IRONMAN 70.3 St. George: Start times, preview and how to watch live

This is a preview for IRONMAN 70.3 St. George, which was won by American Sam Long and Canadian Paula Findlay.

With the IRONMAN Pro Series now well and truly underway, IRONMAN 70.3 St. George will host the next stop of the tour this weekend, in a middle distance matchup that doubles as the IRONMAN 70.3 North American Championship.

Making the trip out to Utah are defending champions Sam Long of the USA and South African Jeanni Metzler, plus a whole host of challengers, in what promises to be an exciting day of racing.

In our preview piece below, you can find all the details you need on start times, streaming and who to watch out for in the professional men and women’s fields.

Start times and how to watch live

The tenth anniversary of IRONMAN 70.3 St. George will take place on Saturday May 4. The professional race will begin at 06:50 local time, which corresponds to 05:50 on the West Coast, 13:50 in the UK and 14:50 in Central Europe.

The race will be broadcast live, with the event the third race this year to be broadcast on the dedicated IRONMAN Pro Series app. You will be able to watch for free on race day via the IRONMAN Pro Series website.

As always, the ever reliable IRONMAN Tracker is the perfect data addition to support your viewing. If you haven’t got it on your phone already, where have you been?!

Pro Men

In the men’s race, Long looks to be the overwhelming favourite, but I believe if there has ever been a chance for a fellow American to beat him on home soil, it will be this weekend.

Racing off the back of four podiums already in 2024, the Boulder native finished first at IRONMAN 70.3 Pucon, second at the Miami T100, second at IRONMAN 70.3 Oceanside and second at the Singapore T100.

Undoubtedly in-form, is it possible Long is overextending himself by racing this weekend? Only time will tell, but the American did hint at a lack of training in his most recent YouTube video.

If his recent round the world racing commitments do take their toll on race day, I am backing recent St. Anthony’s Triathlon winner Marc Dubrick, or his RTS teammate Jackson Laundry, to take the win, and use their superior swim skills to do so.

In similar fashion, I believe Maximillian Sperl of Germany and American Justin Riele will utilize a fast swim to put some time into Long, and although both athletes demonstrated their bike prowess in Oceanside, they will struggle to stay clear of the PTO World #3 on the run.

I think Laundry will snatch the win ahead of Dubrick, with Long made to work hard to hold on for second, ahead of Sperl, Riele and other contenders such as Miki Taagholt and Ben Hamilton.

Pro Women

Although Metzler wears #1, Canadian Paula Findlay is the highest ranked athlete coming into this race and will be hard to beat, especially if her early season form is anything to go by.

Fourth at the Miami T100 and third at IRONMAN 70.3 Oceanside, the PTO World #7 has carried over her consistent form from 2023 and having placed so well in such high quality fields in March and April, is the favourite for the win here.

Metzler, still a contender for the top spot, races for the first time since August, and will be up against a tough group of professionals vying for a podium finish and a slot to the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in Taupo.

Australian Ellie Salthouse, Americans Danielle Lewis and Jackie Herring, plus Great Britain’s Kate Curran can all feature in this race, and it will be fascinating to see how the race folds behind Findlay, who will surely make a break for it on the bike.

If it comes down to a running race, Herring and Lewis will be hard to beat, with Metzler (form pending) never one to count out over the half marathon, especially in St. George.

I think Findlay will take the win here comfortably, with one of either Herring/Lewis joining Metzler on the podium, with the battle between second and third coming down to the wire.

Prize Money: What’s on the line?

The prize purse on offer this weekend is $75,000 – with each of the winners collecting a $12,000 share of that total.

As part of the IRONMAN Pro Series, athletes will also earn points as they seek to become the IRONMAN Pro Series Champion and win a share of the $1.7 million bonus prize purse. 

In St. George, the maximum possible score will be 2,500 points for 1st place, with points for all remaining professional finishers diminishing based on the time deficit to first place, at a rate of 1 point per 1 second deficit to the winner’s finishing time. 

In addition to money and series points, there will be a total of eight qualifying slots (four MPRO + four FPRO) for the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in Taupō, New Zealand, December 14-15 2024.

The total funds will be paid ten-deep, as follows:

1. $12,000
2. $7,000
3. $4,250
4. $3,500
5. $2,750
6. $2,250
7. $2,000
8. $1,500
9. $1,250
10. $1,000