I’m not sure if a start list has been published, but who are thinking takes the crown. I feel like everyone thinks Blu is the favorite, but I feel like there have to be some other contenders that aren’t just going to let him take it.
On the women’s side, I feel like the race is a bit more wide open. Also, feels like Paula Findley could do some damage on this course.
Lionel
In all seriousness I think Kristian is going to be highly motivated and very hard to beat.
WOMEN’S PROFESSIONAL FIELD
1 Taylor Knibb USA
2 Kat Matthews GBR
3 Lucy Charles-Barclay GBR
4 Paula Findlay CAN
5 Ellie Salthouse AUS
6 Caroline Pohle DEU
7 Grace Thek AUS
8 Laura Philipp DEU
9 Marta Sanchez ESP
10 Solveig Løvseth NOR
11 Georgia Taylor-Brown GBR
14 Jackie Hering USA
16 Danielle Lewis USA
17 Laura Jansen DEU
18 Regan Hollioake AUS
20 Marjolaine Pierré FRA
21 India Lee GBR
22 Jess Learmonth GBR
23 Lisa Perterer AUT
24 Katrine Græsbøll Christensen DNK
25 Lizzie Rayner GBR
26 Lydia Russell USA
28 Marlene De Boer NLD
29 Cecilia Perez MEX
30 Bianca Bogen DEU
31 Maja Stage Nielsen DNK
34 Charlene Clavel FRA
35 Anna Bergsten SWE
36 Nina Derron CHE
37 Megan McDonald GBR
38 Hanne De Vet BEL
39 Rebecca Anderbury GBR
40 Rachel Brown GBR
41 Djenyfer Arnold BRA
42 Romina Palacio ARG
43 Sif Madsen DNK
44 Milan Agnew AUS
45 Macarena Salazar Ezquerra CHL
46 Nicole Van Der Kaay NZL
47 Jeanne Collonge FRA
49 Lisa Becharas USA
50 Sara Svensk SWE
51 Luisa Iogna Prat ITA
52 Lena Meißner DEU
54 Adele Likin USA
56 Jess Smith USA
57 Emilie Morier FRA
59 Solenne Billouin FRA
60 Kristen Marchant CAN
61 Laura Addie GBR
62 Freya McKinley USA
63 Mariella Sawyer ZAF
65 Bridget Theunissen ZAF
66 Carolyn Olsen USA
67 Caroline Kaplan USA
68 Sandra Huon FRA
69 Michelle Stratton USA
70 Francisca Garrido CHL
71 Tanja Neubert DEU
72 Hannah Sakaluk USA
MEN’S PROFESSIONAL FIELD
1 Jelle Geens BEL
2 Rico Bogen DEU
3 Kristian Blummenfelt NOR
4 Gustav Iden NOR
5 Marc Dubrick USA
7 Panagiotis Bitados GRC
8 Vincent Luis FRA
9 Casper Stornes NOR
10 Sam Long USA
12 Kristian Høgenhaug DNK
14 Nick Thompson AUS
15 Rudy Von Berg USA
16 Jonas Schomburg DEU
17 Matt Hanson USA
18 Jamie Riddle ZAF
19 Magnus Ditlev DNK
20 Henrik Goesch FIN
21 Kacper Stepniak POL
22 Cameron Main GBR
23 Jarrod Osborne AUS
24 Trevor Foley USA
25 Sam Dickinson GBR
26 Fabian Kraft DEU
27 Jake Birtwhistle AUS
28 Sam Appleton AUS
30 Leonard Arnold DEU
31 Jason West USA
33 Seth Rider USA
34 Colin Szuch USA
35 Jackson Laundry CAN
36 Lasse Nygaard Priester DEU
37 Kenji Nener JPN
38 Rostyslav Pevtsov UKE
39 Andrew Horsfall-Turner GBR
40 Ben Kanute USA
41 Nathan Guerbeur FRA
42 Robert Kallin SWE
43 Matthew Collins GBR
44 Antony Costes FRA
45 Gregor Payet LUX
46 Wilhelm Hirsch DEU
47 Kevin McDowell USA
48 Daniel Bækkegård DNK
49 Dylan Magnien FRA
51 Simon Viain FRA
52 Bart Aernouts BEL
53 Emil Holm DNK
54 Valdemar Solok DNK
55 Matthew Ralphs ZAF
56 Mathias Lyngsø Petersen DNK
57 Michele Bortolamedi ITA
58 Alessio Crociani ITA
59 Miguel Hidalgo BRA
60 Max Stapley GBR
61 Mathis Margirier FRA
62 Tayler Reid NZL
63 Simon Westermann CHE
64 Louis Woodgate GRC
66 Sam Osborne NZL
67 Andreas Dreitz DEU
68 Max Neumann AUS
69 Gabriel Sandör SWE
70 Dieter Comhair BEL
71 John Killeen USA
72 Martin Demuth AUT
73 Tom Hug DEU
74 Anders Toft Nielsen DNK
75 Martin Baeza Munoz CHL
76 Nick Emde DEU
77 Sebastian Wernersen NOR
Where do Vincent Luis qualify?
