Nicolas Mann (DEU) and Laura Madsen (DNK) Take the Win at the 2024 IRONMAN 70.3 Les Sables d’Olonne-Vendée Triathlon

June 29, 2024

- Mann claims his second IRONMAN Pro Series victory, and Laura Madsen continues her winning streak with her second victory of the year - Mann and Madsen both secure the maximum 2,500 points and go home with $7,500

– Mann claims his second IRONMAN Pro Series victory, and Laura Madsen continues her winning streak with her second victory of the year

– Mann and Madsen both secure the maximum 2,500 points and go home with $7,500

LES SABLES D’OLONNE, France. (June 29 2024) /ENDURANCE SPORTSWIRE/ The seaside town of Les Sables d’Olonne today played host to the tenth stop of the IRONMAN Pro Series™ with IRONMAN^® 70.3^® Les Sables d’Olonne-Vendée triathlon. Aged just 24 and 21 respectively, the race saw Nicolas Mann (DEU) and Laura Madsen (DNK) claim victories, as well as 2,500 IRONMAN Pro Series points and $7,500 in prize money. Mann earned his second IRONMAN Pro Series victory after winning IRONMAN 70.3 Alcúdia -Mallorca back in May, and Laura Madsen also continued her winning streak after taking the tape at IRONMAN 70.3 Valencia in April.

The race, which took place a day earlier due to snap French elections scheduled for Sunday June 30, featured some rainy conditions on the bike and run, but that didn’t stop course best times being set in both the men and women’s professional fields. Nicolas Mann broke Pierre Le Corre’s (FRA) time of 03:41:05, set in 2022, by nearly two minutes, and Laura Madsen demolished Marta Bernard’s (ITA) course best, also set in 2022, by over 6 minutes. Each held off a strong chase pack which saw the top three finishers come in within approximately one minute of the leader.

Nicolas Mann said: “To be honest, I’m a bit lost for words. I still can’t believe what I did and I’m just really happy about it. It was so hard in the end, and maybe I celebrated a bit too early because I almost cramped in my legs, but I somehow made it to the finish line.”

When asked what’s next he added: “To be honest, I am doing a little off season now because the season is so long until [VinFast IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship] Taupō, and so I’ll have a few days without sport and then I will try and get some decent training in, and I hope to start at [IRONMAN 70.3] Zell-am-See.”

Laura Madsen commented: “I immediately felt super great when I came onto the run, which doesn’t happen all the time. I was able to keep the pace up all the way to the finish… I could hear her [Nikki Bartlett’s] footsteps all the way… but then when we had the turnaround out on the last lap, I really tried to set the pace a bit harder, and suddenly I couldn’t hear her footsteps anymore and then I just looked in front and counted 1,2,1,2 to the end”.

When asked if she will race the full IRONMAN Les Sables d’Olonne-Vendée next year, she said “That could be nice, maybe actually! I definitely like the place here, so maybe you’ll see me there.”

Top Five Male Professional Results

Top Five Female Professional Results

The 2024 IRONMAN 70.3 Les Sables d’Olonne-Vendée triathlon saw approximately 70 of the world’s top professional triathletes compete for a piece of the USD $50,000 total event pro prize purse, and IRONMAN Pro Series points, as well as the final three slots per gender to the 2024 VinFast IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in Taupō, New Zealand on December 14 and 15.

