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Winning in Kona: Bike for Show, Run for Dough

A famous saying in golf is “Drive for Show, Putt for Dough,” highlighting the idea that while a powerful drive may grab attention, it’s the consistent putting that wins tournaments. This post aims to explore a similar concept in the triathlon world with the phrase “Bike for Show, Run for Dough.” I’ll dig into the performance data from the Ironman World Championships to see how well this holds up. First, I’ll discuss the 2024 men’s race won by Patrick Lange, currently the leading long-distance runner. Then I compare this to the 2022 race in Kona which had slightly different race dynamics. The next step is a broader look at all men’s winners from 2004 to now. Finally, we check the corresponding data for the women’s winner. Let’s get started!

Kona 2024

The graphs in this post look at how well the top finishers have performed on the bike and the run. (Of course, the swim is also an important component as it sets up which group athletes will start in, but as the shortest discipline the swim has a lesser impact on the overall results.) To compare the times from different years I show the bike and run splits compared to the tenth fastest in each leg. This way, I can abstract from developments over the years (e.g. improved race nutrition, aerodynamic advancements on the bike or the effect of the super-shoes on the marathon times) and also remove the effects of faster or slower conditions from year to year.

Here’s the graph for 2024 (for all of the graphs in this post, click for a hi-res version):

To explain the graph further: Each athlete is represented by a small dot with labels for the top finishers. Further to right means that the athlete was faster in relation to the tenth fastest athlete on the bike, further to the top means an athlete was faster on the marathon. For Kona 2024, the tenth fastest biker was Kristian Blummenfelt with a 4:05:47, the tenth fastest runner Gregory Barnaby with a 2:50:33. Consider the dot for winner Patrick Lange: His 4:06:22 bike was 0.2% slower than the tenth time, his 2:37:34 marathon was 7.6% faster. As he was almost eight minutes quicker than Matt Hanson and everyone else, Patrick’s dot is way above everybody else’s. Another dot: Sam Laidlow is shown in the bottom right. His bike was 3.4% faster than the tenth, but then his run ended up a whopping 13.1% slower, resulting in him only finishing in 18th place.

The background colors show a better run (light blue background), even bike and run (white) and a better bike (orange). Of course the further to the top right an athlete is, the faster he has finished. But each athlete usually has specific strengths; here’s what you can discern in the graph:

  1. To place well, a good bike and run (gray annotations) are needed, i.e. fast legs compared to the rest of the field, but not one leg dominant over the other.
  2. Winning needed something special; this year it was Patrick’s awesome run. Other athletes with a good run (blue boxes) also finished well overall but a bit further down the field than those in the first group.
  3. Having a better bike (orange annotations) but not being able to have one of the ten fastest runs did not lead to a good overall finish in Kona 2024. The best of this group was Kristian Hogenahug in ninth, he also had the best run of this group. The runs of T2 leaders Sam Laidlow and Robert Kallin were 13.1% and 12.7% slower than the tenth run split; they were only able to finish 18th and 23rd.

Kona 2022

Was Kona 2024 unique in how the strengths determined the finishing positions? Let’s have a look at the previous Kona race in 2022:

2 Kona 2022.

Let’s have a look at the different groups in the 2022 race:

  • Athletes with a better bike had better results than in 2024, but they also had better runs compared to the fast bikers in 2024. Sam Laidlow had a comparably fast bike (3.6% quicker than tenth in 2022 vs. 3.4% in 2024) but a much better run in 2022 (2.1% quicker). With Sebastian Kienle and Leon Chevalier there were two more athletes with a better bike in the Top 10.
  • The good runners took the win as in 2024, in 2022 they also claimed third and fourth place.
  • There were fewer balanced athletes in 2022 compared to 2024.

Men’s Winners

The 2022 and 2024 data support the theory that Kona favors good runners, but athletes with different profiles haven’t been too far back. Will the data also hold up for other years? Here’s the graph showing the Ironman World Champions since 2004:

Which groups do the winners come from?

  • Athletes with a  “Better Run” are clearly the largest group. (Depending on where exactly you want to determine the borders between the groups, it’s about 12 out of 20 winners.)
  • There have been only four winners who took the title based on a “Better Bike.” Normann Stadler won Kona 2004 and 2006 with great bike legs, in similar fashion Sebastian Kienle basically decided the 2014 race on the bike. But even with their great bike legs, they still had marathons that were at least among the ten fastest of the day. The most recent win with a better bike was Sam Laidlow’s win in Nice 2023. Later this year we will get another data point if the tough bike course supported Sam’s strategy to attack on the bike. (There was also a challenging bike course in St. George 2022, but Kristian Blummenfelt won with a dominating run.)
  • There are a few winners who won based on “Good Bikes and Runs” 

In summary, the men’s Ironman World Championships can be simplified to “Bike for Show, Run for Dough”. No winner had a run that was not among the ten fastest of the day, and only five that were not at least 2% quicker. Looking at the recent run times, the average of the tenth run splits of the last five years is 2:50:09. You have to be ready to run sub-2:50 even if you have a strong bike leg. If you can’t be among the fastest on the bike, then you have to run at least five minutes quicker (sub-2:45) if you want to have a chance for the win. There is more leeway on the bike, about half of the winners had a bike split within one percent of the tenth bike time. On the other hand, Kona has not favored athletes going too hard on the bike; there were only five winners with a bike split that was more than 3% quicker than the tenth bike split.

While these rules are based on previous results, there are always athletes looking to rewrite these rules. Let’s see how well they will hold up in future years of racing in Kona and in other locations!

Women’s Winners

There is another aspect of this “Kona Rule” that’s worthwhile to mention. So far, the graphs showed data for the men’s race – does the rule also apply to the women? Here’s the graph showing the Women’s World Champions and how they did relative to the tenth bike and run splits:

4 Kona Women.

In general, the women’s data also supports the dominance of the run over the bike, with at least six women who won Kona based on a better run versus only two that have been pre-determined by a better bike (and even then Natascha Badmann in 2005 and Daniela Ryf in 2018 also ran more than 5% quicker than the tenth run split). 

There is one bigger difference to the men’s: A large group of athletes dominated on the bike AND the run, with Laura Philipp as the most recent example. She had the best bike and run in Nice 2024, just as Daniela Ryf in Kona 2016 and 2017 or Chrissie Wellington in 2007. Everyone in this group always had the best split in one leg and one of the three best splits in the other. No one of the recent men’s winners has been as dominant.

Men’s Ironman World Championship 2024 – How the Race Unfolded

Here are the Top 10 finishers from the men’s 2024 Ironman World Championship in Kona and others who played an important role as the race progressed:

Rank Name Nation Swim Bike Run Time Diff to exp. Prize Money
1 Patrick Lange GER 00:47:09 (4) 04:06:22 (15) 02:37:34 (1) 07:35:53 -12:47 US$ 125,000
2 Magnus Ditlev DEN 00:48:18 (24) 04:02:52 (4) 02:46:10 (4) 07:43:39 -03:43 US$ 65,000
3 Rudy von Berg USA 00:47:18 (11) 04:05:49 (12) 02:48:11 (6) 07:46:00 -08:56 US$ 45,000
4 Leon Chevalier FRA 00:50:43 (40) 04:01:38 (2) 02:49:56 (8) 07:46:54 -12:42 US$ 25,000
5 Menno Koolhaas NED 00:47:02 (1) 04:05:02 (9) 02:50:02 (9) 07:47:22 -06:52 US$ 20,000
6 Gregory Barnaby ITA 00:47:12 (5) 04:06:08 (14) 02:50:33 (11) 07:48:22 -03:28 US$ 18,000
7 Cameron Wurf AUS 00:52:25 (49) 04:03:59 (7) 02:50:11 (10) 07:51:26 -09:32 US$ 15,000
8 Kieran Lindars GBR 00:47:12 (5) 04:08:28 (19) 02:51:49 (12) 07:51:55 -09:38 US$ 13,000
9 Kristian Hogenhaug DEN 00:48:24 (26) 04:03:32 (6) 02:57:09 (19) 07:53:37 -05:57 US$ 12,000
10 Matt Hanson USA 00:50:37 (34) 04:14:11 (32) 02:45:25 (2) 07:54:50 -07:00 US$ 11,000
15 Matthew Marquardt USA 00:47:18 (11) 04:04:55 (8) 03:01:43 (24) 07:58:43 05:37 US$ 3,000
18 Sam Laidlow FRA 00:47:06 (2) 03:57:22 (1) 03:12:49 (31) 08:02:01 07:29  
23 Robert Kallin SWE 00:48:22 (25) 04:01:44 (3) 03:12:13 (29) 08:07:25 04:27  
35 Kristian Blummenfelt NOR 00:47:21 (14) 04:05:47 (11) 03:32:04 (38) 08:29:58 50:26  
  Trevor Foley USA 00:55:14 (52) 04:03:11 (5)   DNF    
  Gustav Iden NOR 00:50:34 (31) 04:12:59 (30)   DNF    

You can find the full results in my Kona Results post.

