excellent shape to contend.

Another athlete who has raced well against Knibb is Paula Findlay. Findlay started the year strong, with wins in St. George and Mont Tremblant, along with a strong third-place in Oceanside to Knibb and Emma Pallant-Browne. However, the second half of the year has seen a little bit of fade, with finishes of 5th, 6th, and 11th in the final T100 events on Findlay’s schedule. Still, Findlay has finished no worse than 5th since 2019 at 70.3 Worlds; this is a race she usually shows up for in spades. And a punchy bike followed by a flat run should suit her.

Other names to watch: Last year’s podium finished Imogen Simmonds has had a very mixed year. It feels a mistake to ignore someone who has multiple podiums at 70.3 Worlds to her name, though. Pro Series leader Jackie Hering will most likely lose that position to Matthews in this race, as Matthews will be able to add full points to her total this weekend. Expect to see Hering fight, though, to keep a tight hold on second and the sizable Pro Series check that comes with it. Ellie Salthouse has multiple wins to her name this year, along with podiums behind some of the big names mentioned above. She’s won 18 70.3s in her career, but never “the big one;” her best finish at 70.3 Worlds is 8th.

The full women’s field:

Men’s Race: Will Hayden Wilde Take a Home Win?

Two-time Olympic medalist Hayden Wilde is racing just his third IRONMAN 70.3 event, fourth middle distance event, and his first of this distance of all of 2024. The silver medalist in Paris, Wilde has showcased three discipline prowess in his middle distance starts and, in particular, the blistering run pace that is often required for a breakthrough victory. He’s shown strength racing on home soil in Taupō before, having earned a podium finish in his debut 70.3 here in 2019.

Looking to disrupt him is Paris bronze medalist Léo Bergère. Bergère narrowly missed chasing down Wilde for second place in Bergère’s home race; he’ll try to return the favor to the Kiwi in Taupō. Like Wilde, he has just a handful of middle distance races to his resume. Unlike Wilde, though, Bergère is undefeated at IRONMAN 70.3 starts, winning in Lanzarote, Oceanside, and Valencia. It would not be surprising to see these two in a late-race duel for the win.

That said, there are many athletes with more 70.3 experience and accolades who are worthy of consideration. One of those is Wilde’s fellow Kiwi Kyle Smith. Smith defeated Wilde in that 2019 race in Taupō, and he also won here last year to earn his way to this weekend’s event. Smith is on excellent form, with two wins and two seconds to his name this year. In six middle distance races this season, Smith has finished no worse than fifth — and for that performance you have to go back to April’s T100 event in Singapore to find it.

Defending champion Rico Bogen has had a mixed 2024 campaign following his surprise win in Lahti. He hasn’t won a race since 70.3 Worlds last year. Out of 10 starts since Lahti, Bogen’s appeared on the podium just four times, with three thirds and a single second place finish. However, it could also be a case of Bogen building his season around the back half of the year; he’s had two podiums in his last three starts, all of which have come since September 1st. And his best performance of over a year was his last one, a strong second place showing at the T100 finale in Dubai.

Potentially flying under the radar is Marc Dubrick. Like Youri Kuelen (who will not be starting), he followed a top-10 in Lahti with a strong close to 2023, taking a win and two seconds. Dubrick hasn’t matched that run of success in 2024, but he did just take third in Western Australia two weeks ago with a strong swim-bike performance. And he says that this weekend’s race has been his focus for the entire year. Given his swim and bike prowess, the over 2,000 feet of climbing during the bike followed by a flat run here may play into his strengths.

Other names to watch: IRONMAN Pro Series points leader Gregory Barnaby typically excels the longer the race goes. Still, a win against a competitive field in Western Australia, backing up a strong performance in Kona, suggests good form. And he has extra motivation to try to hold onto that sizable first place check that comes from a Pro Series win.

Looking to spoil that party is Matthew Marquardt. The American has the advantage of having an open points score and those critical additional points on offer here. Like Barnaby, he’s more of an IRONMAN specialist. Unlike Barnaby, he does not have a wealth of experience at 70.3 pro racing to rely on. Could make for an interesting race within a race.

Expect to see Jason West and Matt Hanson running through the field at some point. But how far up that field? Probably too much firepower at the top-end to see them take down a win, but somewhere in that 5th-7th range feels plausible.

The post The Pro Contenders for IRONMAN 70.3 Title Glory first appeared on Slowtwitch News.

