Women’s Contenders for IM Pro Series Crown Post-Nice

The inaugural season of the IRONMAN Pro Series is about to come to a close. For women professionals, there are just two points scoring opportunities remaining on the calendar: 70.3 Western Australia on December 1st, followed by the 70.3 World Championships in Taupo, New Zealand on December 14th.

As a reminder, scoring works as follows: IRONMAN victories are worth 5,000 points. 70.3 victories are worth 2,500 points. The recent IRONMAN World Championships in Nice awarded 6,000 points to champion Laura Philipp, and the winner in Taupo will receive 3,000 points. That makes for a maximum 5,500 points available — or less than Philipp or second place Kat Matthews earned in Nice. Points decrease for every second after first place you finish. And only five results may count towards your Pro Series points total, with a maximum of three IRONMAN finishes allowed.

So, crunching the numbers and seeing who has already maximized their possible number of finishes, here are the athletes we believe who are in contention for the Series crown — and the cool $200,000 bonus that comes with it.

The Two Favorites

Kat Matthews: Matthews trails long-time series points leader Jackie Hering by a mere 257 points, but the kicker is that Matthews only has four points scoring finishes to her name to close the gap. Her two IRONMAN wins this season, along with her podium finish at Nice, make her the overwhelming favorite for the series win. Any points scoring finish at either Western Australia or 70.3 Worlds gives her the edge, unless Hering can pull a rabbit out of her hat at 70.3 Worlds. And even that might not be enough.

Jackie Hering: It seems unfair to put the Series leader second in this. But given that she already has her five points scoring finishes to her name, there isn’t the same kind of upside potential for her points total that Matthews has. In fact, Hering could win both remaining races and still only improve her Series total points score by 741 points. That’s simply how consistent she has been all year. It’s hard to say that a top 10 finish at an IRONMAN World Championship could be her undoing for the series crown. Yet it’s her lowest points tally from an IRONMAN all year.

Still, having the lead still counts for something. It means Matthews still has to score. And if Nice taught us anything, it’s that even getting to the finish can prove to be an insurmountable task — just ask Anne Haug.

The Dark Horses

Lotte Wilms: Wilms is one of two athletes who have only scored at three races so far in 2024, meaning that she could win both remaining races and score all 5,500 points. If she were to do so, it’d push her up to a grand total of 18,788 points and likely guarantee a podium spot in the series. She’d need some help from Hering and especially Matthews for that point total to hold up for victory. It’s also asking a lot from Wilms, who last won at this distance in May 2023 at Challenge St. Polten, and hasn’t won an IM branded 70.3 event since Sunshine Coast two years ago.

Hannah Berry: Berry is the last athlete within 5,500 points of Hering, and she also happens to be the other athlete who has only scored at three events in 2024. She, like Wilms, would need plenty of help from the two athletes at the top of the points standings, along with taking the wins in Western Australia and Taupo. But unlike Wilms, Berry has more recent wins at 70.3 distance events — one this year, as well as taking the win at 70.3 Taupo last December. In fact, she’s a multi-time winner and podium finisher in Taupo — potentially giving her momentum heading into this year’s World Championships. We’ve seen this work with course familiarity before in venues like St. George — don’t count Berry out of it.

The Prize Money on Offer

Although we are looking just at who might be the winner of the series will be, let’s not forget — the bonus pool pays out to the top 50 athletes. But the big money sits in the top 10, with $650,000 divided up amongst those 10 athletes.

1st: $200,000
2nd: $130,000
3rd: $85,000
4th: $70,000
5th: $50,000
6th: $40,000
7th: $30,000
8th: $20,000
9th: $15,000
10th: $10,000
11th-50th: $5,000 each
Total: $850,000

Photos: Jackie Hering – Patrick McDermott / Getty Images for IRONMAN
Kat Matthews – Alex Koerier / Getty Images for IRONMAN
Hannah Berry – Albert Perez / Getty Images for IRONMAN

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