The following graph shows how the race developed (click for a hi-res version):

Kona All

Let’s start with a summary of the race:

  • There wasn’t much separation in the swim. Most of the field stayed together in the first half out to the boats at the turnaround. Then Sam Laidlow pushed the pace for a bit, and bike powerhouses such as Magnus Ditlev, Robert Kallin or Kristian Hogenhaug were dropped. A lead group of 22 athletes with almost all the remaining favorites reached T1 within 26 seconds.
  • From the start of the bike, Sam Laidlow pushed the pace and rode away from the field. It took Magnus about 10 miles to erase his swim deficit of 1:16; by the time he bridged up to the big group, Sam was already two minutes ahead.
  • After 25 miles, Magnus had ridden through the chase group. Everyone thought this was a significant move, creating chaotic situations as no one wanted to let Magnus ride away. However, the only one able to match Magnus’ pace was Kristian Blummenfelt, but it didn’t take long before he was dropped, vomiting several times. By the turn in Hawi (shortly before 60 miles), Sam had built a lead of 2:30 to Magnus. Kristian had fallen back into the big group which was almost five minutes behind Sam.
  • Sam continued to ride hard in the second half of the bike, riding the first sub-4 hour bike split in Kona and setting a new bike course record of 3:57:22. The group couldn’t make up any time to Sam. After 80 miles, Robert Kallin was able to ride away from the big group; a bit later it was Kristian Hogenhaug. After 90 miles, Magnus seemed in problems, and Robert was able to overtake him shortly before T2.
  • Once the run started, Patrick Lange began with an extra spring in his step; he was clearly the fastest runner on the course. After four miles he already moved into second place, reducing his gap to Sam’s from nine minutes in T2 down to seven minutes. When the wheels came off Sam’s marathon after the climb on Palani Road, Patrick took the lead on the Queen K after eleven miles. Sam fell back to eighteenth place with a 3:12 run split. After a 2:37 marathon, Patrick became the 2024 Ironman World Champion, also setting a new 7:35 course record. 
  • Magnus almost ended his race in T2 but after taking some time decided to try at least the section on Ali’i. From tenth place, he started to move forward in the field, feeling not quite as bad as he had at the end of the bike. Coming out of the Energy Lab, he was able to reclaim second place and held on to it until the finish. Third place went to Rudy von Berg and fourth to Leon Chevalier.

Top5 Press Conf IM

Photo: The top finishers at the post-race press conference. LTR: Leon Chevalier (4th), Magnus Ditlev (2nd), Patrick Lange (winner), Rudy von Berg (3rd), and Menno Koolhaas (5th). Photo supplied by Ironman.

Interestingly, second to fifth from Nice last year finished first to fourth in the same order in Kona. Even if the courses in Nice and Kona seem quite different and might favor different athletes, it hasn’t shown up in the results – at least when looking at the most recent races.

The rest of this post is a closer look at the leading athletes and how their days unfolded.

Ironman World Champion: Patrick Lange

Patrick Lange leveraged his fantastic run to win his third World Championship title:

An important part of Patrick’s great result was his swim. In past races, he was often in the second swim group, starting the bike behind the race favorites. At last year’s World Championships in Nice he was just over a minute behind Sam Laidlow and others in T1; at this year’s IM Frankfurt he was almost four minutes behind the lead group with Kristian Blummenfelt. At this year’s swim in Kona, he was always close to the front in the lead group, making sure not to get dropped. On the return leg, he was even leading the race in the swim for a minute! He was fourth out of the water, just three seconds behind Sam Laidlow and twelve seconds ahead of Kristian Blummenfelt. His good swim meant that instead of being on his own and isolated on the bike, he was riding with the lead group right out of T1. As expected, he didn’t try to ride with Sam but was always close to the front of the chase group. After 25 miles, Magnus had ridden through the chase group and started to ride away from them. Kristian tried to go with Magnus but fell back into the group half an hour later – that must have been a confidence builder for Patrick. At the turn in Hawi, he was 13th, just seconds behind third place. He was five minutes behind Sam in the lead and two and a half minutes behind Magnus in second place. Would he be able to keep the gap to them manageable in the second half? In Nice, he had run more than eight minutes into them. Would someone else ride away from him? 

For most of the ride back to Kona, things were pretty calm in the chase group. The group finally fell apart in the last ten miles, and Patrick lost about a minute, saving his legs for the run. His 4:06 bike split was his fastest ever on the Ironman distance, about ten minutes quicker than when he won in 2018 in similarly fast conditions. He entered T2 in 14th place, 9:07 behind Sam but only two minutes behind Magnus in third place. A podium finish was definitely in the cards for Patrick, and coming out of transition he left no doubt that he was going to be the fastest runner. By the turn on Ali’i, less than four miles into the run, he had already stormed into second place, running about two minutes faster than anyone else at the front of the race. Sam was still seven minutes ahead – so far Patrick was about 30 seconds quicker per mile, and he should be able to catch him within the next 14 miles, possibly somewhere in the almost mythical Energy Lab. But after the climb on Palani, the gap started to shrink very quickly. Just after mile 11, Patrick flew by Sam who was in deep distress. Patrick had run the first half of the marathon in about 1:17:13, almost two minutes faster than when Gustav Iden set the run course record in 2022. But while Gustav had to run the second half hard in order to catch Sam Laidlow, Patrick was able to shift into “risk-reduction mode.” That’s probably why he missed Gustav’s run course record, but Patrick’s marathon of 2:37:33 was still eight minutes quicker than anyone else in the field. You have to go back a long time for a male athlete who was more dominant in the Kona run – probably to 1984 when Dave Scott’s 2:53 marathon was more than 10 minutes quicker than the second-best run split. Crossing the line in 7:35:53, Patrick set a new overall course record.

Patrick Celebration IM.

Photo: Patrick celebrating his third Kona title (supplied by Ironman).

Second Place: Magnus Ditlev

After recovering from problems at the end of the bike, Magnus rallied to claim second place:

Magnus’ day didn’t start as he had hoped for. In most of his 2024 races, he had been able to swim with the lead group, most notably in his win at Challenge Roth. He seemed okay in the “out-leg,” hanging on the lead swim group. But when Sam Laidlow pushed the pace, Magnus fell back, eventually reaching T1 1:15 behind the lead, similar to the last World Championships in Nice (1:29) or Kona 2022 (1:34). Nothing unusual for Magnus and probably one of the scenarios he thought through before the race, but it gave Sam Laidlow the chance to ride off the front before Magnus was able to join the lead group, quite similar to how the race unfolded in Nice last year. Magnus did what he could do in this race situation: Close the gap to the lead group, then ride through them and build a gap. With all the athletes he had to overtake, he lost a bit more time to Sam in the opening miles. By mile 25 he reached the end of the big group, and a lot of athletes tried to go with him, leading to a bit of chaos with three or more athletes trying to overtake others at the same time. There were quite a few dodgy scenes and a fair number of RaceRangers flashing red, but no penalties were assessed. When Magnus rode off the front a bit later, only one athlete was able to follow him, but Kristian Blummenfelt’s stomach quickly protested his effort, and soon Magnus was riding on his own. He was able to shrink Sam’s lead slightly, from 2:21 behind at mile 15 he got as close as 1:40 at mile 42. But then the gap started to grow again. At the turn in Hawi, Magnus was 2:31 back, and it seemed more and more unlikely that he’d be able to ride up to Sam.

2 Magnus Bike.

Photo: Magnus riding back to Kona. (Credit for this and all the following pictures: Harald Kohlhaas for triathlonpresse.de)

After 90 miles, Magnus even seemed to be in trouble: He lost more time to Sam, and the chase group behind him started to make up time to him. Robert Kallin rode away from the big group and caught Magnus a few miles before T2. Magnus seemed cooked, and in T2 he thought about ending his race right there. But after one of the slowest T2s of the whole field, he decided to try at least the run on Ali’i. Coming out of transition, he had dropped to seventh place, and with the slow pace he was able to run, he fell back even further to tenth place. But he no longer felt quite as bad, was able to run with those around him and even started to gain a spot here and there. In the climb up Palani, he was already in seventh place with two more athletes just in front of him. At the half-marathon mark, he had even climbed back into the podium positions. At the end of the Energy Lab, he could even overtake a struggling Leon Chevalier to move into second place. No one else was able to challenge him in the remaining miles back into town, and after an up-and-down race, Magnus ran a 2:46 marathon to finish in second place.

Third Place: Rudy von Berg

Rudy von Berg finished third, claiming the first US podium since Tim O’Donnell in 2019:

Rudy swam in the first big group, reaching T1 just 16 seconds behind the leader. He didn’t follow Sam Laidlow or Magnus Ditlev when they took off, but he was consistently close to the front of the big group on the climb to Hawi. He also kept his powder dry in the descent after the turn and the ride back to Hawi, reaching T2 in 12th place, nine minutes behind the leader but only two minutes behind third place. 

After a fast transition, he started the run 30 seconds ahead of Patrick, but Patrick quickly overtook him, and at the turn on Ali’i after four miles  Rudy was still in 12th place. But towards the end of Ali’i it became clear that Rudy could hold his pace while others had gone out too quickly, and he slowly started to move through the field. After ten miles he was eighth, and only Patrick was running significantly faster. At the turn in the Energy Lab after 16 miles, he had moved into fourth place. The three athletes in front of him – Patrick, Leon and Magnus – had faster run splits, and it seemed unlikely that he’d be able to run 90 seconds into Leon or 45 seconds into Magnus in the remaining ten miles. Would he have to settle for fourth (same position as in Nice a year ago), or would he even be caught by one of the runners behind?

The last position changes on the podium occurred in the next miles in the Energy Lab: Leon Chevalier had heat problems and was forced to slow down, and Rudy overtook him to move into third place. After that, he continued to run his pace, and with a 2:48 finished in third place, his first Ironman World Championship podium.

Fourth Place: Leon Chevalier

This year, Leon Chevalier was the top French finisher in fourth place:

As is typical for him, he quickly fell out of the lead group in the swim, losing almost four minutes before T1. That was better than two years ago when he was five minutes back, but he still had slightly bigger gap than in Nice where he was 3:21 back in T1. Another drawback for him: The last two years he had some good company for the bike with Cam Wurf; this year Cam was even further back. But Leon has the experience to ride well on his own with the patience that Kona so often rewards. Riding on his own and without any data (his Garmin wouldn’t turn on) was challenging: On the Queen K he thought he was only a minute or so behind the big group, but at the turn in Hawi he was still about three minutes behind in 22nd place. He continued to ride at his own steady pace, making up more and more time and finally catching the chase group after 95 miles. 

