The competition between IRONMAN and the Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO) for the sport’s top names is very apparent when you have a look at the field for IRONMAN 70.3 Oceanside on April 5. While PTO contracted athletes don’t have to compete at every T100 race, Paula Findlay appears to be the only contracted athlete who is competing in California rather than T100 Singapore, which is slated for the same weekend. Today’s pro field announcement certainly includes some big names, but the T100/ IRONMAN Pro Series choice for athletes has definitely affected the firepower for the women’s race more than it has the men’s in Oceanside.
That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t expect some speedy racing from the women pros – in addition to 2021 Oceanside champ Findlay, the field includes 2023 champ and fellow Canadian Tamara Jewett, along with last year’s IRONMAN Pro Series runner-up Jackie Hering.
There’s an impressive list of male long-distance stars who have chosen to skip the T100 Series this year, which means that while Lionel Sanders will be back to defend his title, he’s certainly going to have his work cut out to take the title again this year. While reigning IRONMAN world champion Patrick Lange didn’t really excel over the 70.3 distance last year, he certainly showed some improved biking ability in Kona last October, so he could be a factor in California. Add to the “big name” list two-time 70.3 worlds champ and 2022 Kona champ Gustav Iden, along with Tokyo Olympic gold medalist and 2021 IRONMAN world champ (St. George that year) Kristian Blummenfelt.
Over 100 Pros Registered
The popularity of the IRONMAN Pro Series became apparent last year at the Oceanside race based on the demand for pro spots in the race. That doesn’t seem to have changed this year, as you can see in the long lists of pro men and women. They’ll be competing for US$50,000 in prize money. The race will be broadcast live.
Some athletes to note from the women’s list below:
Danielle Lewis was fifth in Oceanside last year.
Maya Kingma is a former World Triathlon standout who appears to be making her middle-distance debut in Oceanside. Look for the seventh-place finisher from Paris last summer, who is a strong swimmer and cyclist, to make an auspicious debut.
Lisa Perterer is on this list, but might be in Singapore as a wildcard entry
FEMALE PRO LIST
Bib Number
First Name
Last Name
Country Represented
F1
Tamara
Jewett
CAN
F2
Paula
Findlay
CAN
F3
Jackie
Hering
USA
F4
Danielle
Lewis
USA
F5
Alice
Alberts
USA
F6
Maya
Kingma
NLD
F7
Grace
Alexander
USA
F8
Lisa
Becharas
USA
F9
Stephanie
Clutterbuck
GBR
F10
Kaidi
Kivioja
EST
F11
Joanna
Ryter
CHE
F12
Danielle
Fauteux
CAN
F13
Lisa
Perterer
AUT
F14
Allison
Jacob
CAN
F15
Arlette
Gonzalez
MEX
F16
Brittani
Shappell
USA
F17
Melanie
McQuaid
CAN
F18
Rebecca
Kawaoka
USA
F19
Chelsea
Bingham
USA
F20
Rebecca
Yunginger
USA
F21
Freya
McKinley
USA
F22
Liz
Licea
USA
F23
Adele
Likin
USA
F24
Abbie
Sullivan
USA
F25
Elizabeth
Heinbach
USA
F26
Alexandra
Watt
USA
F27
Sarah
Karpinski
USA
F28
Caitlin
Switaj
USA
F29
Vittoria
Lopes
BRA
F30
Jenna
Haufler
USA
F31
Leslie
Homol
USA
F32
Marissa
Lovell
USA
F33
Annette
Rogers
USA
F34
Lydia
Russell
USA
F35
Megan
Tuncer
USA
F36
Jennifer
Wilke
CAN
F37
Anne
Buettner
DEU
The men’s list really does include a lot of potential winners and podium finishers in addition to the “big four” named earlier.
American Rudy Von Berg took third in Kona last year, but has long been renowned as a strong 70.3 athlete as well.
Ben Kanute has two 70.3 worlds runner-up finishes on his resume
You’ve got the World Triathlon “movers up” here, too, with Australia’s Jake Birtwhistle, Casper Stornes (NOR), Kevin McDowell (USA) and Andrea Salvisberg (CZE). (There are no doubt a few more names that I’ve missed from that list – it is a post-Olympic year!) (Ed. Note: Seth Rider and Roberto Sanchez-Mantecon were two that I missed.)
And, since this will be a constant at IRONMAN Pro Series races this year, Cam Wurf will be making the trip back from South Africa (and Australia the week before) as he looks to compete in all the races in the series.
