There’s no-doubt that the T100 Triathlon World Tour has added a lot of money to pro triathletes’ coffers (or, at least, the lucky 20 or so who have been able to compete). It is interesting, though, that even the top athletes from the series are still looking to keep the door open to be able to compete at IRONMAN races. Certainly the Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO), the folks behind the series, have been open to athletes competing at other races. It still has to smart for the PTO, though, that just a week after being crowned world champion at the T100 finale in Dubai, Belgium’s Marten Van Riel is on his way to race in Cozumel.

Van Riel will be competing in his first full-distance race. It would be silly to count him out. He’s only “lost” one long-distance race in his career – his runner-up finish to Jelle Geens at T100 Lake Las Vegas. In addition to his other T100 wins (San Francisco, Ibiza and Dubai), Van Riel won IRONMAN 70.3 Xiamen in 2019, Ironman Dubai in 2022 and 2023, and also won Ironman 70.3 Fortaleza last year.

Van Riel is looking to earn himself a slot for the IRONMAN World Championship in Nice next year. By nailing the spot this weekend, he’ll be able to grab that T100 contract and race that series without having to try and fit in an IRONMAN race along the way.

Of course we all know that there’s no guarantees with any IRONMAN race, let alone a first, but Van Riel won’t exactly have to rip things apart to get himself to Nice next September. As the Latin American Championship, the race offers five pro men’s and women’s spots for the 2025 world champs. And, while he’ll be taking on some seasoned IRONMAN types, including defending champion Leon Chevalier (FRA), who took fourth in Kona last month, American Chris Leiferman and Australian cyclist/ pro triathlete Cam Wurf, as long as Van Riel can remain patient and not push too hard too soon, one would think a top-five finish is quite realistic.

Kona for Knibb?

Women’s T100 world champ Taylor Knibb will be going after her third straight IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in Taupo next month. The American has long had a “do it all” approach to her racing – she followed her Olympic-qualifying race at the Paris Test Event in 2023 with her second 70.3 world title and then her first IRONMAN in Kona, where she finished fourth. In Kona last year she made it abundantly clear that the goal was to get experience on the course in order to come back in 2025 and go after the win.

There’s no arguing that the T100 racing this year has offered some big names, lots of prize money and very expensive live coverage. The organization has been outspending its incoming revenue at an alarming rate. Which is why one would imagine, at some point, we’ll see the PTO try to put some pressure on athletes to race exclusively at their events. Especially if the first thing its world champions are doing after they win the titles is to get ready for an IRONMAN World Championship.

The post T100 Champ Marten Van Riel Sets His Sights on IRONMAN first appeared on Slowtwitch News.

Created as IRONMAN’s answer to the question asked by the PTO’s T100 Triathlon World Tour, the IRONMAN Pro Series has been an unmitigated success. Pros were clamoring to enter the designated pro races to the point where waiting lists became the norm at the early season events. On top of that, some of the biggest names in the sport chose to focus on the IRONMAN series rather than sign a T100 contract, including this year’s Kona champ Patrick Lange (GER) and one of the most popular pros in the sport, Canadian Lionel Sanders. British star Kat Matthews chose to both sign a T100 contract and go after the Pro Series title.

Pro Series Standings

With two races left – IRONMAN 70.3 Western Australia and the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in Taupo – Lange and Jackie Hering (USA) sit at the top of the standings. Lange won’t be in Taupo, and it looks like that could be a costly decision. Hering will be in Taupo, but despite being in the lead, it’s going to be really hard for her to take the overall win. After her runner-up finish in Nice, Matthews appears to have the best shot for the overall title.

Points for the Pro Series are based on a total of five eligible races. To push a full-distance race emphasis, three of those can be IRONMAN races, with the final two being 70.3 events. IRONMAN races are worth 5,000 points for the win, with the points decreasing by one for every second an athlete finishes behind the winner. IRONMAN 70.3 races are worth half that. The world championship races are worth a bit more – 6,000 points for Kona and Nice, 3,000 points for Taupo.

With $1.3 million of bonus money on the line, making the trip down under will definitely be worth the effort. Winning the series earns $200,000, with second taking $130,00 and third $85,000. (You can see the full break down here.)

You can see the points standings heading into the final few races here.

Lange’s to lose?

At the press conference after winning in Kona, Lange told us that he wasn’t going to be heading to Taupo in December because it already looked like he’d nailed the Pro Series title. (Turns out he also hadn’t qualified for the 70.3 worlds, so in theory his only chance to up his points total would have been to head to IRONMAN 70.3 Western Australia, but the bottom line is he wasn’t heading down under.)