4 Leon Bike.

Seeing Patrick and Kristian in the group, he knew he’d have to put in another surge to improve his chances for a good finish. In the remaining miles, Leon was able to shatter the chase group, posting the second-best bike split and reaching T2 in sixth place, less than a minute behind the podium spots. Even running “as easy as possible,” he ran well in the first section next to the Ocean, letting Patrick go but running at the front of the loose group of runners behind him. After Palani, he moved into third place, passing Menno Koolhaas and putting a minute between them at 10 miles. At the turn in the Energy Lab, Leon was even in second place, thinking now would be the time to start pushing the pace. It’s hard to tell if it was rushing through aid stations or the famously hot conditions in the Energy Lab, but he began to have heat problems and had to walk a few times, taking extra time to cool down as much as possible in the aid stations. By mile 21, he had fallen back to fifth place but just a few steps behind Menno Koolhaas in fourth (see photo in the next section). Leon recovered a bit and then re-passed Menno, but he couldn’t afford to let up as Menno was never more than 40 seconds behind. After the race, Leon said how hard he pushed in the final 10k, but Rudy in front of him and Menno just behind pushed just as hard. Across the line in fourth, Leon was less than a minute behind Rudy in third and only 28 seconds ahead of Menno.

Fifth Place: Menno Koolhaas

Menno Koolhaas was first out of the water, and he also had a good bike and run to finish in fifth place:

In the first half of the swim, Menno had the lead for a good part, but he was dragging around a big group behind him. At the turn boats, Sam Laidlow took the lead for a few minutes, stretching out the field and shaking off a few strong bikers. Menno stayed at the front of that group, and when Sam took things a bit easier, he was back at the front and led the field into T1. On the bike, he didn’t follow Sam Laidlow when he went off the front, but again he was in the big group, sometimes in the lead but more often a few spots back. He didn’t go with the attacks of Magnus or Robert, but when the big group fell apart in the final miles of the bike, he was again at the sharp end. He reached T2 eight minutes behind the lead in sixth place. 

Menno ran well in the early parts of the marathon; at the turn on Ali’i he was third. On the Queen K, he fell back to fifth place, but after exiting the Energy Lab he was in a close battle with Leon for fourth place.

5 Menno Leon Run.

Even though Leon had some heat issues, he was still able to re-pass Menno, but no one else coming from behind was able to challenge Menno who crossed the line in fifth place. He was the first male Dutch athlete in the Top 10 for 25 years. (Before him, the last one was Frank Heldoorn who finished seventh in 1999.)

Sixth Place: Gregory Barnaby

Last year in Nice, Gregory Barnaby was eighth in Nice, the first Italian athlete in the Top 10 at the Ironman World Championships. This year, he improved two more places and finished sixth:

Gregory and Menno were just a few seconds apart for the swim and the bike. Typically, Gregory was a bit further back in the group, reaching T2 in tenth place. After a quick transition, he started the run in eighth place, just 30 seconds behind Menno. Gregory approached the run on Ali’i and the first part on the Queen K more conservatively than others in the group he rode with. By mile 11, he had slowly fallen back to eleventh, running slower than anyone in front of him. But while others struggled in the Energy Lab, he was able to keep his steady pace. By mile 16 he was back in sixth place. 

6 Gregory Run.

Ahead of him, Menno was in fifth, and Gregory had been able to close the gap to him within seven miles from 2:24 down to 1:11. In that section, Menno was in a close fight for fourth with Leon – would anyone run into problems in the final miles of running in the Kona heat? But then none of them cracked, and Gregory crossed the line in sixth place, still 1:11 behind Menno in fifth place.

Seventh Place: Cameron Wurf

Even with a slower than usual swim, Cam Wurf was still able to finish in seventh place:

Cam had the slowest swim of the athletes eventually finishing in the Top 10. He exited the water in 49th place, 5:23 behind the leaders. This was more than in Nice 2023 (3:21) and Kona 2022 (4:36). Was this already the end of his Kona goals?

On the bike, he executed a patient plan, obviously not aware of the torrid pace at the front. He still rode a 4:03:59 bike split, the sixth-best of the day and more than five minutes faster than what he rode in 2022. 

7 Cam Bike Cropped.

Last year in Nice, Cam was able to ride through most of the field and to reach T2 in fourth place. This year in Kona he was only able to start the run in 18th place, more than three minutes out of the Top 10. At previous World Championships, he struggled to break three hours; his best was a 2:54:26 from Kona 2022. This year, Cam ran a solid 2:50:11, allowing him to move into the Top 10 shortly after the half-marathon mark. He was able to overtake a few more athletes in the second half and after a close fight with Kieran Lindars, Cam crossed the line in seventh place.

Eighth Place: Kieran Lindars

In his first World Championship, Kieran Lindars finished in eighth place:

Kieran is another of the athletes who swam in the big group. After a quick transition, he was even first on the bike and led for a few seconds before Sam Laidlow went to the front. Kieran then rode with the big bike group, but he seemed to have to work hard to stay with them, often riding towards the end where the accordion effect makes the ride more “surgy” and probably a bit harder. He then seemed to be in trouble when he fell behind the group in the last 20 miles, probably when the pace picked up a bit with Leon Chevalier having finally caught up to the group. Kieran lost almost two minutes in the final section before T2.

8 Kieran Bike.

But when he started the run, he was able to move from 15th out of T2 into the Top 10 in the first ten miles, catching those who may have worked too hard on the bike. After the Energy Lab he was in seventh place before getting caught by Cam Wurf at mile 23. The two were just seconds apart in the last few miles; in the end Kieran crossed the line in eighth place, just twenty second behind Cam.

Ninth Place: Kristian Hogenhaug

With a ninth place finish, Kristian Hogenhaug was able to get his first Top 10 in the Ironman World Championships:

Kristian was one of the strong bikers such as Magnus Ditlev or Robert Kallin who fell out of the front group in the second half of the swim. Into T1, he was 26th, just 1:22 behind the leaders. He started the ride with Magnus Ditlev, but he let Magnus go shortly before reaching the big group. While Magnus rode through the group, Kristian was content to ride with them. But after three and a half hours of racing, he decided to use his bike strength in the last 25 miles and surged away from the big group, posting the fifth-best bike split of the day.

Kristian started the run in third place but it was unlikely that he’d be able to hold on for a podium spot. But he was able to find a solid pace that he’d be able to keep up for the whole marathon, cooling down with a special ice roll around his neck. As expected, he fell back a few spots, but with a 2:57 marathon he ran more than 13 minutes quicker than ever before in Kona and finished ninth, keeping close to Cam and Kieran in front of him.

9 KristianH Energy Lab.

Tenth Place: Matt Hanson

With the second best marathon of the day, Matt Hanson gained 20 spots on the run and finished tenth:

For the first five hours of the race, there wasn’t much attention on Matt. He was 3:34 behind after the swim and started the bike with Leon Chevalier. However, while Leon was able to bridge up to the big group in the latter stages of the bike, Matt continued to lose time. He was more than twelve minutes behind 10th in T2, but then he was only slightly slower than Patrick Lange in the first part of the run and started to move through the field. At the climb on Palani, he was 26th; at the turn in the Energy Lab he had already climbed into 14th, only another four minutes outside the Top 10. 

10 Matt Run.

Matt continued to run well and moved into tenth place 5k from the finish line. 2:45:25 was his best Kona marathon, and tenth place is his best finish at an Ironman World Championship.

T2 Leaders: Sam Laidlow and Robert Kallin

Coming into T2, Sam Laidlow and Robert Kallin were leading at the front of the field, but then both didn’t have a good marathon:

Bike Sam Robert.

For the first six hours, Sam Laidlow was at the front of the race. He started to make things hard after the turnaround in the swim when he pushed the pace, likely dropping a few favorites from the lead group. Coming up the steps into T1, he was just a half-step behind Menno Koolhaas. In Nice, he lost some time in T1 putting on his aero guards; in Kona he didn’t waste any time, stormed through T1, put on his helmet (which he prepared as an ice bucket) and then went straight to the front of the race. Just two miles into the bike leg, he was 15 seconds ahead of the chasers; by mile five it was already a minute. When Magnus passed the group at mile 25, Sam’s lead was around two minutes. He further pushed the pace in the climb to Hawi, and made the turn after 2:05:51, more than nine minutes quicker than when he set the bike course record in 2022 (2:14:56). As seems to be the rule for Kona, no one was able to close the gap in the second half of the bike – and it was even Magnus who was in trouble towards T2. Riding into T2, Sam had a lead of almost six minutes.

Sam Bike Finish IM.

With a 3:57:22, Sam had set a new fastest bike time, posting the first sub-4 bike in Kona. His 2024 return leg was two minutes slower than in 2022 – was that an effect of the conditions or a first sign of having ridden a bit too hard? 

Sam had a decent run in 2022, and along the Ocean he almost exactly matched that pace in 2024: At the turn on Ali’i, he ran 22:33 (after 22:35 in 2022), and there was the same picture at the climb on Palani (40:32 vs. 40:34 in 2022). But Patrick Lange was now within 6 minutes, and it seemed unlikely that Sam would be able to hold on to the lead all the way to the finish. Then things developed quickly: In the rolling hills on the Queen K, Sam started to slow down and even had to walk, and Patrick quickly closed the gap, taking the lead even before the half-marathon mark. After that, things went further downhill for Sam. With a 3:12 marathon, he finished in 18th place, at least making his bike course record official.

Sam wasn’t able to make his bike attack stick. He probably also made others ride a bit harder than they may have wanted: Magnus Ditlev tried to follow him but then struggled towards the end of the bike (making a somewhat miraculous recovery on the run), Kristian Blummenfelt tried to follow Magnus but wasn’t able to when his stomach rebelled. This re-confirms the old “Kona Rule” that you can’t win Kona on the bike but need to leave enough in the tank for a good run. 

