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Ironman World Championship returns to Kona in 2023 with dedicated men’s and women’s race days

Ironman to offer an additional 1,200 qualifying spots for women at Women For Tri events

Photo by: Ironman

At the press conference for the Ironman 70.3 World Championship this year Ironman CEO Andrew Messick made it abundantly clear that, as far as he was concerned, the future of the Ironman World Championship included two days of racing. Ironman had added another day to this year’s schedule to accommodate all the qualifiers who hadn’t been able to compete during the COVID-19 pandemic, but Messick was indicating that he was looking for that to continue beyond this year. His comments at the press conference appeared to be Messick’s way of letting the long-time host of the Ironman World Championship, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, know that if the County of Hawaii and the village weren’t ready to host two days of racing, Ironman would be ready to start rotating the Ironman World Championship the same way it does the Ironman 70.3 worlds.

There’s no need to worry about that happening next year, though – Ironman has announced that next year’s race will continue the two-day format we’ll see on the Big Island this year, but this time there will be a day dedicated to the women’s race (Thursday), and another dedicated to the men’s (Saturday).

“We are grateful for our partners in Hawai`i and Kailua-Kona, for their support for over 40 years of this homegrown event that has captured the imagination of the world and turned into the pinnacle event of the sport of triathlon,” Messick said in a release today. “We look forward to an incredible two-day event in 2022, and the ability in 2023 to further advance what a two-day format can look like with a focused women’s race day and a men’s race day.”

This means that the Ironman World Championship will be able to accommodate more people – which will allow for additional slot allocations at Ironman’s regional championships. Ironman will increase the women’s slots at 17 races designated as Women For Tri events. Those include:

2022 Ironman Chattanooga, Ironman Arizona, and Ironman Western Australia, and 2023 Ironman New Zealand, Ironman African Championship – South Africa, Ironman Texas, Ironman European Championship – Hamburg, Ironman Asia-Pacific Championship – Cairns, Ironman Coeur d’Alene, Ironman France, Ironman UK, Ironman Vitoria-Gasteiz, Ironman Lake Placid, Ironman Kalmar, Ironman Ireland, Ironman Mont-Tremblant, and Ironman Copenhagen.
All told there will be an additional 1,200 women’s slots for the Ironman World Championship in 2023 in addition to the other increases at events around the world. A full list of qualifying events and slot allotment for the 2023 VinFast IRONMAN World Championship can be found at www.ironman.com/im-world-championship-2023-slot.
The 2023 Ironman 70.3 World Championship in Lahti, Finland, will also feature dedicated men’s and women’s race days, which will enable Ironman to offer additional women’s qualifying slots at 20 Women For Tri events around the world. A full list of qualifying events and slot allotment for the 2023 IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship can be found at www.ironman.com/im703-world-championship-2023-slot-allocation.