Kat Matthews, Gregory Barnaby win first-ever Ironman Pro Series titles
It all came down to the 70.3 worlds in both the men's and women's series standings
Photo by:
Kevin Mackinnon
After a tremendous showing at the Ironman 70.3 World Championship in Taupo, New Zealand, on Saturday, Great Britain’s Kat Matthews won the women’s title in the inaugural Ironman Pro Series. On the men’s side, Italy’s Gregory Barnaby took the title after a ninth-place finish in Taupo, two weeks after his win at 70.3 Western Australia catapulted him into first in the series.
Ironman Pro Series
Ironman introduced the Ironman Pro Series in 2024, giving pro triathletes the chance to compete for $1.7 million of prize money over 20 races. The series saw great competition all year long, starting at 70.3 Oceanside in April and ending at last weekend’s 70.3 World Championship.
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The scoring for the series is simple. The most points available at an Ironman event is 5,000 (bumped to 6,000 for the worlds). A 70.3 sees a max of 2,500 (up to 3,000 for worlds). The winner of the race gets the maximum number of points, and from there, every second that passes equals one point lost. So, an athlete who finishes 60 seconds behind the winner of an Ironman receives 4,940 points.
Athletes’ five best results were used to calculate their overall points in the series standings (with a maximum of three Ironman results used). The series not only gave athletes incentive to race more throughout the year, but to also push to the line no matter what position they were in on race day, as every second truly counted thanks to the points system.
History for Matthews and Barnaby
Matthews had a phenomenal season of Ironman Pro Series racing. She kicked the series off with a win at the Ironman North American Championship in Texas in April, followed by another victory in Spain at Ironman Vitoria-Gasteiz in July. A trio of second-place finishes at the 70.3 European Championship in Estonia, the Ironman worlds in Nice, and the 70.3 worlds in Taupo lifted her to the series crown.
Going into the final race of the series in Taupo, Matthews was just 257 points behind American Jackie Hering. Hering put up a good fight, but her 4:13:35 finish in Taupo wasn’t enough to earn her any points in the series standings. Although Matthews failed to run down Taylor Knibb for the world championship win on Saturday, she did manage to catch and pass Hering, soaring to a final points total of 20,761. Hering held on for second in the series, while Dutch athlete Lotte Wilms used a solid showing on Saturday to move into third.
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On the men’s side, Barnaby had been in the series lead since Dec. 1, when he won his first 70.3 title in Busselton, Australia. That earned him 2,500 points and helped lift him past Ironman world champion Patrick Lange. With Lange not racing in Taupo, Barnaby’s main opponent in the series on Sunday was Denmark’s Kristian Høgenhaug, who sat a little under 600 points behind the Italian.
Ultimately, Barnaby had nothing to worry about, as he finished ninth in Taupo in 3:40:14, earning 2,515 points and edging Høgenhaug by more than four minutes. Despite not racing since Kona, Lange remained in second in the series standings, while Høgenhaug took third.
With their series wins, Matthews and Barnaby both earned a $200,000 bonus. Hering and Lange will take home $130,000 for second, and third place wins $85,000.