Matt Hanson Leads Pro Series After Win at IRONMAN 70.3 Chattanooga

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (May 19, 2024) – Clocking the fastest time of the day with a new course record time of 3 hours 41 minutes 21 seconds, Matt Hanson claimed the win and took the lead in the IRONMAN Pro Series. Hanson overcame a four-minute deficit to chase down the field and record the fastest run split of the day at 1:09:48. Pallant-Browne (GBR) clocked the fastest run in the women’s race with a time of 1:18:43.

“It’s always tough to race in the heat like this, because the back half (of the race) tends to slow down a lot,” said Matt Hanson. “I cut the lead just about in half right at the beginning of the second lap. I knew that I had a chance if I was able to even split, and I think I negative split (on the run portion). I pushed pretty hard and made a move right before the hill onto the bridge and that is where I could see first and second and gave it a little boost to catch them.”

In the women’s professional race Emma Pallant-Browne (GBR) earned back-to-back wins following her victory last weekend at the Zafiro IRONMAN 70.3 Alcúdia-Mallorca, also earning her maximum points and moving up to second place in the overall IRONMAN Pro Series standings.

“It was a tough race, and really tactical, which is quite unusual in women’s racing. It was quite fun! The field is so deep and tough, at the moment,” said Pallant-Browne. Speaking of her second consecutive IRONMAN Pro Series victory, she said “Obviously that was always the goal, but I knew it would be really tough. I definitely had to dig deep to finish it off today.

Nicholas Quenet (ZAF) and Jodie Stimpson (GBR) recorded the fastest swim times of 22:43 and 24:56, respectively.

Trevor Foley (USA) recorded the fastest bike time in the men’s pro field with a time of 1:58:00 setting a new bike course best surpassing Jackson Laundry’s bike split of 2:00:29 set in 2022.

Lisa Becharas (USA) narrowly edged out Jackie Hering (USA) at the dismount line to record the fastest bike for the women with a time of 2:17:04.

Top-5 Pro Men

Place	Name (Country)	Swim	Bike	Run	Total Time	Pro Series Points	Event Prize Money
1	Matt Hanson (USA)	24:39	2:04:06	1:09:48	3:41:21	2,500	$7,500
2	Jackson Laundry (CAN)	24:38	1:59:31	1:14:48	3:42:02	2,459	$5,000
3	Trevor Foley (USA)	26:00	1:58:00	1:14:59	3:42:16	2,445	$3,750
4	Antony Costes (FRA)	24:11	1:59:51	1:16:09	3:43:13	2,388	$3.000
5	Colin Szuch (USA)	25:19	2:01:27	1:15:10	3:45:15	2,266	$2,000

Top-5 Pro Women

Place	Name (Country)	Swim	Bike	Run	Total Time	Pro Series Points	Event Prize Money
1	Emma Pallant-Browne (GBR)	27:07	2:17:10	1:18:43	4:06:27	2,500	$7,500
2	Jackie Hering (USA)	27:00	2:17:10	1:19:27	4:07:05	2,246	$5,000
3	Sarah True (USA)	25:04	2:19:10	1:22:08	4:10:13	2,274	$3,750
4	Danielle Lewis (USA)	29:04	2:15:58	1:28:54	4:12:06	2,161	$3.000
5	Grace Alexander (USA)	24:58	2:19:16	1:27:21	4:15:04	1,983	$2,000