Proper? Loevseth has it in the bag, provided she finishes Kona. Believe she will race Swansea next month as an ‘insurance race’ or give her the option not to race Nice (she’s shared her perception that she’s at a disadvantage in the hills, and results bear this out (Zell-am-See and Marbella, though against peers did OK in IMLP).
Matthews has shared she’ll race Elsinore but that offers 2500 to make up for the 5000ish loss her DNF in IM Texas meant.
Those two still one and two assuming on form finishes in Kona and (for Matthews) Nice.
Wilms could have a say. Berry too.
what I wonder is will we get 10 females that will “finish” the pro series ie 3 fulls and 2 halfs (inc at least 1 world champ)
overall I would say they should go to 2 full and 3 halfs.
3 Likes
70.3 Elsinore start lists are out:
Matthews (to snag a 2500 score in lieu of Texas, ivo of Roth), Van Coevorden (recently #1 in 70.3 Western Sydney), Merle (#3 in Oceanside), Meissner (#2 in Challenge Champs last month), Christensen (best of the Danes, #3 in IM Hamburg on Sunday, best of several doubling up: Wilms, Curran, Langridge, Jendryschik, Brunnee)
Full start lists W&M
IM Frankfurt’s start list has been shared on insta, but not on the ‘Ironman Pro’ site.
Edit: now (an hour later) start list published.
Two IRONMAN World Champions. A long-awaited comeback. Vital IM Pro Series points.
Stornes
. Iden Ditlev
Barnaby
Luis
Lindars
28th June
Mainova IRONMAN Frankfurt European Championship
2026 Experience Oman IRONMAN Pro Series
6 x MPRO KQ slots - needed by, inter alia: Ditlev, Riddle, Guerbeur, Chevalier, Smith, Stepniak, Hoffmann, Große-Freese, Magnien, Benito Lopes,
plus another 34 athletes
NO Geens,
Debut: Bortolomedi
Only these athletes are ‘KQ’:
| Bib | Forename | Surname | Country | KQ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| M1 | Casper | Stornes | NOR | IM World Champion |
| M2 | Gustav | Iden | NOR | IM World Champion 2022 |
| M6 | Vincent | Luis | FRA | IM Texas |
| M8 | Kieran | Lindars | GBR | IM Texas |
| M11 | Brock | Hoel | CAN | IM Texas |
| M15 | Cameron | Wurf | AUS | IM Chattanooga |
| M16 | Wilhelm | Hirsch | DEU | IM Brasil |
| M28 | Florian | Angert | DEU | IM South Africa |
| M46 | Michele | Sarzilla | ITA | IM Cozumel |
1 Like
Skipper is not doing Frankfurt but is headed to Austria.
Klagenfurt is this weekend. You’ll see that many athletes on the Frankfurt list are racing. Maybe Skipper is just using it as a warm up or has just entered both, because ‘why not’. Do you know Skipper’s not racing Frankfurt as well, or just assuming? idk
I don’t think he ever mentioned doing Frankfurt. This looks very much like Austria DNF insurance.
^^This^^
1 Like
An update for you.
He just told me minutes ago that will be Frankfurt or nothing. The reason he picked Austria over his preferred course in Cairns was that it will be easier for travel for not just himself but his family/team. Same with Frankfurt over Placid.
He will then take a break to recover and then concentrate on late season races.
So did he have an issue on the bike? He had a terrible (even for him) swim losing 7.5 minutes to the leader considering, I assume, it was a wetsuit swim. When I saw how far back he was in T2 I figured he might pull the plug and do Frankfurt, even though it’s a much tougher field.
I must say kudos to the production team today, I think this was the high water mark of what we’ve seen in terms of production value from Ironman. They did well in terms of stream quality, the commentary team worked well together, and they were able to flip back and forth to the right race winning moves. They even did critical replays of the key moments and the dual/quad boxes worked well.
