Created as IRONMAN’s answer to the question asked by the PTO’s T100 Triathlon World Tour, the IRONMAN Pro Series has been an unmitigated success. Pros were clamoring to enter the designated pro races to the point where waiting lists became the norm at the early season events. On top of that, some of the biggest names in the sport chose to focus on the IRONMAN series rather than sign a T100 contract, including this year’s Kona champ Patrick Lange (GER) and one of the most popular pros in the sport, Canadian Lionel Sanders. British star Kat Matthews chose to both sign a T100 contract and go after the Pro Series title.
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Pro Series Standings
With two races left – IRONMAN 70.3 Western Australia and the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in Taupo – Lange and Jackie Hering (USA) sit at the top of the standings. Lange won’t be in Taupo, and it looks like that could be a costly decision. Hering will be in Taupo, but despite being in the lead, it’s going to be really hard for her to take the overall win. After her runner-up finish in Nice, Matthews appears to have the best shot for the overall title.
Points for the Pro Series are based on a total of five eligible races. To push a full-distance race emphasis, three of those can be IRONMAN races, with the final two being 70.3 events. IRONMAN races are worth 5,000 points for the win, with the points decreasing by one for every second an athlete finishes behind the winner. IRONMAN 70.3 races are worth half that. The world championship races are worth a bit more – 6,000 points for Kona and Nice, 3,000 points for Taupo.
With $1.3 million of bonus money on the line, making the trip down under will definitely be worth the effort. Winning the series earns $200,000, with second taking $130,00 and third $85,000. (You can see the full break down here .)
You can see the points standings heading into the final few races here .
Lange’s to lose?
At the press conference after winning in Kona, Lange told us that he wasn’t going to be heading to Taupo in December because it already looked like he’d nailed the Pro Series title.
In fact, he hasn’t. Sure, it doesn’t look like American Matt Hanson, who is currently second in the standings, could earn enough points even with a win in Taupo to move ahead. It’s also a long-shot for South African Bradley Weiss, who currently sits third. A win in Taupo would be enough to put him in front. That’s a tough ask for a guy who finished 16th at 70.3 Zell am See-Kaprun and seventh at 70.3 Alcudia-Mallorca.
There are three guys who have a huge opportunity to move to the top of the standings, though. First up is American Matthew Marquardt, who somehow balances med school and pro racing. He’ll be taking time from his studies at Ohio State to take a shot at the IRONMAN Pro Series title. He’s only done one 70.3 race to go along with his three IRONMAN finishes (third in Texas, second in Lake Placid and 15th in Kona), so if he can muster up 2,041 points in Taupo he’d gain enough points to become the Pro Series champ.
Italy’s Gregory Barnaby is in almost as good a position – he’s only 23 points behind Marquardt and also only has one 70.3 race on his list for 2024. Dane Kristian Haugenhaug currently trails Barnaby by 268 points in the standings and also has a race in hand. Here’s the other interesting thing about those two – they’ll both be heading to Ironman 70.3 Western Australia next week and then to Taupo, giving them two shots at earning enough points to move to the top of the IRONMAN Pro Series.
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Pro Series Finale
All of which sets up more than a little bit of excitement leading into the final few races of the IRONMAN Pro Series. By only increasing the points values for the world championship events by 1,000 (IRONMAN) and 500 (70.3) points, IRONMAN has ensured that there will be lots to race for right up to the final race of the season. It means that the Kona and Nice champions aren’t likely to be crowned IRONMAN Pro Series champ, but maybe that’s not a bad thing.
