Patrick Lange, the reigning men’s IRONMAN World Champion, says he “is all in” on both defending that title and trying to add the IRONMAN Pro Series crown in 2025.
The German superstar was a brilliant winner in Kona last year, running away from the field with a perfectly-paced 2:37 marathon.
That was the 38-year-old’s third IMWC title and came six years after the second. It put him in pole position for the $200,000 first prize for topping the first-ever Pro Series but he elected not to chase the money and instead finished his season early to recharge the batteries for the 2025 campaign.
He ended up being pipped for top spot by Gregory Barnaby but still took home a $130,000 bonus for second place.
Lange maps out five huge races
And his schedule for 2025, which has just been announced, bears a striking resemblance to last year – bar the addition of the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championships in Marbella at the end of the season.
Speaking in a short video posted on Instagram by IRONMAN, Lange said: “I’m totally focussing on the IRONMAN Pro Series this year.
“And I’m going to kickstart my season with 70.3 Oceanside in beautiful California.
“Then I’m going to head over to Texas for IRONMAN Texas to defend my title. I’m then going to go to my home race at IRONMAN Frankfurt, trying to be the best version of myself there.
“Then it’s the IRONMAN World Championship time in Nice. Really looking to improve maybe on my position from 2023 [when he was runner up to Sam Laidlow].
“I’m going to finish off at the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in Marbella.”
Lange will likely face a two-pronged Norwegian challenge in many of those events – and the race for the IRONMAN end-of-season bonus – as both Kristian Blummenfelt and Gustav Iden are also focussing on the Pro Series.
One key event could be missing
One thing to note this year is that IRONMAN Frankfurt comes much earlier in the calendar than in 2024 – June 29th compared to August 18th.
That will likely make it highly unlikely that Lange is able to fit the iconic Challenge Roth on July 6th into his schedule this year.
He’s competed in that German showpiece in each of the four previous seasons, winning in 2021 and finishing second to three-time winner Magnus Ditlev in 2022 and 2023.
