Triathlon has always tested the edge of human performance. But until recently, professional racing often felt scattered, hard to follow and even harder to explain to anyone outside the sport. And doubly harder for people like myself to get a grasp of the races, who is doing well and data.
Thankfully this changed in 2024 when Ironman introduced the Pro Series—a season-long, global race calendar that finally gave the sport a clear storyline. Instead of one-off wins, the Pro Series rewards consistent performance across a year of racing. Finish fast, race often, and you stay in the hunt. Every second counts—literally.
The format is simple to understand but brutal to master. Each race awards points based on how close you finish to the winner. The faster you are, the more you score. There’s no magic in place numbers—it’s all about time. Get dropped early, and the gap grows. Every second you lose is a point lost. That single rule turns every race into a relentless chasing of the rabbit.
In 2025, the Pro Series spans 18 races across 17 cities. Six of them are full-distance triathlons. Eight are the half-distance format known as 70.3. The final four are the two World Championships—one for each distance and gender. All of them count. And the best part of all of us, they are streamed live to a global audience—for free.
Athletes can earn up to $200,000 in year-end bonuses. Add prize money from individual races and the top earners can take home over $350,000 in a single season. In total, more than $6 million is on the line in 2025—$2.5 million across the Pro Series races, $1.7 million in end-of-season bonuses and another $1.8 million from other events that still count for World Championship qualification.
More importantly, the series gives the pros something it’s long lacked: structure, momentum and a reason for fans to care from March to November. It also creates genuine rivalries. When Kat Matthews lined up in New Zealand last year, she knew that finishing within 35 minutes of the leader would win her the title. She did that and more, taking second on the day and locking up the 2024 crown with 20,761 points and five standout performances.
That’s what the Pro Series is: a format that rewards bold racing, smart planning and consistency over luck or hype. It’s not perfect—but it’s a huge leap forward for a sport that needed one.
If you’ve never followed pro triathlon, now’s the time. The series is open. The points reset each year. The big names return. And a few new ones are ready to chase them down.
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