The 2025 IRONMAN Pro Series got off to an unexpectedly muted start as technical difficulties pretty much wiped out the planned live broadcast of 70.3 Geelong.
But the racing itself took place and Jelle Geens (BEL) and Natalie Van Coevorden (AUS) emerged as the winners of the opening race of the campaign.
Geens was starting the year as he finished 2024, having been crowned 70.3 World Champion in New Zealand in mid-December. But for Van Coevorden it was a first-ever IRONMAN 70.3 victory.
With no live broadcast it was hard to decipher exactly how things panned out in real time but this has been the week of ultrarunning’s Barkley Marathons, where information is even more sketchy, so here’s what we know so far…
Women’s race – impressive from NVC
It was Australian Paris 2024 Olympic Games representative Natalie Van Coevorden who led out the swim, with her 26:08 giving her a 10+ seconds buffer to the rest.
But onto the bike and midway through we had a front ‘pack’ of five – Van Coevorden, fellow Aussie Regan Hollioake plus a New Zealand trio of Hannah Berry, Teresa Adam and Hannah Knighton.
By T2 four of them were still together, Knighton the exception, and it stayed close on the run too.
New Zealand’s Teresa Adam, a multiple-time IRONMAN champion, was first out of the water, just ahead of Van Coevorden, with Hannah Knighton and Hannah Berry third and fourth respectively.
Berry, the reigning IRONMAN Asia-Pacific champion and a former winner in Geelong, pushed ahead early on the run but Van Coevorden didn’t let her out of her sight, moving into the lead after eight kilometres and then controlling the pace from there to go on to take her first 70.3 race win and the maximum 2,500 IRONMAN Pro Series points.
Berry crossed the 29 seconds behind, with a charging Grace Thek (AUS) moving up from seventh to third thanks to a 1:18 half marathon.
Men’s race – Geens too good
In the men’s race there were no fewer than 13 in the front pack of the swim, with Josh Ferris leading out fellow Aussie Matt Hauser as the latter dipped into middle-distance racing.
It remained similarly tight on the bike – there were 20 within a minute at halfway.
By T2 that had been halved to 10, with home hope Ben Hill leading the way.
But it wasn’t a huge surprise to see reigning 70.3 World Champion Geens stamp his class all over the run.
He had moved to the head of affairs before the 10k mark but Kenji Nener (JPN), another athlete trying out a step up in distance to good effect, was his closest challenger.
But Geens was always going to be hard to contain and a fastest-of-the-day 1:07:58 half marathon proved decisive.
Jake Birtwhistle (AUS) was the only person within a miinute behind, Kiwi Tayler Reid rounding out the podium.
IRONMAN 70.3 Geelong – Sunday March 23 2025
1.9km / 90km / 21.1km
Pro Men
- 1. Jelle Geens (BEL) – 3:33:23 [21:40 / 1:59:56 / 1:07:58]
- 2. Jake Birtwhistle (AUS) – 3:34:08 [21:44 / 1:59:53 / 1:08:47]
- 3. Tayler Reid (NZL) – 3:34:38 [21:36 / 2:00:02 / 1:09:14]
Pro Women
- 1. Natalie Van Coevorden (AUS) – 4:05:58 [23:24 / 2:15:22 / 1:22:29]
- 2. Hannah Berry (NZL) – 4:06:28 [23:37 / 2:14:58 / 1:23:13]
- 3. Grace Thek (AUS) – 4:07:41 [24:29 / 2:19:25 / 1:18:59]
