The IRONMAN Pro Series Kicks Off This Weekend. What Can We Learn From the Start Lists of the First Two Races?
The IRONMAN Pro Series kicks off this weekend with IRONMAN 70.3 Geelong (Mar. 23), then heads to South Africa for the IRONMAN South Africa African Championship (try saying that five times in a hurry) on Mar. 30. As you can see from the list of races below, the Pro Series begins with three races on three different continents over the first three weeks, with IRONMAN 70.3 Oceanside starting things off in North America on April. 5. (The entry list for that race isn’t available yet, so we’ll start with the first two.)
| 2025 IRONMAN Pro Series Schedule | |||
| Date | Event | Location | Points |
| Mar. 23 | IRONMAN 70.3 Geelong | Geelong, Victoria, Australia | 2,500 |
| Mar. 30 | ISUZU IRONMAN South Africa African Championship | Nelson Mandela Bay, Port Elizabeth, South Africa | 5,000 |
| Apr. 5 | Athletic Brewing IRONMAN 70.3 Oceanside | Oceanside, California, USA | 2,500 |
| Apr. 26 | Memorial Hermann IRONMAN Texas North American Championship | The Woodlands, Texas, USA | 5,000 |
| May 4 | IRONMAN 70.3 Venice-Jesolo | Jesolo, Venice, Italy | 2,500 |
| May 10 | Intermountain Health IRONMAN 70.3 St. George North American Championship | St. George, Utah, USA | 2,500 |
| May 18 | IRONMAN 70.3 Aix-en-Provence | Aix-en-Provence, France | 2,500 |
| Jun. 1 | IRONMAN Hamburg European Championship (F Pro) | Hamburg, Germany | 5,000 |
| Jun. 8 | IRONMAN 70.3 Eagleman | Cambridge, Maryland, USA | 2,500 |
| Jun. 15 | Cairns Airport IRONMAN Cairns | Cairns, Queensland, Australia | 5,000 |
| Jun. 29 | Mainova IRONMAN Frankfurt European Championship (M Pro) | Frankfurt, Germany | 5,000 |
| Jul. 13 | IRONMAN 70.3 Swansea | Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom | 2,500 |
| Jul. 20 | Athletic Brewing IRONMAN Lake Placid | Lake Placid, New York, USA | 5,000 |
| Aug. 31 | IRONMAN 70.3 Zell am See-Kaprun | Zell am See, Austria | 2,500 |
| Sept. 14 | IRONMAN World Championship – Men’s Race | Nice, France | 6,000 |
| Oct. 11 | IRONMAN World Championship – Women’s Race | Kona, Hawai`i, USA | 6,000 |
| Nov. 8-9 | IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship | Marbella, Spain | 3,000 |
Considering the Pro Series runs through to Nov. 8/9 with the IRONMAN 70.3 Championship in Marbella, Spain, there’s lots of time for athletes to build into the season, so these first two races certainly won’t make or break an athletes chances of taking the overall title. So what can we glean from the start lists?
Oceania-based Athletes Chance to Shine in Geelong
The Victoria state government and the City of Greater Geelong are supporting (read, picking up the tab) to add 70.3 Geelong to the Pro Series. That’s great news for athletes from Australia and New Zealand, who are used to having to travel to Europe or North America to compete at major, broadcasted events. Headlining the field (click here to see the full pro list) is IRONMAN 70.3 world champion Jelle Geens – the Belgian is now living in Australia.
“I’m very excited to start the year again and start at home in Australia,” Geens told the folks at IRONMAN. “I’ve never actually been outside of driving distance of here on the Gold Coast, so it will be cool to get to go to Melbourne and arrive there and then head to Geelong.”
“I’m eager to start the season and see where I’m at,” Geens continued. “I feel like I’m in a good place, but it will be good to see where I’m at in an actual race and how I stack up against some of the best guys in the world. I’m also excited to see also how Matt Hauser is doing, he’s super good at short course and making the step up for this race in Geelong so it will be exciting to see how he will compete and I just love racing, love competing against all these guys and try to win the race, that’s my goal. I come in with a mark on my back winning the Taupō race, but in the end not much has changed, I still just want to enjoy racing and try to win the race of course.”
