Ironman 70.3 World Championships, Marbella, Spain
We head to the last of the 2025 Ironman World Championships. With the Ironman World Championships in Nice and Kona behind us, it’s just left for the Ironman 70.3 World Championship title to be taken. Well, that and the Ironman Pro Series title too.
Unlike the Ironman World Championship, since 2014 the Ironman 70.3 World Championship has rotated between locations each year, travelling the globe and giving athletes different course, cultural and location experiences. Since 2017 the race has been split, with women on one day and men on the other, allowing equal number of slots to be awarded for the women as the men. Who knew we could have separate days and equal numbers of women to men!
However, saying this, for some reason the women have always been on the Saturday, the men on the Sunday. Whilst I really think they should rotate who is on the first day, so as not to send out messages that the women are the rehearsal or warm up for the main event. (Yes I have actually heard this being said by even employees of this race and another event stating similar, when the women raced first), as a female I do love to race first so that you can then watch the men’s race and relax.
But I’ll get down off my soap box now.
On 8th and 9th November the best 70.3 women and men will race for the Ironman 70.3 World Champion title, and for some of the Pros, it’s the last chance to gain points for the 2025 Ironman Pro Series.
The 70.3 World Champion will take home $75,000 USD, but the winner of the Ironman Pro Series will win $200,000.
So far it’s been the Norwegians taking the spoils and all the world titles. Casper Stornes and the Norwegian clean sweep in Nice, and then Solveig Loevseth in Kona.
Marbella is set in the heart of Andalucía, on the Spanish coast. Marbella is a beach town, and will bring the Spanish flare of Flamenco with passion and vibrant colours and sounds.
The race consists of a 1.9km (1.2mile) swim, 90km (56mile) bike and 21.1km (13.1mile) run.
The Roka swim, is an A to B lap in the Mediterranean Sea. Athletes will start at one end of the beach in Puerto. Banus, and swim in a semi rectangular shape before exiting the water at the opposite end of the beach, and hit T1.
The one lap 90km (56mile) Zoot Bike course will provide a challenging but exciting and scenic ride. With a net elevation gain of 1785m (5857ft) the course leaves Puerto Banus beach, travelling along the famed “Golden Mile” running parallel to the sea. Athletes then turn inland and begin the amazing climb to the highest point of the course. Descending down, further inland to the turnaround, athletes will then retrace back to the high point and back down to the beautiful marina community of Puerto Banus and T2.
The HOKA run course, 21.1km (13.1mile) is two laps, where athletes will again travel along the picturesque promenade, before twisting and turning inland, back to The Golden Mile, and then dropping back towards the exclusive Puerto Banus Marina. A spectacular out and back along the jetty, has the Mediterranean on one side and the inner harbour on the other and which on a clear day, you can see Gibraltar and Morocco. After two laps it’s to the finish line and a finish back on the beach.
Women
In the women’s race, currently the start list has six of the top ten from Taupo last year, including the three-time 70.3 World Champion Taylor Knibb (USA). Additionally, nine of the top thirteen from Kona are also on the start list, including the entire podium, Solveig Loevseth, Kat Matthews (GBR) and Laura Philipp (GER). The 2021 Ironman 70.3 World Champion, Britain’s Lucy Charles-Barclay (LCB) is also on the start list. However, obviously Kona took its toll on some athletes, Lucy and Taylor not able to finish, suffering with the heat and conditions, and even those who finished may be struggling to bounce back, and hold onto form and motivation. For Loevseth, it may have been a whirl wind few weeks since Kona, which will have been mentally and physically tiring. A race such as Kona, even if you finish ‘strong’, takes it out of your mentally and physically. For Lucy and Taylor, they will have to be monitoring their health to ensure they are in a position to race. It can take months to recovery from heat, and there is a need to be really careful and not stress the body in anyway in the weeks after. Whether Marbella comes too soon, or whether they have the ‘all clear’ and ‘ok’ to race, it may be right at the last minute we either get confirmation they are in, or not. Additionally, I hope they consider their long-term health and time in the sport. They are both still young and there are plenty of races to win in the future, ensuring their health is 100% good again. But they also, are both racers…
However, Matthews will certainly be fired up having twice finished second at the 70.3 World Championship, both times to Knibb, and now three times second at the Ironman World Championship. Will Marbella be Matthews time to take a World title?
Fellow Brits, Jess Learmonth and Georgia Taylor Brown (GBT) have been racing over the middle distance this year. Jess moving up from the Olympic distance and GTB mixing it up between all the short and middle distances. They will also be joined by WTCS athlete, German Tanja Neubert, who recently finished ninth at the World Triathlon Grand Final in Wollongong. As well as Australian Richelle Hill who won the U23 World Triathlon Championship.
It’s likely to be a wetsuit swim with average water temperatures 16-18deg C (63-65deg F). LCB, as she did in Kona, will want to set a fast pace. However, over the middle distance a few athletes have been to stick with her. Learmonth will be one of those athletes pushing hard with LCB in the swim, perhaps sharing the work load? Knibb has also been able to swim close to LCB in the T100s and GTB could also be up there. A large chase pack (similar to Kona) may then form behind the leaders. Matthews, Loevseth, Lisa Perterer (AUT), Marta Sanchez (ESP) and perhaps also Hanne der Vet (BEL), India Lee (GBR), Paula Findlay (CAN), Ellie Salthouse (AUS), Grace Thek (AUS) and Lizzie Rayner (GBR).
