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An epic battle unfolded on the second day of the 2024 VinFast IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship triathlon as a field of the world’s top professional and age-group male triathletes took on the stunning course in Taupō, New Zealand. Following a fast morning of head-to-head racing, it was Belgian three-time Olympian Jelle Geens who claimed victory with a time of 3:32:09, a new IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship best time, topping Rico Bogen’s (DEU) time of 3:32:22 set in Lahti, Finland last year.

Geens swam 22:23 over the 1.9 km (1.2-mile) ROKA swim course, biked 1:59:08 across the 90km (56-mile) FulGaz bike course, and ran a 1:07:34 on the 21.1km (13.1-mile) HOKA run course to become the first Belgian to win an IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship title. In a repeat of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games triathlon, Taupō born Hayden Wilde (NZL) finished second after laying it all out on the streets of Taupō, and Léo Bergère (FRA) battled hard for the third spot on the podium.

“Crazy day, I’ve been in this sport a long time and I’ve been doing ITU a long time and it’s really had its ups and downs, I would say the last one and a half years in short course racing has been really tough mentally, but to step up now to middle distance racing and in my first try to become World Champion, it’s incredible,” said Geens.

While Geens was crowned the new IRONMAN 70.3 World Champion in Taupō, the race also served as the decider of the inaugural IRONMAN Pro Series. Gregory Barnaby (ITA) was the leader at the start of the day and following his ninth-place finish in the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship, the 2,515 points secured Taupō that resulted in a total of 19,059 for the season put his champion status as the first professional male to win the overall IRONMAN Pro Series title beyond doubt.

Following yesterday’s exciting women’s race, it was a fast and furious start to today’s race as the world’s top professional male athletes took to the waters of Tapuaeharuru Bay. Once past the first buoy, what was initially a tight group started to split with the likes of American’s Greg Harper and Marc Dubrick separating themselves from the field in the choppy waters of Lake Taupō. Harper was the first to exit the water in a time of 21:48, followed by Josh Amberger (AUS), Léo Bergère (FRA), and Dubrick all within two seconds of each other.

It was Bergère, who arrived on race day undefeated across IRONMAN 70.3 events, that took the early lead on the FulGaz bike course and began to push the pace. With race tactics at play it wasn’t long before attacks started with the likes of local favourites Kyle Smith (NZL) and Wilde, Geens, and defending champion Bogen all jostling for position.

Olympic silver medallist Wilde was the first into T2, finishing the bike in a time of 1:58:51. Wasting no time, Wilde was out of T2 in a flash with a lightning-fast transition time of 57 seconds, just ahead of the chase pack that included Bogen, Geens, Bergère, Smith, and Justus Nieschlag (DEU), who all finished the challenging rolling bike course in under two hours.

Wilde continued to extend his lead over the first 14km and with it, the cheers from the partisan crowd also grew. However, the hometown hero’s sizeable lead and firm grip on the race appeared to fade over the final few kilometres with Geens there to capitalise, closing the gap quickly late into the run. With under 4km to go Geens made the pass and surged into the lead.

Geens would hit the red carpet with over a 50 second lead on Wilde to capture his first IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship title while setting a new IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship best time on Tongariro Street in the heart of Taupō. Wilde would maintain enough stamina to capture second with Bergère following shortly behind to take the final podium spot in a race for the ages.

Talking about his race at the finish line, runner-up Wilde said, “I put big ambition out there. Obviously, I went out there, I was naïve, but I wanted to give it a go. I did the training, and I felt I rode appropriately, and I know these roads like the back of my hand, I knew that as soon as we hit View Road there was an opportunity of opening a gap, got that gap, and I felt confident going in [to the run],” said Wilde. “It’s weird to say, and I think the short course guys will say this, it’s really hard to slow yourself down in that first 10km and I just couldn’t do it, I was too excited, I went out probably too hard.” 

Bergere added, “I was expecting a good race and targeting the title coming in, but Jelle was so strong today, even on the bike he surprised me, being very aggressive and he just deserved the win. He’s a great athlete with a super mindset and I appreciate that he won it. Special mention to Hayden as well, he was so aggressive all day and he just made the race exciting.” 

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