The pinnacle of the men’s professional long-course season takes place on Sunday (September 14) as the 2025 IRONMAN World Championship in Nice sees the sport’s superstars go head-to-head.
As with the last couple of years, the men and women race separately, with Nice hosting the men’s race, just over a month before the women head to Kona and the Big Island of Hawaii.
Pretty much all the big hitters are on the Cote d’Azur and what makes this all the more fascinating is it’s the first time this season that arguably the two big favourites in Kristian Blummenfelt and Sam Laidlow have taken each other on – and both arrive here in prime form.
They of course are both former champions and the other two men in the field to have lifted the sport’s biggest crown – defending champ Patrick Lange and Gustav Iden – also come into this in the best shape they’ve been so far in 2025.
Read on for all you need to know ahead of what should be an incredible showdown…
Date, start time and how to watch live
The men’s professional race in Nice will start at 07:05 local time on Sunday September 14 from the Plage des Ponchettes, which corresponds to 06:05 UK time. That is 01:05 on Sunday on the East Coast of the United States or 22:05 PST on Saturday September 21.
You can watch the race live right here without leaving TRI247 – just click on the embed below…
Live race day coverage will also be broadcast for free across multiple platforms for global viewers including proseries.ironman.com, DAZN, and YouTube, as well as Outside TV in the U.S. and Canada, L’Équipe in France, and ZDF Online for German viewers.
And as ever, the IRONMAN Tracker app on your phone / mobile device, alongside the broadcast coverage, is your essential companion to keep up to date with all of the on-course action.
Which pro men are racing at IMWC Nice?
Let’s start with those four former champions. Patrick Lange (GER) has to come first as a three-time winner and with the manner of the way he sluiced through the field on the marathon last year in Kona still fresh in the memory.
There’s no getting away from the fact that this year hasn’t gone to plan for the 39-year-old. He’s not been a factor in his two races to date – 17th at 70.3 Oceanside and seventh at IRONMAN Frankfurt but that can largely be put down to the inflamed adductor tendon that had kept him on the sidelines for much of the campaign.
But as he said last week: “The injury struggles from the start of the season are long behind me, and I feel like I’m hitting the right gears at the perfect time.”
He merits full respect but in terms of the best full-distance form on show this year, it’s hard to get away from 2021 champion Kristian Blummenfelt (NOR) whose campaign has been pretty much faultless.
You can put a line through his 15th place at 70.3 Oceanside where a flat tyre cost him around 14 minutes and any chance.
But since then he’s been back to his brilliant best – and unbeaten – with wins at IRONMAN Texas, 70.3 Pays d’Aix and IRONMAN Frankfurt.
No one else in the field can match that but Sam Laidlow comes close. The Frenchman had a tough time getting into shape in the first part of the year but bounced back in stunning style with an incredible victory at Challenge Roth, which he followed three weeks later at the first IRONMAN Leeds.
The swagger is back too and remember he was the clear-cut winner when the IMWC was last held in Nice in 2023.
Gustav Iden (NOR), the 2022 winner in Kona, has been on a much longer comeback journey and hasn’t won at full-distance since that day. The signs suggest everything is going the right way but whether he can get himself near the front of the race when it matters remains to be seen.
Great Dane Magnus Ditlev was third here in 2023 and then runner-up to Lange last year in Kona – will the sequence continue and see him claim a first world title?
Victory at IRONMAN South Africa was a great start to the campaign but he’s not really hit those heights since, even if his cause wasn’t helped at IRONMAN Frankfurt by a bizarre penalty episode.
Rudy von Berg (USA) rounded out the Kona podium last year and has to have claims on roads he knows so well having grown up in the area. He was fourth here two years ago despite an injury-hit preparation and is a former winner of both IRONMAN and 70.3 Nice.
