The 14th and final regular-season stop of the Pro Series, Ironman 70.3 Zell am See-Kaprun, is coming up on August 30.th After that, only Nice and Kona will remain to crown the 2026 men’s and women’s series winners.

At Zell am See-Kaprun, as usual, 2,500 points will be on the line, along with a $50,000 USD prize purse.

On the women’s side, Laura Philipp will be wearing bib number 1. While the 2024 Ironman World Champion had some health issues earlier this season, she’s still managed a third place at Ironman 70.3 Pays d’Aix, along with first and second-place finishes at Ironman Sweden and Hamburg, respectively. Zell am See-Kaprun offers an opportunity to improve her regular-season 70.3 score ahead of championship racing. While Philipp currently sits sixth in the Pro Series standings, our eyes are on her to move up following this race, potentially as high as fourth place.

Lisa Perterer, the 2025 runner-up, will also be lining up and currently sits 11th in the standings.

The men’s side is headlined by two-time Ironman 70.3 World Champion Jelle Geens, as well as defending champion Fabian Kraft. Following injury, Geens was unable to fully pursue his full-distance Ironman ambitions this year, but has shared in his YouTube videos that he’s now all-in on his attempt to win three back-to-back-to-back 70.3 world titles, which would be a record achievement, before shifting his focus to Kona for 2027.

Geens truly is a masterclass performer at the middle distance. Across T100 and 70.3 racing, he has podiumed in all but two of the 15 middle-distance races he has finished. When he raced Zell am See-Kaprun two years ago, in one of his first middle-distance races, he finished second. He is not a contender for the Pro Series this year without a full-distance result, but will certainly be one to keep an eye on in future years.

When it comes to the Pro Series, Trevor Foley will be at Zell am See-Kaprun and currently sits second in the standings. With a regular-season 70.3 victory already secured at the Ironman 70.3 North American Championship in Happy Valley, his rationale for lining up here is less certain, other than perhaps securing a backup score should he not race Nice or not perform as well there as he might hope. We do know the highest possible series payout motivates him, following several jokes at pro panels where even the hosts know he’s motivated by the “$200G.”

And as for the defending champ, Kraft has had a strong season himself, with podiums in all three races he’s finished: Iroman 70.3 Valencia, Challenge Walchsee and Ironman 70.3 Sweden. Interestingly, in Sweden, he was runner-up to fellow countryman Lasse Nygaard Priester, also on this start list, who outran him despite Kraft having outrun his compatriot at Zell am See-Kaprun in 2025. It will be interesting to see the rematch between these two! (They have now raced head-to-head on six occasions, with the score favouring Nygaard Priester.)

Watch live Sunday August 30th at 10:30am CEST | 8:3am GMT | 4:30am ET.