Originally published at: The IRONMAN Pro Series Kicks Off This Weekend. What Can We Learn From the Start Lists of the First Two Races? - Slowtwitch News
The IRONMAN Pro Series kicks off this weekend with IRONMAN 70.3 Geelong (Mar. 23), then heads to South Africa for the IRONMAN South Africa African Championship (try saying that five times in a hurry) on Mar. 30. As you can see from the list of races below, the Pro Series begins with three races on three different continents over the first three weeks, with IRONMAN 70.3 Oceanside starting things off in North America on April. 5. (The entry list for that race isnāt available yet, so weāll start with the first two.)
| 2025 IRONMAN Pro Series Schedule | |||
| Date | Event | Location | Points |
| Mar. 23 | IRONMAN 70.3 Geelong | Geelong, Victoria, Australia | 2,500 |
| Mar. 30 | ISUZU IRONMAN South Africa African Championship | Nelson Mandela Bay, Port Elizabeth, South Africa | 5,000 |
| Apr. 5 | Athletic Brewing IRONMAN 70.3 Oceanside | Oceanside, California, USA | 2,500 |
| Apr. 26 | Memorial Hermann IRONMAN Texas North American Championship | The Woodlands, Texas, USA | 5,000 |
| May 4 | IRONMAN 70.3 Venice-Jesolo | Jesolo, Venice, Italy | 2,500 |
| May 10 | Intermountain Health IRONMAN 70.3 St. George North American Championship | St. George, Utah, USA | 2,500 |
| May 18 | IRONMAN 70.3 Aix-en-Provence | Aix-en-Provence, France | 2,500 |
| Jun. 1 | IRONMAN Hamburg European Championship (F Pro) | Hamburg, Germany | 5,000 |
| Jun. 8 | IRONMAN 70.3 Eagleman | Cambridge, Maryland, USA | 2,500 |
| Jun. 15 | Cairns Airport IRONMAN Cairns | Cairns, Queensland, Australia | 5,000 |
| Jun. 29 | Mainova IRONMAN Frankfurt European Championship (M Pro) | Frankfurt, Germany | 5,000 |
| Jul. 13 | IRONMAN 70.3 Swansea | Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom | 2,500 |
| Jul. 20 | Athletic Brewing IRONMAN Lake Placid | Lake Placid, New York, USA | 5,000 |
| Aug. 31 | IRONMAN 70.3 Zell am See-Kaprun | Zell am See, Austria | 2,500 |
| Sept. 14 | IRONMAN World Championship ā Menās Race | Nice, France | 6,000 |
| Oct. 11 | IRONMAN World Championship ā Womenās Race | Kona, Hawai`i, USA | 6,000 |
| Nov. 8-9 | IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship | Marbella, Spain | 3,000 |
Considering the Pro Series runs through to Nov. 8/9 with the IRONMAN 70.3 Championship in Marbella, Spain, thereās lots of time for athletes to build into the season, so these first two races certainly wonāt make or break an athletes chances of taking the overall title. So what can we glean from the start lists?
Oceania-based Athletes Chance to Shine in Geelong
The Victoria state government and the City of Greater Geelong are supporting (read, picking up the tab) to add 70.3 Geelong to the Pro Series. Thatās great news for athletes from Australia and New Zealand, who are used to having to travel to Europe or North America to compete at major, broadcasted events. Headlining the field (click here to see the full pro list) is IRONMAN 70.3 world champion Jelle Geens ā the Belgian is now living in Australia.
āIām very excited to start the year again and start at home in Australia,ā Geens told the folks at IRONMAN. āIāve never actually been outside of driving distance of here on the Gold Coast, so it will be cool to get to go to Melbourne and arrive there and then head to Geelong.ā
āIām eager to start the season and see where Iām at,ā Geens continued. āI feel like Iām in a good place, but it will be good to see where Iām at in an actual race and how I stack up against some of the best guys in the world. Iām also excited to see also how Matt Hauser is doing, heās super good at short course and making the step up for this race in Geelong so it will be exciting to see how he will compete and I just love racing, love competing against all these guys and try to win the race, thatās my goal. I come in with a mark on my back winning the TaupÅ race, but in the end not much has changed, I still just want to enjoy racing and try to win the race of course.ā
With T100 Singapore two weeks after the Geelong race, it makes sense that Geens, who has signed a T100 contract with the Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO) will head to Singapore after the race in Geelong. The same goes for Aussie Grace Thek and New Zealandās Hannah Berry, who headline the womenās field in Geelong and have also signed T100 contracts.
Geens is right to pick out two-time Australian Olympian Matt Hauser as one to watch. Hauser was seventh in Paris last year and the runner-up at the WTCS Grand Final. He appears to have heaps of potential over the 70.3 distance. Another Aussie Olympian (Tokyo), Jake Birtwhistle, will look to continue his long-distance career after his win at 70.3 Tasmania in 2023, along with a runner-up finish at 70.3 Melbourne and fifth at IRONMAN 70.3 Western Australia last year. On the womenās side, Hauserās Paris teammate Natalie Van Coevorden continues her move to middle-distance racing (she finished fourth at 70.3 Sunshine Coast and Bahrain last year, and took the win at the Husky Ultimate half-distance race in February) and is another athlete to watch for. Ditto for another Aussie WTCS racer, Charlotte McShane.
