Triathlete prize winnings continue to be a hot topic. Savvy fans are using the information to guide their fantasy triathlon picks. Here’s a look at the earning of ITU racers at the halfway point of their season, as well as the quarterly and season-to-date earnings of long course pros.
ITU Athletes
The World Triathlon Series events are the primary races for Olympic distance draft-legal triathlon. From March to September, ten races across the world pay a prize purse of $150,000 per race ($18,000 to each male and female winner, down to $1000 for 20th place). The ITU also holds ten World Cup races, best described as, “some additional Olympic distance races that pay less” ($60,000 per race, $7500 for each winner, $150 for 15th place).
March to June saw 6 WTS and 4 World Cup races, totaling $1.1 million in prize purses. This amounts to about a third of total prize opportunities for the year. Unlike the Kona Points Rankings, which are only good for qualifying for Kona (ie: there’s no reward for having more points beyond the minimum cutoff), the ITU awards a significant bonus prize based on end-of-year points. With a total bonus pool of $755,000, each male/female season winner will earn an extra $80,000. Bonuses extend down to 35th place ($1800).
Familiar names topped the men’s earning list—Gomez, A. Brownlee, Mola, and J. Brownlee. Gwen Jorgensen and Katie Zaferes dominated the women’s side, leaving relativelyscant earnings for the rest of the field. For those looking to project annual earnings for ITU athletes, most will likely double to triple their earnings by the end of the season.
March to June 2015 ITU Prize Winnings
| Women | Men | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $90,000 | Gwen Jorgensen | $54,100 | Javier Gomez |
| 2 | $56,000 | Katie Zaferes | $48,000 | Alistair Brownlee |
| 3 | $26,400 | Sarah True | $43,100 | Mario Mola |
| 4 | $25,800 | Andrea Hewitt | $40,900 | Jonathan Brownlee |
| 5 | $22,900 | Vicky Holland | $32,500 | Fernando Alarza |
| 6 | $22,025 | Renee Tomlin | $31,300 | Richard Murray |
| 7 | $17,600 | Ashleigh Gentle | $28,000 | Vincent Luis |
| 8 | $14,600 | Aileen Reid | $16,025 | Pierre Le Corre |
| 9 | $13,700 | Barbara Riveros | $16,000 | Ryan Bailie |
| 10 | $13,500 | Emma Moffat | $12,800 | Vicente Hernandez |
| 11 | $13,200 | Ainhoa Murua | $12,775 | Crisanto Grajales |
| 12 | $13,100 | Lisa Perterer | $11,200 | Sven Riederer |
| 13 | $12,900 | Vendula Frintova | $9,900 | Jacob Birtwhistle |
| 14 | $11,425 | Kirsten Kasper | $9,800 | Henri Schoeman |
| 15 | $9,800 | Flora Duffy | $9,550 | Kevin McDowell |
| 16 | $8,500 | Tamara Gomez Garrido | $9,300 | Tony Dodds |
| 17 | $8,100 | Valentina Carvallo | $9,100 | Alexander Bryukhankov |
| 18 | $8,000 | Flora Duffy | $9,025 | Irving Perez |
| 19 | $8,000 | Nicola Spiriq | $7,500 | David Haus |
| 20 | $7,900 | Lindsey Jerdonek | $7,500 | Ryan Fisher |
Long Course Athletes
The 2nd quarter (April-June ) saw $1.9 million in prize money awarded to long course athletes (half and full iron distance). The vast majority (85%) came from WTC races, with most of the rest from Challenge (Wildflower’s $40,000 purse is also tallied).
The athletes with the biggest quarters either won a regional championship, or strung together a series of podiums.
