Kat Matthews, Antonio Benito Lopez Crowned IRONMAN Vitoria Champions

Sunday 14 July 2024

The capital of the Basque Country played host to the eleventh stop and fourth full distance IRONMAN triathlon in the IRONMAN Pro Series™ today with IRONMAN® Vitoria-Gasteiz triathlon.
 
With his home crowd cheering him on, Antonio Benito López of Spain took his first ever IRONMAN triathlon win, as well as 5,000 IRONMAN Pro Series points and $18,000 in prize money. Benito López who had the fifth fastest bike split of the day, put in a dominant performance on the run, picking off Matthias Petersen (DNK), Kristian Høgenhaug (DNK), and Robert Kallin (SWE) to eventually take the tape with a course best time of 7:36:38. Behind him, an exciting battle unfolded on the run between David McNamee (GBR), Kristian Høgenhaug (DNK), Bradley Weiss (ZAF) and Cameron Wurf (AUS). McNamee broke away around the 32k mark to take second place, while Wurf chased down both Weiss and Høgenhaug to complete the podium.
 
Robert Kallin set a bike course best time for an IRONMAN triathlon, completing the course in a blazing 3:54:33, but faded on the run to eventually finish 8th.
 
Sam Laidlow, the current IRONMAN World Champion and race favourite, was disqualified for failing to serve a drafting penalty but continued on to complete the race and exercise his right to appeal after his finish. Following the appeal with the onsite competition jury, his disqualification was upheld.
 
In the women’s professional race, Kat Matthews (GBR) took her second IRONMAN Pro Series victory, and jumps up to fourth place in the IRONMAN Pro Series standings. Matthews put in a consistent performance across all three disciplines, clocking the second fastest swim and bike splits of the day, and then dominated the run course, clocking a 2.54.40 marathon for the fastest run of the day. Els Visser (NLD) finished in second place, just over 8 minutes behind Matthews, and Ruth Astle (GBR) completed the podium 13:44 minutes after Matthews.

Matthews commented: "I had a bad swim, I felt disconnected, but I felt like I was having fun on the bike. My peers Els [Visser] and Daniela Bleymehl were taking turns, and I just thought it was so fair, so honest, a great course. And the run, it was just a ‘get through it’ kind of day...the course is crazy, and I didn't know where I was, I almost didn't look at my watch, and I was just thinking about seeing the crowd".

"I came here to get the 5,000 points for the Pro Series, that was my only goal", she added.

Benito López said: "the truth is that I came to get the slot for [VinFast IRONMAN World Championship in] Kona, and that meant getting a podium. As the run was progressing, I was seeing myself at the front, even if you are used to the run, it is always long ... and in the end supper happy because I have been able to win.”
 
Top Five Male Professional Results

Place Name (Country) Swim Bike Run Total Time Pro Series Points Event Prize Money
1 Antonio Benito López (ESP) 46:30 4:07:53 2:37:57 7:36:38 5000 $18,000 
2 David McNamee (GBR) 46:29 4:08:40 2:42:03 7:41:20 4719 $11,500 
3 Cameron Wurf (AUS) 50:29 4:03:15 2:44:41 7:43:16 4603 $9,000 
4 Bradley Weiss (ZAF) 47:37 4:07:55 2:45:11 7:43:51 4568 $6,000 
5 Kristian Høgenhaug (DNK) 47:36 3:59:49 2:53:23 7:44:36 4523 $5,000 

 
Top Five Female Professional Results

Place Name (Country) Swim Bike Run Total Time Pro Series Points Event Prize Money
1 Kat Matthews (GBR) 55:07 4:30:07 2:54:40 8:24:23 5000 $18,000 
2 Els Visser (NLD) 55:08 4:31:04 3:01:41 8:32:29 4514 $11,500 
3 Ruth Astle (GBR) 55:11 4:29:54 3:08:24 8:38:07 4176 $9,000 
4 Daniela Bleymehl (DEU) 55:13 4:30:41 3:10:30 8:41:12 3991 $6,000 
5 Simone Mitchell (GBR) 55:09 4:44:21 2:56:35 8:41:39 3964 $5,000 

 
The 2024 IRONMAN Vitoria-Gasteiz triathlon saw approximately 80 of the world’s top professional triathletes compete for a piece of the USD $125,000 total event pro prize purse, and IRONMAN Pro Series points, as well as three female professional and three male professional qualifying slots to the 2024 VinFast IRONMAN World Championship, the women’s race taking place in Nice, France on Sept. 22, and the men’s race taking place in Kailua-Kona, Hawai`i on Oct. 26
 
