I think it would be great if you take this post and start a new thread and we get ST to track down many of them to ask them all about it. @E_DUB what do you say, it would be cool front page article…IM pro series/world series “then and now”…I am probably one of few age groupers way behind pros in both series watching from my “seat in the stadium” three decades later
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I think it is almost a chicken-and-egg problem. Do people look at Kat Matthews and Kristian Blummenfelt as two of the best long-distance athletes because they won the Pro Series or because of the sum of their individual race results, which also happened to win them the Pro Series. In other words, would people think lesser of them if the Pro Series didn’t exist and they had achieved the exact same results throughout the last two years? Personally, I suspect that the additional impact of the Pro Series on their public prominence is probably rather limited.
@rrheisler, the problem with a Pro Series ‘season narrative’ is that the format isn’t very well suited to it. The Pro Series contains too many races over which the talent gets diluted. Of the 15 races of the 2025 Pro Series, only 2 (Zell am See and Kona) featured all three female Pro Series podium finishers. On the men’s site it was slightly better with Blummenfelt, Stornes, and Høgenhaug appearing together in 4 races (Texas, Frankfurt, Kona, Marbella. But then that feels a bit like cheating, as Blummenfelt and Stornes did all their races together.
If Ironman really wanted to increase public interest in the Pro Series, they likely would need to drastically reduce the number of Pro Series races (or even of IM pro races overall), which would come with its own trade-offs. In my opinion, however, the primary goal Ironman has for the Pro Series isn’t to drum up more interest for Ironman racing, but just to bind top triathlon pros closer to races which are organized by Ironman instead of other organizers’ races. And it does that job well enough.
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Totally, their excellence is what builds the prestige of a series win over time. If we were to see b level athletes winning it over and over again then it would dilute any prestige and overtime make it irrelevant.
Right now it’s a nice to have and a goal of athletes but for many a B goal. However, there are good athletes we know have no realistic shot at a WC but could do very well in a series. As things progress I wouldn’t be surprised to see more of those athletes emerge who put winning the series year in and year out as their top goal. It’s hard to make a living as a triathlete and the pro series makes that more realistic. Keep in mind winning a pro series is easier with a WC win so it’s not like that won’t still be something they try and do, but I believe we’ll see more schedules like Kat and KB than we do say Laidlow.
They have already cut a heap of pro races from the calendar to compensate for the $$ spent on the series. If they cut anymore there is no pathway. It is already hard in some areas with very few races, meaning athletes need to spend a big chunk (or all) of their available prize money on travel just to get to a race to compete. Lower level races are needed so that more than the top 10 in the world can make a living.
How many pro races did they used to have? There are 50+ pro races scheduled through September next year with Q4 races still to be announced.
Normal people/ triathletes don’t know who won a world title or world series or shit. Most only know the free YouTube content creator triathlete and free podcasts .
I talk to newbies all the time , they don’t know past last week, macca, peter Reid, Christy they have never heard of them.
Some think Lionel has won a championship , not meaning the itu long course.
It’s why itu behind a paywall is not good people want free and easy to find them .
100% agree and I’d go a step farther and say most people couldn’t name the world champions for the past 5-10 years of any sports they casually follow. There are certainly die hard than can and name every athlete on those teams.