In fact, he hasn’t nailed the Pro Series title. Sure, it doesn’t look like American Matt Hanson, who is currently second in the standings, could earn enough points even with a win in Taupo to move ahead. It’s also a long-shot for South African Bradley Weiss, who currently sits third. A win in Taupo would be enough to put him in front. That’s a tough ask for a guy who finished 16th at 70.3 Zell am See-Kaprun and seventh at 70.3 Alcudia-Mallorca.

There are three guys who have a huge opportunity to move to the top of the standings, though. First up is American Matthew Marquardt, who somehow balances med school and pro racing. He’ll be taking time from his studies at Ohio State to take a shot at the IRONMAN Pro Series title. He’s only done one 70.3 race to go along with his three IRONMAN finishes (third in Texas, second in Lake Placid and 15th in Kona), so if he can muster up 2,041 points in Taupo he’d gain enough points to become the Pro Series champ.

Italy’s Gregory Barnaby is in almost as good a position – he’s only 23 points behind Marquardt and also only has one 70.3 race on his list for 2024. Dane Kristian Haugenhaug currently trails Barnaby by 268 points in the standings and also has a race in hand. Here’s the other interesting thing about those two – they’ll both be heading to Ironman 70.3 Western Australia next week and then to Taupo, giving them two shots at earning enough points to move to the top of the IRONMAN Pro Series.

Matthews in the Driver’s Seat

Hering sits at the top of the standings with 18,093 points. Those come from three IRONMAN events (win in Hamburg, second in Lake Placid and ninth in Kona) and two 70.3 races – second in Chattanooga and third in St. George. The problem for Hering is that Matthews is just a few hundred points behind and only has four counting races – second in Nice, wins in Texas and Vitoria-Gasteiz and a second at 70.3 Tallinn. So, pretty much any finish that’s within roughly 45 minutes of the winner in Taupo will get Matthews the title.

Hering can make that a bit more tough with a win in Taupo – that would negate her St. George score and add about 700 points to her total. Matthews would still only need to finish within 30 mins of the winner to take the Pro Series.

It still means that it will come down to one race, which is why I was surprised not to see Matthews’ name on the start list for IRONMAN 70.3 Western Australia. A decent finish there would put her in front of the Pro Series, taking the pressure of having to finish in Taupo. That said, if you’re gunning after the world championship and you’ve raced as much as Matthews has this year, resting up before the worlds makes a lot of sense.

Maja Stage Nielsen, who currently sits third in the Pro Series Standings, is on the start list for 70.3 Western Australia. Moving up to first is very much a long shot for the Dane – if she wins in Busselton and Taupo, she’d improve her score by about 1,500 points, which would put her close to Hering’s total. A couple of good races, though, could ensure she stays ahead of American Danielle Lewis, who is only 177 points behind her.

The Netherlands’ Lotte Wilms heads to 70.3 Western Australia with two races in hand for her points total – she hasn’t done a 70.3 race this year. Wins in Taupo and Western Australia would give her enough points to move ahead of Hering, but probably not enough to top Matthews if she has even a decent race at the worlds. Kiwi Hannah Berry also hasn’t done a 70.3 race this year, so she’s heading to Busselton and Taupo with the podium of the IRONMAN Pro Series in mind.

Pro Series Finale

All of which sets up more than a little bit of excitement leading into the final few races of the IRONMAN Pro Series. By only increasing the points values for the world championship events by 1,000 (IRONMAN) and 500 (70.3) points, IRONMAN has ensured that there will be lots to race for right up to the final race of the season. It means that the Kona and Nice champions aren’t likely to be crowned IRONMAN Pro Series champ, but maybe that’s not a bad thing.

The post After Nice and Kona Some Thought the IRONMAN Pro Series was Settled. Not Quite. first appeared on Slowtwitch News.

The Laguna Phuket Triathlon was created 30 years ago by International Management Group (IMG) as a “made for TV” race to promote the Laguna Phuket Resort. With Murphy Reinschreiber, the former “agent to the triathlon stars” in the mix as one of the race organizers, it was easy to see how the race featured some of the sport’s biggest names. Former winners include Paula Newby-Fraser, Michellie Jones, Mike Pigg, Karen Smyers, Simon Lessing, Craig Alexander, Jan Frodeno and Melissa Hauschildt. As of this year’s 30th-anniversary, we can add Olympic silver and bronze medalist Hayden Wilde to the list – the Kiwi cruised to a three-minute win. On the women’s side, up-and-coming British star Kate Waugh successfully defended her title.

Bucket List Race

With the resort-promotion concept in mind, the Laguna Phuket race is truly a destination race that serves as a race-cation for athletes and families. The six hotels that make up the resort all provide easy access to the 3 km of pristine beachfront. There are lots of top-notch restaurants, an 18-hole golf course, luxury spas and lots of activities to keep athletes, their families and friends occupied throughout race week.