Behind Sam Laidlow, Robert Kallin was second into T2. He lost 1:20 in the swim, just a few seconds more than Magnus. At the start of the bike, he wasn’t quite able to stay with Magnus, losing 30 seconds in the first 5 miles. It then took him until the climb to Hawi to catch the big group, and in the downhill after Hawi he started to push the pace. At mile 80, he could ride off the front of the group, moving into second place when Magnus began to lose power. At the end of the bike, he was 6 minutes behind leader Sam Laidlow but also almost two minutes ahead of the big group. But he was overwhelmed by the many good runners behind him, and he started to move backwards even before the turn on Ali’i. With a 3:12 marathon (just a few seconds quicker than Sam Laidlow), he fell back to 23rd across the finish line.

Not quite the run they were looking for: Matthew Marquardt and Kristian Blummenfelt

It is safe to say that Matt Marquardt and Kristian Blummenfelt were looking for more than a 15th and 35th place:

Matthew Kristian.

Both swam in the lead group in the swim, reaching T1 in 11th and 14th place, just seconds behind swim leader Menno Koolhaas. After Sam Laidlow had ridden off the front, Matthew Marquardt was leading the chase group but couldn’t keep Sam from building a solid lead. Matt continued to ride well, and in the last miles of the bike ride formed an alliance with Leon to ride off the front of the big bike group. He started the run in fifth, holding on to that position for most of the section along Ali’i Drive. But once he was on the rolling hills on the Queen K, he started to fall back. By the turn in the Energy Lab, he had dropped out of the Top 10. Crossing the line with a 3:01 marathon, he was just able to hold on to 15th place, the last place in the money.

Kristian Blummenfelt stepped into the spotlight after 25 miles when he was the only one trying to follow Magnus Ditlev on his (presumed) way to the front. After a few miles of staying with Magnus, the broadcast showed Kristian vomiting a number of times, leaving the contents of his stomach and all the calories on the side of the road. After the race he said his stomach was fine but something was irritating his throat. Regardless of the cause, he had to fall back into the big group and try to catch up on calories. Of course that left a big question mark about the rest of his race, but he had thrown up in Frankfurt, too, and was still able to run a 2:32 there. Kristian was able to ride with the big group, starting the run in tenth place. On Ali’i, he ran a good pace and moved into fifth place. But after the climb on Palani, he ran out of steam, and “it was a long final 30k” for him. He walk-jogged to a 3:32 marathon, finishing a disappointing 35th. 

DNFs: Trevor Foley and Gustav Iden

Trevor Foley and Gustav Iden had disappointing DNFs:

Trevor Gustav.

Trevor Foley was one of the last athletes into T1; he was 52nd out of 54 starters and more than eight minutes behind the leader. But then he had a great bike leg, riding the last miles with Cam Wurf. At the last bike timing mat half a mile before T2, he had the second fastest bike split and had moved ahead in the field to 19th place. With his typically good run, a Top 10 finish still seemed possible. But then, as he wrote on Instagram, “I went handle bars over and hit my head, cut up my back & broke my [bars and bike].” He walked into T2 but had to call it a day. He still writes that “one positive I learned from today though, I truly believe I CAN win this race one day!”

Whenever Gustav Iden was interviewed before the race about his chances, he quickly pointed out that doing well would be a surprise to him – and a disappointment about what he believed others were capable of. Race day showed that he still has a lot of ground to make up before racing at his 2022 level. After swimming in the lead group in 2022, this year he was three and a half minutes behind after the swim. Then he lost about 30 seconds in transition to the athletes he swam with. For a while, he was able to make up some ground on the bike and bridged up to Leon Chevalier but then was quickly dropped again. Soon after, he received a one-minute littering penalty and had to ride on his own, losing more and more time. In T2, he was in 31st, twenty minutes behind the lead. He lost more ground in the early parts of the run and DNF’d after about ten miles. 

Women’s Ironman World Championship 2024 Nice – How the Race Unfolded

Here are the Top 10 finishers from the women’s 2024 Ironman World Championship in Nice and a few other notable athletes who played an important role as the race progressed:

Rank Name Nation Swim Bike Run Time Diff to exp. Prize Money
1 Laura Philipp GER 00:53:16 (17) 05:02:25 (1) 02:44:59 (1) 08:45:15 -28:43 US$ 125,000
2 Kat Matthews GBR 00:49:43 (8) 05:05:46 (2) 02:53:06 (2) 08:53:20 -23:25 US$ 65,000
3 Chelsea Sodaro USA 00:49:58 (11) 05:15:14 (4) 02:54:25 (3) 09:04:38 -12:38 US$ 45,000
4 Marjolaine Pierre FRA 00:49:56 (10) 05:12:27 (3) 03:02:30 (9) 09:09:34 -18:42 US$ 25,000
5 Nikki Bartlett GBR 00:55:30 (22) 05:17:42 (6) 02:57:24 (5) 09:15:47 -36:11 US$ 20,000
6 Marta Sanchez ESP 00:49:13 (1) 05:18:00 (7) 03:06:27 (15) 09:19:08 -27:59 US$ 18,000
7 Penny Slater AUS 00:56:46 (25) 05:18:36 (8) 03:01:22 (8) 09:21:47 -27:24 US$ 15,000
8 Lotte Wilms NED 00:49:19 (5) 05:22:02 (9) 03:05:39 (13) 09:23:28 -13:58 US$ 13,000
9 Jackie Hering USA 00:55:23 (18) 05:26:07 (13) 02:57:40 (6) 09:25:09 -05:49 US$ 12,000
10 Hannah Berry NZL 00:49:20 (6) 05:28:25 (18) 03:09:25 (18) 09:32:13 -04:38 US$ 11,000
  Ruth Astle GBR 00:56:23 (23) 05:16:37 (5)   DNF    
  Els Visser NED 00:58:58 (36) 05:23:15 (10)   DNF    
  Anne Haug GER 00:53:07 (14)     DNF    
  Anne Reischmann GER 00:57:39 (27)     DNF    

You can find the full results in my Nice Results post.

The following graph shows how the race developed (click for a hi-res version):

Nice All

Here’s a summary of the race:

  • During the swim, a front group of about 10 athletes was established. Fenella Langridge and Marta Sanchez led out into T1.
  • At the start of the bike, Marjolaine Pierre rode away from the rest of the field and built a lead of three minutes in the first 25 miles.
  • For some time, Kat Matthews was the first chaser, but in the climb to the Col de l’Ecre she was caught by Laura Philipp who erased a four-minute swim deficit. Kat was able to stay within a minute of Laura, and they caught up to Marjolaine at about the halfway mark. 
  • The three rode together on the plateau before Laura forced the pace in the climb after mile 75, building a lead of about a minute. As before, Kat was able to bridge back up to Laura, and these two reached T2 with a solid lead of seven minutes.
  • Laura and Kat ran together in the first of four run-laps, then Laura started to slowly run away from Kat in lap 2. Her lead grew from one minute after two laps to six minutes by lap 3 and eight minutes across the finish line.
  • Kat had some issues on the run, but she was able to hold on to second place. Third place went to Chelsea Sodaro who had the third-best marathon. Marjolaine lost more time on the run but was able to hold on to fourth place. 

Nice Podium

(All photos supplied by Ironman.)

Let’s have a closer look at each of the top finishers.

Ironman World Champion: Laura Philipp

After a third place in Kona 2023, Laura Philipp proved that she was clearly the strongest female in Nice:

As is typical for her, Laura Philipp lost time to the leaders in the swim. In Nice 2024, she was 4:03 behind Fenella Langridge and Marta Sanchez, who were first out of the water. Last year in Kona, she was seven minutes behind Lucy Charles but as Lucy didn’t race this year, we can’t use her to assess Laura’s swim. When you look at some of the athletes in the front group, Laura was quite a bit closer to strong swimmers such as Lotte Wilms (3:57 in Nice, was 5:36 in Kona) or Rebecca Clarke (4:00 in Nice, was 5:38 in Kona). In addition, Laura came out of the water just a few seconds behind Anne Haug – in Kona 2023 there were 2:39 mins between them, and 2:37 in Roth 2024. On the other hand, a few of her main competitors were able to swim in the front group: Kat Matthews (3:33 in Nice, was 2:43 in Kona) and Chelsea Sodaro (3:18 in Nice, was 2:49 in Kona) started the bike with a slightly bigger lead over her than in Kona. Possibly, the pace in the Nice wasn’t quite as “on” as in Kona, an observation also supported by the bigger size of the lead group. (For most of the swim, eleven athletes were close together; at the swim exit there were still seven athletes within 10 seconds, with the other four just 30 to 45 seconds back.)

In the first hills after Nice, Laura gained a few spots but lost another minute: After 25 miles, she was tenth but almost six minutes behind leader Marjolaine Pierre and still three minutes behind second place Kat Matthews. But in the long climb up to the Col de l’Ecre, Laura rode through the chase group that had broken up as everyone was riding their own pace. You could follow Laura’s progress with some great helicopter shots, and towards the end of the climb she was even able to overtake Kat Matthews and moved into second place. Kat couldn’t match her speed directly, and Laura was 30 seconds ahead of Kat at the top of the climb, still 50 seconds behind Marjolaine. In the flatter sections after the climb, she continued to close the gap to Marjolaine, but at the same time she wasn’t able to shake Kat who slowly eased her way back. Shortly after the halfway mark, all three were back together, and they stayed together on the plateau. Laura had some problems with her behind-the-seat bottle cage: Trying to put one of the water bottles into it, it sheared off her seatpost. She couldn’t just throw it away (that would have been intentional littering), and it also wouldn’t fit into her pockets or in her race top. So she had to carry it in her hands for the next ten minutes, until she was finally able to get rid of it in the next aid station. In the ascend to Coursegoules after about 75 miles, Laura again proved to be the best climber: Marjolaine started to lose significant time, but Kat again stayed within a minute behind her and worked her way back to Laura in the flat and downhill sections back towards Nice. There was less than a second between the two when they entered T2. Laura rode a 5:02:25 bike split, almost exactly the time that I had calculated before the race for the women on the Nice bike course – and the time that her coach had planned for her on a good day..

