Originally published at: We Noticed: The Age Group Champions From Nice; Matthew Riccitello’s White Jersey Win at Vuelta; Boston Marathon Applications Update - Slowtwitch News
News from the scrapbook as we start setting our sights towards a certain race on an island next month…
IRONMAN Crowns 12 Age Group Champions in Nice
Nearly 2,500 male athletes took part in this year’s IRONMAN World Championship in Nice, France, across 12 different age groups. 2,270 of them wound up finishing this year’s race.
The overall age group champion, who was a full 20 minutes faster than the next best age group time, was France’s Quentin Amarat, racing in the M25-29 category. Amarat finished in a blistering time of 8:41:20, beating out American Cory Mayfield for the overall age group title.
For perspective, Amarat’s time would have been good enough for 33rd place in the professional field.
Mayfield would have to settle for taking the M30-34 division title.
Germany had the most age group champions, with three winners. The US was the only other country with multiple champions, with M40-44’s Andrew Hall joining Mayfield as champion.
The oldest division awarded at this year’s IRONMAN World Championships was the M75-79 age group. Italy’s Gian Marco Tironi earned the crown, finishing in an impressive 13:35:24. Tironi had to come from behind, as he was nearly 20 minutes down on the division leader coming out of the water. But thanks to a sub 7 hour bike split and sub 5 hour run, Tironi became the oldest winner at this year’s event.
The 2025 men’s age group champions are:
| Division | First Name | Last Name | Country | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| M18-24 | Danyil | Odynets | UKR (Ukraine) | 9:09:42 |
| M25-29 | Quentin | Amaral | FRA (France) | 8:41:20 |
| M30-34 | Cory | Mayfield | USA (United States) | 9:01:52 |
| M35-39 | Lars | Wichert | DEU (Germany) | 9:02:42 |
| M40-44 | Andrew | Hall | USA (United States) | 9:03:05 |
| M45-49 | Norman | Stüwe | DEU (Germany) | 9:28:14 |
| M50-54 | Olivier | Godart | ARE (United Arab Emirates) | 9:25:53 |
| M55-59 | Lennie | Lange Kristensen | DNK (Denmark) | 9:51:22 |
| M60-64 | Adrian | Santonastaso | CHE (Switzerland) | 10:32:24 |
| M65-69 | Neil | Hunter | GBR (Great Britain) | 11:26:25 |
| M70-74 | Johannes | Dietrich | DEU (Germany) | 12:47:02 |
| M75-79 | Gian | Marco Tironi | ITA (Italy) | 13:35:24 |
Matthew Riccitello Wins Vuelta White Jersey; Signs with Decathlon A2GR Through 2028
https://www.instagram.com/matthewriccitello/p/DOojBNXjAvE/
American Matthew Riccitello clinched the white jersey in the Vuelta a España over the weekend, emerging as a breakout GC prospect in the punishing mountains of Spain.
Riccitello, racing for Israel Premier-Tech, had held ground in the Young Rider classification throughout the Vuelta, which was plagued by multiple protests that forced organizers to shorten stages and not award stage victors. Heading into the penultimate stage of the race, Riccitello trailed long-time jersey holder Giulio Pellizzari by 58 seconds.
On the final climb of the race, Pellizzari was dropped by the GC group with just under 7 kilometers left to ride. Riccitello hung with the major contenders for much of the final climb: Jonas Vingegaard, João Almeida, Tom Pidcock, Jai Hindley, and Vingegaard’s teammate Sepp Kuss. Ultimately, Riccitello would finish sixth on the stage, 24 seconds behind stage winner (and overall champion) Vingegaard, but nearly 2.5 minutes in front of Pellizzari, clinching the white jersey.
Today, Riccitello announced that he would be signing with Decathlon A2GR for next year, on a contract that will take him through the 2028 season. Riccitello moves to the team as it looks to rebuild its GC ambitions behind Felix Gall and, perhaps, Riccitello.
Riccitello is the son of former professional triathlete and current IRONMAN Rules Guru Jimmy Riccitello.
2026 Boston Marathon Qualifying Update
The Boston Athletic Association today announced the closing of the 2026 application period for the race.
A total of 33,267 qualifier entry applications were received for the 130th Boston Marathon, to be run on Monday, April 20th, 2026. Over the next few weeks, the B.A.A. will whittle the application pool down to the fastest entries that they will accept — meaning that, even with faster qualifying times, once again there will be athletes who met the times who will be denied entry.
The current marathon qualifying standard times are as follows:
| Age Group | MEN | WOMEN | NON-BINARY |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18-34 | 2hrs 55min | 3hrs 25min | 3hrs 25min |
| 35-39 | 3hrs 00min | 3hrs 30min | 3hrs 30min |
| 40-44 | 3hrs 05min | 3hrs 35min | 3hrs 35min |
| 45-49 | 3hrs 15min | 3hrs 45min | 3hrs 45min |
| 50-54 | 3hrs 20min | 3hrs 50min | 3hrs 50min |
| 55-59 | 3hrs 30min | 4hrs 00min | 4hrs 00min |
| 60-64 | 3hrs 50min | 4hrs 20min | 4hrs 20min |
| 65-69 | 4hrs 05min | 4hrs 35min | 4hrs 35min |
| 70-74 | 4hrs 20min | 4hrs 50min | 4hrs 50min |
| 75-79 | 4hrs 35min | 5hrs 05min | 5hrs 05min |
| 80+ | 4hrs 50min | 5hrs 20min | 5hrs 20min |
For this year’s Boston Marathon, runners had to run 6:51 faster than their qualifying time in order to gain entry into the field.