The race also offers a sprint and 6 km fun run for those not ready to take on the off-distance main triathlon. That event begins with a 1.8-km swim that starts from Bang Tao Beach and heads into the Andaman Sea. After a short run across the beach, athletes then finish the swim across a lagoon. The 50-km bike ride heads out of the resort for a scenic, but very hilly, one-loop effort. The day rounds out with a 12-km run through the resort and along the golf course.

Wilde powers clear on the bike

Great Britain’s Tom Bishop led the way out of the water with his 22:26 split, but Wilde and countryman Tayler Reid were only about 30 seconds back as they started the ride. It was there that Wilde put his stamp on the race, flying through a 1:12:57 bike split that left him well ahead of the rest of the field. He followed that up with a 40:28 run, which got him to the line in 2:19:03. That was a shade over three-minutes ahead of Reid (2:22:13), with Ukraine’s Rostyslav Pevtsov (2:23:03) rounding out the podium. Bishop (2:26:44) would hang on for fourth, while France’s Antony Costes (2:29:00) finished fifth. Former draft-legal swim star Richard Varga (SVK) trailed after the swim and would eventually take sixth overall (2:30:05).

Full results are available here.

Waugh runs her way to a second title

Four women finished the swim together, led by Brit Sian Rainsley, Waugh, Switzerland’s Alanis Siffert and Belgium’s Claire Michel. That group was 90-seconds up on the next athlete out of the water, Ukraine’s Kseniia Levkovska, setting up a four-woman lead group to compete for the podium.

Out on the bike it was Siffert who would prove the strongest, opening up a gap of about 30 seconds to Waugh into T2, with Rainsley starting the run about eight-minutes down and Michel trailing by another two and a half minutes. The Belgian was still almost two-minutes up on Australia’s Dimity-Lee Duke, who had ridden herself into the top five.

Once out on the run Siffert was no match for Waugh, who cruised to the day’s fastest run split (47:25) and a 2:35:39 finish. Siffert (2:39:54) hung tough to take the runner-up spot, with Rainsley (2:43:41) rounding out the podium. Michel (2:46:38) would take fourth, Duke (2:50:15) fifth and Levkovska (2:56:34) would finish sixth.

You can see the full results list here.

The 30th anniversary event was streamed live on YouTube – if you wanted to catch up on the race you can see it below.

The post Hayden Wilde Adds His Name to the “Race of Legends” Champions List first appeared on Slowtwitch News.

Today roughly 2,000 athletes will be competing in one of the longest-running events on the North American IRONMAN circuit – IRONMAN Arizona. The first race took place on April 9, 2005, hosted by the City of Tempe and the Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community. Renowned as a fast course, the race consists of a one-loop swim in the cool waters of Tempe Town Lake, followed by a three-loop bike course that follows the Beeline Highway and is traditionally extremely fast. The day wraps up with a three-loop bike course that mostly follows Tempe Town Lake and is, like the bike course, relatively flat and fast.

The extreme heat of the April event led to a calendar switch in 2008 which moved the race to the November date that we’re now accustomed to. (There were actually two races held that year, not unlike 1982 when the Ironman World Championship changed its date. As the managing editor of ironman.com at the time, I lived the headaches of trying to figure out how to have two sets of results for the same race in the same year up on the site.) Rather than diminish the race’s stature as a pro event, the move raised the profile as athletes looked to either kick off the next season with an early world-championship qualifying spot, or round out an otherwise lackluster season with a big day.

Pro Racing

It wasn’t as if the race didn’t attract some big names over the first few years. The inaugural event was won by Germany’s Faris Al-Sultan, who would go on to win in Kona later that year, while Australian Kate Major, a three-time Kona bronze medalist during her career, took the women’s race. In 2006 it was Michellie Jones’ turn to use the Arizona race as a build up to a Kona title, while in 2007 Rutger Beke, the 2003 Kona runner-up, would take the title.

In 2009 Andreas Raelert made his Ironman debut in Arizona, following on his runner-up finish at the 70.3 worlds just a few weeks before and serving as a precursor to his five Ironman World Championship podium finishes over the next seven years. That same year Canadian Samantha McGlone began the trend of top athletes bouncing back after Kona to compete in Arizona – she took the win after a fifth-place finish on the Big Island. A year later German star Timo Bracht followed up his sixth-place Kona finish with a win in Tempe.

World-best times

It was 2010 that really put Ironman Arizona on the map as the “redemption” race for those who hadn’t performed as they’d hoped on the Big Island. That year Chrissie Wellington (photo above), the three-time defending Kona champ, had pulled out of the race in Hawaii due to illness. Looking to end the season with a big day, the British star blasted to an 8:36:13 finish, enough for eighth overall and shattering the previous IRONMAN best time (Sandra Wallenhorst’s 8:47:26 at IRONMAN Austria in 2008) by over 11 minutes. (And, yes, we know that Wellington had gone 8:19:13 at Challenge Roth earlier that same year – the race in Arizona was an IRONMAN best.)