For a bit of a wildcard we’d throw in Marten Van Riel (BEL). Having moved up to middle distance he bossed the T100 last year and won 70.3 Nice in June this year. His full-distance experience is limited and he’s only just back to full fitness after an ankle injury but he has the X Factor needed to ruffle a few feathers of the favourites.
Read on to find out our 1-2-3 and whether we think any of the other contenders can threaten the podium…
TRI 247 podium prediction
We’re finding it hard to get away from the ‘Magnificent Seven’ discussed so far. And it’s Blummenfelt and Laidlow who stand head and shoulders above the rest for us.
Blummenfelt’s whole season has been built around this – in stark contrast to the maverick mixing of distances last year when he was also looking to defend his Olympic title.
He’s had two big training blocks around Nice too and that Norwegian group – alongside Iden and Casper Stornes – appear to be peaking perfectly.
It would be no surprise to see this develop in to an epic duel reminiscent of Laura Philipp and Kat Matthews in the women’s race here 12 months ago, with Laidlow our pick to push ‘Big Blu’ all the way.
Of course there’s the chance they go out too hard, too early but those marathon blow ups seem far more likely to happen in Kona rather than Nice.
That could be bad news for Lange who brilliantly picked up the pieces in Hawaii last year and given his prep – and that of Ditlev, Iden and Van Riel – it’s a huge ask to win the most competitive race of the season.
That leaves Von Berg and he looks a solid shout to replicate last year’s third place.
So Blummenfelt / Laidlow / von Berg – not exactly left field but the bottom line is they look to have by far the strongest credentials and smoothest builds into this year’s race.
But one other we’d like to mention is Matthew Marquardt (USA), who somehow manages to combine his training with med school but has won his last two races – IRONMAN Cairns and IRONMAN Lake Placid.
In both cases he did that despite cramping issues between the swim and the bike which again has to be a concern and this might come a year or two too early but he is definitely one for the future.
OUR PODIUM PICKS:
- 1. Kristian Blummenfelt
- 2. Sam Laidlow
- 3. Rudy von Berg
The IMWC Course in Nice
RELATED CONTENT: Click here for our full guide to the 2025 Nice course
The swim takes place in the azure blue water of the Mediterranean and starts in the water off the pebble beach of the Plage des Ponchettes.
The course is a total of 3,850m, almost in a ‘W’ shape – or an upside down IRONMAM ‘M’ – and runs perpendicular to the famed Promenade des Anglais, with transition situated just off the beach.
The bike course is one loop of 180.2km and one of the most spectacular around with a series of climbs and technical descents to negotiate, with a total elevation gain of 2,427m.
In contrast the run course is a flat, four-lap affair along the Promenade des Anglais. And when we say flat, we mean flat – remarkably there’s just 33m of elevation over the 42.2km.
What is the IRONMAN Pro Series?
Sunday’s race will go a long way to also deciding the men’s winner of the season-long IRONMAN Pro Series.
Blummenfelt is actually in third place behind Leon Chevalier (FRA) and Marquardt but he’s currently on course for a perfect score if he can add this and the 70.3 Worlds.
The Pro Series is an 18-race schedule at 17 locations which has ventured to Australasia, Europe, North America and Africa. It has an end-of-year bonus pool totalling $1.7m, which is on top of the prize money awarded for each race.
The best five scores (up to three IRONMANs) count and the winners of full-distance events will be allocated a maximum of 5000 points for winning, with 2,500 awarded in 70.3 races. Those totals go up to 6,000 and 3,000 respectively for the upcoming World Championships.
Points for all remaining professional finishers will diminish based on the time deficit to first place at a rate of 1 point per 1 second to the first place finish time. There is no points minimum, or “floor”. Points will accumulate throughout the season.
A cool $200,000 is on offer for the series winner on both the men’s and women’s side, with second earning €130,000 and third receiving $85,000. The cumulative payout for the 2025 season is €2,450,000.
And in terms of on-the-day remuneration…
Prize Money – What’s on offer?
