A Year in Triathlon: The Top-Earning Athletes of 2025

Kate Waugh had an amazing season, racking up quite a bit of prize money. Photo: PTO

When it comes to money, triathlon is still well behind the likes of soccer, basketball and other top-grossing sports, but that doesn’t mean the best triathletes can’t make a living from races. This year, more than two dozen pro triathletes earned six figures, and that’s not including appearance fees, sponsorship deals and other sources of income. Here’s a look at who made the most in the 2025 season.

Note: All totals are in USD.

Hayden Wilde: $379,600

It’s really no surprise that New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde stands atop the ranks when it comes to earnings this year. Despite missing several months due to injury, he still managed to win seven races and the overall T100 series title.

Wilde kicked his year off with a win at the World Triathlon Championship Series (WTCS) event in Abu Dhabi, taking home a cool $19,000 to start off his 2025 campaign. He raced on the WTCS circuit twice more this season, finishing 11th in the French Riviera and 17th in Karlovy Vary, winning another $4,600 between those two days. That brought his 2025 total from the WTCS to $23,600 — just a fraction of what he won in T100 racing.

Wilde won the most of any triathlete this year. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

Wilde competed in seven T100 races this year, winning six and finishing eighth in another. Those race wins earned him $25,000 apiece, and his eighth-place finish in Dubai racked up another $6,000, totalling $156,000 purely from single-day efforts. With his series win on the year, Wilde got a $200,000 bonus, lifting him to $356,000 from the T100.

All in, Wilde won $379,600 from prize purses in a 2025 season that was cut short by three months.

Kate Waugh: $346,100

The highest earner on the women’s side of pro racing was Great Britain’s Kate Waugh. Like Wilde, her hefty pay on the year was thanks to the T100 series, which she won earlier this month. Waugh raced seven T100 events, not missing the podium in a single one and winning three.

Her three victories amounted to $75,000, along with three second-place finishes for $17,000 and a third place that won her $13,000. Pairing that total with the $200,000 bonus she received for taking the T100 world title, Waugh concluded the 2025 season in that series with $339,000 in winnings.

One of Waugh’s three T100 wins this season came in Australia. Photo: PTO

The Brit raced twice more this season, with a pair of finishes in the WTCS. She finished 10th in Abu Dhabi, winning $3,000, and sixth in Hamburg, taking $4,100. These two races bring her season total to an impressive $346,100.

Kristian Blummenfelt: $353,500

Norway’s Kristian Blummenfelt may not have won the IRONMAN or 70.3 world titles like he had hoped, but he still had an amazing season that led to him taking the 2025 IRONMAN Pro Series win. He won IRONMAN events in Texas and Frankfurt, both of which were regional championships, earning $28,000 at each.

A win at 70.3 Pays D’Aix in France was good for $7,500, and he took home $45,000 at both the IRONMAN World Championship (where he finished third) and 70.3 World Championship (where he was second). In total, Blummenfelt won $153,500 at those races.

Blummenfelt had several wins this season, including a big won at IRONMAN Texas.

Winning the IRONMAN Pro Series tacked on another $200,000 to the Norwegian’s tally for 2025, bringing his grand total to a whopping $353,500.

Kat Matthews: $325,500

Just like her result in Kona this year, Great Britain’s Kat Matthews finished second in the prize money rankings (for both the women and also for IRONMAN athletes). She raced on six occasions in 2025, winning three of those events, finishing second in two and registering a DNF in the last of the year at the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in Marbella.

Like Blummenfelt, Matthews won IRONMAN Texas, earning a $28,000 pay check. Next up was the IRONMAN European Championship in Hamburg, where she finished second and won $17,500. Wins at 70.3s in Swansea and Zelle am See notched Matthew $7,500 each, and her stellar second-place finish in Kona was worth $65,000.

Matthews won the IRONMAN Pro Series for the second straight season. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

The final race of 2025 for Matthews was at the 70.3 worlds in Spain, and although she was unable to finish, she had done enough earlier in the season to lock up the win in the IRONMAN Pro Series. All in, she won $325,500 in 2025, making her one of the highest-paid athletes in the sport.

Jelle Geens: $328,500

Belgium’s Jelle Geens had a great season, closing out the year by defending his 70.3 world title from 2024 and finishing third in the T100 rankings. He started his season with a win at 70.3 Geelong in Australia to take home $7,500, then focused on T100 racing up until the 70.3 worlds.

Geens won $75,000 for his win at the 70.3 worlds. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

Geens won one T100 race, finished second in three and crossed the line third in one. A seventh-place finish at the T100 season finale in Qatar brought his winnings in the series up to $96,000. His third-place result on the season in the T100 was worth an additional $150,000, bringing him to $246,000.

Add in Geens’s $75,000 win at the 70.3 World Championship and he won $328,500 in an impressive 2025.

Lucy Charles-Barclay: $322,500

Great Britain’s Lucy Charles-Barclay may have suffered heartbreak in Kona after pulling out on the run, but she still managed to have an amazing season overall. She won five of the nine races she entered, finished third in the T100 rankings and won the 70.3 world title.

When it came to T100 racing, Charles-Barclay had two wins, a third-place finish, a fourth and a fifth. The pair of wins totalled $50,000, the third was worth $13,000 and the fourth and fifth combined for $19,500. These results put her third in the T100 standings, winning her an additional $150,000. That brought her T100 total for 2025 to $232,500.

Charles-Barclay won a hefty sum this season. Photo: Eric Wynn

Charles-Barclay also won $3,000 for her victory at IRONMAN Lanzarote and $7,500 at 70.3 Eagleman. (The payout was larger at Eagleman than it was in Lanzarote because the former was on the IRONMAN Pro Series.)

Charles-Barclay’s win at the 70.3 World Championship added another $75,000 to her year-end total. Since she split her season between IRONMAN and T100 events, she ranked only 38th in the IRONMAN Pro Series, but that result still earned her an additional $4,500, bringing her final tally to $322,500.

Top 10 Earners

Women:

Men:

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