The IRONMAN Pro Series makes its latest stop this weekend at The Woodlands for IRONMAN Texas, which also doubles as the IRONMAN North American Championship for 2025.
Always entertaining, the race, which has become a staple of the North American calendar in recent years, features stacked professional fields.
In our preview below, you can find all the details you need, including start times, streaming information and who to watch out for in the professional men and women’s fields.
Start times and how to watch live
IRONMAN Texas will take place on Saturday April 26 and kicks off with the men’s race. They will get underway at 06:25 local time, which corresponds to 12:25 in the UK, 13:25 in Central Europe and 04:25 on the West Coast.
The women will start racing five minutes later, at 06:30 local time. This corresponds to 12:30 in the UK, 13:30 in Central Europe and 04:30 on the West Coast.
The race will be broadcast live and we’ll embed the YouTube stream below nearer the time so you don’t need to leave this page.
As always, the ever reliable IRONMAN Tracker is the perfect data addition to support your viewing.
Pro Women – Knibb v Matthews?
This is a stunning start to the year and one which could give us a clear pointer for the IRONMAN World Championship at Kona.
For Taylor Knibb – pretty much unbeatable at middle distance – tackles her second full distance race.
Her debut was at Kona in the 2023 IMWC when she chatted and smiled her way round to an impressive fourth place. She raced six T100 or 70.3 races last year, including the World Champs, and won every single one of them – usually by huge margins.
She bypassed T100 Singapore earlier this month and it will be fascinating to see just how good she is at full distance in Texas.
But she has a huge threat here in Kat Matthews.
The Brit was runner up to Laura Philipp in the IMWC in Nice last year after an absorbing battle and is the reigning IRONMAN Pro Series champion.
And it sounds like she comes into this in prime form. She wrote on Instagram recently: “I’ve trained really hard for this, and I’m proud of the work I’ve committed.
“There’s been uncertainties, there always are for everyone! but there’s been lots of brave moments where it’s come together as well.
“I’m putting my heart on the line for this race because it’s a choice I can make with the preparation I’ve had.”
It will be a fascinating clash, but they aren’t the only two contenders.
Also there is the woman who claimed a sensational victory at the IRONMAN World Championship in Kona in 2022 – Chelsea Sodaro.
She was third last September in the same event in Nice behind Philipp and Matthews and it sounds like training has gone very much to plan.
Tamara Jewett making her full distance debut is another eye-catching entry and she comes into this after a fourth place at 70.3 Oceanside where she again clocked the fastest run.
The full start list is here.
Pro Men – Norwegian hype train back on track?
There’s no defending champion unfortunately, with the reigning IMWC champ Patrick Lange ruling himself out late last week.
But we still have a sensational start list and we have to begin with Norwegian duo Kristian Blummenfelt and Gustav Iden.
Both are former IMWC and 70.3 World Champions and are locked onto the IRONMAN Pro Series this year.
‘Big Blu’ was undone by a flat tyre on their seasonal reappearance at Oceanside but a 1:07 half marathon suggested there’s not much wrong with his form. And is was great to see Gustav going so well again with his third place there.
Throw in Rudy Von Berg, Leon Chevalier, Matthew Marquardt and Kristian Høgenhaug and it’s clear there are multiple potential winners.
Also there is Daniel Bækkegård and the vibes coming out from his link up with new coach Philipp Seipp couldn’t be much stronger. He’s one to watch this season.
The full start list is here.
The Texas course
In simple terms, the IRONMAN Texas course is fast and flat.
It starts with a 2.4-mile lake swim at Lake Woodlands before heading through a spectator-lined canal toward the finish at Town Green Park.
The swim is point-to-point with only one turnaround and because the freshwater lake maintains an average temperature of 74 degrees fahrenheit, it could be with or without a wetsuit.
The 112-mile bike features two loops on the Hardy Toll Road and although it can often be windy, the flat course is known for its lightning-fast bike times.
And then the 26.2-mile run is one of the best supported there is. It takes place around Lake Woodlands and concludes with a spectacular finish on Waterway Ave.
Prize Money: What’s on the line?
The prize purse on offer this weekend is $175,000 – with each of the winners collecting a $28,000 share of that total.
As part of the IRONMAN Pro Series, athletes will also earn points as they seek to become the IRONMAN Pro Series Champion and win a share of the $1.8 million bonus prize purse.
In Texas, the maximum possible score will be 5,000 points for 1st place, with points for all remaining professional finishers diminishing based on the time deficit to first place, at a rate of 1 point per 1 second deficit to the winner’s finishing time.
In addition to money and series points, there will be a total of 10 qualifying slots (five MPRO/five FPRO) for the respective IRONMAN World Championships in Nice and Kona later this season.
The total funds will be paid ten-deep, as follows:
- 1. $28,000
- 2. $17,500
- 3. $11,000
- 4. $8,500
- 5. $6,500
- 6. $5,000
- 7. $3,500
- 8. $3,000
- 9. $2,500
- 10. $2,000
