We’re only 3 weeks away from the IRONMAN world championships in Nice and 70.3 Zell am See is the final race in the pro series before the women take to the south of France. We’ve got several contenders for the series racing to earn points for the end of season standings but they are up against a deep field including three athletes that have already won a 70.3 in the series this year.

The Favourites

After her win in Tallinn just last weekend Caroline Pohle could be considered the overall favourite for the race but she’s up against two other athlete that have impressed in the series this year.

• Ellie Salthouse took the win in Boulder
• Laura Madsen in Les Sables

After missing out on a T100 contract Salthouse has raced 3 x 70.3s in the pro series finishing on each step of the podium. She was beaten twice by friend and rival Paula Findlay and without the Canadian here she may fancy her chances. She’s been in Europe for the last few weeks so clearly has been focused on this race.

Laura Madsen has had the breakthrough of the year so far, 70.3 wins in Valencia and Les Sables as well as 2^nd to India Lee at the Challenge Champs. She’s proven herself to be a seriously strong rider at this level and has shown she can back it up on the run, posting a 1:19 in les sables back in June. She’ll have a deficit in the swim to the other favourites but is planning to attack the climb.

Pohle is coming off that hugely impressive win over Kat Matthews at 70.3 European Champs just last weekend. It’s been a bumpy year with podiums and DNF’s but it all came together on the day for one of the best performances of her career. She’ll be in the lead pack on the swim and is one of the strongest riders in the field but will the fatigue catch up with her on the run?

The Pro Series

The exciting thing about the pro series at this stage in the season is that there are so many stories to follow during the race. It’s no longer just about winning, every second counts towards those standings at the end of the season.

To do well in the series you need 5 scoring races and you can have up to 3 Ironmans. As Ironmans are worth double the points you want as many as possible which leaves 2 70.3s. The majority of contenders have qualified for Nice and Taupo so the best way to look at the current standings is based on their best 2 IMs and best 70.3.

Under this basis Kat Matthews leads the series but Jackie Hering he only around 2 minutes behind. Now I’ve include down to 11^th as Hannah Berry is racing in zell am see along with 3 others. Daniela Bleymehl, Lotte Wilms and Els Visser

Berry is the only one of the 4 to win a race but is furthest down the rankings at Wilms has scored better over the 2 Ironmans with two podiums and the others all have raced a 70.3. Berry and Wilms both haven’t raced a 70.3 yet so this will earn them important points.

Bleymehl is the only one out of this 11 that hasn’t qualified for taupo so this race is even more important for her.

Visser is coming off Tallinn where she finished 10^th but she dropped over 1000 points because she was 17 minutes down on Caroline Pohle. She’ll want to improve on that here to close the gap in the series.

The Challengers

Here are the other athletes I can see featuring in the race.

• Lena Meissner – She’s been dabbling in nearly every distance in triathlon and has two 70.3 podiums to her name so far. She picked up a DQ in her pro series debut in Mallorca but she will be in contention for the podium again in Zell am See.
• Hanne De Vet – she stepped up from short course this year and has 4 podiums already. She’s a strong swim biker and is improving on the run. Her swim will put her at the pointy end of the race from the gun
• Marjolaine Pierre – Its been a tough year so far, struggling in the T100 series and only managing 12^th at 70.3 les sables. She’ll have her eyes on Nice in a few weeks but is presumably racing here to build some form into world championships.
• Grace Thek – She’s coming off 4^th in Tallinn which she dubbed one of her greatest ever all round performances, so will be coming to Austria on a high but with some fatigue
• Kate Curran – another athlete coming off the back of Tallinn where she was one spot behind Thek in 5^th. She’s targeted the pro series 70.3 races and come away with 3 top 5s including a podium in les sables. Another athlete that will feature early on in the swim and expect to see her battling for another top 5 finish.
• Anna Bergsten – coming off a DNF in Tallinn and has struggled at the T100 level but 3^rd at Challenge Champs shows what she can do.
• Lisa Norden – another athlete who DNF’d in Tallinn, where she just didn’t have her legs on the day. Sometimes that’s how it goes and don’t be surprised if she features more heavily here.

The Race

The lead pack of swimmers is really strong with Pohle, Meissner and Wilms and this is just the athletes I’ve called out already. You’ll also have Lauren Brandon in there.

De Vet has led out some of her races so may sneak onto the back of the lead pack, otherwise she’ll probably find herself with Thek, Salthouse and Curran.

Madsen will be further back and I’m interested to see how long it takes her to close the gap to Salthouse on the bike. However if Caroline Pohle races like she did in Tallinn then shell be unstoppable. This course is more challenging with the climbing even though the conditions in Tallinn were rough.

I’m keen to see how Meissner matches up against Pohle and Wilms on the bike, she may get dropped and get swept up by the De Vet / Salthouse group but that would be no bad thing as it gives her a solid group to work with. Curran has been solid all round this year and I think you’ll see her try and follow Salthouse on the bike.

If Madsen can close the gap to the front then she may fancy herself on the run after that 1:19 in les sables. I think Salthouse would welcome the battle on the run but I’m going to give it to Madsen ahead of the Aussie. Pohle has to be the favourite after that win in Tallinn. Madsen should be able to hold the swim deficit on the bike or lose minimal time and will be hunting on the run. If Pohle’s run is at the same level this weekend then she’ll take the win. Hannah Berry is probably the best placed of the pro series athletes to podium but the focus will be on losing as little time as possible to maximise those points.

Let me know yours picks down below and make sure you tune in for the race.