5 Takeaways From the 2025 70.3 Worlds
We did it, everybody — the 2025 IRONMAN Pro Series is in the books. The eight month long season has crowned four extremely worthy world champions at our respective distances, as well as the season-long points champions (and the lucrative end-of-year bonuses associated with it). I think I speak for everybody when I say that we’re all exhausted and ready to re-group for 2026.
Naturally, that means that we have Dubai this weekend and Qatar in December to wrap-up the T100 series…but you get the point. It’s almost over. But with that all in mind, here are some things we learned from this past weekend.
Charles-Barclay’s Masterclass
My jaw just about hit the floor when I saw Lucy Charles-Barclay sticking with Taylor Knibb midway through the bike. I had, like many, assumed that Knibb would have opened up a lead on the bike, and Charles-Barclay would need to make up a gap, not entirely dissimilar from the approach we saw in Kona.
So when Charles-Barclay was, well, right there and looking very strong? It was clear that she had recovered well from her DNF in Kona. And then she also let Knibb get away a little bit during the early moments of the run before turning the afterburners on. It was a controlled, measured, disciplined approach to the race that played to nearly all of her strengths. In other words, it was brilliant. I’d argue that it is her strongest tactical performance ever; when you factor in her pure ability as an athlete, it’s a thrilling combination.
In fewer words: I was really wrong in my prediction article. Freezing cold take, indeed.
On Gamesmanship and Tactics
Tactics were also the name of the game in the men’s race. Between eventual champion Jelle Geens being forced to overcome mechanical issues, Kristian Blummenfelt smartly carving his way through the bike field, and then jockeying for position on the run, it was less a battle of pure fitness and more a thinking man’s game.
Much has been made in our forum about whether Blummenfelt’s race craft crosses any sort of lines, in part due to Geens calling the run “annoying” during our post-race interview, saying that Blummenfelt wouldn’t take turns on the front.
Geens is more than entitled to call it annoying. But that’s the exact type of race craft that we should come to expect out of the top end of the field.
These races are not a time trial. It’s a battle between the athletes. And that means using tactics, or the rulebook, to your advantage. There’s been much written about tactics like accelerating while being passed to lead to a potential position foul being called, or not taking a pull in a larger group while on the ride or the run. The mission is to win while following the rules. There’s no gentlemen’s agreement that says if you’re leading the race that you have to keep trying the workload.
Blummenfelt was, by most accounts, trying to allow Stornes to bridge up. Was that a potential plan to have the two of them work to try to dispose of Geens? Perhaps. But it’s all more than fair, and we shouldn’t call it anything else than that.
The Disastrous “Technical Issue” During the Sprint Finish
Speaking of Geens and Blummenfelt, they had a sprint finish for the ages brewing, trading blows entering the final kilometer.
And then we got to watch a whole lot of hotel and coastline shots before seeing Geens in the finish chute with a gap over Blummenfelt. The exact type of high tension finish that we’re all seeking out of this type of racing and we all missed it.
IRONMAN called it “technical difficulties.” I’m sorry, but I call that unforgivable. There is no way that, for a world championship event, you can miss the winning move of the race. Whether that was a breakdown of the actual transmission equipment, or an issue of reception in that area, both aren’t excuses and are reasonably foreseeable. Cameras break down. Races go through poor reception zones. These have to be planned for and executed better.
When factored with Outside Watch’s programmatic advertising cutting off commentators mid-sentence on multiple occasions, the entire presentation of the race did not match the quality of the racing that actually took place. It’s a disservice to the athletes, the community, and to the brand itself. Collectively, the world championship race broadcasts must feel like they are a world championship quality. At best, we had a ho-hum typical IRONMAN live stream. That standard might fly for your run of the mill Pro Series race, but it doesn’t fly for a world championship.
Thankfully, IRONMAN was able to recover the footage after the fact, and has uploaded that to YouTube.
On is the New HOKA
There was a time when it seemed like every pro triathlete was signing with HOKA. Within short order, HOKA had managed to sign both Jan Frodeno and Daniela Ryf to contracts, and then it seemed like everyone else was following. It helped that the Rocket X 2 was just about everything you could possibly want out of a triathlon running shoe: lightweight, well-cushioned, stable, and responsive.
