NewsTriathlon

Defending champions return as pro start lists revealed for 2024 IM 70.3 World Championship

2023 VinFast IRONMAN 70.3 World Champions return to the start line with Taylor Knibb (USA) going for a hattrick of titles and Rico Bogen (DEU) aiming for back-to-back victories

A deep and talented field of more than 110 female and male professional triathletes will line up in Taupō, New Zealand next month to contest for the 2024 VinFast IRONMAN® 70.3® World Championship title. The women will race on Saturday 14 December and the men a day later on Sunday 15 December, with a total professional prize purse of $500,000 USD up for grabs. Over 6,000 age-group athletes will join the professionals as they look to be crowned world champion in their respective age-group divisions.

The professional races in Taupō are set to sizzle as returning champions go head-to-head with Olympic medallists and middle-distance specialists for the coveted title of IRONMAN 70.3 World Champion, with the winner taking home $75,000 USD. Live race day coverage of the 2024 VinFast IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship triathlon will be broadcast for free across multiple platforms for global viewers including proseries.ironman.comDAZNYouTubeOutside TV exclusively for the U.S. and Canada, L’Équipe Live in France, iQIYI in China and beIN Sports for the Middle East, North Africa and Asia-Pacific regions, amongst others.

The VinFast IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship triathlon is also the culmination of the inaugural IRONMAN Pro Series™ and the last chance for professional athletes to score points towards their final standings, with a maximum of 3,000 points on offer to the winners in Taupō. At the conclusion of both professional races in Taupō, the first-ever IRONMAN Pro Series Champions will be crowned, with the female and male winners earning a historic bonus payout of $200,000 USD each. A total bonus prize pool of $1.7million USD will also be shared among those finishing in the IRONMAN Pro Series top 20.

Women’s Professional Race

Two-time IRONMAN 70.3 World Champion Taylor Knibb (USA) will line up in Taupō as the hot favourite to earn a hattrick of titles. Arguably one of the best triathletes in the world right now, Knibb is unbeaten in every middle-distance race she lined up for in 2024. The American will race her fourth IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship triathlon, with two wins and a third place already to her name.

Kat Matthews (GBR) and Imogen Simmonds (CHE) joined Knibb on the 2023 podium and will both be on the start line in Taupō hoping to go at least one better than last year. Matthews has had an incredibly successful year of racing, highlighted by finishing as runner-up at the VinFast IRONMAN World Championship® triathlon in Nice, France in September. Matthews currently sits second in the IRONMAN Pro Series standings and needs to overturn a 257-point deficit to leader Jackie Hering (USA). Hering has completed her full complement of IRONMAN Pro Series races so can only swap out a lower scoring race, while Matthews still has one IRONMAN 70.3 score to add to her total, meaning the British athlete will put it all on the line in Taupō in pursuit of two titles and potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars. Simmonds meanwhile has had a year of mixed results but having finished third twice at the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship, she is never one to count out on the biggest stage.

2024 Olympic silver medallist Julie Derron (CHE) has completed three IRONMAN 70.3 triathlons, finishing on the podium each time including victory at the IRONMAN 70.3 Switzerland Rapperswil-Jona triathlon this year. Derron will be one to watch in Taupō and will look to follow in the footsteps of her recently retired compatriot Daniela Ryf, a five-time IRONMAN 70.3 World Champion.

Australian duo Ashleigh Gentle and Ellie Salthouse and Canada’s Paula Findlay are three of the best middle-distance specialists in the world and will provide fierce competition to the likes of Knibb, Matthews, Simmonds and Derron. Gentle is a four-time IRONMAN 70.3 champion and two-time Olympian, while Salthouse is an 18-time IRONMAN 70.3 champion with victories in 2024 including the IRONMAN 70.3 Boulder triathlon and the IRONMAN 70.3 Melbourne triathlon. Like Salthouse in Boulder, Findlay has also won IRONMAN Pro Series races, her two victories coming at the Intermountain Health IRONMAN 70.3 North American Championship St. George triathlon and the IRONMAN 70.3 Mont-Tremblant triathlon. Findlay has also tasted success at the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship race, finishing as runner-up in 2022.