Photo: IRONMAN

I am finally here in Taupo for the 2025 IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in Taupo, New Zealand. (It’s been a bit of a journey – Canada to Western Australia to Canada to Daytona Beach, Florida to Taupo – but I made it and this place is hopping, so I am really glad I will be here to cover the racing.) We’ll have lots more coverage for you over the next few days, but I figured I would get things started with some interesting facts for the weekend’s racing:

Registered athletes: 6,200 – 2,400 women and 3,800 men have registered for the races on Saturday and Sunday.

Number of countries: 119

Percentage of Athletes by region: Europe – 31%; North America – 29%; Oceania – 18%; Latin America – 12%; Asia – 6%; Africa – 2%; Asia – 1%

Most represented countries: USA – 1,586; Australia – 765; France – 421; New Zealand – 401; UK – 390; Canada 372

Number of Olympic medalists: 3. Silver medalists Hayden Wilde (NZL) and Julie Derron (SUI) along with bronze medalist Leo Bergere (FRA)

Average age: 43

Oldest athletes: Americans Robert Heins, 83, and Cherie Gruenfeld, 80, are the oldest athletes in each field

Youngest athletes: Both Zane Moore (USA) and Annika Rantanen (FIN) are both 18

Deferred from 2020: Taupo was originally slated to host the 70.3 Worlds in 2020. Over 1,000 athletes have waited since then for their chance to race in New Zealand

States: 47 US states are represented. California leads the way with 269 competitors, Colorado has 119, Texas 114, Florida 100 and Washington 64

Returning age-group champions: Six world champions from last year’s race in Lahti, Finland will be racing in Taupo: Great Britain’s Kerry McGrawley (F45-49) and Chris Standidge (M40-44), Americans Beni Gras-Thompson (F50-54) and Tim Bradley (M60-64), Estonia’s Timmo Jeret (M30-34) and Australia’s Mark Clough (M55-59) 

History of the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship

The first 70.3 World Championship took place in Clearwater, Florida in 2006. The event stayed there for five years, then moved to Henderson, Nevada (with the swim taking place in Lake Las Vegas) in 2011. After a three year run there, the world championship began a global rotation beginning with the 2014 race in Mont-Tremblant, Quebec.

The 2015 race in Zell am See, Austria was the first IRONMAN world championship race to take place in Europe. From there the event moved to the Sunshine Coast in Australia, followed by Chattanooga, Tennessee in 2017. The 2017 race was the first where women and men competed on separate days.

The 2018 race took place in Nelson Mandela Bay, South Africa and the 2019 race was held in Nice, France. The first post-COVID 70.3 World Championship was held in St. George, Utah in 2021, and returned there again in 2022. Last year’s race was held in Lahti, Finland.

Stay tuned for more of our race coverage – we’ll be at tomorrow’s press conference here in Taupo, New Zealand.

The post The IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship Taupo by the Numbers first appeared on Slowtwitch News.

This weekend will not only crown single-race champions, but these results will dictate the final standings of the $1.7 million, 20 race long series. More than three-quarters of that prize purse will go to the top 10 men and women in the final standings. In the parlance of the series: every second matters this weekend.

Let’s take a look at who has a lot to play for this weekend: whether it be contending for the overall win, or for a piece of that critical $1.3 million distributed to the top 10 in the Pro Series standings.

The Women: Kat Matthews Seeks to Avoid the Commentator’s Curse

Although Jackie Hering has had a stranglehold on the lead of the Pro Series, it is really Kat Matthews in the driver’s seat as we enter the final race of the campaign. Matthews sits a mere 257 points behind Hering with a race in-hand; any result this weekend will add the full value to her point total. Hering, meanwhile, can only improve by a maximum of 703 points; a top result will replace her third place and its 2,297 points awarded at St. George. And that even assumes Hering wins.

Still, Matthews does need to first get to the starting line healthy. And then she needs to avoid trouble during the race — whether of her own design or otherwise — to make it across the finish line. But any reasonable finish should see Matthews take the inaugural title.

In the case that something were to happen to Matthews, it’s then Lotte Wilms who has the only realistic shot of dethroning Hering atop the season long points standings. Wilms, like Matthews, has only four scores this season, and can take the full points haul available to her in Taupō. But she sits a full 2,390 points behind Hering. It’d take a disaster from both Hering and Matthews, plus a top performance from Wilms, for Wilms to take the title.