While no-one has topped Wellington’s time since then (Heather Jackson went 8:39:18 in winning the 2018 race), there have been a raft of speedy men’s times over the years. Spain’s Eneko Llanos was the first man to break the eight-hour barrier at Ironman Arizona in 2011 (7:59:38). In 2014 Canadian Brent McMahon blasted to a 7:55:48 finish, a pre-cursor to his world-best Ironman time set at Ironman Brazil the following spring. In 2016 another Canadian, Lionel Sanders, took the second of his three-straight Ironman Arizona titles in 7:44:29, setting a new IRONMAN record. That performance remains the fastest time recorded in Tempe. (Sanders is another example of athletes bouncing back after tough days on the Big Island with an appearance in Tempe, although his third win came after his runner-up Kona finish in 2017.)

Rudy’s redemption

Pros weren’t the only ones looking to use the Arizona race as a chance to come back after a tough day in Kona. In 2009, double-leg amputee Rudy Garcia-Tolson missed the bike cut off in Kona by eight minutes. He would line up in Arizona for another attempt at the distance, this time reaching the finish line in 16:06:27.

Age-Group only racing

Despite that rich history of professional racing, prize-money events in Tempe have been a bit sporadic over the last few years. In 2019 the race was held as women’s-only pro event, with the 2020 event cancelled due to COVID. The 2021 race was an age-group only race, with around 2,000 athletes racing. In 2022 there were pro men and women on hand as Brit Joe Skipper and American Olympian Sarah True took the wins. Last year, as with this year, sees age-group only racing again.

IRONMAN Arizona remains one of the brand’s mainstay events because of the huge fields it has attracted over the years. The inaugural event in 2005 had 1,682 starters, which ballooned to 2,399 in 2009. (Registrations would have been much higher.) The race would routinely see well over 2,300 athletes start on race morning, including the 2,523 that hit Tempe Town Lake in 2013. Those numbers prove just how popular (and lucrative) the race has been.

The post Celebrating 20 years of racing at IRONMAN Arizona first appeared on Slowtwitch News.

I think the best way for me to introduce myself to my new home as a Senior Editor here at Slowtwitch is to recount the entertaining Forum thread I came across a few years ago. One of the answers to “You know you’ve been in the sport a long time when …” was “You can remember Kevin Mackinnon racing as a pro.”

Sadly, I remember those days, too. My last professional race was in July 1993. I didn’t know I’d be retiring at the time, but as I tore my plantar fascia on the way to winning the Sarnia Triathlon, I was setting my next career in motion. I had just graduated from journalism school a few months before and became a dad for the first time three weeks earlier. Two weeks later I was announcing at my first race. A month after that I became the director of the Triathlon Pro Tour and media director of a Canadian triathlon series. From there things continued – I soon became communications director for Ironman Canada and Ironman North America, and eventually moved on to being the managing editor of Ironman.com before becoming the Editor in Chief at Ironman.

Along the way I continued to coach, and because all that still wasn’t enough, also became the founding editor of Triathlon Magazine Canada.

After just shy of 20 years with the magazine, I put my last issue to bed two days ago. I’m thrilled to take on this new role with Slowtwitch. I look forward to joining the editorial team and helping to build out what is already one of the sport’s most iconic platforms. I’ll be coming on board to build on the work Eric Wynn and Ryan Heisler, along with all the regular contributors to the site, bring you each week. We’ll provide even more coverage, updates, news, training tips and gear reports. I also can’t wait to start join the gang in the Slowtwitch Podcast. (And that’s just to start! Stay tuned for even more coming at you in the New Year.)

Triathlon and endurance sports have been my passion for a long time. What’s always inspired me to stay involved is the incredible community that makes what we do so meaningful. I’m looking forward to joining the Slowtwitch family and bringing you all the latest on the sport(s) we all love. (That wasn’t an accident – look forward to more endurance-oriented coverage from gravel, trail running and more.)

The saying is “there’s no rest for the wicked,” and, as you’ll quickly learn, I must be very “wicked.” Over the next month I’ll be bringing/ you news and coverage from Ironman Western Australia, Clash Daytona and the Ironman 70.3 World Championship in Taupo, New Zealand. I am only on day one, but I’m already thrilled that Eric, Ryan and the rest of the gang have entrusted me to do exactly what I love to do – tell the stories and capture the images of athletes pursuing excellence. Whether that’s an age-group world champion like my wife, shooting age group athletes on the bikes on the lava in Kona, Laura Philipp nailing a huge day in Nice, or Patrick Lange amazing us all on the Big Island, it’s all inspiring for me. I hope you all enjoy the ride as much as I’m going to.

The post Hello Slowtwitch, I’m the New Senior Editor first appeared on Slowtwitch News.