Well, move aside, HOKA. On has come front and center. Blummenfelt and Gustav Iden felt like the start of a strong push in the marketplace. But now they have the following athletes all under contract:
- IRONMAN World Champion Solveig Løvseth, who signed with the brand after her win wearing their shoes without a contract
- 70.3 World Champion Jelle Geens, who signed with the brand last year after his win in their shoes without a contract
- Josh Amberger
- Kristian Blummenfelt
- Paula Findlay
- Ashleigh Gentle
- Matt Hanson
- Gustav Iden
- Chelsea Sodaro
- Lisa Tertsch
- Kate Waugh
There’s just not any other run-brand putting this much firepower into triathlon at the moment. The question is whether it will wind up paying off with market share amongst age groupers. Considering their net sales for the first part of the year are up 32% over 2024, we may start seeing more of their shoes in transition zones soon.
Pro Series Podium Ceremony Should Be a Separate Event
I’m not going to fault Lisa Perterer for pulling the ripcord on her season following her excellent performance in Kona. When you also factor that she was unlikely to be budged from her third-place position in the Pro Series, and they hefty paycheck associated with it, there was a lot of risk for nearly no reward here.
And I’m also not going to fault her for this photo of the Pro Series podium ceremony where she’s, well, nowhere to be found.
It’s more comedic than anything else that we have these very large season-ending bonus checks being awarded, and one of the big winners of it is simply not there. It makes IRONMAN look bad, and it makes the athlete look bad, and there’s no real good reason for it.
Many other sporting bodies wind up having an end-of-year awards ceremony where championships and accolades are actually awarded. This feels like something that IRONMAN could wind up doing in a centralized location and celebrate the top 10 athletes in the Pro Series, as well as the respective World Champions. It’s something that they could live stream on YouTube, have some sponsor presentations, and help generate free content for brands who sponsor these respective athletes (as race-related content has its own series of rules and restrictions). It’s low-cost with a much higher upside for both the IRONMAN brand and the athletes.
Having Kona as the last race (presumably) until 2029 will mean that the winner needs to be there anyway so it kinda solves itself. Either that or just mandate that athletes need to be physically present to collect the cheque.
Or… I suppose that we could take a page out of cycling’s playbook - maybe do a life-sized cutout of anyone missing?
Takeaway 6: Raceday threads on slowtwitch eventually turn into a dumpster fire because some folks just can’t let things go
The lesson, as always, is that there ain’t no drama like triathlon drama.
Couple things, first Lucy did ride with Taylor in Kona. Even when she served her penalty(which is the only reason she dropped) she then pretty much even rode her for that last super hard part to T2. And in an earlier T100 race not long ago, she also rode with her, and then went on to win that race too. So not at all surprising she did so once again, she certainly has upped her cycling game with 3 races now to prove it..
And secondly, can we stop saying that Blu was waiting for Stornes? I mean this is a ridiculous take, and no way in the world was that happening. Now did he probably say you keep in front or otherwise he will catch us? He likely used that fear of adding one more to the mix to keep Geens to stay on the front, which is not a bad tactic when you are the one stressed by the pace. Of course he didnt want Casper to bridge up either, just another guy to push you back on the podium. But knowing that Geens was all in on winning, he would take the pace to keep it Mano a Mano.
I put a lot less weight on Kona given the meltdown…but I’d forgotten about T100.
And no, we can’t stop saying that…when literally that’s what he was saying he was doing. I do think it forced Geens to try to break KB over and over again, which meant that after KB’s responses, they were out of touch. Regardless, it’s the same gamesmanship, which I think is all fair play.
The on runners are on alot of fast runners but the Asics meta rays had the fastest run splits in T100, Nice Ironman , Kona ironman, LCB in Marbella. And not only that they all had the fastest second half split.
Casper has the adidas right vs Nice with the Asics now and if we think the shoes mean so much well … he was third this time.
I think only about 20 or so people care about the presentation of the big checks , and they are the people getting the big checks.
Also note that Jelle said Blu would start breathing heavy, seemingly trying to bait him. And when Blu went to the front, multiple times he looked at his watch. I doubt he was doing that because he was curious about his pace.
I think Blu was trying whatever he could to toy with Jelle, but clearly it backfired.
he said he was waiting till 1.5 km left to go for it, and he did and he lost. it’s call a strategy vs a better runner on the day. this was awesome how can people be upset with the gamesmanship, did you want them to hold hands , or do 50/50 work. or TRY TO WIN!!!