News and Notes

• The day started with some very fast swims thanks to an advantageous current, with new course bests being recorded by South African, Nicholas Quenet (20:02) and Brazilian, Pamella Oliveira (22.04).
• Nicolas Mann (DEU) had the fastest bike of the day with a time of 2:03:02, narrowly missing the bike course best of 2:02:51, which was set by French age-grouper Aurélien Le Lay in 2022.
• Mann also took the fastest run of the day, with a time of 1:11:12.
• Despite the rainy conditions, the top 12 female professionals all broke the standing bike course best of 02:21:45 (held jointly by Emilie Morier, 2023, and Eloise Du Luart. 2022), with Maja Stage Nielsen (DNK) having the fastest female professional bike split of the day in 2:17:11.
• Seven women also broke the course best of 4:122:4, set by Marta Bernardi (ITA) in 2022, with Laura Madsen’s winning time of 4:05:51 marking a brand-new course best.
• In her first race back in over 9 months, Nikki Bartlett clocked the fastest run of the day with a 1:19:28 half marathon to take second place
• 2022 IRONMAN World Champion Gustav Iden (NOR) continued his work towards a return to form, finishing the race in 13th place, 6:18 behind first. This race, along with his finish at IRONMAN 70.3 Warsaw a few weeks ago, officially validates his start at the 2024 VinFast IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in Taupō.
• 2023 IRONMAN 70.3 World Champion, Rico Bogen, also validated his start in Taupō.
• Fan favourite, Cam Wurf (AUS) took to the start line for his first IRONMAN Pro Series appearance, finishing 18th overall.
• Maja Stage Nielsen (DEN) climbs six places to the top of the IRONMAN Pro Series standings after coming 7th and Julie Iemmolo enters the top 10 following a 14th place position in today’s race
• With a 10th place finish in today’s race, Paul Schuster (DEU) climbs eight places in the standings, putting him in fourth place, and currently the highest European. Clement Mignon also climbed 18 places, squeezing into the top 10 at eighth place
• Of the top 10 in the men’s and women’s professional field, Germany had the most athletes with seven, followed by France and the UK, both with three.

Full results for the IRONMAN 70.3 Les Sables d’Olonne-Vendée triathlon can be found at ironman.com/im703-les-sables-dolonne-results. For additional event information, please visit ironman.com/im703-les-sables-dolonne.

IRONMAN Pro Series Standings

The IRONMAN Pro Series™ is a year-long performance-based triathlon race series with professional triathletes being able to earn points at 20 select races in 19 locations globally. Open to approximately 1,000 eligible professional triathletes worldwide, the IRONMAN Pro Series ushers 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. For any athlete, only their top five event results count towards their overall Pro Series points and standing, of which a maximum of three IRONMAN results can be counted. How it works can be found here.

Overall IRONMAN Pro Series Standings – Top Five Female (After Nine Events)

Overall IRONMAN Pro Series Standings – Top Five Male (After Nine Events)

Full IRONMAN Pro Series standings can be found at proseries.ironman.com.

Overall IRONMAN Pro Series Event Prize Money

In addition to the IRONMAN Pro Series’ $1.7M year-end bonus prize pool, there is an event pro prize purse payout of $2,575,000, distributed across IRONMAN Pro Series events. To date the IRONMAN Pro Series has paid out a total of $787,500. Over USD $1.7 million remains to be claimed at the remaining events.

Top Five Female Prize Money Earned (After ten events)

787,500

Top Five Male Prize Money Earned (After nine events)

Next Events Coming Up

The IRONMAN Pro Series stays in Europe with the IRONMAN Vitoria-Gasteiz triathlon taking place on July 14. IRONMAN Vitoria-Gasteiz will be the fourth full-distance IRONMAN triathlon of the Pro Series, and will offer professionals a maximum of 5,000 points towards IRONMAN Pro Series standings, a $125,000 event total pro prize purse, and three qualifying slots for each gender to the 2024 VinFast IRONMAN World Championship in Nice (women) and Kailua-Kona (men).

A FREE replay of broadcast coverage at the 2024 70.3 Les Sables d’Olonne-Vendée triathlon is available on Outside+ for those watching from the United States and Canada; and for the rest of the world on proseries.ironman.com or IRONMAN’s YouTube Page.

For more information on the IRONMAN Pro Series, visit proseries.ironman.com. Media inquiries may be directed to press@ironman.com.

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About the 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 by UTMB^® and Ultra-Trail Australia™ by UTMB^®, Epic Series™ mountain bike races including the Absa Cape Epic^®, road cycling events including Haute Route^®, and other multisport races. The IRONMAN Group is the largest operator of mass participation sports in the world and provides more than a million participants annually 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 17,000 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.