The year’s final full-distance IRONMAN of 2025 will take on greater significance this weekend as Dutch superstar Els Visser bows out from professional competition in Busselton – the very place her triathlon journey started back in 2017.
Her retirement announcement is both timely and more than a little poetic, as the 35-year-old looks to quit competitive sport with one more moment of tape-busting glory.
It also adds a welcome new narrative to a race which had arguably lost its biggest name when 2023 IRONMAN World Champion Sam Laidlow decided not to compete after experiencing pain in his Achilles.
The blow of Laidlow’s withdrawal will certainly be tempered by what now promises to be an emotion-fuelled farewell from Visser as she leaves sport behind to continue her career in medicine.
Chance for Kona qualification
A runner-up in 2022, Visser has competed at IRONMAN Western Australia in each of the last three seasons, and few would begrudge her the opportunity of walking off into the triathlon sunset with one final win to her name.
The race, which doubles as the Asia-Pacific Championship, also provides an opportunity for competitors to qualify for the 2026 World Championships in Kona – with four spots available on each side of the gender divide.
Here is all you need to know about the race, start times, course, and who is most likely to challenge for the final podium places of 2025.
Start time and how to follow live
The Pro Male race kicks off proceedings on Sunday, December 7, at 7am local time, while the Pro Women are then due to jump into the water just five minutes later.
In the UK, this will be 11pm and 11:05pm on the prior Saturday evening, while in central Europe, this will be a midnight start.
For American audiences, the race starts at 3pm on the Saturday for Pacific Standard Time, 5pm for Central Standard Time, and 6pm for Eastern Standard Time.
There is no full TV coverage of the event; however, IRONMAN will be running a Finish Line Live Stream on its website, and you can track all of the athletes on the Tracker App. For more information on how to watch this event, click HERE.
The Busselton course
Regarded by many as one of the most picture-perfect on the schedule, the beach town vibe of Busselton certainly delivers a stunning backdrop for this final outing of 2025.
Athletes will race into the sea from Busselton Foreshore for their 3.8km swim as they take in a two-lap circuit of the coastal course before entering transition one at Signal Park on Busselton Beach.
The 180km bike route takes the competitors on a flat and fast two-lap trek along the coast and into the spectacular Tuart Forest National Park, while the 42.2km marathon is a relatively flat four-lap course which takes the athletes along the coast and offers incredible views of Geographe Bay.
Average water temperature is expected to be 19C, with an air temperature between 16C and 22C.
Pro Women – Can Visser finish on the ultimate high?
All eyes will now be on Visser to see if she can draw her competitive career to an end with what would be a fitting final victory.
And she has a great opportunity to do so, having shown some consistent form throughout the 2025 season in the IRONMAN, Challenge and T100 World Triathlon Series formats.
Her highlights include two second places – at IRONMAN Les Sables in June and Challenge Almere in September – while in October, she finished 12th at the Wollongong T100.
Looking to play the party-pooper will be Britain’s Fenella Langridge, who will be wearing the #1 bib. The 2023 champion in Busselton, she will be looking to put down a marker for 2026 after injury issues plagued her season.
She has shown some recent form when finishing fourth at the IRONMAN 70.3 Langkawi but came in 14th – two places behind Visser – at the T100 in Wollongong.
Other names to look out for are Visser’s Dutch colleague Lotte Wilms and rising Swiss star Alanis Siffert. Wilms was sixth in Wollongong and took podium places at IRONMAN 70.3 Sunshine Coast in September (2nd) and IRONMAN Cairns in June (3rd).
Pro Men – Laidlow’s injury leaves race wide open
With Laidlow ruled out through injury, it falls to his good friend and sometime training partner Nick Thompson to be the man to beat on his home roads.
The Aussie was runner-up to Matthew Marquardt at IRONMAN Cairns earlier in the year and then really got himself in the mix when finishing seventh at the IRONMAN World Championship in Nice.
Kiwi Mike Phillips has two wins and two second places to his name this year, with victories coming at the IRONMAN New Zealand and Challenge Gunsan and runners-up placings at the Tauranga Half and the IRONMAN 70.3 Lapu Lapu.
Another ‘home’ favourite could well be Sam Appleton, who has won three 70.3 races this year at Santa Cruz, Boise and Boulder, and finished fourth at Chattanooga and Augusta. A winner at IRONMAN Australia and a runner-up at IRONMAN Canada in 2024, he remains a threat.
Prize Money: What’s on the line?
The top four athletes in both the Pro Women’s and Pro Men’s races will automatically earn qualification to next year’s World Championships, which will be held together in Kona, Hawaii, next October.
This race has a total prize pot of $150,000 USD, with the breakdown for each finishing spot, looking like this…
WINNER: $25,000
2nd: $15,000
3rd: $9,000
4th: $7,500
5th: $5,500
6th: $4,000
7th: $3,000
8th: $2,500
9th: $2,000
10th: $1,500
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