Here’s the full pro men’s list:
MALE PRO LIST
Bib Number
First Name
Last Name
Country Represented
M1
Lionel
Sanders
CAN
M2
Patrick
Lange
DEU
M3
Kristian
Blummenfelt
NOR
M4
Gustav
Iden
NOR
M5
Rudy
Von Berg
USA
M6
Ben
Kanute
USA
M7
Braden
Currie
NZL
M8
Trevor
Foley
USA
M9
Colin
Szuch
USA
M10
Chris
Leiferman
USA
M11
Justin
Riele
USA
M12
Marc
Dubrick
USA
M13
Cameron
Wurf
AUS
M14
Sam
Appleton
AUS
M15
Joe
Skipper
GBR
M16
Magnus
Männer
DEU
M17
John
Killeen
USA
M18
Connor
Weaver
USA
M19
Andy
Krueger
USA
M20
Dylan
Gillespie
USA
M21
Maximilian
Sperl
DEU
M22
Hunter
Lussi
USA
M23
Andreas
Dreitz
DEU
M24
Robbie
Deckard
USA
M25
Federico
Scarabino
URY
M26
Jason
Pohl
CAN
M27
Michael
Arishita
USA
M28
David
Plese
SVN
M29
Greg
Harper
USA
M30
Dominik
Sowieja
DEU
M31
Jose Luis
Cordova Perez
MEX
M32
Miguel
Mattox
USA
M33
Ted
Treise
USA
M34
Jake
Birtwhistle
AUS
M35
Andrea
Salvisberg
CHE
M36
Nick
Cosman
CAN
M37
Casper
Stornes
NOR
M38
Ari
Klau
USA
M39
Jan
Stepinski
USA
M40
Matthew
Guenter
USA
M41
Jamie
Hayes
USA
M42
Benjamin
Zorgnotti
PYF
M43
Patrick
Brady
USA
M44
Kevin
McDowell
USA
M45
Connor
Ford
USA
M46
Ryan
Sedivec
USA
M47
Yang
Pan
USA
M48
Jacob
Deysher
USA
M49
Jonathan
Fecik
USA
M50
Jacob
Osswald
USA
M51
Evan
Price
USA
M52
Simon
Shi
USA
M53
Max
Kohll
USA
M54
Brad
Bischoff
USA
M55
Connor
Callahan
USA
M56
Brian
Folts
USA
M57
David
Guenthardt
USA
M58
Brennen
Smith
CAN
M59
Joaquin
Pereda
MEX
M60
Johnathan
Dolan
USA
M61
Morgan
Rhodes
GBR
M62
Seth
Rider
USA
M63
Roberto
Sanchez Mantecon
ESP
M64
Todd
Wakefield
AUS
M65
Drew
Jordan
USA
M66
Tommy
Doubleday
USA
M67
Brock
Hoel
CAN
M68
Joona
Lehtonen
FIN
M69
Edoardo
Leone
USA
M70
Scott
Ludford
USA
M71
Max
Mahoney
USA
M72
Logan
Pollander
USA
M73
Tyler
Robakiewicz
USA
M74
Blake
Selm
USA
M75
Brett
Vancise
CAN
IRONMAN reports that in addition to the large pro field there will be “approximately 3,000 age group athletes” competing in Oceanside.
WPro:
On the theme of T100 Singapore versus Oceanside (latter has to be a course to love v . . . )
We see Kivioja there (deduce refusal of a T100 wild card). Conversely Perterer is listed but for sure she’ll be in Singapore that day.
Hering looks to me to be the only ‘top 10’ WPro IM Pro Series challenger. I guess Lewis and Alberts have a shout.
Lopes (F29) will surely lead out the swim (#3 in Paris and a minute clear in 70.3 Cozumel.) Clutterbuck and Kingma are maybe the next into T1.
MPro:
Note Harper (for his Blue70 swim bonus and SC refugee (and Olympic medallist) Rider.
The majority of the athletes who will fill the top 10 in the IM Pro Series come 10th November are racing. Several are double tapping with IM Texas three weeks later.
Roberto Sanchez-Mantecon (not know for this bike prowess in ITU, but who knows just like Morgan Pearson this might suit him better than the crit-style high intensity of ITU) and Seth Rider are the other two.
Dubrik 50/50 and has been injured so even though usually I’d say he’s a top 6-7 lock in this field he might battle on the run.
Justin Riele will be there on the swim & bike but again has been injured so might struggle to run sub 1:20.
