IRONMAN Pro Series Start Lists Announced for the 2024 IRONMAN 70.3 Western Australia Asia-Pacific Championship

November 14, 2024

– IRONMAN 70.3 Western Australia Asia-Pacific Championship triathlon is the penultimate stop of the 2024 IRONMAN Pro Series calendar, and will offer a total event pro prize purse of USD $75,000 and 2,500 series points

– Designated as the IRONMAN 70.3 Asia-Pacific Championship, the event will feature professional triathletes from 17 countries including five of the top 10 in the women’s IRONMAN Pro Series standings, and four of the top 10 in the men’s standings

• With vital IRONMAN Pro Series points on the line, the 2024 IRONMAN 70.3 Western Australia triathlon sees one of the most competitive fields in its 20-year history with an influx of some of the best professional triathletes from around the world
• Maja Stage Nielsen (DNK), Lotte Wilms (NLD), Daniela Bleymehl (DEU), Hannah Berry (NZL), and Els Visser (NLD) are among the favourites in the women’s race, while Gregory Barnaby (ITA), Kristian Høgenhaug (DNK), Robert Kallin (SWE), and Paul Schuster (DEU) are the top seeded men

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BUSSELTON, Australia / TAMPA, Fla., (14 November 2024) /ENDURANCE SPORTSWIRE/ – Nearly 80 of the top professional triathletes from around the world are preparing to line up in Busselton, Australia, for the penultimate race of the 2024 IRONMAN Pro Series™ at the IRONMAN 70.3^® Western Australia Asia-Pacific Championship triathlon on Sunday 1 December, marking one of the largest professional start lists in the event’s 20-year history.

The race signals the 18^th stop of the IRONMAN Pro Series and with just two races left on the calendar, points earned at the IRONMAN 70.3 Western Australia triathlon will be vitally important to athletes chasing top spots in the series. The performance-based triathlon competition has been contested throughout the year, with professional triathletes racing to earn points which accrue towards the title of IRONMAN Pro Series Champion, and in turn the lion’s share of a USD $1.7 million end-of-year bonus prize purse. IRONMAN 70.3 Western Australia race winners will earn 2,500 points towards the IRONMAN Pro Series standings, with every second an athlete finishes behind the race winner equating to a point earned or lost.

Highlighting its prestige in the region and on the global circuit, the event has been designated as the IRONMAN 70.3 Asia-Pacific Championship and will offer professional triathletes a total prize purse of USD $75,000 and four qualifying slots per gender to the 2025 VinFast IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in Marbella, Spain, on November 8-9.

With a stellar line up of professionals and a stunning coastal backdrop, the event can be witnessed live in person and will be broadcast across multiple platforms for viewers around the world for free including proseries.ironman.com, Outside TV, DAZN, iQIYI and L’Equipe in France, and YouTube among others.

In the women’s professional race, five out of the current top 10 in the IRONMAN Pro Series standings are set to line up in Busselton, and nine out of the top 20.

The highest ranked of those athletes is Maja Stage Nielsen (DNK), sitting at number three in the IRONMAN Pro Series after four top 10 placings. Having completed five out of five scoring races, Stage Nielsen can’t catch the two athletes above her in the standings – Jackie Hering (USA) and Kat Matthews (GBR) – but should her IRONMAN 70.3 Western Australia result improve on her lowest scoring IRONMAN 70.3 race, she could further cement her third place beyond the reach of those athletes below her.

The four women who sit below Stage Nielsen in the IRONMAN Pro Series who are also racing the IRONMAN 70.3 Western Australia triathlon are Lotte Wilms (NLD), Daniela Bleymehl (DEU), Hannah Berry (NZL), and Els Visser (NLD), sixth, seventh, eighth, and 10^th respectively. None of the four have completed their full complement of scoring races, so picking up significant points in Busselton will move them higher in the series with just one race to go.

Australia-based Dutch athlete Wilms has finished second, third and eighth in her three counting IRONMAN races so far and is yet to add any IRONMAN 70.3 scores. Having finished third the last two times she raced in Busselton at the IRONMAN^® Western Australia triathlon, Wilms will be hoping her familiarity of the course will once again result in a podium placing – this time over the middle distance.

