Published March 24, 2026 06:00AM
2026 70.3 Oceanside pro preview
Southern California might be known for its moderate, sunny weather, but the Pacific Ocean at the end of March is still cold. Nonetheless, the Ironman Pro Series makes its first 2026 stop in the Northern Hemisphere at Ironman 70.3 Oceanside.
Men’s defending champion Lionel Sanders opted for 70.3 Dallas instead of Oceanside, but the 2026 pro fields are arguably even stronger. Last year saw two very close finishes with only 19 seconds between first and second in the female race and 41 seconds in the male race. Will this year be as close, or is one of the favorites going to build a huge lead over their competition?
You can follow along on the Ironman broadcast and the Ironman Tracker app.
The race begins with a single swim loop, sheltered from the open Pacific in the harbor but still quite cold at around 60 degrees F (16 degrees C), and wetsuits are a given.
The bike course heads north along the coast before cutting inland into Camp Pendleton, the active Marine Corps base that gives the course its singular character: empty roads, rolling hills, no civilian spectators for miles.
Camp Pendleton is currently operating under heightened security protocols linked to the ongoing situation in Iran. A closure remains unlikely, but monitor Ironman’s official channels in the days before the race.
Also worth noting: a significant rule change that could impact the race dynamics this year; the draft zone was extended to 20 meters.
In previous years, big groups often survived the Camp Pendleton climbs intact and arrived in T2 together. The longer zone makes that harder. Powerful cyclists can now ride away more easily, and this year’s fields may be more fragmented on the bike and into T2 than anything Oceanside has previously produced.
The run brings athletes back along the waterfront and over the Oceanside Pier. Despite its seemingly flat appearance, short, steep ramps between the beach and street levels make it hard to settle into a rhythm. A lot can still change on the run. The California spring sunshine will feel especially hot compared to the chilly morning in the harbor – and anyone who went out too hard on the bike will find out about it here.
Most likely contenders in the men’s race at 70.3 Oceanside
As almost every year, the Oceanside start list is a who’s who of the best athletes at the half distance. Whenever the three Norwegians race the best athletes from North America and Europe, the triathlon world debates who has the best chances for the win.
Let’s briefly mention last year’s other podium finishers since there are a few question marks for them.
Rudy von Berg (USA) arrives having raced 70.3 Dallas just two weeks ago. A seventh-place finish hints at solid fitness but perhaps not the razor-sharp race form needed to repeat his second place.
2025’s third-place finisher, Gustav Iden (NOR), is back in Oceanside, too, but he had to postpone his intended season start in New Zealand after a twisted ankle.
Both will need to be at their best, and the field they face in 2026 probably has even more firepower than the one they navigated to the podium.
We’ll highlight five athletes to watch in this year’s race, but we could easily discuss 10 or more athletes and the role they could play in Oceanside.
Kristian Blummenfelt
32 years old, Norway
There is one stat from last year’s Oceanside that tells you a lot about Kristian Blummenfelt’s racing mindset: He suffered a flat early in the bike, spending 10 minutes on the side of the road, ruining his chances for a win. But then he set the men’s run course record with a 1:07:19, four minutes faster on foot than winner Lionel Sanders. Let that sink in.
Now add in Blummenfelt’s last race at 70.3 Geelong in Australia the weekend before Oceanside where he ran a 1:06:39 to beat Hayden Wilde (2025 T100 World Champion) and Jelle Geens (2024 and 2025 70.3 World Champion) – clearly Blummenfelt is in great early season form. But Oceanside will be his third race in March after Ironman New Zealand and 70.3 Geelong, followed by a long transpacific flight to California.
Will he be tired after all those demands, or is the excitement going to carry him all the way to Ironman Texas three weeks after Oceanside, laying the groundwork to defend his Ironman Pro Series title?
If Blummenfelt can stay out of trouble in the swim and on the bike and reach T2 with the front group, it is hard to see who can outrun him on this course. The run record is already his. Can he convert his good run to the 2026 Oceanside title?