October 2014 to June 2015 Prize Winnings
| Women | Men | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $149,500 | Helle Frederiksen | $148,500 | Michael Raelert |
| 2 | $142,000 | Daniela Ryf | $126,400 | Sebastian Kienle |
| 3 | $123,750 | Mirinda Carfrae | $92,000 | Tim Reed |
| 4 | $105,000 | Jodie Swallow | $85,250 | Terenzo Bozzone |
| 5 | $103,000 | Rachel Joyce | $83,750 | Andy Potts |
| 6 | $85,700 | Meredith Kessler | $71,400 | Tim Don |
| 7 | $63,500 | Heather Wurtele | $68,250 | Ben Hoffman |
| 8 | $58,000 | Mel Hauschildt | $67,170 | Andreas Dreitz |
| 9 | $53,750 | Liz Blatchford | $58,000 | Jan Frodeno |
| 10 | $51,500 | Gina Crawford | $44,750 | Frederik Van Lierde |
| 11 | $48,000 | Annabel Luzford | $44,000 | Marino Van Hoenacker |
| 12 | $47,000 | Angela Naeth | $40,030 | Jeff Symonds |
| 13 | $44,500 | Caroline Steffen | $36,500 | Cameron Brown |
| 14 | $42,750 | HeatherJackson | $36,000 | Brent McMahon |
| 15 | $34,000 | Elizabeth Lyles | $33,660 | Tim Van Berke! |
| 16 | $31,500 | Yvonne Van Vlerken | $33,500 | Lionel Sanders |
| 17 | $30,250 | Haley Chura | $30,000 | Matt Hanson |
| 18 | $30,000 | Mane Silveira | $27,600 | Matt Chrabot |
| 19 | $27,500 | Eva Wutti | $27,500 | Tim O’Donnell |
| 20 | $27,250 | Amanda Stevens | $27,500 | Callum Millward |
| 21 | $27,000 | Alicia Kaye | $26,670 | Dylan McNeice |
| 22 | $25,250 | Sarah Piampiano | $26,550 | Eneko Llanos |
| 23 | $25,000 | Magali Tisseyre | $26,420 | Luke McKenzie |
| 24 | $24,920 | Susie Cheetham | $24,600 | Cyril Viennot |
| 25 | $24,500 | Julia Gajer | $24,500 | Richie Cunningham |
| 26 | $24,250 | Camilla Pedersen | $23,700 | Nils Frommhold |
| 27 | $24,000 | Lauren Goss | $22,750 | Michael Weiss |
| 28 | $23,500 | Lisa Hutthaler | $20,500 | Ivana Rana |
| 29 | $23,000 | Lucy Gossage | $20,050 | Leon Griffin |
| 30 | $21,500 | Michelle Bremer | $20,000 | Matt Trautman |
| 31 | $20,500 | Leanda Cave | $19,630 | Sam Appleton |
| 32 | $20,300 | Anja Beranek | $18,750 | Romain Guillaume |
| 33 | $18,750 | Caitlin Snow | $18,750 | Josh Amberger |
| 34 | $17,370 | Mary Beth Ellis | $17,500 | Clemente McKeman |
| 35 | $17,000 | Nicola Spirig | $16,620 | Ruedi Wild |
| 36 | $14,250 | Kelly Williamson | $16,500 | Joe Skipper |
| 37 | $13,950 | Parys Edwards | $16,000 | Boris Stein |
| 38 | $13,800 | Michelle Vesterby | $15,750 | Andi Boecherer |
| 39 | $13,250 | Katy Blakemore | $15,750 | Domenico Passuello |
| 40 | $12,500 | Britta Martin | $15,500 | Igor Amorelli |
| 41 | $12,250 | Sofie Goos | $15,500 | Brad Kahlefeldt |
| 42 | $12,070 | Radka Vodckova | $15,000 | Guilherme Manocchio |
| 43 | $11,950 | Jessie Donavan | $13,600 | Luke Bell |
| 44 | $11,500 | Beth Gerdes | $13,500 | Paul Ambrose |
| 45 | $11,400 | Lesley Smith | $13,500 | Craig Alexander |
| 46 | $11,250 | Holly Lawrence | $13,450 | James Cunnama |
| 47 | $11,000 | Sarah Haskins | $13,400 | Kevin Collington |
| 48 | $10,750 | Dede Griesbauer | $13,170 | Bart Aemouts |
| 49 | $10,630 | Diana Riesler | $13,050 | Mitchell Robins |
| 50 | $10,100 | Laurel Wassner | $13,000 | Tyler Butterfield |
| 51 | $10,050 | Ariane Monticeli | $12,250 | Mark Bowstead |
| 52 | $9,800 | Eva Potuckova | $11,910 | Massimo Cigana |
