Australian professional triathletes Penny Slater and Kylie Simpson are set to line up on the Côte d’Azur for the 2024 VinFast IRONMAN World Championship in Nice, France this Sunday 22 September.
This year, Nice will host the dedicated women’s IRONMAN World Championship race day for the first time, while male triathletes will line up in Kailua-Kona, Hawai`i on 26 October.
The most iconic endurance event in the world will bring together close to 50 of the world’s top professional female triathletes to compete for the coveted title of IRONMAN World Champion and a piece of the $375,000 USD professional prize purse, with the winner taking home $125,000 USD.
The IRONMAN Pro Series™ adds another exciting layer to race day, with 6,000 points on offer to the winner. The IRONMAN Pro Series is a year-long performance-based world series that sees professional triathletes earn points at 20 select races in 19 locations globally in 2024 to vie for the title of IRONMAN Pro Series Champion and a share of the lucrative $1.7 million USD year-end bonus prize pool.
Canberra’s Penny Slater will line up on the IRONMAN World Championship start line once again, hoping to better her impressive 13th place finish in Kona last year.
“The main lesson I learnt from Kona last year is that I can be competitive in a World Championship field, I just have keep my head screwed on when it comes to the tactics of racing in the swim and on the bike. A successful race in Nice is me being able to show my fitness and not make any mistakes, trying my hardest for the whole race and not being afraid to get in the mix, and wherever that gets me I will be happy with. It's certainly the most competitive World Champs field I've seen since my time in long course,” said Slater. “I would be lying if I said I wasn't aiming for a top 10 here at Nice. Although as we know, anything can happen race day! So I am more focused on putting my best foot forward race day and seeing where that lands me.
“The course here is polar opposite to Kona, with lots of climbing and descending. For me, I love the different challenge this course brings, it will change the dynamics of the ride a lot and is much more of an individual time trial on the bike as I think that groups will break up on the climb. For me, I do think I am actually more suited to Kona, but I'm excited for the change this year and to see how my climbing legs stack up.”
While she is raring to go in Nice, Slater has endured a challenging year. After her career best result in April, finishing second at the Memorial Hermann IRONMAN Texas North American Championship, she was forced to take several weeks out of training with injury following that race.
“Texas was certainly a career highlight for me, so finding out I ran the race with a stress reaction in my femur was pretty tough to deal with. Especially as I had really big ambitions for the IRONMAN Pro Series this year and had to let go of that and doing my favourite race in Cairns. I had to take eight weeks fully off running, so it’s been tough to try and get back into shape for Nice. It has made me appreciate just how fit I was before Texas though! But that’s part of trying to be one of the best long course athletes, often we are on a razor’s edge because of the level you have to train at to be competitive. We learnt some valuable lessons from the injury and have been able to keep me fit and healthy in this build to Nice,” said Slater.
With the IRONMAN World Championship the pinnacle race for any long course triathlete, Slater has gone ‘all in’ on the race in Nice in the hopes of a top 10 finish.
“The travel from Australia to Europe is always a tough one and takes a while to recover from. When I qualified for Nice, we decided that I would come over here early so that I could be rested and know the course really well. So far, I have been here six weeks and have been loving it, it's been nice to just focus on training and getting in a good block since my injury and Lake Placid not going so well,” she said. “I certainly think the Pro Series may change how some people race, but for me all I care about is having the best performance possible on the day and have really gone all in on this race in the past few months. A great result at any world championship can make a triathletes’ career.”
In contrast to her compatriot, Brisbane-based triathlete Kylie Simpson has completed most of her IRONMAN World Championship training in Queensland, preferring the home comforts and simplicities that come with it.
“We have stayed at home in Australia for the Nice prep, taking advantage of all the home comforts and stress-free environment. Being able to train in a familiar environment makes it a lot easier,” said Simpson. “We arrive in Nice 11 days before race day, plenty of time to acclimatise and ensure we have been over the entire course. That has been a lot easier to do remotely with the bike course as I have been training on FulGaz on the course, so already feel very familiar with it.”
Simpson has enjoyed a strong, consistent year of racing that seen her finish inside the top 10 at several big races in Australia and North America.
Having targeted the IRONMAN Pro Series at the start of the year, Simpson currently sits seventh in the standings, having led the series for several weeks earlier in the year. With 6,000 points on offer to the winner, and every second an athlete finishes behind the winner equating to a point lost, there is a lot riding on this IRONMAN World Championship for Simpson and her fellow pros who are targeting the series.
“We are definitely viewing it as two races within one, the World Championship, and the Pro Series points. The pressure of a long season and last IRONMAN that has points available in the Pro Series will hopefully make for exciting racing, and see people pushing each other harder than normal, across the entire field, regardless of the race place, as the points are what matters for the Pro Series,” said Simpson.
“I am excited to be a part of the first women’s IRONMAN World Championship to be held outside of Kona. It is great to see a course very different as a World Championship course that lends itself to a different skill set. The bike course will affect the entire race, as if you have overextended yourself on some of the harder climbs they will come back to keep you honest at the back end of the marathon.”
As for the best-case outcome in Nice, the answer for Simpson is simple.
“Enough points to be back leading the Pro Series,” she said.
As a nod to the immense triathlon history that exists in the European birthplace of long-distance triathlon that is Nice, France, the IRONMAN World Championship race will be centred around the “Promenade des Anglais”, Nice’s most famous walkway.
Beginning with the Mediterranean Sea swim, athletes will enter and exit the water from the Promenade des Anglais, before embarking on one of the most iconic bike courses in all of the triathlon world. Technical and challenging but rewarding in its beauty, it features up to 2,400m of elevation. The flat four lap run course will take runners up and down the Promenade des Anglais. Adorned with palm trees and noisy spectators, athletes will enjoy a true hero’s welcome home as they run down the magic red carpet to finish their IRONMAN World Championship journey.?
The women’s professional race at the 2024 VinFast IRONMAN World Championship begins at 7:15am CET (3:15pm AET) on Sunday 22 September. Live race day coverage will be broadcast for free across multiple platforms for global viewers including proseries.ironman.com, Outside TV in the U.S. and Canada, DAZN, L’Équipe in France, and YouTube, among others.
For more information about the 2024 VinFast IRONMAN World Championship events, please visit www.ironman.com/im-world-championship.??