IRONMAN, in collaboration with local and state officials in Hawai‘i, announced today that the 2023 VinFast IRONMAN® World Championship triathlon will continue with a two-day format in Kailua-Kona, Hawai‘i on Oct. 12 and 14.
The 2022 VinFast IRONMAN World Championship event will be the first time in the race’s 40-plus-year history that the event will take place over two days in Kona on Oct. 6 and 8. With the two-day format set to continue in 2023, IRONMAN will have a dedicated day of racing for the women’s field on Thursday and the men’s field on Saturday, allowing for full focus and coverage on each race and its competitors.
“The County of Hawai‘i and IRONMAN have a long history of working together closely to ensure this global event is conducted safely and with due respect for the needs of the athletes, county residents, and worldwide visitors,” said County Mayor Mitch Roth. “With the 2022 VinFast IRONMAN World Championship occurring over two days in October, the County of Hawai`i is excited to once again host these champions in Kailua-Kona and Kohala, and looks forward to another epic VinFast IRONMAN World Championship in 2023.”
The partnership with IRONMAN, Roth added, has stood the test of time and “we are grateful and humbled that the culture here has fed into the culture of IRONMAN, reflecting the aloha spirit and the theme of Holomua — to move forward — for the 2023 IRONMAN season.”
“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,” said Andrew Messick, President and Chief Executive Officer for The IRONMAN Group. “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.”
Dedicated female and male race days will also now bring about increased qualifying opportunities, including expanded slot allocations at regional championships as well as increased opportunities for women at 17 IRONMAN triathlons from around the world, designated as Women For Tri® events. These events will consist of: 2022 Little Debbie IRONMAN Chattanooga presented by McKee A Family Bakery, IRONMAN Arizona, and GWM IRONMAN Western Australia, and 2023 IRONMAN New Zealand, IRONMAN African Championship – South Africa, Memorial Hermann IRONMAN Texas, IRONMAN European Championship – Hamburg, Cairns Airport IRONMAN Asia-Pacific Championship – Cairns, IRONMAN Coeur d’Alene, IRONMAN France, IRONMAN UK, IRONMAN Vitoria-Gasteiz, ViewSport IRONMAN Lake Placid, IRONMAN Kalmar, IRONMAN Ireland, Subaru IRONMAN Mont-Tremblant, and IRONMAN Copenhagen.
Those Women For Tri designated events will aim to further grow participation and celebrate women in the sport while also creating more than 1,200 additional opportunities to qualify for the biggest stage in the sport – The VinFast IRONMAN World Championship. These designated events were determined based on a number of factors including time of year, regional race calendars, as well as their propensity to grow female participation based on relatively higher levels of female participation or areas where further growth opportunities exist.
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.