With T100 Singapore two weeks after the Geelong race, it makes sense that Geens, who has signed a T100 contract with the Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO) will head to Singapore after the race in Geelong. The same goes for Aussie Grace Thek and New Zealand’s Hannah Berry, who headline the women’s field in Geelong and have also signed T100 contracts.
Geens is right to pick out two-time Australian Olympian Matt Hauser as one to watch. Hauser was seventh in Paris last year and the runner-up at the WTCS Grand Final. He appears to have heaps of potential over the 70.3 distance. Another Aussie Olympian (Tokyo), Jake Birtwhistle, will look to continue his long-distance career after his win at 70.3 Tasmania in 2023, along with a runner-up finish at 70.3 Melbourne and fifth at IRONMAN 70.3 Western Australia last year. On the women’s side, Hauser’s Paris teammate Natalie Van Coevorden continues her move to middle-distance racing (she finished fourth at 70.3 Sunshine Coast and Bahrain last year, and took the win at the Husky Ultimate half-distance race in February) and is another athlete to watch for. Ditto for another Aussie WTCS racer, Charlotte McShane.
Berry finished fourth in the PRO Series last year is really the only one of the T100-contracted athletes racing in Geelong with a lot of IRONMAN racing under her belt. (Geens has only raced a few 70.3s and Thek will be making her long-distance debut in Roth in July.) So, of those three, Berry would be the only one that might be in the hunt for Pro Series points, but more likely she’ll be looking to nail her spot for the 70.3 worlds in Marbella in November.
IRONMAN Pro Series Focussed
There are two men in the field in Geelong who will definitely have their eyes on top finishes in the Pro Series this year – New Zealand’s Braden Currie and Australian super-cyclist/ pro triathlete Cameron Wurf. Currie couldn’t buy a break last year and still managed ninth in the pro series, while Wurf is reportedly planning to compete in every single pro series event this year. (OK, not quite every race – IRONMAN Hamburg is a women’s-only race.)
Stepping Up in South Africa
The IRONMAN Pro Series goal appears to be on the minds of many of the folks signed up for IRONMAN South Africa. It’s hard to imagine how defending champion, Spain’s Marta Sanchez, only finished 19th in the Pro Series last year. In addition to her win in Nelson Mandela Bay, she won IRONMAN Barcelona, IRONMAN 70.3 Pucon, IRONMAN 70.3 Western Australia and finished sixth at the IRONMAN World Championship in Nice. Unfortunately, though, she didn’t get any points for the win in Barcelona as it wasn’t part of the Pro Series.
Denmark’s Maja Stage Nielsen didn’t feel like she had a great season in 2024 (the highlight was her runner-up finish in Hamburg), but still managed fifth in the Pro Series standings. While Stage Nielsen is known as a consistent competitor who can race a lot, her challenge in 2025 will be that she’s racing at IRONMAN Lanzarote in May, which isn’t part of the Pro Series, which means she’ll have to compete at four full-distance IRONMAN races this year to really compete for a top-finish in the standings.
Another woman with tons of potential for a top-finish in the Pro Series is Els Visser, who likely would have finished higher than seventh in the final standings had she not been forced out of the world championship in Nice due to a stress fracture. Visser has signed a T100 contract, though, so it will be interesting to see how she juggles the T100 and IRONMAN racing – she is registered to compete in Singapore the week after the race in South Africa. She might just be looking at South Africa as a way to nail her Kona slot, but a solid start in South Africa would possibly put her on a “Kat Matthews go after both” trajectory. Visser is renowned for being able to race a lot, and consistently, so it’s certainly a possibility.
You can add three-time IRONMAN champion Ruth Astle to the list of possible IRONMAN Pro Series top finishers. The Brit is hopefully well past her injury issues from the last few years and ready to go after another top IRONMAN finish. You can add IRONMAN Cozumel winner, Germany’s Anne Reischmann, to that list, too.
