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Deep Dive Into the 2023 Triathlon Money List

After the dip in racing and prize money during the Covid years of 2020 and 2021, we’ve now had two almost normal years of  Pro racing. This post looks at the overall trends and which athletes have been making good money in different categories.

If you want to check out the 2022 analysis, you can find it in my post “Deep Dive Into 2022 Triathlon Money List“.

Money List – Overview

First, here is an overview of the races that are included in the money lists and comparisons to the 2022 and 2019 seasons. The totals are shown in US$, for races that paid their prize purse in a different currency the amounts have been converted into US$.

Type Description Total Money
2023
Change
to 2022
Total Money
2022
# Pro Events
2023 (2022)
Ironman WTC Ironman-branded races $ 2.624.400 – 21% $ 3.338.400 26 (27)
70.3 WTC 70.3-branded races $ 1.758.000 + 12% $ 1.566.100 45 (42)
PTO PTO races (incl. Bonus Pool) $ 3.769.500 – 32% $ 5.563.000 4 (4)
Challenge Challenge- and Clash-branded full and half-distance
races (incl. Bonus Pool)
$ 934.408 + 15% $ 811.920 30 (20)
WTCS World Triathlon Championship Series (incl. Bonus Pool) $ 1.840.000 – 5% $ 1.930.000 9 (8)
SuperLeague SuperLeague Professional Events $ 850.000 – 14% $ 987.000 5 (6)
Other Independent Races (e.g Embrun, XTerra
World Championships, Alpe D’Huez)
$ 716.890 – 12% $ 814.745  26 (24)
Total   $ 12.493.198 – 17% $ 15.011.165   145 (131)

Some observations:

  • Ironman prize money is down by 21% compared to 2022, but that is mostly due to two World Championship events in 2022 which each paid US$ 750.000.
  • Prize money for 70.3s is slightly up, partly because of a small increase in the number of Pro events but also better prize purses. The average money per race has gone up from 37k to 39k. 
  • In previous years, the PTO money has significantly increased. For 2023 they have taken a step back, most of it is because they have skipped the well-paid Collins Cup in favour of preparing for an extended race calendar in 2024. (Details haven’t been announced yet, but there are rumored to be six to eight races on the PTO Tour after three this year.) The PTO events (including their Bonus payments) have the highest average purse at 942k per event. 
  • In 2023, Challenge have extended their race calendar from 20 events last year to 30 races. Even with Clash (counted in the Challenge category) no longer offering Pro purses, Challenge have also increased their prize money by 15%. 
  • Even with one additional event, WTCS numbers are slightly down after restructuring their prize purses. Their average purse (including their Bonus Pool) has gone down from 240k to 204k. 
  • SuperLeague is another well-paying short-course series – with one fewer event their prize money has slightly decreased in 2023, but they still pay 170k on average.
  • The number of independent races that are included has stabilized at a high level. Most of these are smaller events that are just at the minimum 10k US$ to be included in the PTO World Rankings.

At the end of 2023, Ironman have announced their own bonus structure to be paid at the end of 2024. Therefore, here’s a look over a longer period at the development of the Prize Money paid by WTC over the years for Ironman and 70.3 races:

Some key numbers and observations:

  • In 2015, the first year I have usable prize money data for all WTC events, just under 5.35 Mill.US$ was paid to professional athletes, 2.9 Mill.US for 31 Ironman races (an average of 94.2kUS$ per Ironman) and 2.4 Mill.US$ for 68 70.3 races (35.7k US$ per 70.3 on average).
  • The total money was about the same for 2016, with the total money for Ironman races going slightly down and the amount for 70.3s slightly up (mainly because their number also went up to 75 events).
  • Up to 2019, the total WTC prize money has declined to 4.6 Mill.US$, 2.47 Mill. for Ironman (32 events, average purse of 77k) and 2.15 Mill. for 70.3s (71 events, average purse of 30k).
  • With the severely reduced racing in 2020 and 2021, the prize purses also went down. 
  • With two Ironman World Championships in 2022, the money for Ironman races went up to 3.3 Mill (27 events, average of 123.6k) while the 70.3 money went down to 1.57 Mill (42 Pro events, average of 37k).
  • The overall money went down again in 2023, with a total of 4.38 Mill US$ it is the lowest number since 2015 (excluding the Covid years). Money for Ironman races was at 2.6 Mill. (26 events, some of them single-gender races, average of 101k), while 70.3s paid a total of 1.76 Mill US$ (45 events, average of 39k USD, the highest ever average)
  • Ironman’s “Pro Series” will pay a total end-of year bonus of 1.7 Mill. They are not changing the money directly paid at these events, and it’ll be interesting to see if the series will have an impact on the number of Pro events (and the money paid out) throughout the year.

