A Race for the Ages: Jelle Geens of Belgium Secures 2025 Precision Fuel & Hydration IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship Triathlon Title in Footrace to the Finish

November 9, 2025

– Geens earns back-to-back IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship victories with the tightest of margins finishing just three seconds ahead of Kristian Blummenfelt (NOR); 2025 IRONMAN World Champion Casper Stornes (NOR) rounds out podium with third place in a thrilling race at the 2025 Precision Fuel & Hydration IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship triathlon

– Blummenfelt shores up 2025 IRONMAN Pro Series Men’s Championship at season finale

MARBELLA, Spain (November 9, 2025) /ENDURANCE SPORTSWIRE/ – Jelle Geens (BEL) made it back-to-back IRONMAN^® 70.3^® World Championship titles in Marbella, Spain, edging out Kristian Blummenfelt (NOR) by the narrowest of margins to win the 2025 Precision Fuel & Hydration IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship.

Geens claimed the world title by just three seconds, the second closest finish in the history of the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship, with Geens and Blummenfelt pushing each other until the very end on the streets of Marbella.

The defending IRONMAN 70.3 World Champion crossed the line in 3:42:54 to win, putting behind him a rollercoaster of a day where he crashed in the early stages of the bike leg creating mechanical issues and held off a hard charging Blummenfelt during the run.

“This was the whole goal of the season, I went with the family to Andorra for altitude camp and I actually had a really good block leading into this race,” said the newly re-crowned IRONMAN 70.3 World Champion, Jelle Geens. “The goal was to defend the title but there is a lot that happens during the race. I had a crash on the bike, so I thought it was over there for the win. It is incredible…Being able to do it while having a family and doing everything with the family makes it all the more deserving. My little girl was there shouting ‘daddy, daddy,’ hopefully she can look back in ten years and be proud.”

2025 Precision Fuel & Hydration IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship Race Recap

With air temperatures notably a little cooler than Saturday, and a breeze in the air, the professional men charged into the Mediterranean for the 1.9km (1.2 mile) ROKA swim at the 2025 Precision Fuel & Hydration IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship. Jamie Riddle (ZAF) and Alessio Crociani (ITA) exploded off the line, with the Italian surging to an early lead before chaos erupted at the first turn buoy, where Geens found himself jostled in the melee. By the halfway mark, Crociani was joined by Vincent Luis (FRA) and Panagiotis Bitados (GRE) at the front, with Jonas Schomburg (DEU), Cameron Main (GBR), Seth Rider (USA), and Casper Stornes (NOR) swimming strongly in pursuit. Fabian Kraft (DEU) drove the chase pack hard, while Blummenfelt sat deep in the second group around 30th, alongside Geens, Magnus Ditlev (DNK), and Mathis Margirier (FRA), as Rico Bogen (DEU) dangled off the back. Crociani held firm, powering clear over the final stretch to exit first in 22:21 with a 28-second advantage over a 15-strong chase pack featuring Luis, Main, Bitados, Stornes, Riddle, and Schomburg. Further back, race favourites were poised to strike on the bike – Geens at +00:58, Ditlev +01:01, Margirier +01:12, Blummenfelt +01:16, Bogen +01:32, and Gustav Iden (NOR) a distant +02:27. Of the 58 pros that started the race, 43 entered T1 within a minute and 10 seconds creating a frantic bid for prime bike positions.

Once on the 90km (56-mile) Zoot bike course, Sebastian Wernersen (NOR), Luis and Main would negate Crociani’s lead out of the water as they worked their way out of town. Just after leaving transition, Geens trying to catch the lead pack would misjudge and early turn causing him to crash and damage his bike. The damage reduced him to a single gear on his bike until stopping again to make repairs as he started climbing out of town. The biggest mover in the first segment was Bogen, who flew up from 44th to third within the first 7km. Following a strong swim Magnus Ditlev put his strong bike form to work, climbing from 26th to the front of the pack by the 20km mark. Frenchman Mathis Margirier was also working his way through the group, taking the lead at the 40km mark, with nine men all within 11 seconds of the lead.

As the leading pack entered the final third of the bike leg, 2023 IRONMAN 70.3 World Champion Rico Bogen moved to the head of the group, ahead of Ditlev, Riddle and Geens who somehow was able to stay in the mix despite his early issues, and Blummenfelt drifting out to 20 seconds off the lead. With the kilometres ticking down the front group continued to grow, with Schomburg, Simon Westermann (SUI) and Stornes making it a group of nine all within 17 seconds of each other. Returning to the crowd-lined streets of Marbella, Riddle was first off the bike, a second ahead of Bogen, with Blummenfelt and Geens hot on their heels.

The early stages of the run would prove frenetic, with positions constantly swapping. Bogen shot off ahead with Blummenfelt and Riddle keeping the pressure on. After the first kilometre Riddle, Schomburg and Blummenfelt cleared out ahead of the pack, before Geens joined in on the fun, with the leading quartet putting 20 seconds in Stornes. As the race headed back along the long, straight, stretch of road a block behind the seafront for the first time Geens and Blummenfelt cleared out ahead, settling into their rhythm and never letting the other get more than a couple of seconds ahead. With kilometres running out to the finish line, the leading duo pushed on, opening up a one minute lead over Stornes heading into the closing stages. As Geens and Blummenfelt entered the final kilometres along the waterfront if became a game of cat and mouse, with neither athlete showing their hand, powering towards the finish line. As they made the final turn onto the finish straight Geens would go toe-to-toe with Blummenfelt eventually pulling in front to take the win by just three seconds over Blummenfelt, with Stornes one minute further behind in third.