Kat had the slightly faster transition and Laura had to rush, losing her sunglasses but not her nutrition. They ran the first loop of the four-loop run course shoulder to shoulder, Laura maybe a quarter step ahead of Kat. They started very fast: Laura’s first loop was at a 2:41 marathon pace, Kat was only a few seconds slower. In the second loop, Laura slowly pulled away from Kat, at the half-marathon mark she was 1:11 ahead of Kat. Laura’s pace in lap 2 was only 26 seconds slower than in the first lap, she passed the half-way mark in 1:21:10. In lap 3 she only slowed down another 22 seconds, and she was able to increase her lead over Kat significantly – it was just over six minutes at the start of the last run lap. In the TV pictures you could see coach and husband Philipp working almost as hard as Laura, waiting to get splits to Kat and then leapfrogging Laura on the bike to pass the new information to her. Laura couldn’t quite believe that she was winning in Nice and was very glad that Philipp kept her up-to-date almost to the finish line. Even with a big lead, grabbing a German flag and enjoying the finish chute, Laura hardly slowed down, running a 2:44:59 marathon, the fastest by a female in any Ironman World Championships.

Laura FInishLine

Second Place: Kat Matthews

For a long time, Kat Matthews stayed close to the race leader, eventually crossing the finish line in second place:

For most of the swim, Kat was able to stay in the lead group and only lost 31 seconds towards the end. On the bike, she used the flat section before the first climb to ride up to the lead group, but by then Marjolaine had already ridden away. At the end of the initial climb at 17 miles, Kat was in second place but already 2:37 behind. At the start of the climb up to the Col de l’Ecre, Kat rode away from the rest of her group, but then Laura came from behind and even passed her. Kat was able to keep the gap small and to ride slowly back up to Laura in the flatter section. After the short out-and-back, Marjolaine, Laura and Kat rode together for the next miles. In the climb to Coursegoules after mile 75, Laura pulled away again, but once more Kat could close the gap in the downhill and even took the lead by a few seconds.

Kat Downhill Bike

Coming into T2, Kat and Laura were neck-and-neck, and Kat also stayed with Laura in the first lap of the run. In the second loop, Kat started to struggle and was no longer able to stay with Laura. In lap three, Kat had to take a few walk breaks and even a short stop that looked like stretching out a cramp. Even though Kat slowed down and had to let Laura build a big gap, her own gap to third place stayed the same. In the end, Kat finished with a second-best 2:53 marathon in second place. Even after her cramping problems, she ran through the finish line to embrace winner Laura Philipp.

Third Place: Chelsea Sodaro

Third place went to the Kona 2022 Champion, Chelsea Sodaro:

Chelsea’s day also started well, swimming in the front group. She lost a few more seconds than Kat in the last section into T1, she was 46 seconds behind in T1. On the bike, she lost some more time in the initial climb, falling out of the first bigger group. She rode much better in the climb to the Col de l’Ecre and moved ahead in the field. On the flatter section after the big climb, she stayed on pace, and after 80 miles she also shook off Lotte Wilms and Marta Sanchez. Chelsea reached T2 in a solid fourth place, almost ten minutes behind the leaders and probably without any real chances to win the race, but just three minutes behind Marjolaine, a podium spot within reach. 

On the run, Chelsea once again showed she is one of the best runners in long-distance triathlon. She wasn’t quite able to match the pace of the two leaders, but her first lap was only about 40 seconds slower – on pace for a projected 2:44 marathon. She caught Marjolaine after 9k and was clearly the third-fastest runner on the course. As long as she didn’t slow down dramatically, no one seemed to be able to challenge her. But like Kat, she had some problems and had to take a few walk-breaks, maybe to cool down in the Nice heat. But even so, she kept the pace up and was even able to make up a few seconds to Kat in lap 3. At the start of the last lap, things had settled down: Chelsea was still in third, eleven minutes behind Kat in second place but also six minutes ahead of Marjolaine in fourth. In the last run lap, Chelsea slowed down a bit but her third-place finish was never in doubt. 

Chelsea Run Focus

Fourth Place: Marjolaine Pierre

24-year-old Marjolaine Pierre finished in fourth place, the first Top 10 by a French woman in a long time:

4 Marjolaine.

Marjolaine was able to swim in the lead group, she exited the water with Chelsea Sodaro 45 seconds behind the lead. Then she had a quick transition and quickly took the lead. At the first timing split (10k into the bike, even before the first hills started), she was already 20 seconds ahead of the swim leaders. Like her boyfriend Clement Mignon and Sam Laidlow in last year’s men’s race, she attacked the initial hills and started to build a big lead. After 25 miles she was almost three minutes ahead of the chase group with Kat Matthews and six more athletes.

Marjolaine Bike

When Laura Philipp biked through the chase group, her lead started to come down, but it took Laura until the short out-and-back at the halfway mark before she reached Marjolaine. Kat had been able to follow along, and the three formed a new lead group about four minutes ahead of the rest of the field. They stayed together for most of the plateau until about mile 75, slightly extending their lead to just over five minutes. When Laura pushed the pace in the climb up to Greolieres, Marjolaine had to let the other two ride away, and her gap to Chelsea Sodaro behind her started to shrink. When she reached T2, she was still in third place but seven minutes behind the leaders and only three minutes ahead of Chelsea in fourth.

On the run, Marjolaine wasn’t able to match Chelsea Sodaro’s run speed and fell back to fourth place at the end of the first run lap. But no one behind her seemed to be able to challenge her for fourth place – some were losing time to Marjolaine, others were already too far back to catch her even with a good run. Before Nice, Marjolaine had only one Ironman finish, winning IM Portugal with a 3:00:49 marathon. Would she be able to run a similar time even after going hard on the hilly bike course in Nice? After the first run lap, she was projected to run a 2:58 marathon, and she didn’t slow down much in the next three laps, running a 3:02:30 marathon and finishing in fourth place. It was the first Top 10 finish of a French female in the Ironman World Championships since 1995 when the Mouthon sisters finished second (Isabelle) and eighth (Beatrice). At 24 years of age, Marjolaine was one of the youngest starters – can she continue to improve on the long distance?

Fifth Place: Nikki Bartlett

Nikki Bartlett finished in fifth place – “an absolute dream come true”:

5 Nikki

Nikki swam in the third bigger group, reaching T1 6:17 behind the leaders in 22nd place. On the bike, she lost some time to Marjolaine in the early part of the bike but started to gain positions. She rode most of the bike course with Ruth Astle, and they slowly moved through the field as some of the earlier front group lost ground. By T2, Nikki was in eighth place, 18 minutes behind the leaders. She made up more spots with a solid run pace: At the end of the first lap she had moved into sixth place, but had she gone out too fast? She was on a projected 2:51 marathon, while so far her fastest Ironman marathon was a 3:07 from Frankfurt 2022. By lap three, her pace had slowed down a bit, but she was still able to overtake Marta Sanchez and climbed into fifth place. It became clear that her coach and partner, Bex Milnes, had put together the right run program to deal with her injuries: Nikki ran a big new marathon PR of 2:57:24 and finished the Nice Ironman World Championships in fifth place.

Sixth Place: Marta Sanchez

Marta Sanchez was strong throughout the day and finished sixth in her first Ironman World Championships:

6 Marta

After the gun went off, Marta set the pace for most of the swim. Exiting the water, Fenella Langridge was quicker to find her footing on the pebbles of the Nice beach, but Marta was only half a step behind her. Marta also rode well, staying in the first big group in the initial climbs. After the Col de l’Ecre, she rode with Chelsea Soadro, battling with Lotte Wilms for fourth to sixth place. Toward T2, Lotte fell back and Marta had to let Chelsea go, reaching T2 in fifth place. Marta’s first two run laps went well, but she had to slow down a few minutes in the third lap and was caught by Nikki Bartlett. But she rallied in the final lap and was able to secure sixth place.

Seventh Place: Penny Slater

After finishing 24th and 13th in her earlier World Championships, Penny Slater finished seventh in Nice:

7 Penny

Penny had the slowest swim of the Top10 finishers in Nice, losing 7:34 to the leaders. She lost a bit more time in the first 25 miles on the bike, starting the big climb almost twelve minutes behind. But then she matched the pace at the front for the next 50 miles, slowly moving ahead in the field. She reached T2 in ninth place and quickly gained one spot when Ruth Astle had to withdraw. At the end of the first run lap, she  closed the gap to Lotte Wilms who was running in seventh place. For the rest of the run, they were in a close battle: By 25k Penny was able to build a lead of 1:36, then Lotte slowly came back and was just 16 seconds behind at 33k. In the final section, Penny was able to move ahead again and claimed seventh place. 

Eighth Place: Lotte Wilms

With her eighth place in Nice, Lotte Wilms was the first Dutch lady in the Top 10 since Yvonne Van Vlerken’s fourth place in 2013:

8 Lotte

Lotte had an eventful start: Her swim goggles were knocked off 300m into the swim. Putting them back on, she had to let the front group pass, and it took her until about the halfway mark to swim back up to the lead group. She was able to enter T1 just seven seconds behind the leaders. Then she picked up the wrong bag and lost 90 seconds in T1 – of course the front group was gone by then. Riding on her own, she lost some more time in the initial climb but then rode very well in the climb up to the Col de l’Ecre where she moved into fourth place. For 30 miles she was able to stay about 30 seconds ahead of the next athletes, but after 70 miles Chelsea Sodaro and Marta Sanchez caught and overtook her in the twisty descent before Greolieres. Reaching T2, she was still in sixth place but with only a small cushion to possibly faster runners behind her. Lotte was then able to run a new marathon PR and only fell back two spots, crossing the finish line in eighth place.

