The 2018 Isuzu IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship takes place in Nelson Mandela Bay over the first weekend in September.

Four very different ASICS athletes will be on the start line:

Jade Roberts
Roberts is looking to use the event as a springboard to take the leap from competitive age group athlete to pro. The South African started racing triathlons only very recently (in 2015), with the motivation of a good friend, to ‘get back into training’ after years away from being a pro cyclist.


Fast-forward three years and she has already achieved what most elite age-groupers never do in their careers. A rise nothing short of meteoric: She won the women’s category at Durban 70.3 in 2017 and was the first woman home at the Indian Ocean triathlon in Mauritius 2017 in her age group (25- 29). In 2018 so far she won her age-group at both East London 70.3 and the Durban Ultra, where she finished second overall.

Her ultimate goal is to win age-group (25-29) gold in Nelson Mandela Bay. “It’s so awesome to have the opportunity to represent your country at a World Champs event on home soil,” she says, not that this budding star needs any motivational boost.  

It is after this event that Jade and coach Lucie Zelenkova a former professional triathlete associated with Trifactri Triathlon club in Johannesburg, will reassess and look at the possibility of turning full pro.

Mariella Dierks
Is a full time dietician who is as passionate about healthy living and helping others to live a healthy life as she is about racing triathlon. The Capetonian finished her honours degree in Dietetics and Nutrition in 2015, before which she completed an  undergraduate degree in Sport Science. While she has only been racing tri for a few years (coming from mainly a running and competitive lifesaving background) she has already excelled, winning Durban IRONMAN 70.3 earlier this year.


Dierks is a master of time management, something she learnt while at University already and knows just how to balance her training and racing schedule with work commitments.

“I find such joy in enriching fellow athletes with knowledge about nutrition,” she says. “And to show them how to make a healthy diet an easy part of life because having time to cook complicated meals and snacks is a luxury that athletes, especially us triathletes, simply don’t have.”

Stefano Maiorana
Dig deep enough into Maiorana’s very impressive racing CV and you’ll find ‘Gauteng Triathlon colours in 2006-07. Since then though, the man who is currently a student and researcher based in Cape Town spent most of his time focussed on the bike, racing competitively in the Junior age groups and later as a pro. He has recently taken to running, obstacle-course racing and triathlon yet again.


Jan Frodeno
Frodeno races under the German flag but spent much of his upbringing in South Africa. His name is synonymous with triathlon racing and he was the 2016 IRONMAN 70.3 World Champion. He'll be gunning for another world title this year, coming off impressive victories at IRONMAN 70.3 Oceanside to start the season, along with a win at the IRONMAN European Championship in July. Frodeno has won a staggering 83% of the 70.3 races he has started. A scary stat for any of the other men’s pro elite field.


The men's race will take place on Sunday, September 2, one day after the world's fastest women take centre stage. The top 10 men and women will claim a share of a $250,000 prize purse, while a total of 4,500 age-group men and women will compete for the chance to become an IRONMAN 70.3 world champion.

Check out the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship Facebook page and

For more detailed, up-to-date pro standings follow @IRONMANLive on Twitter.

Follow the official Instagram account @IRONMANtri