No-one doubts the IRONMAN World Championship – especially in Kona – is still the most prestigious full-distance race to win. But is it the most lucrative?
That’s a moot point more than ever these days, with the arrival of the PTO’s T100 series and the new IRONMAN Pro Series, both of which offer huge end-of-season bonuses.
It’s great news that there’s way more extra prize money up for grabs and some athletes – think Kat Matthews on the women’s side this season – are on course to rack up impressive returns from both.
More on that later but let’s start with what’s actually on offer for those athletes filling the highest positions in Saturday’s race.
Kona prize money
The IMWC in Kona – and the women’s version in Nice this year – are the two highest-paying IRONMAN races, with $375,000 up for grabs in each. Next best are the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championships, where $250,000 is on the line for both men and women.
Here’s the breakdown in Kona, which is exactly what it was when the men last raced here in 2022:
1st – $125,000
2nd – $65,000
3rd – $45,000
4th – $25,000
5th – $20,000
6th – $18,000
7th – $15,000
8th – $13,000
9th – $12,000
10th – $11,000
11th – $8,000
12th – $6,000
13th – $5,000
14th – $4,000
15th – $3,000
As you can see the prize money only covers first down to 15th – but there are 56 men on the start list this weekend.
So those finishing 16th place and downwards will get nothing, bar the chance for IRONMAN Pro Series points which are dependent how many seconds they finish behind the winner.
At first glance – and for a one-off race – the $375,000 total and $125,000 first prize compares well to the T100 races.
In each one of those there’s $125,000 on offer in total per gender, with $25,000 to the two winners. However there are seven races this season so that’s actually $875,000 for the men and the same for the women.
The gap also closes lower down the standings. Come 15th at Kona and you earn $3,000 while a 15th place in any T100 race nets £2,500.
But maybe the biggest difference is that even 20th and last place in a T100 race also pays $2,500 so every athlete who takes part – whether contracted or a wild card – doesn’t go home empty handed, unlike more than two thirds of the Kona field.
So is it worth the gamble?
And that last point is an important one, especially given the costs of getting to somewhere like Kona for non-American athletes.
Back in the day Tim Don would question whether it was worth the financial risk of going to Kona from Europe given that a finish inside the top 10 is essentially required to have any chance of not being out of pocket on the trip, something fellow Brit Joe Skipper has echoed in more recent times.
And even this week in the build up to the race, Rudy von Berg, the top-ranked American, alluded to the fact that if he finishes 16th or lower – he was 20th on his Kona debut in 2022 – then he gets nothing.
He’s tried to juggle the T100 and full-distance this season and chatting to Bob Babbitt on ‘Breakfast with Bob’ he said: “In T100 they even pay you when you’re last so at least you know you’ll break even. It makes it a real professional sport in a way.
“Here [at Kona], it’s only top 15. You could have a pretty good race between 16th and 25th and you’re not getting paid at all here. It’s a bit tougher.”
The one big caveat to all of that is the fact that the T100 is effectively invitation only whereas any IRONMAN race – and the IRONMAN Pro Series – are open to a far wider pool of athletes.
What is the IRONMAN Pro Series?
The series comprises 20 IRONMAN and IRONMAN 70.3 professional races at 18 events globally, with the best five scores counting in the battle for the largest slice of what is a $1.7 million bonus prize pie.
Wherever an athlete finishes at Kona, whether top 15 or not, there are IRONMAN Pro Series points up for grabs so long as they are within a sliding scale of the winner as the points diminish based on the time deficit to first place at a rate of one point per second.
Saturday’s race offers a maximum of 6,000 points to the winner, 1,000 more points than the other full-distance IRONMAN triathlons in the series.
That means that points are available to anyone who finishes within an hour and 40 minutes of the winner – obviously the smaller the gap, the more points.
Matt Hanson currently tops the standings but Patrick Lange is arguably best placed of the main Kona contenders in fourth place as he only has four counting races to Hanson’s five.
Top spot at the end of the year pockets a nice $200,000 payout, down to $10,000 for tenth. And then there are 40 equal payments of $5,000 for spots 11-50, making $850,000 in total for each gender.
How does it compare to T100?
Comparing that to the T100 is tricky. As we’ve said the model is very different – for a start the 20 male and 20 female athletes who are contracted to take part in a stipulated number of T100 races each season share $3million between them, regardless of how they perform.
But there’s then a further $2million up for grabs in the bonus pool, which is very much performance related.
That tallies closely to the IRONMAN Pro Series, though slightly tops it with a grand total of $2million and each T100 World Champion bagging $210,000 for securing the top spot, down to $15,000 for 20th (and given the wildcards there will be more than 20 in each list).
So plenty at stake this weekend and beyond but, even in this day and age, the kudos and prestige of becoming IRONMAN World Champion will surely still top the financial rewards which come with it.
