Ironman 70.3 World Championship by the numbers

There’s been lots of talk about Ironman struggling to fill up the full-distance world championship events this year, but there doesn’t seem to be any shortage of athlete interest in the upcoming Ironman 70.3 World Championship in Lahti, Finland. This weekend over 6,000 athletes from 115 countries will be in Lahti for the race. The women’s race takes place on Saturday, Aug. 26, with the men competing on Sunday, Aug. 27.

Live coverage of the races will be available on Outside Watch, with the coverage starting at 12 AM both days.

Regional Participation

In 2014 Mont-Tremblant, Que., became the first host of the Ironman 70.3 World Championship outside the United States. Since then Ironman has rotated the race venue, with the event alternating between North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

• Regional representation sees Europe lead the way with 52 per cent of athletes registered to race and North America with the second most, accounting for 22 per cent of athletes. Latin America follows with 10 per cent, while Oceania athletes made the long haul bringing in 5 per cent. Asia added just over 4 per cent to the field, and Africa and Middle East both brought nearly 4 per cent to consist of the remaining athlete field for the 2023 edition of the event.
• The United States of America is the most represented nation with 1,152 registered athletes, followed by France (517), Germany (515), United Kingdom (453), and Australia (250). Finland has a healthy hometown contingent with over 200 athletes. Other athletes from countries as far as Rwanda, Uzbekistan and Zambia are traveling from around the globe to race. Countries being represented for the first time include Armenia, Bulgaria, Burundi, Ghana, Nepal, Moldova, Rwanda, and Zambia.

Facts and figures: history is made at the Ironman 70.3 World Championship

Facts and stats:

• Lahti is the 10th city in history to host the Ironman 70.3 World Championship following Clearwater, Fla. (USA) (2006-2009), Henderson, Nev. (USA) (2010-2013), Mont-Tremblant, Quebec (CAN) (2014), Zell am See-Kaprun, SalzburgerLand (AUT) (2015), Mooloolaba, Queensland (AUS) (2016), Chattanooga, Tenn. (USA) (2017), Nelson Mandela Bay, Eastern Cape (ZAF) (2018), Nice (FRA) (2019), St. George, Utah (USA) (2021-2022)
• Bob Heins (USA) is the oldest male participant at 84, while Linus Hilfiker (CHE) is the youngest at 18
• Peggy McDowell-Cramer (USA) is the oldest female participant at 82, while Lisa Shi (CHN) is the youngest at 18
• 37 per cent of the registered field of participants are female and will race on Saturday
• 63 per cent of the registered field of participants are male and will race on Sunday
• 42 is the average age of all registrants
• 37 athletes will be celebrating their birthdays on their respective race days
• 48 U.S. states are accounted for, with top five states in athlete count being, California, Florida, Texas, Colorado, and New York.
• 2,514 athletes racing in this year’s Ironman 70.3 World Championship triathlon are Ironman All World Athletes
• 21 new Ironman 70.3 race locations were added to the calendar in 2023
• Approx. 1,500 volunteers will help make the 2023 Ironman 70.3 World Championship triathlon successful in 2023.