For the men’s race in Nice, the total prize purse is $375,000, with the race winner earning $125,000 and the prize pot paying down to 15th position. It’s allocated as follows:
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
The start list in full
The list below is correct as of 11/09/2025, with Mike Philipps, Trevor Foley and Andreas Dreitz among those to drop out in recent weeks. While it goes from #1 to #59 there are actually 53 slated to start.
| Bib # | First name | Last name | Country Represented |
| 1 | Patrick | Lange | Germany (DEU) |
| 2 | Magnus | Ditlev | Denmark (DNK) |
| 3 | Rudy | Von Berg | United States of America (USA) |
| 4 | Léon | Chevalier | France (FRA) |
| 5 | Sam | Laidlow | France (FRA) |
| 6 | Gustav | Iden | Norway (NOR) |
| 7 | Kristian | Blummenfelt | Norway (NOR) |
| 8 | Cameron | Wurf | AUS (Australia) |
| 9 | Kieran | Lindars | United Kingdom (GBR) |
| 10 | Kristian | Høgenhaug | Denmark (DNK) |
| 11 | Matt | Hanson | United States of America (USA) |
| 12 | Bart | Aernouts | Belgium (BEL) |
| 14 | Fernando | Toldi | Brazil (BRA) |
| 15 | Matthew | Marquardt | United States of America (USA) |
| 16 | Finn | Große-freese | Germany (DEU) |
| 17 | Sam | Long | USA (United States of America) |
| 18 | Jan | Stratmann | Germany (DEU) |
| 20 | Lucciano | Taccone | Argentina (ARG) |
| 21 | Dylan | Magnien | FRA (France) |
| 22 | Harry | Palmer | United Kingdom (GBR) |
| 23 | Henrik | Goesch | Finland (FIN) |
| 24 | Kacper | Stepniak | Poland (POL) |
| 25 | Marten | Van Riel | Belgium (BEL) |
| 27 | Mathias | Lyngsø Petersen | Denmark (DNK) |
| 28 | Paul | Schuster | Germany (DEU) |
| 29 | Casper | Stornes | Norway (NOR) |
| 30 | Mattia | Ceccarelli | Italy (ITA) |
| 31 | Dominik | Sowieja | Germany (DEU) |
| 32 | Jonas | Hoffmann | Germany (DEU) |
| 33 | Jonas | Schomburg | Germany (DEU) |
| 34 | Nick | Thompson | Australia (AUS) |
| 36 | Jamie | Riddle | South Africa (ZAF) |
| 37 | Andrea | Salvisberg | Switzerland (CHE) |
| 38 | Ben | Hill | Australia (AUS) |
| 39 | Bradley | Weiss | South Africa (ZAF) |
| 40 | Antonio | Benito Lopes | Spain (ESP) |
| 41 | Nathan | Guerbeur | France (FRA) |
| 42 | Daniel | Bækkegård | Denmark (DNK) |
| 43 | Jason | West | United States of America (USA) |
| 44 | Benjamin | Zorgnotti | French Polynesia (PYF) |
| 45 | Chris | Leiferman | United States of America (USA) |
| 47 | Jon Saeveras | Breivold | Norway (NOR) |
| 48 | Wilhelm | Hirsch | Germany (DEU) |
| 49 | Federico | Scarabino | Uruguay (URY) |
| 51 | Andre | Lopes | Brazil (BRA) |
| 52 | Jordi | Montraveta Moya | Spain (ESP) |
| 53 | Joe | Skipper | United Kingdom (GBR) |
| 54 | Kristian | Grue | Norway (NOR) |
| 55 | Jack | Moody | New Zealand (NZL) |
| 56 | Filipe | Azevedo | Portugal (POR) |
| 57 | Dario | Giovine | Italy (ITA) |
| 58 | Zack | Cooper | United Kingdom (GBR) |
| 59 | Sven | Thalmann | Switzerland (CHE) |
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