The bike could be where the damage is done, and for Knibb it was on the bike that she won the race the last three years. It will likely play to Knibb’s strengths again and she will need to have a good bike to have the gap by T2, and try to tire out the legs of some of the runners. I do think thought a lot of the women will relish this challenging bike course. All the favourites are super strong on the bike (of course) and I think will like the terrain. Matthews, Loevseth, Perterer, Findlay, Learmonth and Philipp are likely to try and make moves on the bike. For Philipp if she can have the swim like in Kona, she’ll already be in this pack. LCB of course knows how to race and win off the front, on challenging courses, as she did when she won in 2021 in St. George.
Matthews after her marathon in Kona, and previous 70.3 runs, is probably the fastest on paper and also coming in full of confidence that she could run something special. In 2023 Matthews ran 1min27sec quicker than Knibb. In 2024, Matthews ran 3min46secs faster than Knibb. What will that time be in 2025? LCB has also shown good form on the run, running away from the likes of Knibb and Olympian Kate Waugh in the London T100. She could be difficult to catch if off the front all day. But Knibb, Philipp and Findlay are also strong on the run.
With this course, the depth of women’s racing this year, and the aftermath of Kona, it really could be anyone’s title.
Men
In the men’s race, every Ironman 70.3 World Champion from 2019 is on the start list; Jelle Geens (BEL), Rico Bogen (GER), Kristian Blummenfelt and Gustav Iden. Iden having won twice in 2019 and 2021.
Only three of the top ten from Taupo are racing, but eleven of the top fifteen from Nice, including the 2025 Ironman World Champion, Casper Stornes. There are however 39 athletes making their 70.3 World Championship debut, perhaps a reflection of the large number of middle/short distance athletes moving up in the distance. Miguel Hidalgo (BRA), Jaimie Riddle (ZAF), Jonas Schomburg (GER), Fabian Kraft (GER) to name a few.
The swim is likely to be fast and furious with the likes of Riddle and Schomburg, but they will have athletes like Vincent Luis (FRA) and Rico Bogen, as well as Max Stapley (GBR), Dickinson, Hidalgo, Kraft along with Alessio Crociani (ITA), who led out of the water at the Paris Olympics and just finished third in the WTCS Grand Final, only having been overtaken in the later stages of the run, having been in the front pack all day. He had the second fastest swim and bike. This could make for a large front pack, not dissimilar to a WTCS race. Stornes is probably the Norwegian, most likely to make this front pack. Blummenfelt and Iden further back. Geens may also make the front pack.
On the bike, Bogen has been drilling the pace all season, and so too Schomburg and Riddle and as they did in Nice could try to get away on similar terrain. (Bogen didn’t race in Nice.) Mathis Margirier (FRA) has also shown great form on the bike and may well bridge up to the front, being a little behind out of the water. Can he bridge up solo, or will he bring others with him? As in Nice, will we see the Norwegians all come together and ride as a ‘team’ to close the gaps?
For the run, those big bikers will need to ensure they still have something left in the legs for the run and at the same time the ‘runners’ in the field, can’t leave it all to the run either. Panagiotis Bitados (GRE), Kraft and Cameron Main (GBR) have all run 1.08 or faster for the half this year.
Will it be a Norwegian clean sweep? Or will Geens successfully defend? Like in the women’s race, it could be very open with a lot of athletes having the potential to take the win.
2025 Ironman Pro Series
Just to touch on this, as it does conclude in Marbella. On the women’s side, Kat Matthews (20,845) is pretty secure to take the title again, as she did in 2024. However, it’s not completely secure, with Solveig Loevseth (20,018) having the potential (points wise) to steal the series.
Matthews will win if she wins, or finishes inside 6mins40secs of the winner. Loevseth will take the series if she wins or finishes inside 1min 40sec of the winner AND beats Matthews by more than 6mins 40sec. It’s a tall ask but after how Kona and Wollongong went, anything really is possible. Lisa Perterer (17,956) is pretty secure in third. She can’t catch the top two, and can’t be caught by anyone. This may mean Perterer doesn’t race in Marbella, having already had a huge 2025 season.
The Ironman Pro Series pays top 50, and has a better distribution through the 50 for prize money than in 2024. Therefore, there is still a lot to play for, for everyone from fourth to fiftieth.
On the men’s side, again it’s only the top two that have the opportunity to win the series. Blummenfelt (20,015) and Stornes (19,067).
Blummenfelt will win if he wins or finishes inside 12min9sec of the winner, or Stornes finishes outside of 7mins 39secs. Stornes wins if he wins or finishes inside of 7min39sec AND beats Blummenfelt by more than 12mins 9sec.
However, third place on the podium is not a done deal. Currently Gustav Iden (18,100) is in third, but already has five races counting. Leon Chevailer (16,553) and Jonas Hoffman (16,345) in fourth and fifth respectively also have five races counting. However, Kristian Hogenhaug (16,344) in sixth, Nick Thompson (16,036) in eighth, and Rudy Von Berg (15,539) in tenth all only have four races so far. So have the potential to add up to 3000 points to their scores, and so challenge for third place in the series. The six (Blummenfelt, Iden, Stornes, Hogenhaug, Thompson and Von Berg) are all racing.
It’s all to play for, not just for the World title, but races within races. There’s going to be a few calculations being done on the points as the race heads towards the finish and how big, or small the gaps are. It’ll be a headache for someone for sure!