News and Notes

  • Antonio Benito Lopez’s victory marked his first ever IRONMAN triathlon win. His time of 7:36:38 also crushed the current IRONMAN Vitoria course best of 7:52:50, which was set by Nicholas Kastelein (AUS) in 2022. Benito López also had the fastest run split of the day, clocking a 2:37:57 marathon, beating the run course best of 02:43:28, also set by Kestelain 2022.
  • Kat Matthews’ time of 8:24:23 was also an IRONMAN Vitoria course best, beating Gurutze Frades’ (ESP) time of 8:46:18, set last year.
  • Robert Kallin (SWE) set a bike course best time for an IRONMAN triathlon, completing the course in a blazing 3:54:33, breaking Magnus Ditlev’s (DNK) time of 3:57:45, which he set at IRONMAN Florida last year.
  • In her first race back since the VinFast IRONMAN World Championship in October, Ruth Astle took the bike course record, previously held by Els Visser (4:41:17, 2023) with an impressive split of 4:29:54
  • Richard Varga (SVK) had the fastest swim of the day in 45:23, breaking the swim course record of 46:45, set by Josh Amberger (AUS) in 2019. In the women’s professional race, Stephanie Clutterbuck (GBR) was first out of the water in a time of 50:40, narrowly missing her own course record of 49:35 which she set last year as an age-grouper.
  • In the men’s Pro Series standings, Stenn Goerstouwers (BEL) causes the biggest upset of the day, jumping 15 places to sit in 2nd place. Robert Kallin also soars up by 25 places, putting him in sixth place in the standings.
  • In the women’s Pro Series standings, Daniela Bleymehl (DEU) moves up 10 places to third, while Kat Matthews also enters the top five at number four. Els Visser also enters the top 10.

Full results for the IRONMAN Vitoria-Gasteiz triathlon can be found at www.ironman.com/im-vitoria-results. For additional event information, please visit www.ironman.com/im-vitoria.
 
IRONMAN Pro Series Standings
The IRONMAN Pro Series™ is a year-long performance-based triathlon race series with professional triathletes being able to earn points at 20 select races in 19 locations globally. Open to approximately 1,000 eligible professional triathletes worldwide, the IRONMAN Pro Series ushers in a new era of IRONMAN racing where Every Second Matters™ with every second behind the race winner equating to a point earned or lost. For any athlete, only their top five event results count towards their overall Pro Series points and standing, of which a maximum of three IRONMAN results can be counted. How it works can be found here.
 
Overall IRONMAN Pro Series Standings – Top Five Female (After 11 Events)

Rank  Name (Country)  Total IRONMAN Pro Series Points (Max Top 5 events)  Total Eligible Races Scored  IRONMAN Races Scored  IRONMAN 70.3 Races Scored 
Maja Stage Nielsen (DEN)  11,025 
Kylie Simpson (AUS)  10,900 
3 Daniela Bleymehl (DEU) 10,460 3 2 1
4 Kat Matthews (GBR) 10,000 2 2 0
5 Fenella Langridge (GBR)  9,971 

 
 
Overall IRONMAN Pro Series Standings – Top Five Male (After 11 Events)

Rank  Name (Country)  Total IRONMAN Pro Series Points (Max Top 5 events)  Total Eligible Races Scored  IRONMAN Races Scored  IRONMAN 70.3 Races Scored 
Matt Hanson (USA)  10,693 
2 Stenn Goetstouwers (BEL) 9,817 3 2 1
3 Jackson Laundry (CAN)  9,022 
Colin Szuch (USA)  8,969 
5 Paul Schuster 8,772

 

Full IRONMAN Pro Series standings can be found at proseries.ironman.com.
 
Overall IRONMAN Pro Series Event Prize Money
In addition to the IRONMAN Pro Series’ $1.7M year-end bonus prize pool, there is an event pro prize purse payout of $2,575,000, distributed across IRONMAN Pro Series events. To date the IRONMAN Pro Series has paid out a total of $912,500. Over USD $1.6 million remains to be claimed at the remaining events.  
Top Five Female Prize Money Earned (After 11 events)

Rank Name (Country) IRONMAN Vitoria-Gasteiz Prize Money Total Prize Money
1 Kat Matthews (GBR) $18,000 $46,000
2 Jackie Hering (USA) 0 $37,250
3 Hannah Berry (NZL) 0 $33,500
4 Lotte Wilms (NLD) 0 $26,000
5 Paula Findlay (CAN) 0 $23,250

 
Top Five Male Prize Money Earned (After 11 events)

Rank Name (Country) IRONMAN Vitoria-Gasteiz Prize Money Total Prize Money
1 Tomas Rodriguez Hernandez (MEX) 0 $28,000
2 Matt Burton (AUS) 0 $25,000
3 Antonio Benito López (ESP) $18,000 $18,000
4 Patrick Lange (DEU) 0 $17,500
5 Sam Long (USA) 0 $17,000

 
Next Events Coming Up
The IRONMAN Pro Series stays in Europe with the IRONMAN Lake Placid triathlon taking place on July 21. IRONMAN Lake Placid will be the fifth full-distance IRONMAN triathlon and final stop for the Pro Series in North America and will offer professionals a maximum of 5,000 points towards IRONMAN Pro Series standings, a $125,000 event total pro prize purse, and three qualifying slots for each gender to the 2024 VinFast IRONMAN World Championship in Nice (women) and Kailua-Kona (men).
 
