Race preview: Ironman 70.3 Western Australia

Nearly 80 of the top professional triathletes from around the world are preparing to line up in Busselton, Australia, for the penultimate race of the 2024 IM Pro Series at the IM 70.3 Western Australia Asia-Pacific Championship triathlon on Sunday 1 December, marking one of the largest professional start lists in the event’s 20-year history. 

The race signals the 18th stop of the Ironman Pro Series and with just two races left on the calendar, points earned at the IM 70.3 Western Australia triathlon will be vitally important to athletes chasing top spots in the series. The performance-based triathlon competition has been contested throughout the year, with professional triathletes racing to earn points which accrue towards the title of IM Pro Series Champion, and in turn the lion’s share of a USD $1.7 million end-of-year bonus prize purse. Ironman 70.3 Western Australia race winners will earn 2,500 points towards the IM Pro Series standings, with every second an athlete finishes behind the race winner equating to a point earned or lost. 

Highlighting its prestige in the region and on the global circuit, the event has been designated as the Ironman 70.3 Asia-Pacific Championship and will offer professional triathletes a total prize purse of USD $75,000 and four qualifying slots per gender to the 2025 IM 70.3 World Championship in Marbella, Spain, on November 8-9. 

In the women’s professional race, five out of the current top 10 in the IM Pro Series standings are set to line up in Busselton, and nine out of the top 20.  

The highest ranked of those athletes is Maja Stage Nielsen (DNK), sitting at number three in the IM Pro Series after four top 10 placings. Having completed five out of five scoring races, Stage Nielsen can’t catch the two athletes above her in the standings – Jackie Hering (USA) and Kat Matthews (GBR) – but should her Ironman 70.3 Western Australia result improve on her lowest scoring Ironman 70.3 race, she could further cement her third place beyond the reach of those athletes below her. 

The four women who sit below Stage Nielsen in the IM Pro Series who are also racing the IM 70.3 Western Australia triathlon are Lotte Wilms (NLD), Daniela Bleymehl (DEU), Hannah Berry (NZL), and Els Visser (NLD), sixth, seventh, eighth, and 10th respectively. None of the four have completed their full complement of scoring races, so picking up significant points in Busselton will move them higher in the series with just one race to go. 

Australia-based Dutch athlete Wilms has finished second, third and eighth in her three counting Ironman races so far and is yet to add any Ironman 70.3 scores. Having finished third the last two times she raced in Busselton at the IM Western Australia triathlon, Wilms will be hoping her familiarity of the course will once again result in a podium placing – this time over the middle distance. 

Like Wilms, Berry only has three IM scores counting towards her overall IM Pro Series standing of eighth. Still to add two IM 70.3 scores, the 2024 IM Asia-Pacific Champion will need big results at both the IM 70.3 Western Australia triathlon and on home soil two weeks later at the IM 70.3 World Championship triathlon in Taupō. Berry is a six-time IM 70.3 champion. 

German triathlete Bleymehl will be making the trip from Europe to Western Australia in the hopes of adding another IM 70.3 score to elevate her up the IM Pro Series standings, while Visser – currently in 10th – can add a third Ironman 70.3 score to her total having only raced two full distance IM Pro Series events. Over the past two years, Western Australia has become a home away from home for Visser during the Southern Hemisphere summer, and the Busselton course is one where the Dutch athlete has enjoyed success having finished second at IM Western Australia in 2022 and fourth last December.  

A further four athletes lining up for the women’s professional race in Busselton sit inside the Ironman Pro Series top 20, with Kylie Simpson (AUS), Penny Slater (AUS), Rebecca Clarke (NZL), and Giorgia Priarone (ITA) all hoping for a strong result to improve their position in the standings.  

Meanwhile, middle distance specialists Grace Thek (AUS) and Anna Bergsten (SWE) might not be in the running for end-of-year IRONMAN Pro Series prize money but could have a big impact on the IM 70.3 Western Australia race. Thek finished second at the Ironman 70.3 Zell am See-Kaprun triathlon in September, while Bergsten finished second at the IM 70.3 Melbourne triathlon last weekend. 

The men’s professional race features four of the top 10 in the Ironman Pro Series standings. Gregory Barnaby (ITA), Kristian Høgenhaug (DNK), Robert Kallin (SWE), and Paul Schuster (DEU), who sit fifth, sixth, eighth, and ninth in the standings respectively, with just a couple of hundred points separating these athletes. 

Barnaby, currently fifth in the standings, has performed consistently all season, including an impressive sixth place finish at the 2024 IM World Championship triathlon in Kona which saw him jump 10 places in the standings, as well as two other podium finishes. A win or a strong result for Barnaby in Busselton could shoot the Italian to the top of the Ironman Pro Series leaderboard and put him in very strong contention for the overall win. 

Like Barnaby, Høgenhaug still has one IM 70.3 race to add to his overall score, and a strong result in Busselton could nudge him into the top three in the standings. Kallin and Schuster have both completed their full complement of Ironman Pro Series races so will be looking to swap out a lower scoring IM 70.3 with a strong result at IM 70.3 Western Australia. 

The Busselton bike course is known for being flat and fast and with Høgenhaug and Kallin being two of the strongest riders in triathlon, they, along with Australian professional cyclist and triathlete Cameron Wurf, will likely have a huge part to play in the dynamics of the race and will aim to put a big gap between themselves and the strong runners as they head into T2. 

Wurf and Western Australia duo Matt Burton and Nick Thompson will hope to put on a show in front of their home crowd. Wurf and Thompson sit 19th and 20th in the Ironman Pro Series, so will be out to add more points to their totals in Busselton. 

Other athletes to keep an eye on the men’s race include Mathias Petersen (DNK), currently 11th in the Ironman Pro Series standings, Olympians stepping up to middle distance racing in the shape of Jake Birtwhistle (AUS), already an IM 70.3 triathlon champion, and Jamie Riddle (ZAF), along with recent Ironman 70.3 champions Jarrod Osborne (AUS), Ben Hamilton (NZL), and Sam Osborne (NZL). American Marc Dubrick, known for his strong swim, will likely also feature. 

World-renowned as one of the fastest and flattest courses on the circuit, the IM 70.3 Western Australia triathlon will see athletes take on a 1.9km swim course in beautiful waters of Geographe Bay and under the iconic Busselton Jetty, tackle a fast and flat one-lap 90km bike course along the coastline and through the spectacular Tuart Forest, and finish their race with a two-lap, 21.1km run course along the Busselton Foreshore.  

Below are the professional start lists (subject to change):