Ninth Place: Jackie Hering

After a solid performance across all three legs, Jackie Hering finished ninth:

9 Jackie

Jackie swam in the third group, losing just over six minutes in the swim – probably a bit more than she was hoping for. No one from her group was able to make significant gains in the first half, and at 50 miles on the bike, she was eleven minutes back in 15th place. In the second half of the bike, string bike riders such as Nikki, Penny or Ruth Astle worked hard to make some time, and Jackie didn’t follow them. At the start of the run, Jackie was 27 minutes behind the leaders in 14th place. Building into her run, Jackie gained a few spots and was ninth after the first half-marathon, but the next athlete was still more than four minutes ahead. Even if Jackie couldn’t gain another place in the second half with her pace slowing down, she still ran a 2:56 marathon, the sixth-fastest of the day. 

Tenth Place: Hannah Berry

Even with some bad luck, Hannah Berry was able to improve on her eleventh place from Kona 2023:

10 Hannah

Hannah swam in the lead group, then rode well in the first chase group in the initial climbs of the bike course. In the climb to the Col de l’Ecre she lost some time to that group and was riding on her own in ninth place. After about  67 miles, she had a flat and had to stop for about four minutes to fix it. Shortly before mile 80, she needed another, shorter stop to add more air to her tire. She had fallen back a few spots, but more crucially, she was also passed by other strong Top 10 contenders such as Nikki Bartlett or Penny Slater that she would have liked to ride with. By T2, Hannah was in eleventh place, 22 minutes behind the leaders. In the first run lap, she moved into tenth place with the DNF of Ruth Astle, in the second loop she gained one and lost one spot (passing Fenella Langridge, getting passed by Jackie Hering). As everyone else, her pace slowed down in the second half of the marathon, but with a 3:09 marathon, she was able to hold on to tenth place across the finish line, the best finish by a woman from New Zealand since Gina Crawford’s Top 10 finishes in the early 2010s.

Notable DNFs: Anne Haug, Anne Reischmann, Ruth Astle and Els Visser

Four athletes who could have played a big role in the race were not able to finish the race:

DNFs

Anne Haug‘s day was over just outside of T1: She lost almost four minutes in the swim to the lead group, probably a bit more than she was hoping for. After a quick transition, she hopped on her bike and immediately had to stop again with a cut tire. She tried to fix the flat by putting in a spare inner tube, but that squeezed through the cut and popped. Bike support tried to get to her but it wasn’t exactly clear where she was and they were only allowed to join the bike course after the site of her mechanical. After a long frustrating wait, there was nothing else for her to do than to walk back to her hotel.

For the first few hours, the race went much better for Anne Reischmann. She was 8:26 behind the leaders after the swim but used to a T1 deficit. She quickly started to gain spots on the bike, and by mile 70 she had climbed into the Top 10. But she dropped off the tracker, after a while the news came that she crashed on the descent to Greolieres and unable to continue. In an Instagram post she described what happened: At the aid stations, water was passed out in flimsy plastic bottles, and in a fast descent a bottle slid through the bottle cage behind her seat, falling directly onto her rear wheel. “It blocked my rear wheel for a split of a second, causing me to lose control and slide sideways. I hit the ground at more than 50km/h – so lucky me that nothing more serious happened!” Hopefully Ironman will be able to use regular bike “bidons” for their main events in the future, avoiding dangerous situations such as what happened to Anne in Nice or athletes losing the bottles and getting a littering penalty such as Taylor Knibb last year in Kona.

Another athlete who was able to move into the Top 10 on the bike after a slower swim was Ruth Astle. Ruth swam about a minute quicker than Anne Reischmann, and then the two joined forces after mile 40. By T2, Ruth gained a few more spots and started the run in seventh place. She felt she had overcome her calf issues and felt good for the first 2k, but then her calf tightened up. She tried to walk and stretch, hoping in vain it was just a cramp. 

Going into the race, Els Visser was dealing with pain in her lower right leg. She hoped that a few weeks of not running would still allow her a good race in Nice. She was further behind in the swim than she was hoping for, but then was able to improve her position on the bike and in the first lap of the run. However, the pain proved too strong and she had to abandon the race. After the race, the soreness was diagnosed as a fibula stress fracture, requiring a run break of six weeks. Even though she lost some fitness, she was already back to racing by November.

And a DNS: Lucy Charles-Barclay

Defending Champion Lucy Charles-Barclay was firmly on everyone’s list of favorites, and she still attended the press conference and the sign-in three days before the race:

Lucy SignIn

However, less than 24 hours before the race she had to announce with an Instagram post that she wouldn’t be racing in Nice because she had some discomfort in her leg which was determined to be a grade 1c muscle strain. While a minor issue, racing could have turned it into something more serious, and she didn’t want to risk another long injury break as she had to go through after her win in Kona last year. Obviously, the withdrawal of the defending champion and likely leader from the start impacted the dynamics of the actual race in Nice. 

Seed Validation for 2024

For the last few years, I have published seedings before the big races. These seedings also include Winning Odds that show the probability for the top seeds. In this post, I will review the seedings for the significant 2024 races and evaluate how accurately I have predicted the actual winners. This analysis will cover all the Diamond and Gold tier races, where there typically isn’t an “obvious” top-seed athlete expected to win if nothing strange happens.

Women

The table shows the race, the calculated top-seeded female athlete, the winning odds for the top seed in this race, the actual winner of the race, and whether there’s a match between the prediction and the actual winner.

Race Top Seed Winning
Odds		 Winner Correct 
Prediction
Miami T100 Findlay 28% Lee  
70.3 California Knibb 76% Knibb X
Singapore T100 Gentle 50% Gentle X
IM Texas Matthews 60% Matthews X
70.3 St. George Findlay 60% Findlay X
70.3 Mallorca Philipp 67% Pallant-Browne  
The Championship Lee 39% Lee X
70.3 Chattanooga True 35% Pallant-Browne  
IM Hamburg Matthews 57% Hering  
San Francisco T100 Knibb 49% Knibb X
70.3 Boulder Salthouse 82% Salthouse X
IM Cairns Simpson 36% Berry  
70.3 Mont Tremblant Findlay 43% Findlay X
70.3 Les Sables D’Olonne Pierre 28% Madsen  
Challenge Roth Haug 40% Haug X
IM Vitoria-Gasteiz Matthews 42% Matthews X
IM Lake Placid Hering 62% Lewis  
London T100 Gentle 33% Gentle X
70.3 Tallinn Matthews 42% Pohle  
70.3 Zell am See Matthews 38% Pohle  
IM World Championships Haug 55% Philipp  
Ibiza T100 Knibb 62% Knibb X
Lake Las Vegas T100 Knibb 75% Knibb X
Dubai T100 Knibb 61% Knibb X
70.3 Western Australia Barthelemy 18% Sanchez  
70.3 World Championship Knibb 74% Knibb X
26 races Average:  50% Matches: 15

Men

The table shows the race, the calculated top-seeded male athlete, the winning odds for the top seed in this race, the actual winner of the race, and whether there’s a match between the prediction and the actual winner.

Race Top Seed Winning
Odds		 Winner Correct 
Prediction
Miami T100 West 25% Ditlev  
70.3 California Long 43% Sanders  
Singapore T100 West 34% Keulen  
IM Texas Lange 48% Lange X
70.3 St. George Long 55% Long X
70.3 Mallorca Iden 55% Mann  
The Championship Smith 23% Smith X
70.3 Chattanooga Laundry 48% Hanson  
San Francisco T100 Ditlev 18% Van Riel  
70.3 Boulder Foley 23% Foley X
IM Cairns Currie 45% Burton  
70.3 Mont Tremblant Sanders 39% Sanders X
70.3 Les Sables D’Olonne Iden 26% Mann  
Challenge Roth Ditlev 51% Ditlev X
IM Vitoria-Gasteiz Laidlow 32% Benito Lopez  
IM Lake Placid Skipper 26% Foley  
London T100 Ditlev 16% Laidlow  
IM Germany Lange 50% Blummenfelt  
70.3 Tallinn Bitados 36% Bitados X
70.3 Zell am See Noodt 41% Noodt X
Ibiza T100 Van Riel 27% Van Riel X
Lake Las Vegas T100 Van Riel 52% Geens  
IM World Championships Iden 47% Lange  
Dubai T100 Van Riel 49% Van Riel X
70.3 Western Australia Phillips 18% Barnaby  
70.3 World Championship Wilde 21% Geens  
26 races Average:  36% Matches: 10

Analysis

Pulling together the data from the table above, you get the following numbers:

  Races Avg Odds Matches Match %
Women 26 50% 15 58%
Men 26 36% 10 38%
Both 52 43% 25 48%

This data indicates a good correlation between the posted odds and the actual outcome of the races (43% odds before the race, 48% actual frequency for the top seed). If anything, my top picks win slightly more often than expected, but the difference is too small to make additional changes to the prediction algorithm. I’ll continue to watch the matches – let’s have another look a year from now!

Deep Dive Into the 2024 Triathlon Money List

With the addition of the T100 Series and the Ironman Pro Series, this year has seen big changes in Pro racing. Let’s find out how this has impacted the bottom line of the Professional athletes.

If you want to check out last year’s analysis, you can find it in my post “Deep Dive Into 2023 Triathlon Money List“.