Like Wilms, Berry only has three IRONMAN scores counting towards her overall IRONMAN Pro Series standing of eighth. Still to add two IRONMAN 70.3 scores, the 2024 IRONMAN Asia-Pacific Champion will need big results at both the IRONMAN 70.3 Western Australia triathlon and on home soil two weeks later at the 2024 VinFast IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship triathlon in Taupō. Berry is a six-time IRONMAN 70.3 champion.

German triathlete Bleymehl will be making the trip from Europe to Western Australia in the hopes of adding another IRONMAN 70.3 score to elevate her up the IRONMAN Pro Series standings, while Visser – currently in 10^th – can add a third IRONMAN 70.3 score to her total having only raced two full distance IRONMAN Pro Series events. Over the past two years, Western Australia has become a home away from home for Visser during the Southern Hemisphere summer, and the Busselton course is one where the Dutch athlete has enjoyed success having finished second at IRONMAN Western Australia in 2022 and fourth last December.

A further four athletes lining up for the women’s professional race in Busselton sit inside the IRONMAN Pro Series top 20, with Kylie Simpson (AUS), Penny Slater (AUS), Rebecca Clarke (NZL), and Giorgia Priarone (ITA) all hoping for a strong result to improve their position in the standings.

Meanwhile, middle distance specialists Grace Thek (AUS) and Anna Bergsten (SWE) might not be in the running for end-of-year IRONMAN Pro Series prize money but could have a big impact on the IRONMAN 70.3 Western Australia race. Thek finished second at the IRONMAN 70.3 Zell am See-Kaprun triathlon in September, while Bergsten finished second at the Qatar Airways IRONMAN 70.3 Melbourne triathlon last weekend.

The men’s professional race features four of the top 10 in the IRONMAN Pro Series standings. Gregory Barnaby (ITA), Kristian Høgenhaug (DNK), Robert Kallin (SWE), and Paul Schuster (DEU), who sit fifth, sixth, eighth, and ninth in the standings respectively, with just a couple of hundred points separating these athletes.

Barnaby, currently fifth in the standings, has performed consistently all season, including an impressive sixth place finish at the 2024 VinFast IRONMAN World Championship triathlon in Kona which saw him jump 10 places in the standings, as well as two other podium finishes. A win or a strong result for Barnaby in Busselton could shoot the Italian to the top of the IRONMAN Pro Series leaderboard and put him in very strong contention for the overall win.

Like Barnaby, Høgenhaug still has one IRONMAN 70.3 race to add to his overall score, and a strong result in Busselton could nudge him into the top three in the standings. Kallin and Schuster have both completed their full complement of IRONMAN Pro Series races so will be looking to swap out a lower scoring IRONMAN 70.3 with a strong result at IRONMAN 70.3 Western Australia.

The Busselton bike course is known for being flat and fast and with Høgenhaug and Kallin being two of the strongest riders in triathlon, they, along with Australian professional cyclist and triathlete Cameron Wurf, will likely have a huge part to play in the dynamics of the race and will aim to put a big gap between themselves and the strong runners as they head into T2.

Wurf and Western Australia duo Matt Burton and Nick Thompson will hope to put on a show in front of their home crowd. Wurf and Thompson sit 19^th and 20^th in the IRONMAN Pro Series, so will be out to add more points to their totals in Busselton.

Other athletes to keep an eye on the men’s race include Mathias Petersen (DNK), currently 11^th in the IRONMAN Pro Series standings, Olympians stepping up to middle distance racing in the shape of Jake Birtwhistle (AUS), already an IRONMAN 70.3 triathlon champion, and Jamie Riddle (ZAF), along with recent IRONMAN 70.3 champions Jarrod Osborne (AUS), Ben Hamilton (NZL), and Sam Osborne (NZL). American Marc Dubrick, known for his strong swim, will likely also feature.

World-renowned as one of the fastest and flattest courses on the circuit, the IRONMAN 70.3 Western Australia triathlon will see athletes take on a 1.9km ROKA swim course in beautiful waters of Geographe Bay and under the iconic Busselton Jetty, tackle a fast and flat one-lap 90km FulGaz bike course along the coastline and through the spectacular Tuart Forest, and finish their race with a two-lap, 21.1km HOKA run course along the Busselton Foreshore.

