IRONMAN Vitoria-Gasteiz hosts the next round of the IRONMAN Pro Series this weekend, with a stellar international field taking to the start line in Spain.
On the men’s side, reigning IRONMAN World Champion Sam Laidlow leads the lineup, whilst on the women’s side, IRONMAN Texas winner Kat Matthews heads a stacked field.
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 Vitoria-Gasteiz takes place on Sunday July 14. On race day, the men start first, with the gun going off at 08:00 local time. This corresponds to 07:00 in the UK, 02:00 on the East Coast and 23:00 on Saturday July 13 on the West Coast.
The women begin seven minutes later, at 08:07 local time. This corresponds to 07:07 in the UK, 02:07 on the East Coast and 23:07 on Saturday on the West Coast.
You can watch live via the YouTube embed below:
In the US and Canada, the race can 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. If you haven’t got it on your phone already, where have you been?!
Pro Men
In the men’s field, world champion Laidlow is the stand out name, but the Frenchman will have some world class company, with the likes of Polish athlete Robert Wilkowiecki and Danish pro Kristian Hogenhaug toeing the start line.
Spaniard Antonio Benito Lopez will be looking to impress in front of a home crowd, with Britain’s David McNamee, who is based in Girona, another athlete capable of finishing on the podium on Sunday.
Mathias Petersen of Denmark and Laidlow’s compatriot and training partner Arthur Horseau both won full distance events last season in Austria and Lanzarote respectively, and will be amongst the outside contenders to make the podium.
Keep an eye out for Robert Kallin, the Swedish pro who recently finished fifth at IRONMAN Texas, to have a good race. Ruben Zepuntke and James Teagle, better known for their middle distance exploits, will also be two athletes worth following.
Pro Women
Defending champion Gurutze Frades of Spain will wear #1 on race day, but all eyes will be on PTO World #4 Matthews, who has two podiums to her name so far this season.
The winner in Texas, she then went on to finish second behind Taylor Knibb at the San Francisco T100 last month, just a week after being disqualified from the IRONMAN European Championship in Hamburg.
Her rivals for the win in Vitoria will potentially include Els Visser, who just finished on the podium at Challenge Roth, plus German Daniela Bleymehl, who finished third on home turf a month ago in Hamburg.
Other names to watch out for include Chilean pro Barbara Riveros, Britain’s Ruth Astle who is returning from injury, and Italian Elisabetta Curridori, who has two Top 10 Pro Series performances to her name so far this season.
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 Spain, 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 a total of six qualifying slots (three MPRO/three FPRO) for the IRONMAN World Championship in Nice and Kona 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
