Ironman World Championships to Rotate Between Hawaii and France
Men's, women's locations to rotate each year between countries
Posted On: January 6, 2023 By :The Ironman World Championship will, beginning in 2023, split its men’s and women’s events between Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, and Nice, France, with the men’s event heading to Nice in 2023 and women’s staying in Hawaii for 2023.
The men’s race will take place on September 10, 2023, and the women will race on October 14, 2023. In 2024, the men will rotate to Kona on October 26, 2024, while the women will rotate to Nice and race on September 22, 2024. The rotation will continue through 2026 with Nice and Kona acting as co-hosts for the pinnacle event in triathlon.
“In 2022, we saw the power of a two-day Ironman World Championship, one with dedicated race days for professional women and professional men,” said Andrew Messick, president and chief executive officer for The Ironman Group. “We believe in this concept not only to showcase the depth of both the women’s and men’s fields but also to invest further into the growth of the sport of triathlon. Nice, France, as the European birthplace of long-course triathlon is the right place to showcase this evolution.”
Since its inception in 1978 on the Island of O`ahu, the World Championship has etched its name in history. The iconic one-day sporting event is the culmination of 40 global events with over 94,000 athletes. The 2021 edition of the event took place in St. George, Utah, in May 2022, becoming the first location to host the event outside of Hawaii since its origins in 1978. After a two-year hiatus from Hawaii due to COVID, the race returned to Kailua-Kona and for the first time took place as a two-day event in October.
Nice and the Cote d’Azur have staked a claim as a major sporting destination as the birthplace of long-distance triathlon in Europe in 1982 when it first hosted the “Triathlon International de Nice.” From 1994-2002, Nice was host to the ITU Long Distance Triathlon World Championships five times. The triathlon became an Ironman event in 2005 and Nice has been one of the most popular locations on the circuit, hosting the 70.3 World Championship in 2019.
“Nice has established itself as a true land of sports and has become a reference point recognised throughout the world,” said Nice Mayor Christian Estrosi. “… I was deputy sports director of the city of Nice when we organised the first editions of International Triathlon of Nice, where there were great stars like Mark Allen, Yves Cordier, and Paula Newby-Fraser and naturally I saw Nice’s capacity to be a world-class event in this discipline. But I didn’t imagine that one day we could have such recognition. It was an honour to organise an Ironman 70.3 World Championship in 2019 and it showed Ironman, Nice’s potential to organise an event like this.”
With this major move to ensure dedicated World Championship racing for both women’s and men’s fields, the qualifying cycle and slot allocations have been adjusted to compensate for the change in time of year for the men’s edition of the IRONMAN World Championship. All athletes who have previously qualified and registered for the 2023 VinFast IRONMAN World Championship will be contacted directly with additional information.
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