Not sure anybody is running better than West at the moment though, so if he can hang in the pack on the bike he might be alright.
Men: Hard to look past KB for me given the strength of his bike vs Casper and Gustav in Nice, and his stellar 70.3 runs this year (especially Aix-en-Provence) and the ridiculous run sessions he’s been doing. I would expect Jelle to give him a good run for his money, Jelle can climb well (rode great at T100 Frejus) and as we know is a excellent runner. Casper should be near there too if he can keep up on the bike, Gustav we haven’t seen sub 1:10 speed from yet but he’s been getting better and better, probably around a top 5 but not podium favorite.
Women: Depends on Knibb bounces back from Kona. She climbs like an aboslute monster, this course is made for her like T100 SF last year. On her day she’s coming off with 5+ mins and jogging for a win. If she struggles to bounce back from Kona, then it’s an open field- I would tap Kat up as the next favorite as a great climber with a couple mins in the bank running vs Knibb and others in a 70.3 (outran Solveig pretty comfortably in Sell-Am-Zee). Paula may be there coming off the bike but I don’t think we’ve seen the run speed to compete with Kat and Solveig. Laura on a course like this can ride up to Kat/Solveig, but from their T100 races Kat usually outran her at middle distances. Then there’s LCB… she looked really really rough after Kona, moreso than Taylor. I’ll honestly be surprised if she starts, and shocked if she shows the run form she’s had in the T100.
Men:
Women:
Bahrain 70.3 in November 2024
Another 70.3 Championship would be a nice feather in LCB’s cap after Kona.
Taylor does ride very well on hills, so she could be super tough to keep up with.
Jelle has proven himself time and time again at T100, so it seems like he should be a threat. KB will most likely be out for blood though and on his day he’s pretty hard to beat.
Good call, I forgot about that. Him and GTB got in there.
Based on how he’s been biking in T100 events this year, I’d say he has 0% chance of sticking with any of the top guys on the bike. I could see him running himself into the top 15 though.
I think that’s a question of the draft zone in t100 vs. Ironman. In Ironman some of these guys can hide pretty well, t100 they get exposed really quickly.
And more compressed and colourful (WPro):
Other than those of the big 5 from Kona (the podium plus the two do and (not) dies), worth noting GTB, Perterer and Learmonth. Of those not listed (but qualified) sorry not to see super-whippet Kleiser who is clearly still not better.
Looking at athletes who might still be deemed SC I see GTB, Lena Meißner and Tanja Neubert starting and note that though qualified the following are not listed: Erika Ackerlund, Richelle Hill, Jeanne Lehair, Vittoria Lopes, Claire Michel and Natalie Van Coevorden.
I expect 7 WPros with bibs in the top 28 to withdraw or DNS.
That seems pretty wild. Maybe I’m way off base, but it seems like this may be a great opportunity to add a world title. Some of the favorites are battling the recovery from Kona. There could be an opportunity for someone to come in a grab a world title while some of the favorites are still cooked from Kona.
1 tanja neubert
2 Emily morier ( not totally serious) but I like the fact that we have a tour de France finisher and under 23 Tri world champ in the field she should be well up till T2
3 GTB
I think this could play out much like Nice did, where a small select few men will get together and break up the swim. Get Blu and others in a 2nd pack having to chase. There are some super uber bikers in that lead swim group now, so unless that back group has a Laidlow type once again to pace them, it could be lights out to T2 for anyone not making the elite swim group.
I mean if Sam L had been where he was supposed to be in Nice in the swim, the race plays out in a much different way and those top5 to 8 spots are all flipped around and who knows who comes out on top? In fact the fastest bikers in the race will probably be that lead swim group, and it will be hell for 2nd pack to just hold even, let alone gain any time on them without burning serious running matches…And since Blu is 50/50 to make that lead pack, I would say he is not really the odds on favorite if someone like Geens is a couple minutes up the road..
Of course Magnus might finally have a great race this season and pull that entire 2nd group to the front, many different scenarios could play out..
So nice to see these large fields rather than the 20 or less at the T100 races…
Well half the mens field is racing the lead women, and half their field are just trying to beat age groupers. At least everyone in a T100(healthy. of course) are racing someone in the actual front of the race.And by front I mean racing for actual prize money..
It is fun to see Lionel and sam long in these big fields though, actually get someone to draft off of, and then ride with too. So there is that for the two biggest threads on ST… (-;
What number is Lionel, can’t seem to find him
I don’t see Magnus making the front group and with the disappointing season he’s had I imagine he’s going to bust his ass to ride up to the front and drag whoever can hang on with him.
Ya that is the last thing I said might happen, only he will make an effort if possible not to drag anybody if he is on his great bike form..
Numbers 6,11 and 13 are missing from the official list
I guessing he was one of those and has pulled out.Maybe smarter to try for an early Kona slot.
Watch out for bib # 71, Tanya Neubert. The next short courser moving to middle distance and doing great imo.