Berry finished fourth in the PRO Series last year is really the only one of the T100-contracted athletes racing in Geelong with a lot of IRONMAN racing under her belt. (Geens has only raced a few 70.3s and Thek will be making her long-distance debut in Roth in July.) So, of those three, Berry would be the only one that might be in the hunt for Pro Series points, but more likely sheāll be looking to nail her spot for the 70.3 worlds in Marbella in November.
IRONMAN Pro Series Focussed
There are two men in the field in Geelong who will definitely have their eyes on top finishes in the Pro Series this year ā New Zealandās Braden Currie and Australian super-cyclist/ pro triathlete Cameron Wurf. Currie couldnāt buy a break last year and still managed ninth in the pro series, while Wurf is reportedly planning to compete in every single pro series event this year. (OK, not quite every race ā IRONMAN Hamburg is a womenās-only race.)
Stepping Up in South Africa
The IRONMAN Pro Series goal appears to be on the minds of many of the folks signed up for IRONMAN South Africa. Itās hard to imagine how defending champion, Spainās Marta Sanchez, only finished 19th in the Pro Series last year. In addition to her win in Nelson Mandela Bay, she won IRONMAN Barcelona, IRONMAN 70.3 Pucon, IRONMAN 70.3 Western Australia and finished sixth at the IRONMAN World Championship in Nice. Unfortunately, though, she didnāt get any points for the win in Barcelona as it wasnāt part of the Pro Series.
Denmarkās Maja Stage Nielsen didnāt feel like she had a great season in 2024 (the highlight was her runner-up finish in Hamburg), but still managed fifth in the Pro Series standings. While Stage Nielsen is known as a consistent competitor who can race a lot, her challenge in 2025 will be that sheās racing at IRONMAN Lanzarote in May, which isnāt part of the Pro Series, which means sheāll have to compete at four full-distance IRONMAN races this year to really compete for a top-finish in the standings.
Another woman with tons of potential for a top-finish in the Pro Series is Els Visser, who likely would have finished higher than seventh in the final standings had she not been forced out of the world championship in Nice due to a stress fracture. Visser has signed a T100 contract, though, so it will be interesting to see how she juggles the T100 and IRONMAN racing ā she is registered to compete in Singapore the week after the race in South Africa. She might just be looking at South Africa as a way to nail her Kona slot, but a solid start in South Africa would possibly put her on a āKat Matthews go after bothā trajectory. Visser is renowned for being able to race a lot, and consistently, so itās certainly a possibility.
You can add three-time IRONMAN champion Ruth Astle to the list of possible IRONMAN Pro Series top finishers. The Brit is hopefully well past her injury issues from the last few years and ready to go after another top IRONMAN finish. You can add IRONMAN Cozumel winner, Germanyās Anne Reischmann, to that list, too.
The win in South Africa became a lot more wide open with the news that Anne Haug was forced to pull out of the race with health issues. The German was hoping to get her Kona slot taken care of in South Africa ā weāll have to wait and see how her season plays out. (Last year Haug wasnāt planning on entering Challenge Roth, but thanks to early-season health issues ended up jumping into the race and setting a world best.)
Getting the Nice Slot
He might be the defending T100 world champion, but after a crash waylaid his chances at a top finish at IRONMAN Cozumel last year, Marten Van Riel (above) finds himself still in the hunt for a spot in Nice in September. Heās also registered for T100 Singapore the following week, so it will be interesting to see just how he approaches his second full-distance race.
As we reported from Lanzarote earlier this month, Denmarkās Magnus Ditlev is āall-inā for Nice this year, to the point that he is skipping Challenge Roth (heās won there the last three years), but isnāt adverse to seeing how well he would fare on the IRONMAN Pro Series, either. Ditlev will arrive in South Africa as the pre-race favorite, even though defending champion Rasmus Svenningsson (SWE) is back. Like Ditlev, Franceās Leon Chevalier did a bunch of T100 races last year, but hasnāt signed a contract in 2025, so look for the fifth- and fourth-place finisher from the IRONMAN World Championship over the last couple of years to 1) be gunning after a big finish in Nice and, 2) be happy to explore the Pro Series potential.
American Matt Hanson finished fifth in the Pro Series last year and spent much of the year in the mix for the overall win. He did four full-distance IRONMAN races last year, a sign of his bodyās ability to endure that much racing. A top finish in South Africa followed by another big day in Texas (heās won there three times) would put him in an excellent position to move up a few spots in the standings this year.
And, we already noted that Cameron Wurf is planning on competing at all the Pro Series races, so expect him to be stirring things up on the bike in Nelson Mandela Bay, where he finished third last year. IRONMAN New Zealand champ Mike Phillips (NZL) told us after his win in Taupo that heād be heading to South Africa if his legs felt recovered enough. Unfortunately for Phillips the Taupo win wonāt count towards the Pro Series, so heāll need another big day in South Africa to get into the mix on that front.
You can see the full start list for IRONMAN South Africa here.
Early Going
While weāre in for some great racing in Australia and South Africa, there are lots of big names who will no-doubt be contenders for the IRONMAN Pro Series titles who wonāt be at either race. Both venues are a long haul for North Americans, and even South Africa requires a full day of travel for Europeans. Even though each race features decent-sized and competitive fields, weāll only see things ramp up as the season progresses.
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