Overall Money List

Anne Haug is the overall leader of the 2023 Triathlon Money List, earning just over 335.00 US$. With the reduced PTO money this is less than last year’s top earner Kristian Blummenfelt (he made almost 500.000 US$ in 2022), but still a fair bit up form the 2021 top earner. (Daniela Ryf made 244.000 in 2021.) The number of athletes making more than $100.000 is only slightly lower this year, there were 29 athletes in 2023 compared to 33 in 2022. There was a total of 818 athletes who were able to earn prize money in 2023, up from 762 athletes in 2022.

Photo: Anne Haug wins the PTO European Open, provided by the PTO.

# Name Nation Sex Total Ironman 70.3 PTO Challenge WTCS SuperLeague Other
1 Anne Haug GER F $335,788 $65,000 $3,000 $250,000 $17,788      
2 Kristian Blummenfelt NOR M $325,775     $285,000   $25,775 $15,000  
3 Ashleigh Gentle AUS F $323,821   $18,750 $290,000       $15,071
4 Taylor Knibb USA F $281,700 $25,000 $57,500 $180,000   $19,200    
5 Lucy Charles-Barclay GBR F $246,750 $125,000 $2,750 $119,000        
6 Magnus Ditlev DEN M $202,953 $49,000   $127,000 $26,953      
7 Jan Frodeno GER M $196,500 $7,500 $4,000 $185,000        
8 Jason West USA M $190,500   $8,000 $175,000 $7,500      
9 Hayden Wilde NZL M $190,338   $4,000     $99,500 $76,000 $10,838
10 Leo Bergere FRA M $181,600   $7,500     $69,100 $105,000  
11 Beth Potter GBR F $172,600         $159,600 $13,000  
12 Cassandre Beaugrand FRA F $163,900         $108,900 $55,000  
13 Laura Philipp GER F $163,125 $70,000 $24,500 $60,000 $8,625      
14 Pieter Heemeryck BEL M $162,791 $27,000 $16,900 $113,500 $5,391      
15 Sam Laidlow FRA M $154,801 $125,000   $21,500 $8,301      
16 Kate Waugh GBR F $139,500         $42,500 $93,000 $4,000
17 Mathis Margirier FRA M $132,496   $14,250 $65,000 $53,246      
18 Alex Yee GBR M $126,500         $66,500 $60,000  
19 Katrina Matthews GBR F $125,750 $28,000 $40,750 $57,000        
20 Emma Lombardi FRA F $122,100         $66,100 $56,000  
21 Dorian Coninx FRA M $121,400         $121,400    
22 Paula Findlay CAN F $116,500   $26,500 $90,000        
23 Patrick Lange GER M $116,181 $68,500 $2,750 $30,000 $14,931      
24 Rudy Von Berg USA M $115,500 $68,000   $47,500        
25 Imogen Simmonds SUI F $112,684   $25,000 $55,000 $32,684      
26 Sam Long USA M $106,750 $4,250 $40,500 $59,000 $3,000      
27 Leon Chevalier FRA M $103,500 $57,000 $4,000 $42,500        
28 Max Neumann AUS M $103,478     $100,000       $3,478
29 Jeanne Lehair LUX F $101,550         $26,550 $75,000  
30 Daniela Ryf SUI F $99,953 $20,000 $11,000 $42,000 $26,953      

PTO Events

Ashleigh Gentle continues to be the best money earner in PTO tour events: Last year she topped the PTO Money List at 325k, this year she earned slightly less than 300k. Most of the athletes in the table below made a significant part of their 2023 earnings from the PTO. The exception is usually athletes who did well at WTC events, for example Lucy Charles-Barclay (48% from the PTO), Rudy von Berg (41%) or Laura Philipp (37%). There were 124 athletes who earned PTO money in 2023.

Photo: Ashleigh raising the banner at the PTO Asian Open, provided by the PTO.

