2015 Ironman 70.3 World Championship


The 2015 Ironman 70.3 World Championship was a triathlon competition that was held in Zell am See-Kaprun, Austria on August 30, 2015. It was won by Jan Frodeno of Germany and Daniela Ryf of Switzerland. The championship was organized by the World Triathlon Corporation and was the culmination of the Ironman 70.3 series of events that occurred from August 3, 2014 through July 12, 2015. Athletes, both professional and amateur, earned a spot in the championship race by qualifying in races throughout the 70.3 series. A prize purse of $250,000 will be distributed to the top 10 male and female professional athletes. The race marked the second year of the championship event being held in a non-recurring location and the first time being held in Europe.

Championship results

Men

Women

With Ryf's win she became the first female to win back-to-back Ironman 70.3 championship titles. Former champions Jodie Swallow and Meredith Kessler both exited the race early. Swallow pulled out after the swim after suffering a bike crash the previous day. Kessler experienced mechanical issues on the bike.

Qualification

The 2015 Ironman 70.3 Series featured 71 events that enabled qualification to the 2015 World Championship event. Professional triathletes qualified for the championship race by competing in races during the qualifying period, earning points towards their pro rankings. For the 2015 championship race that period was August 3, 2014 to July 12, 2015. An athlete’s five highest scoring races are counted toward their pro rankings. The top 50 males and top 35 females in the pro rankings qualified for the championship race. The previous five 70.3 champions receive an automatic qualifying spot provided they validate their entry by competitively finishing one qualifying race. Winners of the five regional 70.3 championships will also automatically qualify for the championship race. These winners did not count towards the final 50 and 35 qualifiers Professional athletes were also eligible for prize purses at each qualifying event, which ranged in total size from $75,000 to $100,000.
Amateur triathletes could qualify for the championship race by earning a qualifying slot at one of the qualifying events. At qualifying events, slots were allocated to each age group category, male and female, with the number of slots given out based on that category's proportional representation of the overall field. Each age group category was tentatively allocated one qualifying spot in each qualifying event. In previous years some 70.3 events also served as qualifiers for the full Ironman World Championships in Hawaii. However, the 2014 qualifying year served as the final year for almost all qualifying races in this capacity. As such this year's qualifying season only the handcycle competitions and Ironman 70.3 Kraichgau will offer qualification into the 2015 Ironman World Championship. This was to accommodate for the increased number of qualifying slots created from the newly added full Ironman events.

Non-point races

Prior to the 2014 Ironman Boulder race, World Triathlon Corporation's CEO, Andrew Messick, announced a redistribution of prize money to help facilitate paying ten professionals deep at each race as well as awarding larger prize purses at select races across Ironman and Ironman 70.3. As part of this initiative, WTC eliminated points and prize purses for professional triathletes initially at 9 Ironman events and 11 Ironman 70.3 events in 2015, mostly occurring within North America. There are nine Ironman 70.3 races with no professional points or prize purse offered for the 2015 Ironman 70.3 Championship qualifying period.

Qualifying Ironman 70.3 events



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Qualifying pro men

Qualifying slots into the championship race were awarded to the top 50 men in points. Slots that were not accepted by an athlete were rolled down to the next highest eligible qualifier in points.
Awarded slots are according to Ironman.com as of August 31, 2015 and final race results.
Points rankNameCountryRacesPoints total
3Lionel Sanders54725
9Craig Alexander53335
10Brent McMahon53315
13Richie Cunningham52965
14Matt Chrabot52760
15Igor Amorelli52585
16Andy Potts52475
17Ben Hoffman52445
20Mark Bowstead52360
21Christian Kemp52280
23Josh Amberger52125
25Will Clarke32100
28Luke Bell51945
29Mario de Elias51945
30Cameron Brown31905
34Timothy O'Donnell21710
36Callum Millward41680
37Drew Scott51645
42Brad Kahlefeldt31510
43Viktor Zyemtsev31440
44Santiago Ascenço21425
45Alex Reithmeier51380
47Andreas Raelert21325
46David McNamee31360
50Peter Robertson11275
51Courtney Atkinson21250
52Ronnie Schildknecht41240
53Paul Ambrose51215

Qualifying pro women

Qualifying slots were awarded to the top 35 women in points. Slots that were not accepted by an athlete were rolled down to the next highest eligible qualifier in points.
Awarded slots are according to Ironman.com as of August 31, 2015 and final race results.
Points rankNameCountryRacesPoints total
5Annabel Luxford43810
8Caroline Steffen53525
11Gina Crawford42890
14Liz Blatchford42575
15Heather Jackson42505
16Helle Frederiksen32500
17Mary Beth Ellis22470
18Leanda Cave32460
19Lauren Goss52430
20Valentina Carvallo52430
21Laura Philipp42150
22Jackie Hering52105
25Lisa Hütthaler21995
27Sarah Piampiano51960
28Angela Naeth41925
30Sofie Goos31875
33Lucy Gossage31790
36Rachel Joyce31730
37Melanie McQuaid51680