IRONMAN World Championships to Split Across Two Venues
IRONMAN today announced that the 2023 IRONMAN World Championships, previously scheduled for October 12 and 14th in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, will now and in the future take place at two separate venues.
The 2023 women’s World Championship will take place on the traditional Saturday date in October in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. The men’s World Championship, however, will take place at a yet to be determined time and date. Future details on the men’s race are expected to be announced in January, 2023. In 2024, these venues will swap — the men will race in Hawaii, and the women at the alternative location and time.
Similarly to how IRONMAN handled the 2021 IRONMAN World Championships that were held in St. George, Utah, male athletes who had previously registered for the 2023 race expecting it to take place in Hawaii will be offered an opportunity to defer their registration to the 2024 race in Hawaii.
The move comes after IRONMAN committed to a two-day event for the World Championships coming out of the 2022 race. The 2022 races produced some of the most dramatic racing that we have seen in years, including a very well received women’s only race, won by American Chelsea Sodaro. “We are reinforcing our commitment for a dedicated world championship race experience for women and men to each receive an exclusive spotlight on their race,” said Andrew Messick, President and CEO of The IRONMAN Group.
However, the 2022 race also had hiccups. This included eroding community support due to the two days of racing, as well as the traffic impacts and the sheer number of people coming to town. In their announcement, IRONMAN stated that it was a mutual decision with the County of Hawaii that led to the determination that Kona could not handle two days of racing again in 2023.
“Hawai`i County has long enjoyed partnering with IRONMAN and this year’s epic races were another example of world-class athletic competition held on the traditional Kona-Kohala world championship course,” said Hawai`i County Mayor Mitch Roth. “We learned, however, that more than one race day during IRONMAN week is too many for the community to manage. We are pleased that IRONMAN plans to return to Kailua-Kona as a co-host of the 2023 VinFast IRONMAN World Championship and look forward to more exciting events in the future.”
The lack of confirmation regarding the location of the men’s race has led to significant speculation, with the most popular rumor to date being that the venue will be Nice, France. Neither IRONMAN nor officials in Nice have confirmed those reports.