With the VinFast IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship triathlon serving as the last opportunity to score points in the IRONMAN Pro Series, eight out of the top 10 women, including all of the top six in the series standings will line up in Taupō. Hering, Maja Stage Nielsen (DNK), Danielle Lewis (USA), and Alice Alberts (USA), who sit first, third, fourth, and fifth respectively in the standings, have all completed their full complement of IRONMAN Pro Series races and will be therefore hoping to swap out their lowest score for a higher one earned in Taupō. Meanwhile, Lotte Wilms (NLD) and home-favourite Hannah Berry (NZL), sixth and eighth respectively, still have two IRONMAN 70.3 scores apiece to add to their overall totals, meaning strong scores at this weekend’s IRONMAN 70.3 Western Australia Asia-Pacific Championship triathlon, and then again Taupō are vital if they are to elevate to podium positions in the end-of-year IRONMAN Pro Series standings.

Men’s Professional Race

Defending champion Rico Bogen (DEU) will line up for his second VinFast IRONMAN World Championship triathlon in just his third year as a professional triathlete. Bogen won the prestigious title on debut last year as a 23-year-old and will be hoping to make it back-to-back victories in Taupō.

Two of Bogen’s closest challengers will likely come in the shape of Taupō-born Hayden Wilde (NZL), the 2024 Olympic silver and 2020 Olympic bronze medallist, and Léo Bergère (FRA), the 2024 Olympic bronze medallist. Both men are relatively new to IRONMAN 70.3 racing yet have already achieved incredible successes, with Wilde securing a runaway victory at the IRONMAN 70.3 Melbourne triathlon last year, rubber-stamping his ticket to the 2024 VinFast IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship triathlon in his homeland. Wilde is also no stranger to racing in Taupō after finishing third at the IRONMAN 70.3 Taupō triathlon in 2019. Bergère, who has won every IRONMAN 70.3 triathlon he started, will be hoping to continue his winning streak and get revenge on his Kiwi rival who pipped him to the post at the Paris Olympic Games. Fellow Paris 2024 Olympic Games representative Jelle Geens (BEL) will also be one to watch in the men’s race.

Those supporting from the sidelines in Taupō will have two local heroes to cheer for, with Kyle Smith (NZL), who, like Wilde, was also born in the host town of the 2024 VinFast IRONMAN World Championship triathlon. Smith knows what it takes to win in Taupō, having claimed the 2023 and 2019 IRONMAN 70.3 Taupō titles.

Four out of the top 10 in the men’s IRONMAN Pro Series standings will be racing in Taupō. Matt Hanson (USA) currently sits in second place but having completed his full complement of scoring races can only add a maximum of 691 points in Taupō and needs 770 to overturn series leader Patrick Lange (DEU). The German concluded his highly successful season of racing at the VinFast IRONMAN World Championship triathlon in Kona, Hawai`i where he claimed his third world title. Matthew Marquardt (USA), Gregory Barnaby (ITA), and Kristian Høgenhaug (DNK), fourth, fifth, and sixth in the standings respectively, all still have one IRONMAN 70.3 score to add to their totals, with Barnaby and Høgenhaug also opting to race IRONMAN 70.3 Western Australia to bolster their chances of being crowned the inaugural IRONMAN Pro Series champion.

Other top contenders in the VinFast IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship men’s race are 2023 top finishers Mathis Margirier (FRA) and Youri Keulen (NLD). Margirier finished fourth in Lahti last year, while Keulen finished sixth.

