5 Takeaways From the 2025 70.3 Worlds

Triathlon Forum
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Lucy Charles-Barclay sticking with Taylor Knibb throughout the bike - I suggest that, alongside the ‘I will not be dropped’, Knibb was moderating her effort, mindful of her experience a month ago and wishing not to go close to overdoing it on the bike. But Knibb surely knew she would not prevail on the run so had to balance her bravery/ risk it/ will to win with her wish to finish/ prudence. We also saw the chasers make time from 60km onwards which also suggests that Knibb was not pushing it - contrast she sent it at 60km in Taupo, to earn the gap on Simmonds and Matthews and secure the win.

The final third this time was the second half of the long drag back up to the col (285m in 12km) - with Findlay pulling away from Learmonth, Matthews and Madsen; the fast descent (Knibb and LCB out on the bars cf chasers and apparently Findlay suffered from being a lightweight, comparatively “they dropped like a stone” she said (also confidence in the bars); and through Marbella and along the coast road. The chasers were 4:33 down and pulled it back to only 3:47 at T2: putting Matthews in catching distance.

LCB’s run was a controlled, measured, disciplined approach to the race - she set out steadily and with only a 3:20 lead on Matthews that was, as you say ‘measured’. By 4.5km Matthews had reduced the gap to 2:27 - nearly a minute caught with >10 miles to go. But then DNF. Knibb set off fast but she eased off. LCB ran a really even pace - no ‘afterburners’ were turned on, hence the catch. They were together going past me setting out along the breakwater but Knibb had dropped back by the time they returned from the end. And that was it. LCB ran 38:29 and 38:45. Wow!

Blummenfelt . . . trying to allow Stornes to bridge up. Was that a potential plan to have the two of them work to try to dispose of Geens? No (he said politely) - as others have opined. this is just ‘racing’. KB may have said this, but ‘sure’ - was just trying to avoid breaking the wind on that exposed stretch: the sea breeze had freshened. And both of them clearly slowed down: splits suggest to 3:22mpk compared to average 3:13. Coming past me on the breakwater Geens was running mid path allowing Blummenfelt to echelon: he should have been tight against the cones to minimise the drafting benefit. At one stage Stornes was over a minute down. As they looped round past transition for the last time, he closed to 25 seconds because of the two ahead faffing on the breakwater, but then KB pushed hard for the final mile and the gap went back out to a minute with Stornes well clear of Schomburg so ran it in. Blummenfelt ran 33:55 and 34:01; Geens 33:38 and 33:58 Stornes 34:16 and 34:12.

Speaking of Geens and Blummenfelt, they had a sprint finish for the ages brewing, trading blows entering the final kilometer. . . . . before seeing Geens in the finish chute with a gap over Blummenfelt. The exact type of high tension finish that we’re all seeking out of this type of racing and we all missed it. [Well I didn’t; was roadside with 350m to go just after Geens had made the overtake and cut to the right rail to be sure of the inside and then straight back up the the stand to see Geens sprint it in. :)) ]

After the WPro race I asked the finish line official, and another TO who was there where exactly was the finish line was and why wasn’t there a line on the carpet (I was in line looking seaward for both finishes). They didn’t know. We’ll all recall that after Sanders & vonBerg in Oceanside this was raised as ‘an issue’ and aiui Ironman had said ‘we’ll sort it’. There was no line (white) on the black carpet. Also the tape was being held (by Craig and ?Rinny for the women and two men in PH clown suits on Sunday) on the far side of the gantry. Wrong. On Sunday I saw no sign of an iPad or similar set up to offer the Head Ref evidence to determine who crossed the line first (in the event of a close one - Geens v KB anyone? We were deprived of the entertainment of a close finish in the women’s.

Section 2.05 RACE FINISH, TIMING, AND RESULTS (a) An athlete will be judged as finished the moment any part of their torso crosses a vertical line extending from the leading edge of the finish line gantry;

I’m not going to fault Lisa Perterer for pulling the ripcord on her season following her excellent performance in Kona. When you also factor that she was unlikely to be budged from her third-place position in the Pro Series - Not just “unlikely” - she could not overtake Loevseth and could not be displaced for #3. As for “pulling the ripcord” - have you heard she is not racing Dubai? And after that Qatar? She remains on the start list, whereas, unsurprisingly, Knibb and LCB have dropped off (start list only 16 strong). Six WPros who did complete are headed for Dubai, only 3 days away.