Jonas Schomburg
32 years old, Germany
Jonas Schomburg started last year’s racing at WTCS Abu Dhabi in February, but then changed focus after a surprising third place at Ironman South Africa.
His 2025 highlights include second at Challenge Roth, sixth at Nice Ironman World Championship, a podium at Spain T100, and a fourth place at 70.3 worlds.
His style of racing ensures a lot of attention: He’s usually one of the fastest swimmers, then loves racing through transitions and attacking the early bike and run.
He could put as much as a minute into Blummenfelt in the harbor swim, and once he’s away, he’ll probably lead the race into T2 and the early parts of the run.
His run might not quite be at the same level as Blummenfelt’s, but how many athletes will be able to pass Schomburg on the run? Can Schomburg become the first German on the Oceanside podium since the double win by Jan Frodeno and Anne Haug in 2018?
Casper Stornes
28 years old, Norway
Casper Stornes has spent much of his career racing in the shadows cast by his Norwegian training partners Blummenfelt and Iden. Those are formidable shadows; they belong to an Olympic champion and 70.3 and Ironman World Champions.
But with last year’s win at the Ironman World Championship in Nice, Stornes proved that he is no passenger. A podium finish at 70.3 worlds in Marbella showed that he’s also very competitive at the half distance, bringing more of the energy from the self-coached Norwegian group of Blummenfelt, Iden, and himself.
Similar to Iden, Stornes struggled to get going in 2026: Achilles issues kept him from joining Blummenfelt Down Under.
Oceanside will be Stornes’ first race of the season, and that’s always a bit of stepping into the unknown. Kona and his world champion title defense are still a long way off, and Stornes has proven that he knows how to pace himself properly in a race and across a whole season. Can he already be competitive in March for Oceanside?
Where Blummenfelt brings two very competitive legs and the run threat, and Schomburg brings an almost restless energy at the start of each leg, Stornes brings consistency. He is unlikely to be distanced in any single leg and rarely makes any tactical errors.
Oceanside, likely fragmented on the bike with the new draft rules and its decisive run, could suit an athlete who simply stays close to the lead all day and is there when it counts.
Dark Horse 1: Justin Riele
32 years old, United States
For the last several years, Justin Riele balanced racing as a professional with a full-time corporate job. Earlier this year, he made it official, quitting his job and committing fully to triathlon.
Oceanside is his first major race without a safety net. Last year, he was first into T2 but then fell back on the run to finish 12th. This year, he probably wants to show another good bike, maybe bridging across to Schomburg and then working together to distance the rest of the field.
To place well at the finish, he needs a much faster run than last year’s 1:23. How fast can he go this year, and how long can he hold on before getting caught by the faster runners?
Dark Horse 2: Sam Long
31 years old, United States
Too often, Sam Long’s race results are determined by his weaker swim. In Oceanside, he might exit the water more than three minutes behind the leaders. Can he make up most of that time on the bike? Is the increased draft zone playing a role for him, or will he just pass everyone on the bike anyway? Can he shrink the gap to the podium positions by the time he slips into his running shoes?
When Lionel Sanders won in Oceanside last year, he was almost three minutes behind the leader coming into T2, then posted the fastest run of the top 20 off the bike. Can Sam Long show a similar performance this year?
Most likely contenders in the women’s race at 70.3 Oceanside
On paper, the women’s race looks potentially one-sided. The last time Taylor Knibb (USA) raced in Oceanside, she won by 11 minutes. She also owns the women’s course records for overall time, swim, and bike.
But Oceanside has a long history of making favorites look foolish – and the two women who know this course best, last year’s winner Paula Findlay (CAN) and second-place Jackie Hering (USA), also know how tight an Oceanside race can be with only 19 seconds between them.
Taylor Knibb
28 years old, United States
Knibb has dominated on this course before, but there is at least one genuine complication arriving with her in Southern California this year: She raced and won the Gold Coast T100 just last weekend, with a long transpacific flight to California in between.
