Men’s Professional Field Revealed For 2024 VinFast  IRONMAN World Championship in Kailua-Kona, Hawai’i

October 9, 2024

- Four former IRONMAN World Champions to headline a stellar professional field, including defending IRONMAN World Champion Sam Laidlow (FRA), 2022 IRONMAN World Champion Gustav Iden (NOR), 2021 IRONMAN World Champion Kristian Blummenfelt (NOR) and 2017 and 2018 IRONMAN World Champion Patrick Lange (DEU) - Other challengers include 2023 VinFast IRONMAN World Championship Top Five finishers Magnus Ditlev (DNK), Rudy Von Berg (USA), and Léon Chevalier (FRA), in addition to top men’s IRONMAN Pro Series performers Matt Hanson (USA), Arnaud Guilloux (FRA), Jackson Laundry (CAN), and Bradley Weiss (ZAF) - The VinFast IRONMAN World Championship triathlon will offer a maximum of 6,000 IRONMAN Pro Series points for the winner and a total event pro prize purse of $375,000

KAILUA-KONA, Hawai`i (Oct. 9, 2024) /ENDURANCE SPORTSWIRE/ – An elite field of the world’s best professional male triathletes, including four former IRONMAN<sup>®</sup> World Champions, will assemble in Kona, Hawai`i for the men’s edition of the 2024 VinFast IRONMAN World Championship^® triathlon. On Saturday, October 26, both the professional and age-group men will contest for their respective IRONMAN World Championship titles on the much-revered Kona course.

“After a fantastic women’s race in Nice, France in September, we are looking forward to a great day of racing in Kailua-Kona, Hawai`i as the top male triathletes from around the world take center stage,” said Scott DeRue, CEO of The IRONMAN Group. “This year’s men’s professional race is shaping up to be a tremendous competition with multiple IRONMAN World Champions and many of the biggest names in the sport. As a true clash of the titans, we are expecting some unforgettable performances at the 2024 VinFast IRONMAN World Championship triathlon that will be fun for all to watch unfold.”

The iconic VinFast IRONMAN World Championship triathlon will bring together over 50 of the world’s top professional male triathletes to compete for the coveted title of IRONMAN World Champion, 6,000 IRONMAN Pro Series™ points, as well as a piece of the $375,000 professional prize purse, with the winner taking home $125,000. Live race day coverage of the men’s 2024 VinFast IRONMAN World Championship triathlon will be broadcast for free across multiple platforms for global viewers including proseries.ironman.com, DAZN, and YouTube, as well as Outside TV in the U.S. and Canada, L’Équipe in France, ZDF in Germany among others.

As the reigning IRONMAN World Champion, Sam Laidlow (FRA) will wear bib number one for the first time. Laidlow, who enjoyed a home victory in Nice, France last year, will return to the Island of Hawai`i after finishing second in 2022, when he secured the bike course best with a time of 4:04:36. Laidlow will be determined to ensure that history does not repeat itself again in Kona after he was overtaken in the latter stages of the race by Norway’s Gustav Iden, who stormed home to a maiden IRONMAN World Championship victory.

Iden, who is also a two-time IRONMAN^® 70.3^® World Champion (2019, 2021), has not raced a full-distance triathlon since his 2022 victory in Kona due to injury. After initially struggling to rediscover the form that saw him claim three world titles in four years, Iden has started to show signs over the past few months of the threat his competitors know he can pose, including a fourth-place finish at the IRONMAN 70.3 Warsaw triathlon, and a win and second across two other middle-distance races.

Fellow Norwegian and 2021 IRONMAN World Champion, Kristian Blummenfelt will also return to Kailua-Kona after finishing third in 2022. Despite dedicating his year to short-course triathlon in a quest for back-to-back Olympic Gold Medals, Blummenfelt showed he is truly a jack of all triathlon trades when he secured a runaway victory at the Mainova IRONMAN European Championship Frankfurt triathlon less than two weeks after the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

Patrick Lange (DEU) will be on the hunt for a third IRONMAN World Championship title. The German has finished on the podium four out of the six times he has raced triathlon’s pinnacle event and holds the IRONMAN World Championship run course best time of 2:32:41, which he set in Nice last year on his way to finishing second. Hoping to once again peak for the biggest race of the year, Lange has a solid season behind him already with victory at the Memorial Hermann IRONMAN North American Championship Texas, and he currently sits fourth in the IRONMAN Pro Series men’s standings.

The four IRONMAN World Champions will face fierce competition from multiple challengers hoping to secure the crown for themselves, including Magnus Ditlev (DNK), Rudy Von Berg (USA), and Léon Chevalier (FRA) who finished in the top five at last year’s VinFast IRONMAN World Championship triathlon in Nice. Matt Burton (AUS), the 2024 IRONMAN Asia-Pacific Champion, Rasmus Svenningson (SWE), the 2024 IRONMAN African Champion, and Lionel Sanders (CAN) and Trevor Foley (USA), who both boast an IRONMAN triathlon and two IRONMAN 70.3 triathlon victories this year will also provide strong threats to the packed field.

