Strong Professional Men’s Field Ready for IRONMAN Pro Series 70.3 Geelong Battle

A reigning IRONMAN 70.3 World Champion, a host of Olympians and a defending champion highlight the professional men’s field for Sunday’s IRONMAN 70.3 Geelong, kicking off the 2025 IRONMAN Pro Series.

Sunday’s race will see 43 male professional triathletes line up on Eastern Beach in Geelong to take on the 1.9km swim, 90km ride and 21.1km run before a champion is crowned in Steampacket Gardens.

Reigning IRONMAN 70.3 World Champion Jelle Geens headlines the men’s field and is set to line up for his first race since claiming the world title last December in New Zealand.

Belgium’s Geens, a triple Olympian, is now based on the Gold Coast and is looking forward to kicking off his year at IRONMAN 70.3 Geelong.

“I’m just really looking forward to that first race of the season, it’s a long build up, I want to say winter training but it’s summer training here, the build up towards that first race is a long process, lots of steps. I’m eager to start the season and see where I’m at,” he said. “I feel like I’m in a good place, but it will be good to see where I’m at in an actual race and how I stack up against some of the best guys in the world. I’m also excited to see also how Matt Hauser is doing, he’s super good at short course and making the step up for this race in Geelong, so it will be exciting to see how he will compete. I just love racing, love competing against all these guys and I’ll try to win the race, that’s my goal. I come in with a mark on my back winning the Taupo race but in the end not much has changed, I still just want to enjoy racing and try to win the race of course.

“I’m coming from a high having won in Taupo, the last couple of months of the year where I came from a very disappointing Paris Olympics to middle distance racing straight off the Olympics without much training, to see what IRONMAN 70.3 racing is all about and I made a lot of changes thereafter,” he said. “I changed my coach, drastically changed my bike position and then I won in Las Vegas, and then the biggest win of my career, winning a World Championship title in Taupo which is super exciting and very motivating.

“It was also super cool because a lot of my family was there, it’s a bit of a life changing event in some ways which made me very hungry to explore where my I can go in the middle distance and long distance because in the end, I only switched a couple of months before I won that world title so it’s definitely not the end of my capabilities and I think there is lots more to explore and I’m very excited about that journey,” said Geens.

IRONMAN 70.3 Geelong is set to have an Olympic flavour to it, with Geens racing alongside five other athletes who have represented their country at an Olympic Games.

Jake Birtwhistle, Matt Hauser and Aaron Royle have all represented Australia, with Kenji Nener having raced for Japan and Taylor Reid for New Zealand.

Birtwhistle will take on his third IRONMAN 70.3 race this weekend, having won on debut at IRONMAN 70.3 Tasmania in 2023, before finishing second and fifth respectively at IRONMAN 70.3 Melbourne and IRONMAN 70.3 Western Australia last year.

“It’s always hard to know how things are going for the first race of the year but I’m really looking forward to getting out there and racing,” said Birtwhistle. “My training has been going pretty well, things all seem to be progressing and moving in the right direction. Given this is my first full season racing middle distance triathlons, this off season has been different to any other year for me so it’s hard to compare between years, but I do feel like all the pieces of the puzzle are coming together nicely.”

Birtwhistle is looking forward to taking on a strong field this weekend, with the event kicking off a big year of racing around the world.

“It should be a really challenging race, it’s a really solid start list so there’s a great opportunity to start the year on a positive note,” he said. There are strong athletes across all three disciplines so I think the pace will be on all day and it’ll come down to whoever has prepared the best to cross the finish line first. 

“My race plan is still pretty fluid for 2025, I am kind of making it up as I go along for now. But I will be racing more of the IRONMAN Pro Series, with Oceanside and Marbella locked in already,” said Birtwhistle.

Matt Hauser will make his IRONMAN 70.3 debut in Geelong, with the two-time Olympian’s seventh in Paris the best result for an Australian in the event since Athens 2004.

“I'm feeling excited for the challenge more than anything. It's an itch I want to scratch and in an explorative year post Olympics, I can't wait to see how I fare over the middle distance and test my body before a big season ahead,” said Hauser. “I’m looking forward to the atmosphere out on course, I've been told Geelong is a special race in terms of crowd factor, we don't often get to race with thousands of people out on course at the same time so that's something unique to these mass participation races. Also just racing a different group of guys, a mix between short course athletes I've raced in the past and also some well-established middle and long distance athletes as well.”

Hauser is expecting plenty of action on course on Sunday, with athletes not only hunting for the race win but valuable points in the IRONMAN Pro Series.

“I'm expecting some fireworks, it's the first race of the season let alone the IRONMAN Pro Series, so expect some guys going out there to make some statements early. Having an opportunity to race the world champ Jelle in my debut IRONMAN 70.3 race is an exciting challenge that I can't wait to face,” he said. “Personally, I'm the rookie, so while I'm ever confident in my ability to be able to perform on race day, it'll be a huge learning experience, and I can't wait to sink my teeth into something new.”

While there are plenty of newcomers to Geelong racing this weekend, there are also a number of athletes with history at the event celebrating its 15^th anniversary in 2025.

New Zealand’s Sam Osborne claimed a breakthrough win at the event in 2024 and will be out for another strong performance, with last year’s third place finisher Henrik Goesch from Finland also returning. Nicholas Free, who finished third in 2023, is also returning.

The lure of locking in early season points for the IRONMAN Pro Series also sees established IRONMAN athletes including Braden Currie and Cameron Wurf heading to Geelong, while professional cyclist turned triathlete James Whelan will make his debut at the distance.

IRONMAN is continuing the IRONMAN Pro Series in 2025, building on the success of its inaugural year. The performance-based world series will continue to showcase and reward the world’s top professional triathletes as they vie for points and event prize money towards the title of IRONMAN Pro Series champion and their share of $1.7 million USD in year-end bonus pool payouts.   

The 2025 IRONMAN Pro Series will be contested over 18 events and 17 race locations, including a combination of six IRONMAN and eight IRONMAN 70.3 triathlons from around the globe as well as the IRONMAN World Championship women’s and men’s races and IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship triathlon.  

The 2025 schedule sees seven new race venues added to the calendar, including IRONMAN 70.3 Geelong, followed by the first IRONMAN Pro Series race in South Africa with the ISUZU IRONMAN South Africa African Championship race. In addition to the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in Marbella, there are three other IRONMAN 70.3 triathlons in Europe added to the schedule with the IRONMAN 70.3 Venice-Jesolo and IRONMAN 70.3 Aix-en-Provence races, both taking place in May, and the IRONMAN 70.3 Swansea triathlon, the first IRONMAN Pro Series race to take place on UK soil, happening in July. The series will also take a new stop in Maryland with the IRONMAN 70.3 Eagleman triathlon in June.  

For more information on IRONMAN 70.3 Geelong visit: https://www.ironman.com/im703-geelong 

IRONMAN 70.3 Geelong – Male Professional Start List