# Name Sex PTO Total Share
1 Ashleigh Gentle F $ 290.000 $ 323.821 90%
2 Kristian Blummenfelt M $ 285.000 $ 325.775 87%
3 Anne Haug F $ 250.000 $ 335.788 74%
4 Jan Frodeno M $ 185.000 $ 196.500 94%
5 Taylor Knibb F $ 180.000 $ 281.700 64%
6 Jason West M $ 175.000 $ 190.500 92%
7 Magnus Ditlev M $ 127.000 $ 202.953 63%
8 Lucy Charles-Barclay F $ 119.000 $ 246.750 48%
9 Pieter Heemeryck M $ 113.500 $ 162.791 70%
10 Max Neumann M $ 100.000 $ 103.478 97%
11 Paula Findlay F $ 90.000 $ 116.500 77%
12 Mathis Margirier M $ 65.000 $ 132.496 49%
13 Chelsea Sodaro F $ 62.000 $ 85.000 73%
14 Laura Philipp F $ 60.000 $ 163.125 37%
15 Sam Long M $ 59.000 $ 106.750 55%
16 Katrina Matthews F $ 57.000 $ 125.750 45%
17 Imogen Simmonds F $ 55.000 $ 112.684 49%
18 Daniel Baekkegard M $ 50.000 $ 73.110 68%
19 Rudy Von Berg M $ 47.500 $ 115.500 41%
20 Emma Pallant-Browne F $ 45.000 $ 78.264 57%
21 Leon Chevalier M $ 42.500 $ 103.500 41%
22 Daniela Ryf F $ 42.000 $ 99.953 42%
23 David McNamee M $ 34.000 $ 50.498 67%
24 Aaron Royle M $ 32.500 $ 47.216 69%
25 Tamara Jewett F $ 31.500 $ 59.500 53%

WTC Races

The WTC money list is topped by the Nice and Kona winners, Sam Laidlow and Lucy Charles-Barclay – winning 125k at these events was enough to be placed ahead of everyone else. All in all, there were 524 athletes who earned prize money from WTC in 2023.

Photo: Lucy Charles-Barclay celebrating her win at the Ironman World Championships in Kona, provided by Ironman.

# Name Sex IM 70.3 WTC Total Share
1 Lucy Charles-Barclay F $ 125.000 $ 2.750 $ 127.750 $ 246.750 52%
2 Sam Laidlow M $ 125.000   $ 125.000 $ 154.801 81%
3 Laura Philipp F $ 70.000 $ 24.500 $ 94.500 $ 163.125 58%
4 Taylor Knibb F $ 25.000 $ 57.500 $ 82.500 $ 281.700 29%
5 Patrick Lange M $ 68.500 $ 2.750 $ 71.250 $ 116.181 61%
6 Katrina Matthews F $ 28.000 $ 40.750 $ 68.750 $ 125.750 55%
7 Anne Haug F $ 65.000 $ 3.000 $ 68.000 $ 335.788 20%
7 Rudy Von Berg M $ 68.000   $ 68.000 $ 115.500 59%
9 Leon Chevalier M $ 57.000 $ 4.000 $ 61.000 $ 103.500 59%
10 Rico Bogen M   $ 56.750 $ 56.750 $ 68.709 83%
11 Skye Moench F $ 45.000 $ 11.000 $ 56.000 $ 80.000 70%
12 Magnus Ditlev M $ 49.000   $ 49.000 $ 202.953 24%
13 Sam Long M $ 4.250 $ 40.500 $ 44.750 $ 106.750 42%
14 Pieter Heemeryck M $ 27.000 $ 16.900 $ 43.900 $ 162.791 27%
15 Kylie Simpson F $ 37.000 $ 4.250 $ 41.250 $ 42.120 98%
16 Sarah True F $ 38.000 $ 3.000 $ 41.000 $ 64.500 64%
17 Mike Phillips M $ 20.500 $ 17.500 $ 38.000 $ 54.419 70%
18 Lisa Norden F $ 34.000 $ 3.500 $ 37.500 $ 51.656 73%
19 Steven McKenna M $ 30.500 $ 6.250 $ 36.750 $ 36.750 100%
20 Alice Alberts F $ 36.000   $ 36.000 $ 41.000 88%
21 Braden Currie M $ 34.000 $ 1.750 $ 35.750 $ 47.565 75%
22 Matthew Marquardt M $ 35.000   $ 35.000 $ 49.500 71%
23 Robert Wilkowiecki M $ 33.250 $ 1.500 $ 34.750 $ 44.750 78%
24 Bradley Weiss M $ 30.000 $ 2.000 $ 32.000 $ 62.686 51%
25 Emma Pallant-Browne F   $ 31.000 $ 31.000 $ 78.264 40%

Challenge

As in previous years, the top money earners on the Challenge side are athletes who focus on the Challenge Family “World Bonus”. This year, Mathis Margirier and Magda Nieuwoudt were at the top of the Challenge bonus table and they also lead the Challenge money list. Similar to the WTC side, almost all of the top earners also make significant money from other race organizers. In total, 236 athletes finished in the money ranks in the 2023 Challenge races.