Kristian Blu saying something, especially to a competitor during competition… you’re old enough to know it’s just that, him saying it
Your observation that some On athletes signed after some year(s) of paying for the shoes really tells you something about the shoes. Maybe we’ll stop hearing “this and this is a great shoe, Ronnie the Antilope is wearing it”, so that we can correct people in a tired voice, yeah he’s sponsored, that’s the reason. It’ll be “this and this is a great shoe, Dave the Leopard spent $3.500 to wear it”.
My own observation on the trends in triathlon: actually I’m lying, it’s an observation made by others that I’ve heard from @JackKelly-TTH. North America, or in fact the non-European world, is the little league of long course triathlon.
Who said I’m upset? I said he was playing games with breathing and watch checking and Casper comments. It seems more likely to have lit a fire in Jelle by how he not only responded on the course but at the finish line. Not saying there’s bad blood but after all Jelle went through that day it’s clear he was annoyed to say that least.
Final thoughts on the gamesmanship. It’s an interesting move if you think you can manipulate your competitor. But what does that say you think about them? That they can be manipulated to your will. Maybe you can forgive me, even if I’m KB and and wanted him to win, for believing that Jelle was annoyed by this.
And let’s remember that Ironwar between two competitors who respected each other and were willing to battle on equal footing. Did one of them run behind the other and do the smart thing? Maybe Dave wished he did by the end, but Jelle was asking for a heads up battle. Kristian didn’t give him one until the end and played a few games.
Again that’s just the reality. You can say it was the smart play and KB had nothing more to give. But only he knows that.
another take away the headline that kb is more motivated than anybody else is bs , for a few seconds he had the momentum on his side, but he did not seem the most motivated athelte to win, little geens , denied blu to enter his path , and pushed blu ( fair and square) from his lane and is seems like blue than gave up a bit too early. i dont think he would have won but most motivated althelte iam not so sure.
still ,he made no excuses and that why blu is a great athlete.
You’re spot on there. But this “who’s more motivated” thing will always be iffy. We don’t know!
Remember when Blu was the guy capable of suffering more than anyone else, just because he was making the best pain faces? I’m so glad that’s gone! (Hopefully it is)
Agree that nobody cares about the big checks outside the vanity circle of those getting/receiving/covering them. It was always a big joke in our newsroom if somebody seriously proposed putting a photo of a big check in the paper anyplace outside the society page, and most photojournalists simply refuse to take that photo because they know it’s never getting published.
Same with photos of ribbon cuttings and groundbreakings, you know, where a murderers’ row of politicians and local heavies are tossing shovels of dirt in the air to commemorate the start of their latest boondoggle.
So, wait, you say, why do we see so many photos of check passings, ribbon cuttings and groundbreakings? In local papers, as in niche publications, where you have to work to fill the pages, names are news, and important folk like to see photos of themselves doing anodyne things like giving out plaques. But Ironman doesn’t need to spend money on an awards ceremony on the fans’ behalf. Save it for improving the live coverage.
Go back and read about how Mark Allen spent the entire swim trying to get into Dave Scott’s head. There were plenty of race tactics being deployed even back then that were more than physical.
Couple of thoughts
On year end awards, they should make it a requirement that the athlete show up to receive it. They don’t need to do the final race (for which they would have to pay to show up and race), but minimally if they are so well padded in advance that they don’t need to do the grand finale of the series to win a cheque, then just spend a few $$$ from your cheque and go get it. I think this is more on her not showing up than Ironman looking bad.
On the coverage dropping out, from what I understand that some of the motos on the course have a direct link from their cameras to starlink internet, however, the camera guy on the 1 wheeler (by the way, those guys are amazing), had 5G modem on the camera, and he was literally driving through 10,000 fans and supporters all on 5G in the final square km. The base station can only handle so many live call connections at the same time. It would be a Movistar 5G base station capacity issue to a degree in that no telecom carrier generally provisions base station on a random downstown street to have the came base band processing capacity to demodulate that many calls in real time, not to mention the bandwidth on the backhaul from that tower/base station combo to the internet. It is different next door to stadiums, where typically the telecom carriers HAVE provisioned the base stations with sufficient capacity to handle connections from 50,000 phones at the same time but even there, we see all kinds of drop outs.
Probably the solution is for the one wheeler guys to have Starlink connection, but I don’t know if that is possible to haul around a starlink antenna on a one wheeler. So you would need a moto. Maybe the solution is a an electric scooter for the run with Starlink internet so it’s not mixing up with 5G from all the people onsite and that way it’s not the noise and fumes of a moto on the run.
But I gotta hand it to the camera guys on the one wheelers. They are pretty awesome