That is your most realistic top three athletes by the end of the weekend. In theory, most of the top eight women are locked in, with some order of Hering, Matthews, Wilms, Maja Stage Nielsen, Danielle Lewis, Daniela Bleymehl, Hannah Berry, and Els Visser all at or near the somewhat magical 15,000 point mark. Ninth place Alice Alberts, however, is more than 1,400 points back of Visser in 8th, and has not raced 70.3 well this season, with a series best finish of 6th. Penny Slater, not racing this weekend, will stay locked at 12,997 points.

Potentially moving forward? Giorgia Priarone has the most points of those racing this weekend outside the top 10. She sits over 2,000 points behind 10th place and already has a full scorecard; even winning here would not see her crack the top 10. And it’s the same story with athletes further down with open scoring slots; Rebecca Clarke and Ellie Salthouse are too far arrears even in victory.

The Men: Will Barnaby Hold On?

Gregory Barnaby, in an astute move, decided to race 70.3 Western Australia. By claiming victory, he nabbed a full 2,500 points score and the series lead from IRONMAN World Champion Patrick Lange. Lange, in second place in the standings today, will not race in Taupō. He’s also not likely to hold onto second place, with Kristian Hogenhaug just 151 points behind. A decent performance this weekend from Hogenhaug would be enough to boost his points total higher than Lange. That being said, it looks increasingly likely that this is your podium. 770 points separates Lange in second from Matt Hanson in fourth, and Hanson has never been in the top 10 at 70.3 Worlds.

In terms of the Barnaby vs Hogenhaug battle, the margin is just under 600 points between the two of them. Hogenhaug has the edge in potential score improvement; with a win, he’d net an 819 point improvement in his total score. But Barnaby has been remarkably consistent at 70.3 this year, earning 4,977 points out of a possible 5,000 in his two races. Hogenhaug would need to win *and* have Barnaby be more than 6.5 minutes back to claim victory.

The potential wildcard to move into a podium finish is Matthew Marquardt. Marquardt, currently in 8th place with 16,582 points, is the highest placed athlete who has scored in four events and is racing this weekend (Lange would be the other). He needs 2,041 points to overtake Lange in the standings. In order to do that, he needs to finish within 16 minutes of whoever wins this weekend. On paper, that should be easy enough. But Marquardt is a full-distance specialist, and with this being just his third high-profile middle distance race of his career (the others the 2023 PTO US Open and this year’s Tremblant 70.3), it may not be as simple a task as it is written here.

In the battle to make it into the top 10, it is Braden Currie who has a leg up on the competition, with a full score potentially in hand over the likes of Mathias Petersen, Jonas Hoffman, and Paul Schuster. A win would vault him to a net 7th overall in the Pro Series. Nick Thompson had a poor showing at Western Australia, finishing 15th. He’d need to finish within three minutes of the winner here to wind up cracking the top 10.

What’s at Stake

As a reminder, there’s a full $1.7 million on the line this weekend in Pro Series money, with $1.3 million of that going to the top 10 athletes. Here’s how that money breaks down:

The racing kicks off with the women’s 70.3 World Championships on December 14th (local time; it’s airing on the 13th in the United States), followed by the men’s race the following day.

The post The Likely Scenarios for the IM Pro Series Finale first appeared on Slowtwitch News.

By now, you’ve probably heard the news — the 2025 edition of IRONMAN 70.3 St. George will be the final IRONMAN event in the city. Local officials have called this a mutual parting of the ways, citing “the 17 IRONMAN events hosted during the successful partnership leave a profound, positive legacy, and Greater Zion will continue to be known as the ‘Land of Endurance.'”

It is a stark reminder that we are merely visitors in many host communities, and that we can, in fact, wear out our welcome. IRONMAN’s own release says as much, directly: “Demands of the event, including rising costs, increasing populations around race routes, and continued pressure on resources compelled Washington County officials to evaluate all options. With input from community partners, they concluded that after a long and successful run, IRONMAN’s time in St. George would be celebrated and the 2025 edition would be the final one.”

It is not the first time we’ve seen this scenario play out. We have detailed the significant back-and-forth that occurred in Lake Placid before a new contract was finally signed. There is the ongoing saga of what used to be known as the Malibu Triathlon and who will eventually produce a triathlon there. And, of course, there’s Penticton and the back-and-forth between race production organizations that occurred there.

And now St. George joins Penticton in the ranks of former races.

