Taupo gets 2022 70.3 World Championships
After cancelling the 2020 world championship, athletes will get their chance to race in New Zealand in 2022
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Ironman has awarded Taupo, New Zealand the 2022 Ironman 70.3 World Championship after the 2020 event had to be cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The two-day race will take place on December 10 and 11, 2022, according to a release from Ironman.
“While it was disappointing to have to cancel the 2020 edition of the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship it’s great news for our athletes around the world, those in New Zealand, and the wider Taupō community, that we’ve been able to secure this magical location for a world championship event in 2022,” said Andrew Messick, President & CEO of The IRONMAN Group. “Taupō is an iconic IRONMAN destination and we look forward to having the best triathletes in the world head to New Zealand for what will be a week-long celebration of triathlon.”
Taupo, a picturesque lakefront town on the North Island of New Zealand, has hosted Ironman New Zealand, the oldest qualifying event for the Ironman World Championship, since 1999. The world championship will feature a swim in the beautiful waters of Lake Taupo followed by a one-loop bike and a run along the waterfront.
The 2021 Ironman 70.3 World Championship will take place in St. George, Utah on September 17 and 18.
Ironman had previously announced that the two finalists to host the 2022 70.3 worlds were Klagenfurt, Austria, the home of Ironman Austria, and Lahti, Finland. Those events will now be in the running for the 2023 world championship event.
Ironman 70.3 World Championship host sites:
The inaugural Ironman 70.3 World Championship was held in Clearwater, Florida. The event moved to Henderson, Nevada in 2011. In 2014 Ironman started a global roation of the event as Mont-Tremblant became the first non-US host of the 70.3 worlds. In 2015 the race was held in Zell am See, Austria. In 2016 the Sunshine Coast in Australia hosted the event. In 2017 the race returned to the United States and also began its tradition of hosting the women’s race on Saturday and the men’s race on Sunday when it was held in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The 2018 race took place in Nelson Mandela Bay, South Africa. Last year’s race was held in Nice, France.
