This is a preview – click on the names to read about groundbreaking wins for both Solveig Løvseth and Matthew Marquardt.
IRONMAN Lake Placid takes place this weekend in the US, with big start lists chasing IRONMAN World Championship slots and Pro Series points in upstate New York.
The clock is very much clicking on the former. There are four men’s slots for Nice and the same number of women’s ones for Kona on offer at Lake Placid – after that there are just four more for the men before the window closes (three at Leeds and one at Copenhagen) and only the one for the women (Kalmar) so we’re almost in last-chance saloon.
For the women especially this is a glorious opportunity as we will have a maximum field of 28 if everyone on the start list lines up – but no fewer than 14 of those already have an IMWC tied up.
The total prize purse is $125,000 and the winners will also collect 5,000 Pro Series points, with both defending champions -American duo Danielle Lewis and Trevor Foley – returning to what is a tough race in New York’s Adirondack Mountains.
In our preview piece below, you can find all the information you need on start times and how to watch live, plus a full rundown of the professional men and women’s fields.
Start times and how to watch live
IRONMAN Lake Placid takes place on Sunday July 20. The pro men start first, with the gun going off at 06:18 local time. This corresponds to 03:18 on the West Coast, 11:18 in the UK and 12:18 CET.
The pro women will start five minutes later at 06:23 local time. This corresponds to 03:23 on the West Coast, 11:23 in the UK and 12:23 CET.
You can watch live via the YouTube stream which is embedded below so you don’t have to leave this page.
In the US and Canada, the race can also be streamed live on Outside TV, with coverage in the rest of the world available via the IRONMAN Pro Series website here or DAZN.
As always, the ever reliable IRONMAN Tracker is the perfect data addition to support your viewing.
Pro Women
Danielle Lewis (USA), who currently sits fourth in the Pro Series standings, earned her first full-distance IRONMAN victory in a thrilling come-from-behind win in Lake Placid last year.
Jackie Hering (USA) finished just behind her that day, when she also ended the season runner-up in the standings, and goes into this weekend’s race on a high after her triumph at IRONMAN Cairns so is looking to make it back-to-back wins.
Solveig Løvseth (NOR) is a fascinating contender having set the fastest evert IRONMAN time by a debutant when she was third behind Laura Philipp and Kat Matthews in that epic race in Hamburg recently.
And talking of full-distance debuts, American-based Brit Holly Lawrence steps up to IRONMAN for the first time here less than a year on from the birth of her first child and following top-six placings at T100 San Francisco and Vancouver.
Spain’s Marta Sanchez was sixth at the IRONMAN World Championship last year and second at the IRONMAN South Africa African Championship in March.
Other potential contenders include Tamara Jewett (CAN), sixth on her IRONMAN debut in Texas, Dutch powerhouse Lotte Wilms, and IRONMAN New Zealand champion Regan Hollioake from Australia, who finished fifth in Lake Placid last year. Sarah True won here in 2022 and is also returning.
Pro Men
Trevor Foley (USA) wears bib #1 after his win here last year. He ran an incredible 2:36:31 marathon split to capture his first full-distance victory that day, something Matthew Marquardt (USA) achieved at IRONMAN Cairns in June on the back of an unusual prep – training while on a cruise ship!
Marquardt had a big lead going out of T2 here last year only to get run out of it by Foley, with less than two minutes separating them on the line.
France’s Arnaud Guilloux was fourth that day and was intending to line up again but a hand injury after doing some DIY means he is now out.
Denmark’s Kristian Høgenhaug was a superb second to Kristian Blummenfelt at IRONMAN Hamburg on June 29th and then fifth at IRONMAN 70.3 Swansea just last week so it will be interesting to see how he fares in his third race in as many weeks.
Veteran Matt Hanson lines up after what’s also been a busy spell for him as does France’s Leon Chevalier, second at 70.3 Swansea last Sunday.
Others to watch out for are New Zealand’s Braden Currie, Italy’s Mattias Ceccarelli and South Africa’s Bradley Weiss.
And a wildcard is Jason West who makes his full-distance debut.
Prize Money: What’s on the line?
The prize purse on offer this weekend is $125,000 – with each of the winners collecting a $18,000 share of that total.
As part of the IRONMAN Pro Series, athletes will also earn points as they seek to become the IRONMAN Pro Series Champion and win a share of the $1.7 million bonus prize purse.
In the USA, the maximum possible score will be 5,000 points for 1st place, with points for all remaining professional finishers diminishing based on the time deficit to first place, at a rate of 1 point per 1 second deficit to the winner’s finishing time.
In addition to money and series points, there will be those eight qualifying slots (four MPRO/four FPRO) for the IRONMAN World Championship in Nice and Kona respectively later this season.
The total funds will be paid ten-deep, as follows:
- $18,000
- $11,500
- $9,000
- $6,000
- $5,000
- $4,000
- $3,000
- $2,500
- $2,000
- $1,500
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