New Ironman Event Rumoured for Hamburg

According to newspaper and on-line reports, Ironman has purchased Lagardere Unlimited, the company that produces the Hamburg Triathlon, and will add a new Ironman event in Hamburg in 2017. The headline reads, “World class Triathlon: Ironman is coming to Hamburg”.

The Hamburg event, officially called the ITU World Triathlon Hamburg, is considered the world’s largest triathlon with over 11,000 age group competitors along with the world-class elite field. The Hamburger Abendblatt newspaper and Tri-Mag.de (Germany’s largest triathlon publication) have both reported on the acquisition and suggest that the official announcement of the acquisition will take place tomorrow.

Ironman spokesperson Stefan Jaeger says there are no plans to make any changes to the Frankfurt race, according to German website focus.de, which would imply that if there is a new full-distance race in Hamburg it will be in addition to the Ironman European Championship in Frankfurt.