Money List – Overview

First, here is an overview of the races that are included in the money lists and comparisons between the 2024 and 2023 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 2024 Change to 2023 Total Money 
2023		 # Pro Events
2024 (2023)
Ironman Ironman-branded races
+ 70.3-branded races
+ Ironman Pro Series		 $ 2.479.450 
$ 1.786.700
$ 1.700.000		 – 6%
+ 2%
new		 $ 2.624.400
$ 1.758.000
new		 21 (25)
38 (45)
new
PTO T100 races (incl. T100 Series Pool,
but contract payments not included §)
+ PTO Rankings Bonus		 $ 3.735.000 
$ 2.000.000 		 + 111%
+/- 0		 $ 1.769.500
$ 2.000.000 		 7 (3)
1 (1)
Challenge Challenge-branded races (incl. Bonus Pool) $ 927.876  – 1% $ 934.408 28 (30)
WTS World Triathlon Series (incl. Bonus Pool) $ 1.731.800  – 6% $ 1.840.000 6 (9)
SuperTr SuperTri Professional Events
(incl. Series and Team Pools)		 $ 1.335.003  + 16% * $ 1.150.000 5 (4)
Other Independent Races (e.g Embrun,
XTerra World Championships, Alpe D’Huez)		 $ 794.195  +11% $ 716.890 26 (26)
Total   $ 16.490.024  + 29% $ 12.793.198 132 (145)

Two, somewhat technical annotations to the numbers in this table:

  • § (to T100 money): There was a significant additional sum of money awarded for T100 contracts, at the start of the year it was announced to be $ 3 Million. However, there is no officially announced distribution of this amount to specific athletes, also some athletes returned their contracts and others might have been swapped in. Therefore, I have decided not to include this money in the prize money list (both in the categories reported above and in the individual earnings discussed below), but of course this is additional money that has been paid out to professional athletes.
  • * (to SuperTri): In 2024, SuperTri has paid out the majority of their prize money to teams who then distributed this money to their athletes. I have assumed an equal split to the team’s athletes which is a reasonable starting point but could be different from what they have actually received. For 2023, team money was a smaller part of the overall SuperTri prize purse, and I have added the $300,000 to the number I had reported last year.

Some more detailed observations:

  • As already mentioned, this year’s “headline features” were the introduction of the Ironman Pro Series and the PTO’s T100 Triathlon World Tour. I’ll refrain from a discussion as to which came first and which one was a reaction to the other, but these two have created a significant addition of prize money into long-distance triathlon. The Ironman Pro Series had a $ 1.7 M prize purse for the final Standings, the T100 Tour added new events and $2M prize money. (As mentioned above, the PTO also paid out roughly $3M to contract athletes for T100). 
  • Ironman prize money (without the new Pro Series Money) is slightly down compared to 2023, money for 70.3s is very slightly up. The prize money for the Pro Series did not come from reducing regular prize money for their events. However, the number of Pro races has gone down, from a total of 70 events in 2023 to 59 in 2024. Correspondingly, the number of athletes who have made money from Ironman has also gone down: In 2024 it were 432 different athletes after 524 last year.
  • After a “gap year” of reduced events and prize money in 2023, the PTO have upped their game with the introduction of the T100 Tour. They increased their number of events from 3 in 2023 to 7 this year and continued to pay the PTO Rankings Bonus. With their additional payment of contract money for T100 athletes, they are now clearly the biggest player in term of prize money in Pro triathlon.
  • In 2024, Challenge have consolidated their race calendar and paid out almost the same prize money as in 2023.
  • WTS numbers are slightly down after they had to cancel or re-assign a few events. 
  • SuperLeague has become SuperTri in 2024. They’ve had one additional event and changed the way they pay out their prize money (see the *-annotation above), resulting in a slightly bigger overall prize purse.
  • The number of independent races that are included has stabilized at a high level. Most of these are smaller events that are just above the minimum 10k US$ to be included in the PTO World Rankings.

Overall Money List

Kat Matthews is the overall leader of the 2024 Triathlon Money List, earning just shy of  550.000 US$ – the best earning season of any of the years I have looked at. With the additional money from T100 and the Ironman Pro Series, the number of athletes making more than $100.000 has also jumped up: Last year it was 29 athletes, this year 41 athletes earned at least that much prize money. The total number of athletes who earned prize money has been almost unchanged (818 in 2023 vs. 823 this year).

Kat Matthews winning IM Vitoria

Photo: Kat Matthews winning Ironman Vitoria, one of her two Ironman wins this year and an important stepping stone to winning the Ironman Pro Series. (Photo by Eric Alonso/Getty Images for Ironman)

# Name Nation Sex Total Ironman 70.3 PTO Challenge WTS SuperTri Other
1 Kat Matthews GBR F $549,000 $311,000 $52,000 $186,000        
2 Taylor Knibb USA F $517,300 $5,000 $82,500 $410,000   $19,800    
3 Marten Van Riel BEL M $413,000 $2,500   $401,000   $9,500    
4 Ashleigh Gentle AUS F $354,427   $30,000 $307,500       $16,927
5 Kyle Smith NZL M $326,848   $19,000 $269,000 $38,848      
6 Magnus Ditlev DEN M $306,293 $65,000   $214,000 $27,293      
7 Laura Philipp GER F $301,692 $130,000 $13,500 $144,000 $14,192      
8 Patrick Lange GER M $288,000 $275,000   $13,000        
9 Gregory Barnaby ITA M $278,250 $231,500 $23,250 $23,500        
10 Julie Derron SUI F $253,621   $18,500 $218,000 $11,821 $5,300    
11 Hayden Wilde NZL M $247,575   $45,000     $71,700 $126,875 $4,000
12 Cassandre Beaugrand FRA F $219,875         $138,000 $81,875  
13 Jelle Geens BEL M $212,250 $5,000 $87,250 $110,000   $10,000    
14 Jackie Hering USA F $210,750 $181,500 $9,250 $20,000        
15 Sam Long USA M $207,500 $20,000 $20,000 $167,500        
16 Rico Bogen GER M $196,303   $13,000 $178,500 $4,803      
17 Leo Bergere FRA M $195,678   $36,000     $81,900 $77,778  
18 Paula Findlay CAN F $168,750 $5,000 $35,250 $108,500 $20,000      
19 Georgia Taylor-Brown GBR F $164,975   $12,000     $26,100 $126,875  
20 India Lee GBR F $164,876     $148,500 $16,376      
21 Alex Yee GBR M $162,889         $124,000 $38,889  
22 Lucy Byram GBR F $146,000     $136,000 $10,000      
23 Lotte Wilms NED F $144,335 $124,000 $7,250 $12,500       $585
24 Imogen Simmonds SUI F $143,500   $19,000 $124,500        
25 Hannah Berry NZL F $136,161 $114,500 $7,500 $10,000       $4,161
26 Youri Keulen NED M $135,000   $5,000 $130,000        
27 Kristian Hogenhaug DEN M $133,935 $110,500 $3,500 $10,000 $9,935      
28 Flora Duffy BMU F $132,600     $116,500   $16,100    
29 Alistair Brownlee GBR M $132,500     $132,500        
30 Els Visser NED F $126,176 $57,000 $11,250 $25,000 $31,325     $1,601
31 Mathis Margirier FRA M $123,500   $10,000 $113,500        
32 Taylor Spivey USA F $115,875     $56,500   $12,500 $46,875  
33 Jeanne Lehair LUX F $115,778         $38,000 $77,778  
34 Sam Laidlow FRA M $114,000     $114,000        
35 Mika Noodt GER M $110,500   $7,500 $103,000        
36 Pieter Heemeryck BEL M $107,500     $107,500        
37 Matthew Marquardt USA M $106,750 $93,000 $3,750 $10,000        
38 Marta Sanchez ESP F $104,347 $63,000 $17,250 $17,000       $7,097
39 Beth Potter GBR F $103,889         $90,000 $13,889  
40 Frederic Funk GER M $103,325     $87,500 $15,825      
41 Rudy von Berg USA M $103,234 $45,000   $49,500 $8,734      
42 Anne Haug GER F $98,293 $3,000   $66,000 $29,293      
43 Lucy Charles-Barclay GBR F $95,500 $15,000   $80,500        
44 Chelsea Sodaro USA F $95,241 $65,000 $3,500 $24,500       $2,241
45 Matt Hanson USA M $94,500 $69,000 $15,500 $10,000        

Career Earnings

I have been compiling prize money data since about 2018, meaning that over the years I have been able to put together an important part of how Pros earn a living. With that much data, it makes sense to put together “career earnings”, but of course there are a lot of athletes for whom this data is incomplete as there have been races in the earlier part of their careers that are not included in my data.

With Daniela Ryf leading the table and her career coming to an end, this is a good time to start adding the “Triathlon Millionaires”, athletes who have earned at least one million US Dollars of prize money. (I’m sure there are more than listed below, but these are the ones who I can “verify” and break down race by race where they earned how much.) 

Screenshot: Daniela Ryf’s last finish line at IM South Africa on April 21st. (Source: Instagram)

Below are all “verified” eleven “Triathlon Millionaires” and how much money they earned this year from official prize money. It’ll be interesting to see how many athletes can be added in the coming years!

Pos Name Sex Nation Career Prize Money 2024 Prize Money
1 Daniela Ryf F SUI $1.858.470 $10.500
2 Kristian Blummenfelt M NOR $1.360.095 $43.321
3 Taylor Knibb F USA $1.339.750 $517.300
4 Lucy Charles-Barclay F GBR $1.337.259 $95.500
5 Anne Haug F GER $1.299.725 $98.293
6 Ashleigh Gentle F AUS $1.292.635 $354.427
7 Jan Frodeno M GER $1.187.707 Retired
8 Patrick Lange M GER $1.099.179 $288.000
9 Lionel Sanders M CAN $1.069.000 $55.000
10 Laura Philipp F GER $1.013.323 $301.692
11 Kat Matthews F GBR $1.008.400 $549.000

PTO Events / T100 Tour

This year, the T100 Tour was dominated by Taylor Knibb, winning all four of her races and becoming the undisputed T100 World Champion. She also earned the biggest part of the T100 money, just over 400k. Athletes at the front of this table have focused on T100 racing, the two notable exceptions are Kat Matthews (who also did the Ironman Pro Series) and Laura Philipp (who had IM Worlds in Nice as her clear A-race). The number of athletes who received a payment from the PTO is almost unchanged (122 vs. 124 in 2023).

