The pre-race press conference here at the Ironman 70.3 World Championship in Nice did not disappoint.

From Gustav Iden’s lucky hat, to Kristian Blummenfelt joking that there was no need to tag him in the reel showing how Jelle Geens beat him last year, to hometown favourite Marjolaine Pierre revealing that boyfriend Clément Mignon has a bike strategy – and that if it fails, it’s entirely his fault, there were plenty of memorable moments.

Women’s Pro Panel

The women’s pro panel featured Julie Derron, Kat Matthews, Solveig Løvseth, Marjolaine Pierre, and Taylor Knibb.

For Derron, this will be just her second Ironman 70.3 World Championship (she placed fifth in Taupō in 2022), and with a gold and silver in T100 racing this year (first in Vancouver and second in Spain), her form over the middle distance looks incredibly strong. We’re excited to see her in the mix at the front this weekend, with her full-distance World Championship debut in Kona to come shortly after.

Matthews, of course, is not in a position to defend her Pro Series title, but has reframed the Texas “mechanical DNF,” as she calls it, as one less marathon in the legs, so to speak. She intentionally didn’t add another full-distance race to her schedule – apart from Roth, which had been part of the plan all along – in order to prioritize showing up at her best for championship racing here in Nice and, next, in Kona.

Løvseth was humble as always, saying quite clearly that she doesn’t feel she’s in a position to win this race. With that said, she shared much the same pre-race sentiment last year in Kona – and went on to win. Never rule out Løvseth. She has, however, battled significant illness recently, requiring an extended period away from training, and shared that for now she’s mostly grateful to be back at it and feeling good again.

For Pierre, living so close to the race venue has given her plenty of opportunity to practice on the technical and challenging bike course. She’ll be trusting boyfriend Mignon’s strategic advice for the bike, with, of course, full blame assigned to him if it doesn’t work out! She also offered an important reminder: while the particularly challenging bike course in Nice tends to command much of the attention, this is still a triathlon, and performing well across all three disciplines will be essential on Saturday.

Finally, none other than Taylor Knibb. Always honest, and you can never quite predict what her answer might be.

Knibb called this year an “experiment,” given the variety of distances she’s undertaken, starting with the T100 Gold Coast and Pro Series races in Oceanside and Texas, then shifting into short-course mode, and now returning to long-course racing for Nice and Kona. She joked that even her team isn’t entirely sure how it will all go!

But underneath the laughs, Knibb carried an aura of quiet confidence. She is a three-time Ironman 70.3 World Champion (2022, 2023 and 2024), and in 2025 raced Marbella under sub-optimal conditions following heat illness in Kona and still managed to finish second. As a result, our money is on her…and on this “experiment” of a year paying off!

Men’s Pro Panel

The men’s pro panel featured Marten Van Riel, Gustav Iden, Casper Stornes, Kristian Blummenfelt, and Jelle Geens.

According to our calculations, Van Riel would theoretically sit first in the Pro Series standings if only each athlete’s top three races to date (a maximum of two full-distance races plus one 70.3) were counted. Every man currently ahead of him has raced four or five times, whereas an ideal Pro Series campaign would require only three regular-season events followed by the two higher-scoring championship races. That makes Nice and Kona not only opportunities for Van Riel to chase a world championship crown (or two), but also to maintain and potentially extend his advantage in the Pro Series.

Iden won the Ironman 70.3 World Championship on this very course back in 2019, followed by another 70.3 world title in St. George in 2021 and the full-distance world title in Hawaii in 2022. So, he’s certainly proven himself here before…although even Iden admitted during the pro panel that 2019 was, as he put it, a long time ago. Still, he seemed to have plenty of confidence and belief in himself. His dad has his famous lucky hat, although Iden joked that he could even race without it this time. (He has, after all, been rocking the new blonde hair!)

For Stornes, this is undoubtedly a special course. He is arriving as the reigning Ironman World Champion after taking the title here in Nice in 2025. He was quieter during the press conference, but that’s exactly the attitude he brought to his victory here last year – an unexpected, almost unassuming performance that spoke for itself without any need for grandeur.

Next up was Blummenfelt, who’s always fun to hear from. He confirmed that he found it “annoying” to have to re-watch the reel of Geens beating him by seconds at last year’s World Championship in Marbella so many times on social media, and joked that there was no need to keep tagging him! When the Ironman host suggested all that exposure might at least be good for his follower count, Blummenfelt responded that he’d rather have his followers see him winning.

Hopefully this weekend, Blu!

Last but certainly not least was two-time defending champion Geens (2024 and 2025). As a lighter athlete, he could be particularly well-suited to the climbing here in Nice. The bigger question is where his fitness lies, particularly on the run, following a prolonged period of injury. He’s not our top pick for Sunday for that reason, but he’s also never one to rule out.

Notably missing from the panel was Hayden Wilde, who has raced fewer 70.3s but has shown incredible dominance over the similar T100 distance (and placed second in Taupō in 2024). Wilde has also dealt with an extended period of illness, but appeared to be back in great form at the recent Supertri final in Jersey. And while we didn’t get to hear from him today, we have no doubt his presence on Sunday will significantly add to an already star-studded field.

It’s going to be an incredible weekend of racing. Allez, allez!