North American IRONMAN Pro Series Racing Kicks Off With a Bang in Oceanside

[Ajax_Bay]

@Diabolo

Women’s field not great, saved a bit by the middle distance start of Maya Kingma.

Dragging this chat across from the IM Pro Series 2025 thread

@Ajax_Bay

Please identify who the ‘leaders on the bike’ are. Lopes (who will gap Kingma in the water, btw)?
Yes, Findlay will be behind exiting T1 but she will ride up and through. Look at the 2023 race: Findlay pulled that group (Matthews, Sodaro, Jewett and an MPro) up to Holland. I see a similar pattern this year.

@sfjab

Lopes will be up front on the swim, as you’ve noted. Maybe Clutterbuck… strong swimmer and very good on the bike.

@Diabolo

@Ajax_Bay

Lopes (who will gap Kingma in the water, btw)

Lopes might lead the swim, but I’d be surprised if she gaps Maya as you say. I mean Kingma has been a regular front pack ITU swimmer.

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. ”

Chasing the Burn

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.