The win in South Africa became a lot more wide open with the news that Anne Haug was forced to pull out of the race with health issues. The German was hoping to get her Kona slot taken care of in South Africa – we’ll have to wait and see how her season plays out. (Last year Haug wasn’t planning on entering Challenge Roth, but thanks to early-season health issues ended up jumping into the race and setting a world best.)
Getting the Nice Slot
He might be the defending T100 world champion, but after a crash waylaid his chances at a top finish at IRONMAN Cozumel last year, Marten Van Riel (above) finds himself still in the hunt for a spot in Nice in September. He’s also registered for T100 Singapore the following week, so it will be interesting to see just how he approaches his second full-distance race.
As we reported from Lanzarote earlier this month, Denmark’s Magnus Ditlev is “all-in” for Nice this year, to the point that he is skipping Challenge Roth (he’s won there the last three years), but isn’t adverse to seeing how well he would fare on the IRONMAN Pro Series, either. Ditlev will arrive in South Africa as the pre-race favorite, even though defending champion Rasmus Svenningsson (SWE) is back. Like Ditlev, France’s Leon Chevalier did a bunch of T100 races last year, but hasn’t signed a contract in 2025, so look for the fifth- and fourth-place finisher from the IRONMAN World Championship over the last couple of years to 1) be gunning after a big finish in Nice and, 2) be happy to explore the Pro Series potential.
American Matt Hanson finished fifth in the Pro Series last year and spent much of the year in the mix for the overall win. He did four full-distance IRONMAN races last year, a sign of his body’s ability to endure that much racing. A top finish in South Africa followed by another big day in Texas (he’s won there three times) would put him in an excellent position to move up a few spots in the standings this year.
And, we already noted that Cameron Wurf is planning on competing at all the Pro Series races, so expect him to be stirring things up on the bike in Nelson Mandela Bay, where he finished third last year. IRONMAN New Zealand champ Mike Phillips (NZL) told us after his win in Taupo that he’d be heading to South Africa if his legs felt recovered enough. Unfortunately for Phillips the Taupo win won’t count towards the Pro Series, so he’ll need another big day in South Africa to get into the mix on that front.
You can see the full start list for IRONMAN South Africa here.
Early Going
While we’re in for some great racing in Australia and South Africa, there are lots of big names who will no-doubt be contenders for the IRONMAN Pro Series titles who won’t be at either race. Both venues are a long haul for North Americans, and even South Africa requires a full day of travel for Europeans. Even though each race features decent-sized and competitive fields, we’ll only see things ramp up as the season progresses.
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IRONMAN 70.3 GeelongIRONMAN Pro SeriesIRONMAN South AfricaIRONMAN South Africa African ChampionshipNotable Replies
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Surprised Hanson is doing SA instead of Texas. I assume he is also doing StG and wants more recovery time?
Text suggests both (IMSA and IM Texas) and Hanson shared this on 5th February:
Hanson shares his IM Pro Series races (on his yt channel):
I’ll guess that Hanson sees IMSA is a better chance of getting a slot for Nice than in the extraordinarily stacked Texas field.
Enjoyed your article. Of all those you highlight as of interest for the IM Pro Series (see title) imho only Ditlev is likely to feature top #7. Possibly Slater too.
Can’t see Berry racing many IM Series races this year given she’s contracted to race at least five T100s. As you suggest for Berry’s motive, I can see most of the T100 athletes wanting to race Marbella, which does not bode well for T100 Dubai (which is only a week later).
“It’s hard to imagine how defending champion, Spain’s Marta Sanchez, only finished 19th in the Pro Series last year.” Not really: Sanchez chose to race a variety of non-IM Pro Series races; all her three IM wins were non-Series. Her IMWC Nice race #6 was the stand-out, in fact her (in Kelly style) ‘best race ever’ (she’d really only been a proper MD pro since 2023 - still on the up). T100 contracted so I assume this is a ‘Marbella Q’ race for her too.
