IRONMAN Texas Pro Preview

After plenty of fireworks in California to officially kick-off the 2023 North American season, the action heads to The Woodlands for IRONMAN’s first full-distance race of the year. IRONMAN Texas is once again a regional championship, called “The Americas Championship” this year and featuring a $175,000 pro prize purse and 5 slots for each gender to the 2023 IRONMAN World Championships.

Given the depth of world championship slots on offer and the deeper than average prize purse (winner taking $28,000, 10th place earning $2,000), it’d be no surprise to see fiercer than normal racing occurring further into the pro field than you might normally see at an early season IRONMAN event. And there’s a fair number of contenders who will be vying for, not just the win, but those coveted World Championship slots and being able to set a more predictable schedule through the remainder of the 2023 racing season.

Women’s Contenders

Kat Matthews: Matthews has to be considered the favorite coming into the race, having shown off good form in Oceanside with a 3rd place finish. However, she’s still on the comeback trail following the bike versus car crash in September here in Texas that left her with multiple fractures. That said, reviewing her performance in Oceanside, her swim, bike, and run were all within times you would expect out of a fit Matthews. The smart betting money would have Matthews on the podium at a minimum, if not the win outright.

Jocelyn McCauley: The defending champion here almost always races well in the early season. Victory here in 2022, victory at IRONMAN New Zealand and a second here in Texas in 2019, podium in New Zealand in 2018. McCauley represents the most likely shot to deny Matthews victory. But barring some catastrophic mechanical or physical issue, McCauley is almost a guarantee for a World Championship slot and Top 5 finish.

Lauren Brandon: Brandon finished second here in Texas in 2022, and that was unfortunately the highlight of her racing performance last year. It was her sole podium finish in 2022. That being said, she is one of the few women who have raced thus far in 2023, with a second place at 70.3 Davao last month, and she was a little more than two minutes removed from the victory behind a strong performance by Sarah Crowley. Brandon should be in the mix for a return ticket to Kona.

Jen Annett: Annett has done nothing but go long for the last two years, racing eight full-distance triathlons since September 2021. She’s been remarkably consistent across those races, with the worst performance coming at IRONMAN Florida in 2021 with a 1:17 swim. Outside of that, she’s been no worse than sixth at any race outside of Hawaii, with two second place finishes her top results. Annett finished fifth here last year with strong bike-run performance.

Danielle Lewis: Lewis made her full-distance debut here in Texas last year, finishing 14th after a four hour long marathon. That said, she bounced back with a podium finish at IRONMAN Arizona and followed that back up with another third place at 70.3 Indian Wells to close out 2022. The biggest liability she’ll have is how far back of the field she’ll be coming out of the swim — although she’s shown signs of improvement as of late, those have been in wetsuit legal swims, which is a highly unlikely event for The Woodlands.

Maja Stage Nielsen: Stage Nielsen was beaten to the line for sixth at Oceanside by Lewis, although on a balanced performance basis, Stage Nielsen might have the edge here in The Woodlands. That said, Stage Nielsen has also never won a full-distance event and has not been on the podium of a 140.6 mile race since IRONMAN Cozumel in 2019. She did finish in third place here in Texas in 2017, though.

Melanie McQuaid and Dede Greisbauer: The two oldest competitors in the field also represent solid potential challengers for that fifth and final world championship slot. Both have floated in the third to fifth place position over their last few full distance performances. McQuaid is a slightly more balanced performer across the three disciplines, whereas Greisbauer relies upon her still excellent swim and bike to position herself in the field. It would be a mistake to underestimate either one of them.

Full List:
1 Jocelyn McCauley
2 Lauren Brandon
3 Joanna Ryter
4 Kat Matthews
5 Jen Annett
6 Danielle Lewis
7 Katharina Grohmann
8 Maja Stage Nielsen
9 Jessica Smith
10 Jodie Robertson
13 Lottie Lucas
14 Olivia Dietzel
16 Angela Naeth
17 Dede Greisbauer
18 Sarah Karpinski
19 Joanna Patterson
20 Gabrielle Suver
21 Amber Ferreira
22 Lenny Ramsey
23 Holly Smith
24 Clarice Chastang
25 Kayla Bowker
26 Alice Alberts
27 Jenny Nilsson
28 Katie Colville

Men’s Contenders

Joe Skipper: Skipper, the top rated man in the field, is returning to Texas for the first time since 2019, when he finished fourth. He’s been on an impressive run, finishing no lower than fifth in a race he’s completed since IRONMAN Tulsa in 2021. That span includes four IRONMAN victories and a fifth place at last year’s IRONMAN World Championships. Those victories also included some head-to-head victories against some of the field in Texas. Plan on Skipper being at the front.

Matt Hanson: Hanson is one of those athlete’s who Skipper has beaten to the line recently, with Skipper taking a decisive victory in Arizona this past November over Hanson. Still, Hanson has raced well in The Woodlands, taking two wins here. Hanson also tends to peak earlier in the year, with more than half of his all-time podiums coming before the middle of June hits the racing calendar — including a podium last month at a Challenge event. And never discount his ability to slash into leads with his run.

One thing to note: both Skipper and Hanson already have their World Championship slots from Arizona, so expect to see fierce fighting further down the order, assuming these two are at the front (and they most likely will be).

Rudy Von Berg: Von Berg made his debut at the full distance last year in France and took a solid victory. It was also his last strong performance in 2022, as he struggled at the PTO US Open, Hawaii, and in Cozumel. A good off-season may be just what was needed, though, as Von Berg’s been a force to reckon with at the 70.3 distance since 2018.

Cody Beals: After two years in the hinterlands, Beals quietly put together a very strong 2022 with no finish worse than fourth — including a fourth in Texas to start the year. Two wins and two other podiums saw Beals push back into the Top 50 rankings. Beals should be in the mix for, at minimum, one of the five Nice slots, if not a podium contender and an outside chance at a win.

Arnaud Guilloux: Guilloux is still looking to recapture the magic of late season 2021, where he rattled off seconds at IRONMAN Lake Placid and 70.3 Warsaw, a third at IRONMAN Austria, and a fourth at IRONMAN Florida. His results since have been more of a mixed bag, with the big highlight a win at 70.3 Vichy last year. He’s also already got an IRONMAN in his legs, having raced in South Africa last month and taking seventh place.

Michael Weiss: The other man in the field who raced South Africa, Weiss continues to find ways to get himself back to IMWC every year, with two second place finishes in Austria and Lake Placid getting him to Kona. The former king of Cozumel, though, slid down the ranks in 2022, making it the first time since 2016 where he finished the race and wasn’t on the podium. Still one of the strongest bikers in the field, and can hang on during the run. Expect him to find a way to get to Nice out of a result here.

Full List
30 Matt Hanson
31 Joe Skipper
32 Cody Beals
34 Rudy Von Berg
35 Robert Wilkowiecko
36 Michael Weiss
37 Trevor Foley
38 Fernando Toldi
39 Arnaud Guilloux
40 Bart Aernouts
41 Adam Feigh
42 Matt Russell
43 Ivan Tutukin
44 David Plese
45 Kennett Peterson
46 Fraser Walsh
47 Yang Pan
48 Vinicius Canhedo
49 Andrew Horsfall-Turner
50 Josh Eaton
53 Lars Schmidt
54 Jeremie Marton
56 Emmanuel Lejeune
57 Marcus Herbst
58 Guillaume Dorée
59 Sven Wies
60 Balazs Csoke
61 Matthew Marquardt
62 Simon She
63 Alessandro Degasperi
64 Adam Hansen
66 Elliot Bach
67 Thomas Davis
68 Karl-johan Danielsson