IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship PRO Start List: The Stage is Set for the World's Best to Meet in the French Riviera
Reigning World Champion Daniela Ryf seeks to become first ever to win five IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship titles
- Wide open men’s field filled with Olympic and World Champions: Gomez, Brownlee, Kienle and Lange
- IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship set to take place in Nice, France on Sept. 7-8, 2019
NICE, France / TAMPA, Fla. (August 19, 2019) – The IRONMAN® 70.3® World Championship returns to Europe for the first time since 2015 as more than 5,500 professional and age-group athletes from over 100 countries, regions, and territories will descend upon Nice, France on Sept. 7-8, 2019. Among them will be 115 of the world’s top triathletes who will battle for piece of the $250,000 USD total professional prize purse and the world’s most coveted IRONMAN 70.3 titles – World Champion.
“We are excited to return to Europe and watch the world’s top talent come together in Nice,” said Andrew Messick, President and Chief Executive Officer for IRONMAN. “Nice is an extraordinary location for a world-class professional field to put their talent on display and we look forward to an exciting two-day World Championship event.”
The start of the 1,9 kilometre (1.2 mile) Roka Swim Course takes place on the Quai des Etats-Unis as athletes begin their swim in La baie des Anges. Next, the 91,3 kilometre (56.7 mile) single-loop Ventum Bike Course leads athletes to the mountains surrounding Nice, including Col de Vence. Most notably there is a 9 kilometre (5.6 mile) climb at an average incline of 6.6 percent to reach 962 meters (3,156 feet) above sea level. The 21,2 kilometre (13.1 mile) HOKA ONE ONE Run Course will take athletes on two loops along the world-famous Promenade des Anglais where the finish line is located.
Since 2014, the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship has been rotating among premier cities around the globe following its early years in Clearwater, Fla. (2006-2010) and Henderson, Nev. (2011-2013). IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship have included picturesque locations like Mont-Tremblant, Quebec (2014); Zell am See, Austria (2015); Queensland, Australia (2016); Chattanooga, Tenn. (2017); and Nelson Mandela Bay, South Africa (2018). The 2020 IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship will be held on Nov. 28-29 in Taupō, New Zealand. It was announced that the 2021 IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship will return to American soil with St. George, Utah playing host.
Professional Women’s Field – Saturday, September 7, 2019
Since the first IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship was held in 2006 the women’s race has seen 10 different champions from five different countries. Swiss Daniela Ryf has won an event-best four times and could become the first athlete, male or female, to win the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship a fifth time. Together with Mirinda Carfrae (AUS) and Leanda Cave (GBR), Ryf also holds the distinction of having won the IRONMAN World Championship as well the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship.
Trying to dethrone Ryf will be a stellar group of female triathletes: Great Britain’s Holly Lawrence, who was crowned IRONMAN 70.3 World Champion in 2016 in Queensland (Australia), and Lucy Charles-Barclay, who comes off wins at the Standard Bank IRONMAN African Championship and IRONMAN 70.3 Staffordshire, are considered strong contenders for the top podium. Also, Germany’s Anne Haug, who placed third at last year’s IRONMAN World Championship and IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship, has recovered from injury and is eager to build on her reputation as a fierce competitor. Additional global competition will come from Ellie Salthouse (AUS), Emma Pallant (GBR) and Radka Kahlefeldt (CZE), each of whom continue to impress on the IRONMAN 70.3 circuit. With the strong lineup, only one athlete in the field, however, can claim she knows what it takes to win in Nice: Manon Genet of France will be representing the host nation after her commanding victory at last year’s inaugural IRONMAN 70.3 Nice triathlon which was held on this year’s championship course.
