Will Ironman Florida become a men’s pro race as well?
Gustav Iden hints he's Florida bound through Instagram post
Photo by:
Deuce Bradshaw for IRONMAN
Triathlon fans were disappointed to miss out on the much-anticipated race between Jan Frodeno, Gustav Iden and Lionel Sanders when officials were forced to cancel Ironman California yesterday. That has left us all wondering if we might see the matchup happen later this season. Based on a post from Iden on Instagram, it would appear that he’s planning on heading to Ironman Florida in a few weeks. Ironman Florida was to have been a women’s only pro race, but it’s not hard to imagine that Ironman might add a pro men’s category to the event in Panama City Beach, Florida.
The Ironman Florida event will offer $50,000 for the women’s race – the race in Sacramento was supposed to offer a $50,000 prize purse as well.
In terms of other options for pros to attend this season, the Ironman African Championship in South Africa will offer a $100,000 prize purse – it’s scheduled for Nov. 21. That same day Ironman Cozumel offers a $75,000 prize purse – both events offer two men’s and women’s qualifying slots for the Ironman World Championship. The final full-distance race of the year will be Ironman Western Australia, which offers $50,000 in prize money and one men’s and one women’s slots for the worlds, too. Based on lockdown restrictions in Australia, there’s a good chance that the race will be restricted to athletes from Western Australia.
We’ve reached out to Ironman to get some clarification on whether or not Florida will be a pro men’s race and will update this story if we hear back.