A FREE replay of broadcast coverage at the 2024 IRONMAN Vitoria-Gasteiz triathlon is available on Outside+ for those watching from the United States and Canada; and for the rest of the world on proseries.ironman.com or IRONMAN’s YouTube Page.
 
For more information on the IRONMAN Pro Series, visit proseries.ironman.com

IRONMAN Triathlon


Coming Triathlon Events View all

Ironcat

I`Ampolla, Spain

ICAN Gandia

Gandia, Spain

Knysna Extreme

Knysna, South Africa

OlympusMan Xtreme

Paphos, Cyprus

Patagonman

Puerto Chacabuco, Chile

Oxman

North Canterbury, New Zealand

Fodaxman

Nova Veneza State of Santa Catarina, Brazil

HercUlean Triathlon

Konark, Puri, India

Challenge Israman

Eilat, Israel

Saharaman

Taghit, Béchar, Algeria

Ironman Portugal Cascais

Cascais, Portugal

IRONMAN WORLD CHAMPS MEN

Kailua Kona, Hawaii, United States

Ironman California

Sacramento CA, United States

Ironman Florida

Panama City Beach, Florida, United States

Ironman Arizona

Tempe, Arizona, United States

Ironman Cozumel

Cozumel, Mexico

Ironman Western Australia

Busselton, Australia

Ironman New Zealand

Taupo, New Zealand

Ironman African Championship

Port Elizabeth, South Africa

Ironman Taiwan

Penghu, Taiwan, China

Alpha Win Palm Springs

Palm Springs, CA, United States

Challenge Paguera Mallorca

Paguera-Mallorca, Spain

Ocean Lava Lanzarote

Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain

Edisto Island Tri

Edisto Island, SC, United States

Ibiza Half

Ibiza, Spain

Oil Man Texas Triathlon

Montgomery, TX, United States

Challenge Xiamen

Xiamen, China

Hervey Bay 100

Hervey Bay QLD, Australia

MiamiMan

Miami FL, United States

Challenge Canberra

Canberra, Australia

70.3 North Carolina

Wilmington, North Carolina, United States

70.3 Portugal

Cascais, Portugal

70.3 Porec

Istria, Croatia

70.3 Vouliagmeni

Vouliagmeni, Greece

70.3 Salalah

Salalah, Oman

70.3 Marbella

Marbella, Spain

70.3 Goa

Goa, India

70.3 Tangier

Tangier, Morocco

70.3 Turkey

Belek, Turkey

70.3 Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Triathlon News & Media Blogs View all

70.3 Portugal Cascais Women Pro Preview

70.3 Portugal Cascais Women Pro Preview

Friday 18 Oct 2024 [Triathlon News]

Vibrant and vivacious Portuguese coast With its mild climate and 3,000 hours of sunshine per year, Portugal has long been a prime destination for family holidays. Thanks to a bumper IRONMAN day, including an IRONMAN and IRONMAN 70.3 distance event, athletes can experience the best Cascais has to offer, starting with a swim in the most spectacular bay in Portugal, more

CHALLENGE Peguera Mallorca Line Up

CHALLENGE Peguera Mallorca Line Up

Friday 18 Oct 2024 [Triathlon News]

Challenge Peguera-Mallorca on 19 October features a full field of over 85 professional athletes, promising competitive races in both the men’s and women’s fields. The strong line-up sets the stage for an exciting celebration of the event’s 10th anniversary edition. more

Athletes Ready To Roll The Dice At T100 Lake Las Vegas

Athletes Ready To Roll The Dice At T100 Lake Las Vegas

Thursday 17 Oct 2024 [Triathlon News]

The world’s best triathletes are ready to take on a challenging Lake Las Vegas T100 Triathlon 100km course this Saturday as the T100 Triathlon World Tour reaches its penultimate race in the 7-leg series. more

IRONMAN Malaysia Langkawi Pro Preview

IRONMAN Malaysia Langkawi Pro Preview

Friday 11 Oct 2024 [Triathlon News]

Located within a cluster of tropical islands that attract visitors the world over, the race will take athletes on a truly Malaysian cultural journey through tropical, hilly and demanding terrain passing traditional kampungs (villages), mangrove clusters and rainforest vistas. Athletes will finish on the stunning Cenang beach. more

IRONMAN Western Australia To Host Asia Pacific Championship

IRONMAN Western Australia To Host Asia Pacific Championship

Tuesday 08 Oct 2024 [Triathlon News]

Organisers of IRONMAN Western Australia have today announced that the event is set to host the IRONMAN Asia-Pacific Championship in 2025 and 2026. The 2024 event returns to Busselton on Sunday 1 December, with athletes from across Australia and around the world to test themselves on the stunning course. more

Facebook


YouTube


Sign up for FREE NEWSLETTER:

We will never share your email address or spam you.