Former cycling star Jimmy Whelan gives his verdict on his pro triathlon debut

Former pro cycling star Jimmy Whelan had mixed feelings after his first 70.3 as a pro triathlete, where he finished 19th in a time of 3:46:23 in Geelong last weekend.

The Aussie made the decision to end a seven-year road cycling career in October, and competed in his first triathlon in Melbourne on January 13, when he finished on the podium in third.

But as the first event in the 2025 IRONMAN Pro Series it was a stacked pro field in Geelong and the men’s race was won by current 70.3 World Champion Jelle Geens.

How Jimmy’s race panned out

For Whelan, there were always going to be plenty of learning points, and he’s already made huge strides with his run to go alongside his obvious biking prowess.

But the swim is the discipline that needs the most work, something he freely admitted when he chatted to us last month, saying: “If I can sort out the swim then I think I could be competitive in some big races.”

At 70.3 Geelong he was seven minutes down on Geens after the swim and admitted on his initial Instagram update: “It’s not easy on the head to get out of the water so far behind and have the self belief to catch the race. For this reason alone I am extremely happy with the day.”

And while he wasn’t making any excuses on his more detailed race de-brief, that deficit meant he had to pretty much ride solo while another former professional cyclist in Ben Hill (AUS) set the bike course best time of the day and drove the front pack.

Despite the extra effort Whelan had to put in on the bike, he was still able to clock an impressive 1:11:40 half marathon, the eighth best of the day.

‘Good base to start from’

Speaking about the experience, he said: “Well, I’ve got mixed feelings about Sunday. Obviously I said I wanted to do really well and I didn’t necessarily get to the front of the race, which was disappointing. However, I have to be realistic and say 3:46 for my second ever triathlon and debut half Ironman is pretty fast.”

Fuelling was a challenge on the run and that will be something he works on, explaining: “The aim was to have a gel more or less every 15 minutes and I actually really struggled to put the gels down.

“What that is a reflection of is me not doing enough threshold work during my training and practising my race fuelling.

“So I didn’t take many gels in training itself. I took them before training, but not during. I basically stuck with the electrolyte and the Coca Cola at the aid station. So yeah, something that I need to improve on.”

Ultimately though there were plenty of positives to take from the race and he signed off the race update by adding: “I came across the finish line actually feeling pretty good. Yeah, I’m okay about the weekend. It was still a really fast time, so that’s something to be proud of and a really good base to be starting from.”

‘I’ve been pretty cooked’

The feelings since crossing that finish line have been an eye-opener though, Whelan admitting: “Now, it’s Thursday, the race was on Sunday and I am still waking up like I had a night out every night of last week. I’m really tired.

“Full respect to the people that do the full Ironmans. I don’t know how they do that because the last few days I’ve been pretty cooked.”

So no full-distance races just yet for Jimmy, but he did reveal what’s coming next – IRONMAN 70.3 Valencia on 27th April.