Australian professional triathletes Ashleigh Gentle, Ellie Salthouse and Grace Thek are preparing to take on the world’s best female triathletes this weekend at the 2024 VinFast IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in Taupo.
Over 2,400 professional and age-group women will take centre stage on Saturday 14 December, while around 3,800 men will go head-to-head on Sunday as New Zealand hosts the prestigious event for the first time. Professional athletes will battle it out for a piece of the $500,000 USD professional prize purse and the crown of IRONMAN 70.3 World Champion, with the winner taking home $75,000 USD.
The VinFast IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship will also be the culmination of the inaugural IRONMAN Pro Series™ and the last chance for professional athletes to score points towards their final standings, with a maximum of 3,000 points on offer to the winners in Taupo. At the conclusion of both professional races in Taupo, the first-ever IRONMAN Pro Series Champions will be crowned, with the female and male winners earning a historic bonus payout of $200,000 USD each. A total bonus prize pool of $1.7million USD will be shared among those finishing in the IRONMAN Pro Series top 50 in each gender.
Ashleigh Gentle is the top seeded Australian in the field, with the 33-year-old securing her spot on the start line by winning the 2023 IRONMAN 70.3 Asia-Pacific Championship in Langkawi, Malaysia.
“It's been an incredibly long year, I started all the way back in April racing in Singapore but started training for the season around this time last year so there's been lots of really great races throughout the year, but I've been really motivated to race here in Taupo,” said Gentle. “There's not many opportunities as an Australian to race in the southern hemisphere so I feel like I've had a bit of a more relaxed approach to this race just so I could actually make the start line healthy and in a good headspace, but obviously that still means I want to be competitive and I want to do well, but I've just really tried to have fun in the preparation as well.
“It feels a little bit surreal that we're finally in Taupo because I actually first qualified for this race in 2019 when I was still doing short course racing. I went to IRONMAN 70.3 Xiamen and I qualified there for the race that was supposed to happen in 2020, which obviously didn't happen, literally four whole years later and five years since I originally qualified for that first event it's just so great that we can finally get this event here in New Zealand,” she said.
The two-time Olympian is looking forward to the challenge of taking on the best in the world across the 1.9km swim, 90km ride and 21.1km run.
“I know a lot of the competition from racing throughout the year but there's honestly so many girls that I haven't actually raced much before but I'm very aware of their strengths and I know that it's going to be a really, really, competitive race,” said Gentle. “I think that it's going to be a pretty different dynamic to what I'm used to but I'm kind of excited for that challenge. I’ve had a more relaxed approach leading to this race to try and make sure I can have some freshness out there because it has been a long year, so I really hope that I can get myself fired up before the race and be really mentally engaged too.”
Brisbane’s Ellie Salthouse heads to Taupo off the back of a strong year of racing which has included wins in Geelong, Colorado and Melbourne.
“I’ve had a great season this year, so another great result this weekend would really top things off for me. I love racing the best in the world and I’m taking this race as an opportunity to put my best foot forward and put down a performance that I’m truly proud of, the result will take care of itself,” said Salthouse. “I’m heading into this race with a lot of confidence, especially coming off my win in Melbourne five weeks ago. I’ve been working really hard on my mental application recently so I’m leading into this race with a different, more relaxed approach.
“The preparation for this race has gone really well,” she said. “I feel like I’m in my best shape ever for this race, both mentally and physically. Being able to prep at home in Brisbane has been a really nice change and has kept me relaxed and motivated throughout the build.”
Salthouse is another athlete excited to finally get to race in New Zealand after so many years of waiting.
“We’ve been here since December first preparing for the race. We decided to come out early mostly to acclimatise to the cooler weather here in New Zealand and to learn every inch of the course. It’s beautiful here, and the roads are much quieter than Brisbane, so it is a nice change of pace for us,” she said. “After four years we’re finally here in Taupo, this is an exciting one for us Aussies to finally have another World Championship in the southern hemisphere, just a short flight and small time zone change away.”
Grace Thek has been criss-crossing the globe this year, racing at home in Australia, in North America and in Europe, most recently at the IRONMAN 70.3 Western Australia Asia-Pacific Championship in Busselton less than two weeks ago.
“It’s been a long year of racing, but this is the pinnacle race of the year and I’m excited to be toeing the line in Taupo,” said Thek. “I’ve really enjoyed preparing for this race at home in Melbourne, after being overseas for seven months. Busselton was a good opportunity to see where my fitness is at and race against many athletes who will also be racing in Taupo.”
The Melbourne-based athlete is looking forward to being a part of the World Championship after an injury-plagued couple of years.
“I’m feeling grateful, after missing the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship for the past two years due to injury I’m super stoked to be on the start line this year,” said Thek. “I’ve been waiting for this race since the announcement in 2019, after spending seven months overseas this year it’s exciting to have a World Championship a stone’s throw away from home in New Zealand.
“There is also a mix of excitement and nerves. Racing the best ladies in the world is never an easy task but always a privilege, a challenge and lots of fun,” she said. “Racing well in Taupo will be icing on the cake of an already successful year, it’s been a long year and I’m looking forward to a break, but it’s time to go one more time.”
The professional women’s race will feature some the best middle distance athletes in the world, including two-time and reigning IRONMAN 70.3 World Champion Taylor Knibb (USA), 2024 Olympic silver medallist Julie Derron (CHE), 2024 VinFast IRONMAN World Championship runner-up Kat Matthews (GBR), and 2023 VinFast IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship podium finisher Imogen Simmonds (CHE).
The professional women’s race gets underway at 7:00 a.m. NZT on Saturday 14 December, with live coverage beginning at 6:30 a.m. NZT.
Live coverage of the 2024 VinFast IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship will be broadcast for free across multiple platforms for global viewers including proseries.ironman.com, DAZN, YouTube, Sky Sport Now in New Zealand, Outside TV exclusively for the U.S. and Canada, L’Équipe Live in France, iQIYI in China and beIN Sports for the Middle East, North Africa and Asia-Pacific regions, amongst others.
For more information about the 2024 VinFast IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship event, please visitwww.ironman.com/im703-world-championship.