Laura madsen would be one she has shown she can race often and is young and upcoming and I guess fair to say she is the rookie of the year in middle distance.
I’m surprised now looking at the T100 standings: Laura raced 4 times as a wildcard athlete, being 9th, 17th, 12th and 14th, but finishing only 19th overall.
Also, she raced 10x this year. Out of which 4x is T100, 1x is IM 70.3 WC and 1x is Challenge Championship. She’s not hiding.
Being so young, she’s definitely one to watch.
A weird one, but maybe I’m reading the stats wrong
Jason West was ranked #1 run in 2023 and is #1 in 2024
His bike rank was in the 40s and now in the 30s…so “improved”.
His swim rank improved in 2024
So in each discipline he improved
But he is way down the ranking.
Most likely last year he was way ahead on the run like 3 minutes
This year I guess he had the fastest run about 2 twice and more like by seconds from memory only so you should check that .
At the same time I would not read too much into those rankings they are more a trend than an exact science ( before I get into trouble they more or less work but I would not take it as the gospel )
Anyway I hope he gets back next year as he was refreshing last year.
Spivey and Luis will be racing T100 as contracted athletes. We were in Girona recently and it wasn’t a secret. I assume it is subject to confirmation but that won’t be long now the first race isn’t that far away.
I have heard what GTB is doing next year but she arrives in Girona in about 10 days so I am sure it will become common knowledge.
1 Like
Cross posting a bit of my comment from the ‘What should Sam do’ thread
Besides Long, other athletes who are ‘full capable’ are not signing and several ‘full capable’ who are shoe ins for the other 10 are not. @SamYoYoYo1 will by no means be alone if they choose the IM Pro Series route.
Any athlete wishing to race (podium) the IM World Champs will struggle to do T100. Ditlev managed it last year. RvB struggled. I expect neither to race T100 (even though both will be offered contracts). Didn’t Laidlow say in Dubai he wasn’t likely to either. Both the Norges have said they are taking the IM Pro Series option.
If Findlay follows up her “I want to race an IMWC in 2025” Taupo chat then I can’t see her racing T100 as well as racing a debut IM to qualify and then IMWC (Kona). Knibb? Not sure. Philipp: doesn’t have to validate. LCB: does. Haug: won’t race T100. Matthews: in the balance but wants to win Kona (so maybe IM Pro Series again: can’t imagine her racing both)
If IM WC are in Nice for the men I can see Laidlow missing quite a few T100 as it will be his best and last chance to be WC on that course.
Why will the 2025 Ironman World Championships be the last one the men race in Nice?
Have you heard a different venue for 2027?
I expect Laidlow to miss ALL the T100 races next year: or maybe he’ll get a wildcard for London.
It’s been heavily implied on multiple podcasts that Nice was a money loser this year with the women, and that while it should make money with the men next year, they won’t go back for the women.
So they either end up back in Kona or they need to figure out another location that’s profitable for both men and women.
Madsen has just been named in the BMC Pro Tri team for 2025.
Fellow BMC Pro Tri teammate Byram both joined the team for 2024 and got a T100 hot shot contract and exceeded all expectations in the T100 Tour.
I can see Madsen (PTO Rank = #21) who’s only 22 so on an upward trajectory mirroring Byram’s success next year. She have to go some to do as well as Byram, mind.
BMC text: “Laura Madsen had a real breakthrough year in 2024, winning IM70.3 Valencia, IM70.3 Les Sables d’Olonne-Vendee, Challenge Samarkand 2024 and finishing 2nd at The Championship in Samorin.”
Madsen got three T100 wildcards this year and was #12 in Taupo.
PTO, to their credit, announced who has signed on time:
Women’s:
- Taylor Knibb (USA)
- Ashleigh Gentle (AUS)
- Julie Derron (SUI)
- Flora Duffy (BER)
- Lucy Byram (GBR)
- India Lee (GBR)
- Imogen Simmonds (SUI)
- Paula Findlay (CAN)
Men’s:
- Marten Van Riel (BEL)
- Kyle Smith (NZL)
- Rico Bogen (GER)
- Sam Long (USA)
- Mathis Magirier (FRA)
- Pieter Heemeryck (BEL)
- Youri Keulen (NED)
- Fred Funk (GER)
As I think you correctly speculated, Ditlev declined. As did Matthews and Philipp. And obviously Brownlee drops out of the running with his retirement.
Of them, I would suspect Knibb, Findlay, Long, and Funk to be looking at the “fit in races to qualify for at least IMWC, if not also 70.3 WC” schedule. I don’t think people will double dip nearly as much as Matthews did this year.
4 Likes
I would add van Riel to the list. He’s planning to take another shot at an IM WC Nice slot.
Women’s side looks exciting already, just hope some of the women are able to make a step up and challenge Knibb more than this year. Additions should be really interesting with the likes of Pohle and Madsen.
The men’s side needs a little bit of work but I suspect will look a lot more interesting if they manage to pull in Luis, Wilde, Geens, Bergere.
Wow!
And contrary to my speculation that this would not be announced straight away but bled out a few at a time. I guess that’s naive in the modern SM era.
You were right @marcag : I was wrong.
In the next tranche, Pohle and Madsen for sure, to whom I’d add EPB, Spivey and maybe Salthouse.
Geens is assured, as is Nieschlag. I guess Mann too. But ‘they’ are struggling after that so several will be pulled in on performance (not as a hot shot), for example: Wilde, Bergere. Gutted for Stornes going down with the lurgy pre-Taupo.
2 Likes
Good to see the underground reporting !
Hoping to see Learmonth and Jonny Brownlee added.
Magnus & RvB performed well in Kona, as did Leon, Menno, Cam and others. This is because they’re really good long distance triathletes. But not all of them are also very good middle-distance triathletes: e.g. RvB, Leon and Cam clearly aren’t among the absolute best. It doesn’t have much to do with being part of T100 or not.
I agree to the rest.
Thanks for the list, this is good information.
Your comment on Funk is inaccurate, but I don’t blame you - he shares more in a German-speaking podcast. He won’t do IMWC yet, earliest 2026. If anything, he might do his first long distance in Challenge Roth.
So are all of these top 8 contracts the same or do you think they had to give Knibb more guaranteed money to get her to sign?