The completely sold-out event will feature both IRONMAN and IRONMAN 70.3 racing, with over 3,500 registered age-group participants competing in either the IRONMAN 70.3 Western Australia Asia-Pacific Championship triathlon or the IRONMAN Western Australia triathlon alongside the professionals, looking to earn age-group qualifying slots to the 2025 VinFast IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship triathlon on November 8-9 and the 2025 VinFast IRONMAN World Championship triathlons in Nice, France on September 14, and Kona, Hawai`i on October 11.

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

For more information on the IRONMAN Pro Series visit here.

For more information on the 2024 IRONMAN 70.3 Western Australia Asia-Pacific Championship triathlon visit http://www.ironman.com/im703-western-australia. To learn more about the IRONMAN and IRONMAN 70.3 brands and series of events, please visit www.ironman.com. Media inquiries may be directed to press@ironman.com.

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About IRONMAN Pro Series

The IRONMAN Pro Series™ is a year-long performance-based world series that will see professional triathletes earn points at 20 select races in 19 locations globally to vie for the title of IRONMAN Pro Series Champion and a share of the lucrative USD $1.7 million year-end bonus prize pool. Athletes will also continue to battle for each individual event’s prize money equating to over USD $2.5 million and coveted world championship qualifying slots. The IRONMAN Pro Series will consist of six full-distance IRONMAN^® triathlons and 10 half-distance IRONMAN^® 70.3^® triathlons in addition to the split location women’s and men’s VinFast IRONMAN World Championship^® triathlons and two-day women’s and men’s VinFast IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship triathlons. Open to approximately 1,000 eligible professional triathletes worldwide, the IRONMAN Pro Series will usher in a new era of IRONMAN racing where Every Second Matters with every second behind the race winner equating to a point earned or lost. Incorporating iconic distances, challenging courses, and stunning destinations, every IRONMAN Pro Series race will be broadcast live and free to a global audience. An additional 18 events throughout 2024 will also offer IRONMAN and IRONMAN 70.3 professional racing and world championship qualifying opportunities, as well as over USD $1.6 million in prize money to create a total 2024 professional prize purse of nearly USD $6 million. For more information, visit proseries.ironman.com.

About The IRONMAN Group

The IRONMAN Group operates a global portfolio of events that includes the IRONMAN^® Triathlon Series, the IRONMAN^® 70.3^® Triathlon Series, 5150™ Triathlon Series, the Rock ‘n’ Roll^® Running Series, IRONKIDS^®, World Triathlon Championship Series, premier running events including the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon™ and City2Surf^®, UTMB^® World Series trail-running events including the Canyons Endurance Runs™ by UTMB^®, Tarawera Ultra-Trail™ by UTMB^® and Ultra-Trail Australia™ by UTMB^®, Epic Series™ mountain bike races including the Absa Cape Epic^®, road cycling events, and other multisport races. The IRONMAN Group is the largest operator of mass participation sports in the world, providing participants the benefits of endurance sports through the company’s vast offerings. Catering to the full athlete experience, the company portfolio also includes FulGaz^® virtual cycling, the most realistic indoor riding experience connected fitness application aimed at preparing athletes for real-world events. Since the inception of the iconic IRONMAN^® brand and its first event in 1978, athletes have proven that ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE^® by crossing finish lines around the world. Beginning as a single race, The IRONMAN Group has grown to become a global sensation with hundreds of events across 55+ countries. The IRONMAN Group is owned by Advance, a private, family-owned business, and Orkila Capital, a growth equity firm focused on building great brands. For more information, visit www.ironman.com/about-ironman-group.

About Advance 

Advance is a private, family-held business that owns and invests in companies across media, entertainment, technology, communications, education and other promising growth sectors. Our mission is to build the value of our companies over the long-term by fostering growth and innovation. Advance’s portfolio includes Condé Nast, Advance Local, Stage Entertainment, The IRONMAN Group, American City Business Journals, Leaders Group, Turnitin, and Pop. Together these operating companies employ more than 14,000 people in 29 countries. Advance is also among the largest shareholders in Charter Communications, Warner Bros. Discovery and Reddit. For more information visit www.advance.com.