Below are the professional start lists (subject to change):

FEMALE PRO FIELD
Bib Number First Name Last Name Country
1 Taylor Knibb USA
2 Kat Matthews GBR
3 Imogen Simmonds CHE
4 Paula Findlay CAN
5 Anne Reischmann DEU
6 Ashleigh Gentle AUS
7 Ellie Salthouse AUS
9 Julie Derron CHE
10 Jackie Hering USA
11 Maja Stage Nielsen DNK
12 Danielle Lewis USA
14 Alice Alberts USA
15 Lotte Wilms NLD
16 Hannah Berry NZL
17 Els Visser NLD
18 Caroline Pohle DEU
19 Solveig Lovseth NOR
20 Laura Madsen DNK
21 Elizabeth Bravo ECU
22 Giorgia Priarone ITA
23 Marlene De Boer NLD
24 Daniela Kleiser DEU
25 Marta Sanchez ESP
26 Rebecca Clarke NZL
27 Sara Perez Sala ESP
28 Diede Diederiks NLD
29 Tamara Jewett CAN
30 Valerie Barthelemy BEL
31 Lucy Buckingham GBR
32 Fiona Moriarty IRL
33 Hannah Knighton NZL
34 Hanne De Vet BEL
35 Cecilia Perez MEX
38 Grace Thek AUS
39 Julie Iemmolo FRA
40 Nikki Bartlett GBR
42 Kaidi Kivioja EST
43 Sif Bendix Madsen DNK
44 Luisa Iogna Prat ITA
45 Marta Lagownik POL
46 Grace Alexander USA
47 Jodie Stimpson GBR
48 Lizzie Rayner GBR
49 Lisa Becharas USA
50 Gabrielle Lumkes USA
51 Anna Bergsten SWE
52 Lena Meißner DEU
53 Emilie Morier FRA
54 Kristen Marchant CAN
55 Barbara Riveros CHL
56 Amy Cymerman USA
59 Caroline Shannon USA
60 Franziska Hofmann DEU
61 Eloise Du Luart FRA
62 Ana Maria Torres ECU

 

MALE PRO FIELD
Bib Number First Name Last Name Country
1 Rico Bogen DEU
3 Mathis Margirier FRA
4 Keulen Youri NLD
5 Marc Dubrick USA
6 Amberger Josh AUS
8 Hayden Wilde NZL
9 Leo Bergere FRA
11 Matt Hanson USA
12 Matthew Marquardt USA
14 Gregory Barnaby ITA
15 Kristian Hogenhaug DNK
16 Kyle Smith NZL
18 Casper Stornes NOR
19 Braden Currie NZL
20 Jason West USA
21 Ruben Zepuntke DEU
23 Anthony Costes FRA
24 Jelle Geens BEL
25 Mitch Kibby AUS
26 Ari Klau USA
27 Nick Thompson AUS
28 Caleb Noble AUS
29 Sam Osborne NZL
30 Harry Palmer GBR
31 Federico Scarabino URY
32 Henri Schoeman ZAF
33 Armando Matute ECU
34 Wilhelm Hirsch DEU
35 Colin Szuch USA
36 Kacper Stepniak POL
38 Mike Phillips NZL
39 Strahinja Trakic SRB
41 Ben Hamilton NZL
42 Thomas Davis GBR
43 Hunter Lussi USA
44 Eduardo Perez Sandi MEX
45 Justus Nieschlag DEU
46 Max Stapley GBR
47 Jack Moody NZL
48 Thomas Bishop GBR
49 Nicholas Quenet ZAF
50 Kurt McDonald AUS
52 Johannes Vogel DEU
53 Michael Arishita USA
54 Jannik Schaufler DEU
55 Gregory Harper USA
56 Dieter Comhair BEL
58 Joao Ferreira PRT
59 Calvin Amos AUS
60 Nicholas Free AUS
61 Marty Andrie USA
62 Martin Ulloa CHL
63 Christoph Mattner DEU
64 Matthew Ralphs ZAF

For more information about the 2024 VinFast IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship event, please visit www.ironman.com/im703-world-championship.To learn more about the IRONMAN and IRONMAN 70.3 brands and series of events, please visit www.ironman.com.

 

 

Show More

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to top button