Racing at the elite level on back-to-back weekends, across a major time zone shift and one of the longest flights in sport, is not trivial even for an athlete of Knibb’s caliber.
However, she is not the kind of racer who shows up anywhere merely to manage a result or to fulfill sponsor obligations. Knibb’s whole personality indicates an athlete who likes to have fun while racing hard.
There are a few strong swimmers, such as Kirsten Kasper or Vittoria Lopes, in the Oceanside field who will battle for the T1 lead, but Knibb should be the fastest swimmer among the race favorites. And who doubts that she will take the lead early on the bike and only extend that for the rest of the 56 miles?
Compared to last year’s winner, Paula Findlay, her lead in T2 could be seven minutes or even more. When under pressure, Knibb could have the fastest run of the whole female field, but if nothing unexpected happened in the first two legs, she may well cruise home for her third Oceanside win, joining Mirinda Carfrae as the most decorated women’s champion in Oceanside history.
Paula Findlay
36 years old, Canada
Paula Findlay won last year’s Oceanside by 19 seconds, one of the closest finishes this race has ever seen. She was passed by Jackie Hering out of T2 but didn’t panic. The lead never grew to more than 33 seconds, and then she retook the lead 6k from the finish line.
This year, she faces an even harder task: Findlay has raced Taylor Knibb on the half-distance 14 times and has never beaten her yet.
But Findlay is one of the most complete athletes on the circuit and brings real Oceanside experience to the start line: two wins here, a decade at the top of the sport, and an understanding of how this course has to be raced.
Will she try to race Knibb, limiting the time loss on the bike but maybe making it harder for her to run well? Or will she prefer to race within herself, similar to last year when she left enough in the tank for a surge toward the end of the run?
Findlay knows how to be patient and how to run hard when the race dynamics demand it. She won in Oceanside in 2021 and 2025, but for another win this year, she will need the race to come to her rather than chase it into the wind.
Jackie Hering
41 years old, United States
Nineteen seconds behind Paula Findlay. That is how close Jackie Hering came to winning Oceanside last year. She had the faster bike split on the day and was leading Findlay by 30 seconds on the run, but then wasn’t able to answer Findlay’s final charge. Hering’s 2026 season started with a close win at 70.3 Dallas, and she’ll want to show in Oceanside that even at 41 years of age, she’s still improving.
Hering knows that the path to the podium is even more difficult in this year’s deeper field. Her best-case scenario is a solid swim, allowing her to bridge up to Findlay on the bike similar to last year.
If the race fractures at the front, Findlay or Solveig Løvseth might take extra risks on the bike that leave them flat on the run. Hering has enough experience and resilience to be there if either happens.
Dark Horse 1: Solveig Løvseth
26 years old, Norway
Solveig Loevseth had a staggering 2025 season: She placed third at Ironman Hamburg, won Ironman Lake Placid, became Kona champion, and finished sixth at 70.3 worlds in Marbella.
It won’t be easy to adjust to the attention a Kona champion gets at any triathlon, and Oceanside will be her first 2026 race. Can she challenge more experienced athletes for the Oceanside podium?
Dark Horse 2: Kirsten Kasper
34 years old, United States
Kirsten Kasper is as pure a wildcard as the start list contains. A short-course specialist who competed at the Paris Olympics, she entered 70.3 Indian Wells in December 2025 and won her first-ever middle-distance race.
It’s unclear whether that means pursuing long-course seriously or returning to the short side ahead of LA28. She brings one of the fastest swims in the field, and she could dominate the first leg.
However, it’s unlikely that Kasper can hold her own against bike powerhouse Knibb, but it’ll be interesting to see how she bikes compared to the podium contenders. And if she can run a 1:19 as in Indian Wells (albeit on a tougher course in Oceanside), she can be in contention for a top five late into the run.
For an interesting contrast, check Kasper’s gap during the race to Danielle Lewis, last year’s third place. Lewis could lose six minutes to Kasper in the swim but will then play catch-up for the rest of the race. Who will come out on top?