Taylor Knibb Dubai T100

Photo: Taylor Knibb raising the banner after winning Dubai T100 and the T100 Tour, provided by the PTO.

# Name Sex PTO Total Share
1 Taylor Knibb F $ 410.000 $ 512.300 80%
2 Marten Van Riel M $ 401.000 $ 410.200 98%
3 Ashleigh Gentle F $ 307.500 $ 354.427 87%
4 Kyle Smith M $ 269.000 $ 326.848 82%
5 Julie Derron F $ 218.000 $ 250.921 87%
6 Magnus Ditlev M $ 214.000 $ 306.293 70%
7 Kat Matthews F $ 186.000 $ 549.000 34%
8 Rico Bogen M $ 178.500 $ 196.303 91%
9 Sam Long M $ 167.500 $ 207.500 81%
10 India Lee F $ 148.500 $ 164.876 90%
11 Laura Philipp F $ 144.000 $ 301.692 48%
12 Lucy Byram F $ 136.000 $ 146.000 93%
13 Alistair Brownlee M $ 132.500 $ 132.500 100%
14 Youri Keulen M $ 130.000 $ 135.000 96%
15 Imogen Simmonds F $ 124.500 $ 143.500 87%
16 Flora Duffy F $ 116.500 $ 123.600 94%
17 Sam Laidlow M $ 114.000 $ 114.000 100%
18 Mathis Margirier M $ 113.500 $ 123.500 92%
19 Jelle Geens M $ 110.000 $ 210.250 52%
20 Paula Findlay F $ 108.500 $ 168.750 64%
21 Pieter Heemeryck M $ 107.500 $ 107.500 100%
22 Mika Noodt M $ 103.000 $ 110.500 93%
23 Frederic Funk M $ 87.500 $ 103.325 85%
24 Lucy Charles-Barclay F $ 80.500 $ 95.500 84%
25 Anne Haug F $ 66.000 $ 98.293 67%

Ironman Races

This year’s Ironman money list is topped by the female winner of the Ironman Pro Series, Kat Matthews, who also finished twice in both the Ironman and 70.3 World Championships. She is followed by Patrick Lange (Kona Champion) and Gregory Barnaby (men’s Ironman Pro Series Winner). There have been fewer Ironman Pro events this year, and the number of athletes who have made money from Ironman has also gone down. In 2024 there were 432 different athletes who received a cheque from Ironman.

Kat Matthews Taupo

Photo: Kat Matthews celebrating her second place at 70.3 World Championships in Taupo, allowing her to win the Ironman Pro Series. (Photo by Fiona Goodall/Getty Images for IRONMAN)

# Name Sex IM 70.3 Pro Series Ironman Total Share
1 Kat Matthews F $ 111.000 $ 52.000 $ 200.000 $ 363.000 $ 549.000 66%
2 Patrick Lange M $ 145.000   $ 130.000 $ 275.000 $ 288.000 95%
3 Gregory Barnaby M $ 31.500 $ 23.250 $ 200.000 $ 254.750 $ 278.250 92%
4 Jackie Hering F $ 51.500 $ 9.250 $ 130.000 $ 190.750 $ 210.750 91%
5 Laura Philipp F $ 125.000 $ 13.500 $ 5.000 $ 143.500 $ 301.692 48%
6 Lotte Wilms F $ 39.000 $ 7.250 $ 85.000 $ 131.250 $ 144.335 91%
7 Hannah Berry F $ 44.500 $ 7.500 $ 70.000 $ 122.000 $ 136.161 90%
8 Kristian Hogenhaug M $ 25.500 $ 3.500 $ 85.000 $ 114.000 $ 133.935 85%
9 Matthew Marquardt M $ 23.000 $ 3.750 $ 70.000 $ 96.750 $ 106.750 91%
10 Jelle Geens M   $ 87.250 $ 5.000 $ 92.250 $ 212.250 43%
11 Taylor Knibb F   $ 82.500 $ 5.000 $ 87.500 $ 517.300 17%
12 Matt Hanson M $ 19.000 $ 15.500 $ 50.000 $ 84.500 $ 94.500 89%
13 Marta Sanchez F $ 58.000 $ 17.250 $ 5.000 $ 80.250 $ 104.347 77%
14 Maja Stage Nielsen F $ 26.000 $ 2.500 $ 50.000 $ 78.500 $ 86.500 91%
15 Danielle Lewis F $ 28.500 $ 7.250 $ 40.000 $ 75.750 $ 87.933 86%
16 Chelsea Sodaro F $ 60.000 $ 3.500 $ 5.000 $ 68.500 $ 95.241 72%
17 Els Visser F $ 27.000 $ 11.250 $ 30.000 $ 68.250 $ 126.176 54%
18 Magnus Ditlev M $ 65.000     $ 65.000 $ 306.293 21%
19 Bradley Weiss M $ 14.000 $ 1.250 $ 40.000 $ 55.250 $ 72.750 76%
20 Penny Slater F $ 34.000 $ 3.250 $ 10.000 $ 47.250 $ 55.250 86%
21 Ellie Salthouse F   $ 40.750 $ 5.000 $ 45.750 $ 70.750 65%
22 Hayden Wilde M   $ 45.000   $ 45.000 $ 247.575 18%
22 Rudy von Berg M $ 45.000     $ 45.000 $ 103.234 44%
24 Lionel Sanders M $ 24.000 $ 15.000 $ 5.000 $ 44.000 $ 55.000 80%
24 Mathias Petersen M $ 24.000   $ 20.000 $ 44.000 $ 49.000 90%

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, Jack Moody was at the top of the Challenge bonus table, making almost all of his money from Challenge events. In total, 220 athletes finished in the money ranks in the 2024 Challenge races. This slight reduction is in line with fewer Pro events under the Challenge banner.

Jack Moody Challenge Quebec

Photo: Jack Moody winning Challenge Quebec, provided by Challenge Family

# Name Sex Challenge Total Share
1 Jack Moody M $ 41.145 $ 45.306 91%
2 Alanis Siffert F $ 39.031 $ 68.441 57%
3 Kyle Smith M $ 38.848 $ 326.848 12%
4 Els Visser F $ 31.325 $ 126.176 25%
5 Anne Haug F $ 29.293 $ 98.293 30%
6 Aurelia Boulanger F $ 27.919 $ 27.919 100%
7 Ognjen Stojanovic M $ 27.373 $ 34.474 79%
8 Magnus Ditlev M $ 27.293 $ 306.293 9%
9 Jesper Svensson M $ 21.998 $ 21.998 100%
10 Paula Findlay F $ 20.000 $ 168.750 12%
11 India Lee F $ 16.376 $ 164.876 10%
12 Frederic Funk M $ 15.825 $ 103.325 15%
13 Rebecca Robisch F $ 15.244 $ 15.244 100%
14 Tom Hug M $ 14.481 $ 28.431 51%
15 Laura Philipp F $ 14.192 $ 301.692 5%
15 Thomas Bishop M $ 14.192 $ 35.142 40%
17 Laura Madsen F $ 13.646 $ 78.896 17%
18 Julie Derron F $ 11.821 $ 253.621 5%
19 Lucy Byram F $ 10.000 $ 146.000 7%
19 Marc Dubrick M $ 10.000 $ 54.000 19%

Short Course

As in previous years, the top earner of “short course money” had to be successful in both major events, the World Triathlon Championship Series and SuperTri. This year Cassandre Beaugrand comes out on top of this list, she was able to win both series and didn’t race any longer distances. In total, 166 athletes made money this year in short-course events, up from 115 last year.

Beaugrand WTC Final

Photo: Cassandre Beaugrand standing on top of the podium after the WTC Finals in Torremolinos, provided by World Triathlon.

# Name Sex WTS SuperTri Short Course Total Share
1 Cassandre Beaugrand F $ 138.000 $ 81.875 $ 219.875 $ 219.875 100%
2 Hayden Wilde M $ 71.700 $ 126.875 $ 198.575 $ 247.575 80%
3 Alex Yee M $ 124.000 $ 38.889 $ 162.889 $ 162.889 100%
4 Leo Bergere M $ 81.900 $ 77.778 $ 159.678 $ 195.678 82%
5 Georgia Taylor-Brown F $ 26.100 $ 126.875 $ 152.975 $ 164.975 93%
6 Jeanne Lehair F $ 38.000 $ 77.778 $ 115.778 $ 115.778 100%
7 Beth Potter F $ 90.000 $ 13.889 $ 103.889 $ 103.889 100%
8 Kate Waugh F $ 25.800 $ 61.875 $ 87.675 $ 91.675 96%
9 Vincent Luis M $ 31.600 $ 46.875 $ 78.475 $ 90.475 87%
10 Lisa Tertsch F $ 71.600   $ 71.600 $ 71.600 100%
11 Matthew Hauser M $ 42.600 $ 27.778 $ 70.378 $ 70.378 100%
12 Vetle Bergsvik Thorn M $ 17.100 $ 46.875 $ 63.975 $ 63.975 100%
13 Leonie Periault F $ 35.300 $ 27.778 $ 63.078 $ 63.078 100%
14 Emma Lombardi F $ 60.900   $ 60.900 $ 60.900 100%
15 Tim Hellwig M $ 2.700 $ 56.875 $ 59.575 $ 60.825 98%
16 Taylor Spivey F $ 12.500 $ 46.875 $ 59.375 $ 115.875 51%
17 Dorian Coninx M $ 14.600 $ 42.778 $ 57.378 $ 57.378 100%
18 Max Stapley M $ 8.300 $ 46.875 $ 55.175 $ 57.675 96%
19 Barbara De Koning F $ 1.100 $ 46.875 $ 47.975 $ 47.975 100%
20 Pierre Le Corre M $ 44.900   $ 44.900 $ 44.900 100%
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