The Richest Pro Triathletes of 2024

After the end of the 2024 pro triathlon race season, TriRating has crunched the prize money numbers – no small task. Prize money is an important part of how pro triathletes make money from their sport, but it should be noted that these numbers are before any expenses such as taxes, travel, coaching, or physio. Athletes also have additional income from sponsors, appearance fees, and – mainly for short-course athletes – stipends or expenses paid by national federations. These additional sources of income are hard to verify, but athletes earning the big race prize money checks are also in the best position to negotiate additional contracts.

The overall triathlon prize money pot has grown substantially: 2024 had roughly $16.5 million available to pros, up 29% from $12.8 million in 2023. In 2024, this breaks down to $3.1 million from short-course races and $13.4 million from long course.

All three major long-course race organizers – Ironman, Challenge, and the PTO – have awarded almost the same prize money for their individual 2024 races as last year. The growth can be attributed to two new race series: The Ironman Pro Series (with $1.7 million in additional series money) and the PTO’s T100 Triathlon Tour.

The “new money” for T100 is harder to pin down: At a minimum, the PTO has added $2 million for the end-of-series bonus payout. In addition, it announced $3 million total for individual T100 contracts, but there hasn’t been a public, official breakdown on individual athletes’ contracts, and some athletes returned their contracts while others might have been “swapped in” during the season. For this reason – and since it’s impossible to account for individual event appearance fees (which are similar, in effect) –  we haven’t included contract numbers in the totals above and in the athlete numbers below.

Prize money for short-course athletes is mainly available through the WTCS series ($1.75 million) and Supertri ($ 1.35 million). The total money is similar to 2023. For the 2024 season, Supertri has paid out most of their prize money via teams who can then decide how to distribute the total to their athletes. As a baseline, an even split between athletes is assumed. The main short-course event this year was the Olympic Games in Paris, but it should be noted that there was no official prize money for the individual and relay events – though federations and individual sponsors of course likely paid out large bonuses depending on finishing places.

Note: We have not included athletes’ prize money from other distances in the totals below. The numbers next to their names in each distance category only reflect the prize money earned in that distance category.

Who makes the most money in triathlon?

Men’s long course

The top men’s earners have focused on either the T100 tour or the Ironman Pro Series. Marten van Riel (BEL) is the top male earner, mainly based on the over $400,000 he collected from the T100 tour, followed by Kyle Smith (NZL), and Magnus Ditlev (DEN) who have also earned most of their money from the PTO. Kona winner Patrick Lange (GER) and Ironman Pro Series winner Gregory Barnaby (ITA) follow in fourth and fifth place in the money list below.

Worth noting: In 2024 there were 18 men who made more than $100,000 in long-course prize money, six more than last year.

Women’s long course

Kat Matthews (GBR) was the top earner in 2024, as she was able to successfully race both the Ironman Pro Series and the T100 Tour, earning a grand total of almost $550,000 in prize money. Taylor Knibb (USA) earned almost half a million in long-distance prize money (while also racing the Olympics). Knibb earned most of her money from the PTO, similar to Ashleigh Gentle (AUS) and Julie Derron (SUI) – in third and fifth place on the list, respectively. Germany’s Laura Philipp leveraged her win at the Ironman World Championship in Nice to balance out her T100 money and ended up sitting fourth on the list.

Fourteen women made more than $100,000 in long-course prize money in 2024, up from eight the year before.

Men’s short course

The top spots in the men’s short-course table are dominated by athletes doing well in both WTCS and Supertri. As in the last two years, Hayden Wilde (NZL) was the top earner – this year mainly based on his Supertri prize money. Olympic gold medal winner and WTCS champion Alex Yee (GBR) earned the most prize money from World Triathlon and ended up second on the list.

Three men were able to earn more than $100,000 in short-course racing prize money, one less than in 2023.

Women’s short course

The top female earner this year was appropriately Paris gold medalist Cassandre Beaugrand (FRA) – she did well in both WTCS and Supertri. The top earner in Supertri was Georgia Taylor-Browne (GBR), who ended up second on the list, but she wasn’t able to perform as well on the WTCS side. Similarly, almost all the top women had one series where they did significantly better.

Four women earned over $100,000 in short-course prize money this year, unchanged from 2023.