Think Slater would have been worth a shout out. PTO ranked #38 (same cohort as several of the T100 Singapore wildcards) she was #7 in IMWC Nice last year. I predict that, of all the women racing Geelong, she will finish highest in the IM Pro Series.
Given T100 Singapore a week later, as you say “it will be interesting to see just how Marten Van Riel approaches” IMSA. So easy to succumb to competitive instinct! MvR has three objectives and a limitation.
however
“Ditlev is “all-in” for Nice this year, . . . he is skipping Challenge Roth . . . , but isn’t adverse to seeing how well he would fare on the IRONMAN Pro Series,”
effect).
Nuance perhaps, but I suggest that winning the IM Pro Series is more than "seeing how well he can do" and “not averse” for Ditlev. Winning IMWC and winning the IM Pro Series are complimentary: see how well Lange did last year with 3 (out of 5) lack lustre results. And Ditlev is far more capable than the German at MD. He (and several other top tier athletes) can be “all in” for IMWC and still be “all in” for the IM Pro Series (without “adverse”
“Matt Hanson finished fifth in the Pro Series last year . . . A top finish in South Africa followed by another big day in Texas . . . would put him in an excellent position to move up a few spots in the standings this year.”
Agree two good IMs would be a great start (obv) for Hanson. However “move up a few spots in the [IM Pro Series] standings” cf 2024 (#5)? You are being kind: I fear not. Given the far greater competition this year Hanson will do well to finish #7 or better (MD, KB, PL, GI, LC, RvB, MM, LS, DB). Sensible Hanson is trekking to SA to book a start in Nice (because his chance of getting one in Texas is less assured). Racing Eagleman (which will likely be the weakest Series 70.3 btw) will give him as many points as he might achieve if he went to Marbella (which I assume he will not travel for). We’ll see.
All great points, as usual. I will just say one thing re. Magnus Ditlev. He made it very clear when I interviewed him in Lanzarote that the one and only goal for the year was Nice. He said that obviously, if things go well, the IM Pro Series would be nice to go after, but he seemed pretty clear he wouldn’t be chasing that if it meant he had to back off on his Nice prep at all. I totally agree that winning Nice and winning the Pro Series would very much go hand in hand, just pointing out that he’s pretty clear he won’t be making any changes to hunt the Pro Series if he felt it would be detrimental to his Nice plans.
As usual, great analysis. (And, yes, it’s likely to be a stretch for Matt Hanson - to me it all keys around a really big finish in Nice, which I don’t think is a course that suits him as well as Kona. Well, and a couple of huge days in South Africa and The Woodlands, of course.)
Understood. Same ‘one and only goal’ as Matthews then (this year).
There was some chat last year (and ? the year before) that he’d buried himself with a superb race in Roth and coming back up for the IMWC (Kona Oct 2024 and Nice Sep 2023) cost him that few %. So the fact that he’s choosing to race Frankfurt not Roth means he’s making sure a win in the IM Pro Series is there for the taking. So he can tell you it’s not a goal “my only goal for 2025 is Nice” but his race schedule suggests different (and allows an excellent build-up to September’s crux) and the subsidiary objective of winning the IM Pro Series is clear from his own insta post (text below).
31st January: Ditlev shares his IM Pro Series races:
IMSA (30 March)
70.3 St George (10 May)
IM Frankfurt (29 June)
IMWC
Marbella
(I wonder why he chose to trek out to St George (10th May) rather than race Venice (4th May)? Perhaps Snow Canyon offers a climb to race up in preparation for Nice.)
No changes are needed to “hunt the IM Pro Series”.
IMWC Nice is central to both: not losing many points to the other top three (Series challengers) or better still, stuffing time into them. And Marbella is ages after IMWC.
"The 2025 season? I have decided to narrow my focus and chase . . becoming Ironman World Champion. For me this means racing only the IM Pro Series in 2025 [ie not T100]. This [allows me] to plan the season perfectly around the World Championships.
“I have been on the podium in the past two editions of this race. Third in 2023 and second in 2024… My goal is to continue that upward trajectory and climb the top spot of the podium in 2025!”
Not surprised. He used to do Chatty before Kona.