{"id":127717,"date":"2025-11-10T10:44:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-10T10:44:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/127717\/"},"modified":"2025-11-10T10:44:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-10T10:44:08","slug":"watch-again-as-geens-wins-sprint-battle-to-defend-70-3-world-championship-title-elite-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/127717\/","title":{"rendered":"WATCH AGAIN as Geens wins sprint battle to defend 70.3 World Championship title – Elite News"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is a preview \u2013 click here<\/a> to read about one of the all-time great races as Jelle Geens won an epic duel against Kristian Blummenfelt<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The men\u2019s IRONMAN 70.3 World Championships in Marbella looks a cracker and features every winner since 2019 on what should be a fascinating course, especially the bike element.<\/p>\n

Reigning champ Jelle Geens (BEL) saw off Hayden Wilde<\/a> in thrilling fashion in Taupo last year but has been second best to the Kiwi in his last couple of T100 races and has taken a break since to freshen up for the business end of the season.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no Wilde in Marbella as he didn\u2019t qualify but Germany\u2019s Rico Bogen and Norwegians Kristian Blummenfelt<\/a> (2022) and Gustav Iden<\/a> (2021 and 2019) are the other recent winners lining up.<\/p>\n

Read on to find out who else is there, how to watch and much more\u2026<\/p>\n

How to watch, start times and live tracking<\/p>\n

The men\u2019s race takes place in Marbella on Sunday November 9 2025, starting at 07:50 local time. That corresponds to 06:50 in the UK, 01:50 Eastern Time and 22:50 (Saturday) on the West Coast of the US.<\/p>\n

The livestream for the race is embedded below so you don\u2019t have to leave this page.<\/p>\n

Coverage will be also broadcast for free across multiple platforms for global viewers including proseries.ironman.com, DAZN, and YouTube, as well RTVE Play in Spain as L\u2019\u00c9quipe in France, Outside TV in the U.S. and Canada, ZDF in Germany, ESPN (within Disney+) in Latin America and the Caribbean, and iQIYI in China, among others. Live race day coverage will begin at 7:30am local time.<\/p>\n

The ever reliable IRONMAN Tracker is the perfect data addition to the live coverage too, whether for the pro races or following friends or family in the age-group events.<\/p>\n

Pro Men<\/p>\n

As we mentioned at the start, every former 70.3 world champion still racing is here.<\/p>\n

The Norwegians carried all before them at the IRONMAN World Championship in Nice with that incredible 1-2-3 where it was Casper Stornes who outlasted his more heralded compatriots.<\/p>\n

But anyone who has watched a Kristian Blummenfelt<\/a> interview in the build up to this will have noticed the laser focus and determination to close out his season in style.<\/p>\n

He surely has to be the favourite but this is the very first time at middle distance upwards that he\u2019s faced defending champion Jelle Geens so that\u2019s a fascinating clash in itself.<\/p>\n

\"Jelle2024 IRONMAN 70.3 World Champion Jelle Geens (Photo \u2013 Getty Images for IRONMAN).<\/p>\n

Rico Bogen was a shock winner in 2023 but has since shown that was no fluke and won San Francisco T100 earlier in this campaign.<\/p>\n

But what really adds to the dynamic is the number of top short-course athletes competing. The likes of Jamie Riddle (RSA) animated the IMWC in Nice and when you look at the swim strength on show here, followed by what is a seriously challenging bike course, we could be in for something special.<\/p>\n

They include\u00a0Panagiotis Bitados\u00a0(GRC),\u00a0Vincent Luis<\/a>\u00a0(FRA) and 2024 Olympians\u00a0Jonas Schomburg\u00a0(DEU),\u00a0Sam Dickinson\u00a0(GBR),\u00a0Jake Birtwhistle\u00a0(AUS) and\u00a0Seth Rider\u00a0(USA) among others.<\/p>\n

There are some big names missing \u2013 Wilde the obvious one along with Sam Long<\/a> and Lionel Sanders<\/a> \u2013 but throw in the likes of great Dane Magnus Ditlev, who has a point to prove after a rare disappointing season, and this really is a race to savour.<\/p>\n

The latest and updated start list is here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Marbella course<\/p>\n

The swim takes place in the Mediterranean off Levante Beach in Puerto Ban\u00fas, while the bike course delivers a challenging single 90km lap with a net elevation gain of 1,785 metres. And from there, the run features two loops along the scenic promenade.<\/p>\n

The Norwegians have been as meticulous as ever with their recces and prep and it has been fascinating to hear their thoughts<\/a>.<\/p>\n

They suspect something similar could happen to Nice in the swim, where the likes of Riddle helped animate things up front.<\/p>\n

But the bike will likely be decisive they feel \u2013 Blummenfelt<\/a> says he was surprised by how tough the climbing was, while Iden described the descent as \u201cchill\u201d, especially compared to the technical nature we saw on the Cote d\u2019Azur.<\/p>\n

IRONMAN Pro Series and prize money<\/p>\n

And we could be set for another Norwegian 1-2-3 \u2013 in the final Pro Series standings.<\/p>\n

This is the last race and the only threat to Blummenfelt<\/a> comes from Stornes. Depending on the outcome of the race, third place on the podium could go to any of Stornes, Iden or Kristian Hogenhaug (DNK).<\/p>\n

The latest standings are as follows and as the table shows, the differences in potential prize money are substantial.<\/p>\n

Rank\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u00a0Athlete (Nationality)\u202f\u202f\u00a0Total IRONMAN Pro Series Points (Max Top 5 events)\u202f\u00a0Total Eligible Races Scored\u202f\u00a0Eligible IRONMAN Races Scored\u202f\u00a0Eligible IRONMAN 70.3 Races Scored\u202f\u00a0Prize money for that position (after 70.3 Worlds)1\u202fKristian\u00a0Blummenfelt<\/a> (NOR)\u00a0\u00a020,015\u202f\u00a053\u202f2\u202f$200,0002\u202fCasper Stornes (NOR)19,06753\u202f2\u202f\u00a0$130,0003\u202fGustav Iden<\/a>\u00a0(NOR)\u202f\u00a018,101532\u202f$85,0004\u202fLeon Chevalier (FRA)16,55353\u202f2\u202f\u00a0$70,0005\u202fJonas Hoffmann\u00a0(DEU)\u202f\u00a016,3455\u202f3\u202f\u00a02$50,000<\/p>\n

The prize purse for the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship itself in 2025 stands at a total of $500,000 with the winners taking home $75,000 each for their efforts.<\/p>\n

The prize breakdown is as follows:<\/p>\n

1. $75,000<\/p>\n

2. $45,000<\/p>\n

3. $30,000<\/p>\n

4. $19,000<\/p>\n

5. $15,000<\/p>\n

6. $12,000<\/p>\n

7. $10,000<\/p>\n

8. $8,000<\/p>\n

9. $7,500<\/p>\n

10. $7,000<\/p>\n

11. $6,000<\/p>\n

12. $5,000<\/p>\n

13. $4,000<\/p>\n

14. $3,500<\/p>\n

15. $3,000<\/p>\n

Recent IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship winners<\/p>\n

PRO Men<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This is a preview \u2013 click here to read about one of the all-time great races as Jelle…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":127718,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[88648,22961,87401,87402,88649,88650,111,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-127717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-gustav-iden","tag-ironman","tag-ironman-70-3","tag-ironman-70-3-world-championship","tag-jelle-geens","tag-kristian-blummenfelt","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127717"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127717\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/127718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}