Top five professional men’s results: 

News and Notes 

• Jelle Geens (BEL) claimed the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship title over Kristian Blummenfelt (NOR) by just three seconds, the second closest finish in IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship history. The margin was one second off the record smallest gap between Tim Reed and Sebastian Kienle in Mooloolaba, Australia, in 2016.
• Geens became just the fourth man to win back-to-back IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship titles, behind Michael Raelert (2009, 2010), Sebastian Kienle (2012, 2023) and Gustav Iden (2019, 2021 – 2020 not held due to global pandemic)
• Alessio Crociani (ITA) set the fastest time in the ROKA swim with a 22:21, 28 seconds ahead of second Sebastian Wernersen (NOR)
• Starting the bike leg, the top 36 athletes were covered by just one minute
• Rico Bogen (DEU) set the fastest bike split of the day, clocking in at 2:08:54
• Geens was the quickest to cover the 21.1km HOKA run course, finishing in 1:07:35; This marks the seventh time in the last eight editions of the race that the winner has had the fastest run split
• 8 nations were represented in the top 10 professional men finishers, with Norway and German claiming two spots each, and Belgium, Denmark, South Africa, Switzerland, France, and Luxemburg all seeing a top 10 finisher from their country.
• The 10th place finish of Gregor Payet from Luxemburg and 11th place finish of Panagiotis Bitados, marked the highest finish for each respective country in IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship history

Full results for the 2025 IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship men’s race can be found at www.ironman.com/races/im703-world-championship-2025/results.

For more information about the 2025 IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship event, please visit www.ironman.com/im703-world-championship.To learn more about the IRONMAN and IRONMAN 70.3 brands and series of events, please visit www.ironman.com. Media inquiries may be directed to press@ironman.com.

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  About the Precision Fuel & Hydration IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship

The IRONMAN^® 70.3^® Triathlon Series is the world’s premier middle-distance triathlon series culminating in the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship. Introduced in 2006 in Clearwater, Florida, the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship has grown in stature and popularity to become an annual test for the world’s elite triathletes. The event moved first to Henderson, Nevada in 2011, where athletes encountered a more challenging terrain and then to Mont-Tremblant, Quebec—its first stop on the new “global rotation” for the race. The event reached European soil for the first time ever in 2015, with Zell am See, Austria, and in 2016, the race moved from the mountains to the beaches of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia for its first stop in Asia-Pacific. In 2017, the race returned to the United States, taking place in Chattanooga, Tennessee where it underwent another major change to become a two-day event. In 2018, the event reached the African continent and was hosted in Nelson Mandela Bay in South Africa. From here, it has continued to be hosted in some of the world’s most inspiring and beautiful destinations, including Nice, France; St. George, Utah; Lahti, Finland; and Taupō, New Zealand. As the event has continued its global rotation, it has brought about some of the most compelling triathlon racing annually thanks to the attraction of Olympic distance specialists to middle- and long-distance triathletes, all competing together to see who reigns supreme. This year, the event comes to Spain for the first time with Marbella as host location on November 8-9, 2025. The City of Nice will then continue its rich history with triathlon and world championship events, hosting the 2026 and 2028 editions of the race. Historically, more than 200,000 athletes have participated annually in a series of qualifying races, consisting of over 100 global events. Hosting more than 6,000 athletes from around the world, participants in the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship triathlon have ranged in age from 18 to 85-plus. For more information, visit www.ironman.com/im703-world-championship.

About IRONMAN Pro Series

The IRONMAN Pro Series™ is a year-long performance-based world series that showcases and rewards top professional triathletes as they vie for points and event prize money, on their way to claiming the title of IRONMAN Pro Series champion and a lion’s share of the lucrative $1.7 million USD year-end bonus prize pool.  Along the way, athletes will battle for the prize money offered at each individual IRONMAN Pro Series triathlon, equating to over $2.5 million USD, as well as coveted world championship qualifying slots. Open to approximately 1,000 eligible professional triathletes worldwide, the IRONMAN Pro Series ushers in a new era of IRONMAN racing where Every Second Matters – every second behind the race winner equates to a point earned or lost. Incorporating iconic distances, challenging courses, and stunning destinations, every IRONMAN Pro Series race will be broadcast live and free to a global audience. In 2025, the IRONMAN Pro Series will be contested over 18 events and 17 race locations around the globe, including a combination of six IRONMAN^® and eight IRONMAN^® 70.3^® triathlons, as well as the IRONMAN World Championship® women’s and men’s races and IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship triathlon. An additional 40 events outside of the 2025 IRONMAN Pro Series will also offer IRONMAN and IRONMAN 70.3 professional racing fields with world championship qualifying opportunities, and over $1.8 million USD in prize money. This creates a total professional prize purse of over $6 million USD in 2025. For more information, visit proseries.ironman.com.

About The IRONMAN Group

The IRONMAN Group is the world’s largest operator of participation sports with a portfolio of brands, events, media, partners, merchandise, and digital platforms operating in over 50 countries worldwide. A global portfolio consisting of hundreds of events includes the IRONMAN^® Triathlon Series, the IRONMAN^® 70.3^® Triathlon Series, 5150® Triathlon Series, IRONKIDS^®, premier running events including the Rock ‘n’ Roll^® Running Series, the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon™ and City2Surf^®, the UTMB^® World Series of trail running, the Epic Series™ of mountain biking including the Absa Cape Epic^®, and a collection of road cycling and other multisport races. Since the inception of the iconic IRONMAN^® brand and its first event in 1978, millions of athletes have proven that ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE^® by crossing finish lines around the world. From its beginnings as a single race among friends in Hawai’i, The IRONMAN Group has become a global sensation and collection of high-growth lifestyle brands that inspire people to unlock their potential in life. For more information, visit www.ironman.com/about-ironman-group