Having said that, and reflecting others’ comments ref networking etc, I chatted with Marta Sanchez who HAD travelled, albeit in country, outside the hotel. She would’ve been in the mix for that #3 spot if she’d been able to finish Kona (was injured and pulled out before dropping off the Queen K into the EL).

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No-one missing, Just Pogacar winning 3 out of 4 jersey…

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10th place and lower could easily spend the Pro Series winnings on traveling to Kona if they aren’t racing. No point in people showing up then and also no point in them prioritizing IM races if they won’t be top 5ish and racing the race that has the awards ceremony.

But I get it you think a picture with a check is worth as much or more than the athletes showing up to 5+ races through out the year. I care more about seeing them race than hold a check. But I also don’t watch the award ceremonies like the Oscars and there is a huge fan base that finds that entertaining so maybe it is in IM’s best interest to bring in the awards crowd by demanding athletes waste their winning showing up to the event.

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We may just need to agree to disagree on this. I don’t fault any athlete not racing Marbella for skipping out on spending money to make a trip to get a cheque that can be mailed.

I’m telling Ironman CEO to close up that loophole and force them to show up. And if you are a pro, making a trip to network with industry people may be a more useful investment of travel dollars than a lower place finish in a race anyway. Long before they get deals, there is a lot of relationship making work to be done to close sponsorship deals, and having many captive and NOT having the pressure to race is likely not a bad thing. And there career can end tomorrow when the next idiot in a car cuts them off, so it’s not a bad insurance plan networking in advance of end of career (which could be fifteen years ways, too)

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I don’t think there’s value in traveling to this race location.

But they could easily do something in Tampa or their satellite office out in Colorado for the awards ceremony at the end of the year. And have that be where the sponsor / business interactions might take place (although most everyone’s budgets are toast by November anyways).

It’s also really just looking at people in the top 10. Who are most likely going to be in Kona (given that it will be the end all, be all of the Pro Series for the next few seasons) anyways. So that’s a factor.

But it should be a separate thing, rather than a podium ceremony tacked on at the end of the race, as it makes it seem like a sideshow (when it should be a strong 1B to the world championship race result).

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Best pain faces has a GOAT , and that is AB. I remember Barry commentating saying that he looked like a boxer being punched in the face. If course that had no value if you don’t deliver. Which he usually did.

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@rrheisler what you are saying makes sense. Pick up spot where the end of the year gig/awards event it and tell them to show up or forfeit. Then everyone can bake it into the plan for the year. Whatever the location its going to be bad for someone, so I THINK it makes sense for it to be at the end of the year sporting event.

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I said people not you . It’s just trash talk and sport . Geens was giving us insight and expressing his opinion but that was the goal of blu to get him to try and make a mistake or stress him. Like telling Russel Westbrook to take the three . It’s a good option and you try to bait him into it . You can’t hit the three ball , you can’t hit two in a row etc .

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For what? Nobody will care any more about the Pro Series just because everybody showed up to pick up their cheques in person. Because, let’s face it, the Pro Series is primarily a financial incentives scheme to get top pros to race more Pro Series events that other IM and non-IM (*cough*T100*cough*) events. A grand awards ceremony with all Pro Series athletes attending is absolutely not necessary for the Pro Series to fulfil its purpose to both Ironman as well as to the involved athletes.

If that were truly the case, the Pro Series wouldn’t exist. If all the best pros would shift their focus on another race series, because that series organizers convinced them that they could earn more money and exposure at their events than from Ironman, Ironman’s prestige would definitely suffer in the long term. Ironman wants to remain the biggest guy in town, with the most prestigious races which are attended by the world’s best triathletes. And the Pro Series is part of their toolset to defend their position in this market.