Especially kudos to the commentary team. What they did well is split between colour commentary and play by play and told the story of the race as it was happening. Laura Siddall was especially good at doing the play by play in transitions and up the climbs - explaining what was going on without getting into ‘and now her left sock…’
The exciting race gave them a few favours but if we get a Kona like I won’t complain
5 Likes
IM70.3 Elsinore
Sunday, early doors (CEST)
Besides Kat Matthews (GBR, needs a ‘fifth IM Pro Series score after her Texas DNF) starting, there’s: Audrey Merle (FRA), third at Oceanside, Natalie Van Coevorden (AUS), who won Western Sydney last month, and Lena Meißner (GER, with #3s in Valencia and Kraichgau)
Several raced IM Hamburg a fortnight ago, including: Katrine Græsbøll Christensen (DEN, flying the ‘home’ flag, who joined Loevseth and Philipp on the podium there) and Lotte Wilms (NED, #3 in IMNZ) both chasing IM Pro Series points with a top 6 in prospect, Fenella Langridge (GBR) hoping to snag a start at Nice after her Hamburg KQ. There are others doubling up too.
Not clear if Marta Sanchez (ESP) is campaigning the IM Pro Series: she has sixth and third at Oceanside and IM Texas (would need to do IMLP or Kalmar) but on her day, podium potential here.
Most of those (not Matthews nor Christensen though), plus Steph Clutterbuck (GBR) and Kate Curran (GBR) should hammer the swim with a select few staying ahead on the bike, together or individually, chased by Matthews.
Come T2, as a pointer, Merle is a sub-1:20 runner. Course best time is 4:05 by Libs Mitchell in 2023 beating EPB’s 4:07 the year before. 28 women on the start list.
BTS - MvR and HdV
Another BTS before Elsinore: Smith and Matthews
is this really a pro series race ?
SOF for male 77.5 vs 84.5 san fransico.
1 Like
Guess it’s bound to suffer considering many of the male ‘heavy hitters’ are racing Frankfurt a week later, or Roth the week after that. Add to that no top Americans (?) as they preferred to be home boys in Pennsylvania (or at MT a few hours later).
Comparing the MPro SOF at 77.3 here, it’s certainly a few points down on Aix (80.0) and on HV (80.5).
Several of the ‘not NQ’ men (MvR, Hh, Riddle, Arnold, Smith, Mann) are clearly seeking to Q at this last chance saloon. Only 3 slots: several will be disappointed.
| Date | Type | Event | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| 07-Jun | IM | IRONMAN Hamburg (WPRO) | Hamburg, DEU |
| 14-Jun | 70.3 | IRONMAN 70.3 Happy Valley | Pennsylvania, USA |
| 20-Jun | WTCS | WTCS Quiberon | FRA |
| 21-Jun | 70.3 | IRONMAN 70.3 Elsinore | Elsinore, DEN |
| 28-Jun | IM | IRONMAN Frankfurt (MPRO) | Frankfurt, DEU |
| 05-Jul | Roth | Roth | Bavaria, DEU |
| 11-Jul | WTCS | WTCS Hamburg | GER |
| 12-Jul | 70.3 | IRONMAN 70.3 Swansea | Swansea, GBR |
I think so far my tendency is to say we need a division in the pro series
Texas ,Hamburg , Frankfurt and Oceanside are top races the rest not so much.( More world cup level)
1 Like
I hope Jamie Riddle can race well today and make it interesting. I also hope he can build confidence and bring that into Frankfurt next week. A lot of hoping…
1 Like
If he doesn’tget on the podium Ill be cancelling my fan club membership. Same with Ari in his “C grade” race this weekend.
Texas, Hamburg and Frankfurt have a moderately more generous prize money. So in theory tier one. I agree Oceanside should be elevated some way as well
Doubt IM will bother as it means little else to them nor will T-100 elevate those races to Platinum
Implications of 70.3 Elsinore results on the IM Pro Series
MvR gets a 2500 to go with his Texas score (losing only 92 ‘points’(seconds). Goes to Lake Placid ftw. With that and his ability at 70.3 and full he’ll be right up there with Stornes and touching distance of Blummenfelt. I assume Foley will race IMLP too but he’s one step down from MvR (Nice and Kona - ack latter unproven in Kona v Foley’s unlucky DNF). This will be a little clearer after Frankurt next weekend.
Christensen has slotted in as the most likely challenger to Loevseth. She plans to race Kalmar (mid August) and (I’m assuming) miss Nice. With a win in Sweden (or close) she’ll head for Kona about 200 points down on Loevseth but >1100 up on Matthews.
2 Likes