Laura Philipp, Sam Long and More Top Pros Withdraw from 70.3 World Championship
Laura Philipp will miss the 70.3 worlds. Photo: Jurij Kodrun/Getty Images for IRONMAN
The IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship is just days away, and while many of the top pros will be in Marbella, Spain, to race, several have had to withdraw. Among the big names of athletes who pulled out are 2024 IRONMAN world champion Laura Philipp, fan-favorite Sam Long, Austrian breakout star Lisa Perterer and more. Many of the names from the original start lists for Marbella are still in the race, with 72 women and 77 men slated to compete on the weekend.
A Kona Hangover
Kona is never an easy race, but this year was especially brutal, with multiple top women dropping out due to the harsh conditions on the Big Island. It’s no surprise that the four biggest names to drop out of the women’s race in Marbella all competed in Kona less than a month ago.
After finishing fifth in a stellar debut in Hawaii, Perterer said she was unsure if Marbella would be in the cards for her. That result in Kona moved her into third in the IRONMAN Pro Series standings, and with Marbella marking the end of that season-long competition, the 70.3 worlds offered her the chance to maintain or better that podium position.
Ultimately, Perterer decided it was unwise to push it after an already phenomenal season that saw her finish third at IRONMAN Texas, second in Lake Placid and in the top five in Kona.
Lisa Perterer will skip the 70.3 worlds after a great race in Kona. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon
“After giving everything I had at the IRONMAN World Championship in Kona, my body needed more time to recover than expected,” Perterer wrote on Instagram. “I’ve been sick for over a week and haven’t been able to get back into a solid training rhythm — physically and mentally it just isn’t there yet.”
Jackie Hering and Marta Sanchez are another couple of women who raced in Kona, rank high on the IRONMAN Pro Series leaderboard for 2025 and have unfortunately withdrawn from Marbella. Hering finished 18th in Hawaii, and she is currently fourth in the Pro Series standings. Like Perterer, she took to Instagram to announce her decision to skip the world championship.
“No 70.3 worlds for me this year,” Hering wrote. “Body said I’m done for the year after Kona and it’s been a nice break.”
Sanchez’s decision to pull out of the race in Marbella is much more gutting, not only because it was a chance for her to race on home soil, but because she didn’t have much of an option. After pulling out mid-race in Kona due to injury, she returned home and underwent several tests before finding out she had a stress fracture in her distal femur.
“A clear diagnosis has been partly a relief,” Sanchez wrote on Instagram. “Now we know what it is and how to treat it. The recovery outlook is positive.”
A stress fracture will keep Marta Sanchez from racing in Marbella. Photo: Hector Vivas/Getty Images for IRONMAN
Finally, Philipp rounds out the list of top women missing out on Marbella. She ran to a third-place finish in Kona, but as she explained in a social post, it wasn’t the toll that race took on her body that will be keeping her from racing in Spain this weekend.
“My recovery after Hawaii went better than expected and I felt quite motivated and ready to race on a course I know well, but my priorities have shifted,” she wrote. “My best friend on [four] paws has gotten very sick, and being there for him means everything right now.”
The Missing Men
Unlike the women and their short turnaround after Kona, the men have had two months to recover since their IRONMAN World Championship in Nice. For Long, it’s not anything physical keeping him from travelling to and racing in Spain, but rather his duties as a father and husband.
“I’m waiting on my beautiful wife to give birth to our second son,” Long said in a video he posted to Instagram. “It could happen any day.”
Sam Long is awaiting the birth of his second child. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon
Long said did not want to leave home with his wife, Lara, expecting so soon. With Marbella off the schedule, he has shifted focus, registering for IRONMAN Arizona (which is set for Nov. 16). Long lives in Arizona, making that race much easier to attend, even if he’s still waiting on his newborn to arrive. He noted in his video that he will race in Arizona as long as his wife doesn’t go into labor on the same day. If that were to happen, he would once again pivot and plan to race IRONMAN Cozumel on Nov. 23.
Trevor Foley, Sam Dickinson and Daniel Bækkegård are three other men who have pulled out of the race in Spain.
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IRONMANIRONMAN 70.3 World ChampionshipIRONMAN 70.3 World Championship MarbellaJackie HeringLaura PhilippMarta SanchezSam LongNotable Replies
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I guess we’ll see how many WPros and MPros toe the line on Saturday/Sunday. #72 and #77 are the highest bib numbers but even on first publication the actual numbers of athletes were maybe 10 less. Over 90 women and 90 men had gained slots btw. My estimate is that 50 WPros will start (major h@tripollathletetripollathletelp @tripollathlete). Ironman have updated (on 30th October) the start list here (about the best we’ll get):
Briefly wrt Perterer: “the 70.3 worlds offered her the chance to maintain or better that podium position.” Chance not needed. Perterer is locked in for #3 in the IM Pro Series ($85k), behind Loevseth and ahead of Hering and Hollioake: any result in Marbella would have zero effect on her #3. Hollioake can overtake Hering for #4 ($70k versus $50k for #5) if she finishes within 10 minutes of the winner.
I noticed that too, and no doubt that was the overriding factor in her not racing. Of course she would never say that, we get the I’m just tired from Kona excuse that everyone just accepts. But once locked into a place that cannot change, the incentive to not race would be overwhelming, and the start of the off season just to strong to resist. I dont blame her one bit..
But as you not a couple other minor spots up for grabs, and barring any black swan events the series is pretty much baked in for most. Now the T100 has some real drama in the womens if all that are shown entered actually compete in those last two races. Mens winner is baked in, but after that there should be quite a scramble for those bigger $$ spots..
Perterer is on the start list for Dubai, though, Half the 20 strong T100 Dubai WPro field are racing Marbella seven days before. As McEnroe was want to say “You cannot be seerious!”
Two of the top four WPros in the T100 Standings, both coping with the aftermath of serious heat stress three weeks ago, are still on both start lists (typing this on Monday, so six days to go to Marbella). The T100 races start at 11:30am and 1:30pm, cool! LCB doesn’t have to race but Knibb does (contractually).
Riddle has not DNS’d but has got his excuses in early.
Well that makes sense too, race in an event where you can actually win and move up in money. Then the long awaited off season…
No and yes and no.
No: Perterer, on form say #10 in either, would win more in Marbella ($7k) than Dubai ($5k).
Yes: But critically a decent Dubai could set her up for #13 in the final T100 Standings, and that’s worth $40k.
No: Off season will have to wait! She’ll need to race Dubai next month to get a decent EoY bonus.
Looking forward, her PTO Ranking should get her an invite to the first T100 of 2026: Gold Coast. (March calendar):