The inaugural IRONMAN Pro Series adds another layer of excitement and competition to the VinFast IRONMAN World Championship event this year. The men’s VinFast IRONMAN World Championship race in Kona offers a maximum of 6,000 points to the winner, 1,000 more points than the other full-distance IRONMAN triathlons in the series. Eight out of the top 10 professional athletes in the men’s standings, including everyone in the top five will also battle it out for series points and a piece of the end of year bonus prize money.

Matt Hanson (USA), who currently sits atop of the IRONMAN Pro Series standings thanks to his fast, consistent racing so far this season will line up once again in Kona. Since becoming a professional athlete in 2014, Hanson has been on the start line of six IRONMAN World Championship races, with his best position being a 13^th place finish in 2022.

Arnaud Guilloux (FRA), second in the IRONMAN Pro Series standings, has had a solid season so far, marked by two fourth place finishes at the Athletic Brewing IRONMAN Lake Placid triathlon and the Cairns Airport IRONMAN Asia-Pacific Championship Cairns triathlon. Guilloux’s top performance at the IRONMAN World Championship came last year when he finished 12th at the VinFast IRONMAN World Championship in Nice.

Jackson Laundry, the IRONMAN 70.3 triathlon specialist who currently sits behind Guilloux in third place in the standings, will be making his VinFast IRONMAN World Championship debut in a bid to boost his points further. Solid performances at the 2024 Athletic Brewing IRONMAN Lake Placid and IRONMAN Chattanooga triathlons suggest Laundry is ready to capitalize at full-distance racing.

Other athletes in the top 10 of the IRONMAN Pro Series standings looking to make a mark in Kona include Bradley Weiss (ZAF), Chris Leiferman (USA), Robert Kallin (SWE), and Matthew Marquardt (USA).

Beginning in the crystal-clear waters of Kailua Bay, athletes taking part in the 2024 VinFast IRONMAN World Championship triathlon will tackle the 2.4-mile (3.8km) ROKA swim course before heading out on the 112-mile (180.2km) FulGaz™ bike course, renowned for its historic long sustained climbs, strong crosswinds, and exposed terrain beauty with lava fields on one side and the ocean coastline on the other. The final leg of the race sees athletes take on the 26.2-mile (42.2km) HOKA run course, an out-and-back that takes athletes past the spirited crowds on Ali`i Drive, up Palani Road to the Queen Ka`ahumanu Highway which leads them to the long-awaited HOST Park at the National Energy Laboratory Hawai`i Authority (NELHA). Athletes will complete their journey to the roar of thousands of spectators as they cross the historic Ali`i Drive finish line. Further details of the course can be found here.

A full list of professional men’s field listed below*:

*Subject to change

“A Fighting Chance”

Follow the @ironmantri social channels for a behind the scenes view of what it takes to have a chance at world-title glory. The ‘A Fighting Chance’ IRONMAN series will drop two new pre-race episodes on October 22 and 24, giving audiences a glimpse of what it takes to prepare for race day, as well as the staging behind such an iconic event. Find live race-day coverage of the 2024 VinFast IRONMAN World Championship triathlon in Kona globally via proseries.ironman.com.

To submit an interest in receiving media credentials, fill in the World Championship Credentials Request form.

For more information about the 2024 VinFast IRONMAN World Championship men’s race in Kona, Hawai`i please visit www.ironman.com/im-world-championship-2024. 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 the IRONMAN World Championship

Since its inception in 1978 on the Island of O`ahu, the IRONMAN World Championship<sup>®</sup> triathlon has etched its name in history through stellar performances, inspirational participants and emotional memories. In 1981, the race moved from the tranquil shores of Waikīkī to the barren lava fields of Kona on the Island of Hawai`i. The most iconic one-day sporting event in the world is the culmination of 40 global IRONMAN events with over 94,000 athletes around the world striving for one of the coveted qualifying slots. The 2021 edition of the event took place in St. George, Utah in May 2022, becoming the first location to host the event outside of Hawai`i since its origins in 1978. After a two-year hiatus from Hawai`i due to COVID, the race returned to Kailua-Kona in 2022 and for the first time took place as a two-day event. The 2023 VinFast IRONMAN World Championship race continued with the two-day format but with two different host locations and dates (Nice, France in September and Kailua-Kona, Hawai`i in October), to allow for a dedicated world championship race for women and dedicated world championship race for men. The cumulative event hosted over 4,000 athletes embarking on a 140.6-mile journey that presents the ultimate test of body, mind, and spirit to earn the title of IRONMAN World Champion. In 2024, the women will rotate to Nice, France while the men return to Kailua-Kona, Hawai`i for their respective world championship host locations. For more information, visit www.ironman.com/im-world-championship.

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.