Harper will be driving the swim pace early I’d guess so will be interesting to see if things split up in the swim instead of it just being a front group of 5-10 guys it could be like groups of 1-4 people coming in together.
Biggest question is how far back will Lionel be to Kristian/Casper in the swim and how long will it take him to catch up. Then when/if he catches up, how cooked are his legs and will Kristian & Casper just be too strong over the half mara or can Lionel go with them.
In the women’s race Paula should win however she wants to win. I do feel like her best chance though is to ride quite hard so that Tamara Jewett can’t get herself into the race. Obviously on a course like Oceanside Tamara is a threat if she’s within 3-4 minutes off the bike to someone like Paula. Overall it’s quite a lot weaker than the men’s field. Some good IM women like Alice, Jackie & Danielle. Obviously seeing how far Kingma can push Paula is the one thing that could make the women’s race really exciting to watch. She’s definitely a name to watch in LC over the next few years.
I would say even the man field is like a solid level bellow Singapore. I mean realistically blum is the only one you would tip to make the podium in Singapore the rest is more like top 10 Singapore.
its obviously a rather strong field but not really a field where you would say. yes those guys will be on the podium or top 5 at worlds based on the second half of 2024 season ,apart from blums oly games and Frankfurt combo.
Dragging this chat across from the IM Pro Series 2025 thread
Looking with more care at just how good Kingma’s swim is, I agree: Lopes and Kingma alone as a twosome heading out on the bike. Clutterbuck noted as ‘next best’ - she showed how strong she was in IM Vittoria, gapping Matthews by ?4 minutes.
The challenge for Kingma is that Lopes will be zero help and Clutterbuck just company when/if catches. I expect Findlay to ride up before entering the Camp. Her challenge will be to drop Kingma (the ease of which will depend on her willingness to take risk on the climb and the extent to which Kingma has developed her TT ability (any evidence out there in the SM wild?).
"After competing in two Olympic Games, . . . Long-distance triathlon is calling, and excelling there requires more than just power, technique, and tactics; aerodynamics on the TT bike are crucial.
". . . aero testing . . .
“Some WTCS remains on my program, perhaps road cycling too… but a longer triathlon race is definitely on the horizon. ”
Edit: Side issue: I would be surprised if Kingma had NOT been offered a T100 contract (which clearly she declined). Besides GTB she was a prime SC athlete for promotion.
Of course Jewett could surprise and pull out a ride like her best bike ‘ever’: at Oceanside 2023. But no evidence of that in 2024 iirc (eg 9 minutes slower than Findlay at 70.3MT). Could she catch Kingma with a good ride, or get close? It would be excellent to see those two battle it out on the run (Kingma has run 32:39 for 10km). I’ll back Jewett in that contest by a margin, on her consistent running ‘palmares’ and that 13 miles racing will be unknown territory for Kingma. Both will inexorably gain time on Findlay but imho not catch her.
There was some accusations that she got lucky with the drafting to reduce the deficit and pull off that race. There might be some grace in Oceanside with the combination of the no pass zones, speed limit, hills, choppy road sections, that allow the bike dynamic to unfold with better than average benefit to Tamara.
I’m curious this time how it will all work out with the race ranger.
I was going to come on here and point this obvious scenario out, not sure why everyone here is sleeping on Kingma’s swim, she could lead it if motivated. Any lady that swims in the front 5 of big ITU races can sit on anyones feet, even LCB.
And I do understand why some would sleep on her bike, it will be her transition from draft legal to a TT bike. But she has shown she has tremendous bike power in ITU, so I expect she will be quite competitive, and we just have to wait to see if it is from day 1, or it will take a few races…
As for Lionel, he will be in a great spot with so many men pros, certainly will not be swimming alone like Long does in the T100 series. This alone may be why he chose this series over the other, he should be able to get max draft in a decent pack. The rest is up to him on how to proceed, looking at his vids he should at least be very fresh on the start line. Blu of course should be the favorite, but that is the fun part about Oceanside, we get to see everyone for the first time after a long break…
I wish the photos on these articles included captions identifying the athletes. I recognize a few, but not all. Is there a technical impediment to adding captions?
Geelong pro series was just raced, i think there are some athletes backing up to race Oceanside. The swim was in the 21 minutes for front pack, bike sub 2hr and podiums runs were high 107,108, 109. Just an fyi of the level the series is bringing out. Winner was 70.3 world champ Geens.
and SC refugee (and Olympic medallist) Rider.
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