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Exactly, no one cares or remembers who the series winners are. WCs are all that matters.

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Kat got a lot of mileage out of her series win and will get continued mileage out if it. KB winning this year will add prestige to the series. The more we see stellar athletes win the series the more it will build it’s prestige. WC may only matter to you but they aren’t the only thing that matter to a lot of fans. I don’t think there are many people who are saying that Sodaro is a better athlete than Kat. I think many if not most would say Kat’s week in week out excellence trumps Sodaro’s 1 WC win.

On the mens’ side I doubt you would get a consensus to say that Jelle or Casper had the best season in 2025. While it would be split I’m sure you would get a huge group maybe even a majority who say KB had the best season. People will remember he was the series winner partly because he was the best yet didnt win either championship.

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I would bet good money the majority of fans would have zero idea who won the pro series last year. But they would all mostly remember who won Nice and Kona.

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I’d bet they know Kat won it. Agree Barnaby no, but some of that was self inflicted. He chose (poorly) to do T100 and not try and repeat as the series winner. Maybe he knew (rightly) that he would have no chance against KB this year. By year 7 (the Oman sponsorship timeline), I’d be surprised if every series champion isn’t a major name by the time they win the series, especially now that the T100 no longer is forcing a choice. But I like the series dynamic and I like Kat and KB and what they bring outside of how they race WCs, it’s not for everyone.

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Why would you think that? No one talks about pro series wins, they talk about the run battle and how Laura ran away to the win the WC.

Without wanting this to fall away to another pissing match like in the other thread answer me this-who would be regarded/remembered as the better athlete.

Someone with 2 WCs or someone with 2 pro series? No one cares about pro series.

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YOU don’t talk about the pro series win. YOU don’t care about it which is totally fine. It’s totally fine to be all about the championships and who can show up on 1 race course ready to go. There are plenty of former winners who made their bones doing that and it’s totally acceptable. But there are also plenty of people who look at Kat as one of if not the best long distance athletes of the past 2 year and part of that is her dominance of the Pro Series. Same for KB.

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You can’t be regarded as the best if you haven’t won a WC, and yes that’s my opinion…

I’m b4 I get accused of being a troll again for having a reasonable opinion..

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I don’t know what you do about other years, but the Omanis are going to want the podium ceremony in Oman for 2029. And they’re going to want people to show up.

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We can expect the 70.3 WC to be before Kona in 2026, 2027 and 2028, for for the IMWC to be the last of the Pro Series races, where the podium will be decided and the venue for the prize giving. One assumes the 2029 70.3 WC in Oman will be in November and that will be the final race.

I think Perterer should’ve travelled to Marbella (assume from Austria or closer), but she didn’t.

As for @gunna and ‘“only the WC is the ‘best’ in each year” they can assert that. Given these athletes are professionals, the prizemoney won in each year is a useful measure: that will likely be either the IM Pro Series winner or the T100 Tour winner. Matthews and Knibb were top of that pile last yearwith MvR up there. This year it’s looking like being close for the WPros with whoever wins the T100 taking it (if Waugh or LCB) or Matthews, and Wilde as ‘best man’ run close by KB.

Thorsten will give us his table for Christmas. I appreciate these figures do not include significant elements of the top athletes income eg: bonuses, partnerships, ‘T100 marketing’, appearance money (Roth et al) but it’s a pretty good metric.

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Yep, people seem to have short memories. Athletes regularly forego races with a sole intent of winning a WC. They get the qual early so their whole year can be focused solely on one thing.

There isn’t an athlete alive who would pass up a WC for a series win.

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I agree that I don’t think there’s anybody who would trade a Pro Series win for a world title.

But I also think that we’re going to see more emphasis placed on Pro Series winnings over time – whether by sponsors and athletes independently, or the media also following more closely to it. And, of course, assuming that IRONMAN makes that season narrative part of a bigger deal.

(For what it’s worth, if you went into a bunch of tri Facebook groups right now and tried to get them to name the last three IM world champions, I am sure Kat and Kristian would get named a lot, even though they would be wrong. Simple name recognition from being at the top at nearly every race they do.)