Professional Men’s Field - Sunday, September 8, 2019
On the men’s side, two-time IRONMAN 70.3 World Champion Javier Gomez of Spain will be the man to beat. The five-time ITU short-distance World Champion and four-time ETU European Champion has set his sights on recapturing the title that Jan Frodeno of Germany stripped from him last year. Gomez, who won the race in 2014 in Mont-Tremblant, Quebec (CAN) and in 2017 in Chattanooga, Tennessee (USA), will be facing a star-studded field of male competitors, including Olympic Champion Alistair Brownlee (GBR), IRONMAN World Champions Sebastian Kienle and Patrick Lange of Germany, two-time Top 5 IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship finisher Sam Appleton (AUS), as well as five-time IRONMAN France winner Frederik van Lierde (BEL). American Rodolphe “Rudy” von Berg is a dark horse who could surprise after spending his adolescent years in the area of Nice and is very familiar with the landscape of the course. Notably absent will be defending champion Jan Frodeno who will be focusing on the IRONMAN World Championship in Kailua-Kona, Hawai`i this year.
Below is the pro women’s start list for the 2019 IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship:
Below is the pro men’s start list for the 2019 IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship:
About the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship
In 2006 the inaugural IRONMAN® 70.3® World Championship was held in Clearwater, Florida becoming another test for the world’s elite triathletes. Since that auspicious beginning, the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship has grown in stature and popularity moving first to Henderson, Nevada in 2011, where athletes encountered a more challenging terrain and then to Mont-Tremblant, Quebec—its first stop on the new "global rotation" for the championship. The event reached European soil for the first time ever in 2015, with Zell am See, Austria, hosting an epic and memorable event. In 2016, the race moved from the mountains to the beaches of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia. In 2017, the race returned to the United States, taking place in Chattanooga, Tennessee where it became a two-day event for the first time. In 2018, the event reached the African continent for the first time and was hosted in Nelson Mandela Bay in South Africa. Continuing the rotation, 2019 sees the French Riviera and Nice, France play host to the ever-growing championship event. More than 200,000 athletes participate annually in a series of qualifying races, consisting of over 100 events in locations such as Australia, Brazil, China, Germany, North America, South Africa and Switzerland. Hosting more than 5,000 athletes from around the world, participants in the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship have ranged in age from 18 to 85-plus. In 2020, the event will move to Taupõ, New Zealand where there is a long and storied IRONMAN history that spans 20 years before reaching the Red Rocks of St. George, Utah in the United States in 2021.
About The IRONMAN Group
As part of Wanda Sports Group, The IRONMAN Group operates a global portfolio of events that includes the IRONMAN® Triathlon Series, the IRONMAN® 70.3® Triathlon Series, 5150™ Triathlon Series, the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon Series®, IRONKIDS®, ITU World Triathlon Series, premier running events including the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon and The Sun-Herald City2Surf® presented by Westpac, Ultra-Trail® World Tour events including Tarawera Ultra and Ultra-Trail Australia™, mountain bike races including the Absa Cape Epic®, road cycling events, and other multisport races. The IRONMAN Group is the largest operator of mass participation sports in the world and provides more than a million participants annually the benefits of endurance sports through the company’s vast offerings. Since the inception of the iconic IRONMAN® brand and its first event in 1978, athletes have proven that ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE® by crossing finish lines around the world. Beginning as a single race, The IRONMAN Group has grown to become a global sensation with more than 235 events across 55+ countries. For more information, visitwww.ironman.com.
About Wanda Sports Group
Wanda Sports Group (Nasdaq: WSG) is a leading global sports events, media and marketing platform with a mission to unite people in sports and enable athletes and fans to live their passions and dreams. Through our businesses, including Infront and The IRONMAN Group, we have significant intellectual property rights, long-term relationships and broad execution capabilities, enabling us to deliver unrivalled sports event experiences, creating access to engaging content and building inclusive communities. We offer a comprehensive array of events, marketing and media services through three primary segments: Mass Participation, Spectator Sports and Digital, Production, Sports Solutions (DPSS). Our full-service platform creates value for our partners and clients as well as other stakeholders in the sports ecosystem, from rights owners, to brands and advertisers, and to fans and athletes.
Headquartered in Beijing, China, Wanda Sports Group has more than 60 offices and 1,600 employees around the world.