To be fair to St. George, we’ve run out the carpet hard there. Since first debuting as a full-distance IRONMAN in 2010, there have been 17 races in 14 years there, including three World Championship races in 13 months (2021 70.3 Worlds, 2021 IM Worlds held in May 2022, and then 2022 70.3 Worlds). Since being one of the first races to bounce back following the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 10,000 athletes have taken to the race course in St. George. It’s a lot of people in short order.

And St. George is changing. The population of the city has grown by 31% since IRONMAN started racing there in 2010. It’s the fifth most populous city in Utah, the only one of those cities located outside of the Wasatch Front, and the fastest growing metro in the country. There’s roughly a 1:1 population ratio if you factor in the surrounding communities that make up the metropolitan statistical area. St. George is, by and large, smack in the middle of the size of communities that typically make up IRONMAN courses in the United States these days — and with that come special challenges.

It’s often medium-sized communities that are the most challenging to produce events in. In smaller towns, it’s easy to show direct economic impact; permitting is easier to pull together; there’s fewer disruptions to the population as there’s simply fewer people to deal with. Meanwhile, in large city races (say, Sacramento, as an example) — there’s an expectation of life disruption for something. Permitting might be expensive, but there is infrastructure available to handle the surge in population of a race coming to town. But, ultimately, the race is “just another thing” going on in town.

Speaking as someone who’s been around since St. George first joined the calendar, this one hurts more than when we lost other challenging courses like Tahoe or Penticton. I think a lot of it comes down to how nearly every person who I’ve talked to has raved about the course and community; it’s always been a race that I have wanted to try and make fit in a schedule, but never have made it work. And now there’s only one more opportunity to make that happen.

The lesson, as always: don’t wait. Sign up. Do the thing. You may not get the chance tomorrow.

The post On the End of the Road in St. George first appeared on Slowtwitch News.

The final two races of the 2024 IRONMAN Pro Series are nearly upon us, with 70.3 Western Australia this weekend, followed by the 70.3 World Championships two weeks later. And now we have the official word on who will be taking to the starting line in a couple of weeks time to battle for the 70.3 world title — and, in some cases, desperate for key points in the overall Pro Series standings.

Defending champions Taylor Knibb and Rico Bogen will indeed be taking to the streets of Taupo to try and repeat. But they will have a lot of hefty company in the final race of the year, which will determine both the individual championship and the season-long points race.

Women’s Field

Knibb will look to take her third 70.3 World Championship — and there’s no reason to deny her favored status given her dominant 2024 campaign across race series and formats. She’s unbeaten in middle distance this year.

Joining her on the podium last year were Kat Matthews and Imogen Simmonds, and both will be vying to deny Knibb the title. Matthews will also look to lock up the Pro Series title; she sits 257 points back of current leader Jackie Hering, but Matthews has an open score available to her; any decent performance should be enough to have her take down that title. This will be Matthews’ tenth race of the season; she’s been on the podium seven out of nine times this year.

Ashleigh Gentle will look to avenge her loss to Knibb at the PTO Final in Dubai. Gentle is one of the best middle distance athletes in the world, and she is nearly unbeatable in Pacific region races. But Ellie Salthouse is another one to watch — the eighteen time 70.3 champion has taken five podiums (including three wins) this season.

Olympic silver medalist Julie Derron will attempt to spoil the party of the middle distance specialists. In her few races at this distance, she has shown potential, including a victory at 70.3 Switzerland.

The full field is below:

Men’s Field

Defending champion Bogen has been unable to claim a win following his shock world championship last year. Results have been mixed across racing various race series’ middle distance events. His best finish, though, was second at T100 Dubai; perhaps he’s peaking at just the right time to defend his title.

Two Olympians will look to derail Bogen’s title defense: silver medalist Hayden Wilde and bronze medalist Léo Bergère. Of the two, Bergère has the more decorated history at this distance, having won every IRONMAN 70.3 race he’s started. Wilde, though, will be racing on home turf, and he’s had success here, finishing third in 70.3 Taupō in 2019.

Speaking of those with prior success in Taupō, there’s Kyle Smith. Smith won this race over Wilde in 2019. He won it again in 2023. For Smith, like Wilde, this is a hometown race.

Notably absent from the list? Lionel Sanders. Sanders, who was disqualified from last year’s 70.3 World Championship, suffered a bike crash in training and has opted to put an end to his 2024 campaign.

The full start list:

The post Defending Champions Knibb, Bogen Headline 70.3 Worlds Start Lists first appeared on Slowtwitch News.