| 53 | $9,500 | Jackie Hering | $11,460 | Ritchie Nicholls |
| 54 | $9,250 | Tine Deckers | $11,250 | Dennis Chevrot |
| 55 | $9,250 | Laura Philipp | $11,000 | Jesse Thomas |
| 56 | $9,170 | Eimear Mullan | $10,750 | Joe Gambles |
| 57 | $9,170 | Lisa Marangon | $10,500 | Giulio Malinari |
| 58 | $8,750 | Laura Siddal | $10,420 | Patrik Nilsson |
| 59 | $8,700 | Ma Lundstrom | $10,390 | Chris Leiferman |
| 60 | $8,500 | Beate Goerlz | $10,000 | Chrisitan Kemp |
| 61 | $8,500 | Jeanni Seymour | $9,920 | Fredrik Croneborg |
| 62 | $8,250 | Dimity Lee Duke | $9,750 | Stuart Marais |
| 63 | $8,250 | Camilla Lindholm | $9,500 | Trevor Wurtele |
| 64 | $8,170 | Jessica Fleming | $9,300 | Jordan Rapp |
| 65 | $8,170 | Emma Pooley | $9,250 | Ronnie Schildknecht |
| 66 | $8,000 | Ashley Clifford | $9,250 | Christian Kramer |
| 67 | $7,300 | Rachel McBride | $8,870 | Jonathan Ciavattella |
| 68 | $7,250 | Mareen Hufe | $8,500 | Chris Fischer |
| 69 | $7,000 | Kaisa Lehtonen | $8,500 | Victor Del Corral |
| 70 | $7,000 | Marina Damlaimcourt | $7,920 | Per Bittner |
| 71 | $7,000 | Lauren Barnett | $7,500 | Cody Beals |
| 72 | $7,000 | Usa Roberts | $7,500 | Taylor Reid |
| 73 | $6,800 | Sarah Crowley | $7,500 | Bas Diederen |
| 74 | $6,600 | Emma Bilham | $7,500 | Viktor Zyemtsev |
| 75 | $6,500 | Ruth Brennan-Morrey | $7,500 | Pedro Gomes |
We’re tallying long course winnings on an October-September season, so we’re three-quarters of the way through this one. To date, nine men and ten women have won more than $50,000. The earnings distribution further down the ranks is also similar between the sexes. The 75th place man has won $7500, and the 75th place woman has won $6500.
This doesn’t seem to support Andrew Messick’s assertion that it’s somehow easier for women to win money. While the top 5 women have earned more than the top 5 men, this is solely a function of Daniela Ryf, Rachel Joyce and Jodie Swallow having done well not only at Kona, but also at the lucrative Challenge Bahrain and/or Challenge Dubai events.
So far this season, 297 men and 274 women have won some prize money. This data also sheds light on the “equal slots to Kona” discussion. WTC argues that because women only comprise 35% of pro triathletes, they should have fewer spots at Kona.
Experts have pointed out that this disproportional pro representation is at the bottom of the field. In other words, of those who barely qualify for a pro card, men are more likely than women to take it.
What we see in the data is that fewer than half of all pros win any prize money. But a full 46% of athletes who do win money are women. Which means the pool of pro athletes who are good enough to win money is roughly proportional between men and women.
The upcoming quarter has two races with big prize purses–$150,000 at Ironman Frankfurt ($30,000 to the winner), and $250,000 at the Ironman 70.3 World Championships ($45,000 to the winner). Between those two races, I expect Daniela Ryf to break $200,000 in seasonal earnings. And if both she and Helle Frederiksen race the championships (and if Ironman decides to provide live coverage), we could see the competition of the year.
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