Photo: Mathis Margirier winning Challenge “The Championship” in Samorin, provided by Challenge Family

# Name Sex Challenge Total Share
1 Mathis Margirier M $ 53.246 $ 132.496 40%
2 Magda Nieuwoudt F $ 44.583 $ 50.333 89%
3 Imogen Simmonds F $ 32.684 $ 112.684 29%
4 Caleb Noble M $ 32.046 $ 37.546 85%
5 Thomas Bishop M $ 31.122 $ 48.122 65%
6 Els Visser F $ 27.277 $ 69.277 39%
7 Magnus Ditlev M $ 26.953 $ 202.953 13%
7 Daniela Ryf F $ 26.953 $ 99.953 27%
9 Lucy Byram F $ 25.789 $ 50.789 51%
10 Frederic Funk M $ 19.548 $ 73.048 27%
11 Anne Haug F $ 17.788 $ 335.788 5%
12 Caroline Pohle F $ 16.548 $ 33.798 49%
13 Menno Koolhaas M $ 16.404 $ 35.904 46%
14 India Lee F $ 16.172 $ 54.922 29%
15 Margie Santimaria F $ 15.990 $ 27.490 58%
16 Patrick Lange M $ 14.931 $ 116.181 13%
17 Aaron Royle M $ 14.716 $ 47.216 31%
18 Youri Keulen M $ 12.819 $ 42.569 30%
19 Fenella Langridge F $ 11.439 $ 60.460 19%
20 Amelia Watkinson F $ 10.782 $ 69.190 16%

Short Course

As in previous years, the top earner of “short course money” had to be successful in both major events, the World Triathlon Series WTCS and SuperLeague. Hayden Wilde comes out on top of this list, he was the runner-up in both series. In total, 115 athletes made money in these short-course events, most of which made the majority of their money on these distances.

Photo: Hayden Wilde winning the 2023 WT Sprint Championships in Hamburg, provided by World Triathlon.

# Name Sex WTCS SuperLeague Short Course Total Share
1 Hayden Wilde M $ 99.500 $ 76.000 $ 175.500 $ 190.338 92%
2 Leo Bergere M $ 69.100 $ 105.000 $ 174.100 $ 181.600 96%
3 Beth Potter F $ 159.600 $ 13.000 $ 172.600 $ 172.600 100%
4 Cassandre Beaugrand F $ 108.900 $ 55.000 $ 163.900 $ 163.900 100%
5 Kate Waugh F $ 42.500 $ 93.000 $ 135.500 $ 139.500 97%
6 Alex Yee M $ 66.500 $ 60.000 $ 126.500 $ 126.500 100%
7 Emma Lombardi F $ 66.100 $ 56.000 $ 122.100 $ 122.100 100%
8 Dorian Coninx M $ 121.400   $ 121.400 $ 121.400 100%
9 Jeanne Lehair F $ 26.550 $ 75.000 $ 101.550 $ 101.550 100%
10 Sophie Coldwell F $ 52.700 $ 26.000 $ 78.700 $ 78.700 100%
11 Matthew Hauser M $ 52.100 $ 24.000 $ 76.100 $ 82.422 92%
12 Vasco Vilaca M $ 68.600 $ 3.500 $ 72.100 $ 72.100 100%
13 Taylor Spivey F $ 49.825 $ 15.500 $ 65.325 $ 65.325 100%
14 Pierre Le Corre M $ 54.900   $ 54.900 $ 59.595 92%
15 Henri Schoeman M $ 10.500 $ 37.500 $ 48.000 $ 58.613 82%
16 Jonathan Brownlee M $ 1.000 $ 43.500 $ 44.500 $ 44.500 100%
17 Leonie Periault F $ 22.900 $ 21.500 $ 44.400 $ 44.400 100%
18 Tim Hellwig M $ 42.300   $ 42.300 $ 42.300 100%
19 Kristian Blummenfelt M $ 25.775 $ 15.000 $ 40.775 $ 325.775 13%
20 Georgia Taylor-Brown F $ 31.900   $ 31.900 $ 31.900 100%
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