Committed to providing women and men their own dedicated day of racing, Ironman announced Wednesday that the 2023 Ironman World Championship triathlon will be hosted in two different locations next year.
The women will race Oct. 14 in Kailua-Kona, with the men’s race date and location to be outside Hawai‘i. The date and location for the men’s race is being evaluated and an announcement is expected in January. The men and women would then exchange locations in 2024.
“We are reinforcing our commitment for a dedicated world championship race experience for women and men to each receive an exclusive spotlight on their race,” said Andrew Messick, president and chief executive officer for The Ironman Group, in a press release. “Hawai‘i is in our DNA and we look forward to the first-ever exclusively women’s world championship race week in Kona. At the same time, we are looking forward to announcing a co-host location for the men’s race that will be worthy of an Ironman World Championship and will capture the imagination of our athletes and fans.”
The Ironman World Championship was conducted throughout two days for the first time ever this year in Kona in October. While the two-day format was a success and the two-day format for 2023 in Kailua-Kona was already announced, Ironman and Hawai‘i County concluded together that the impact of two days of racing in Kona is not in the best interest of the local community.
“Hawai‘i County has long enjoyed partnering with Ironman, and this year’s epic races were another example of world-class athletic competition held on the traditional Kona-Kohala world championship course,” said Hawai‘i County Mayor Mitch Roth in the press release. “We learned, however, that more than one race day during Ironman week is too many for the community to manage. We are pleased that Ironman plans to return to Kailua-Kona as a co-host of the 2023 VinFast Ironman World Championship and look forward to more exciting events in the future.”
Hawai‘i is the proud birthplace of Ironman and despite not being able to undertake a two-day world championship event at this time, it will continue to be an important part in the shared history of Ironman, with Kona continuing as a co-host of the triathlon.
With the future dual host locations and separation of race weeks, the women’s and men’s races will each garner further attention with all eyes focused on race week activities and lead up to their respective race days.
The move will require the qualifying cycle and slot allocations to be slightly adjusted. Allocations can be viewed here, with further adjustments to occur in line with the men’s race location announcement. Additionally, all athletes who previously qualified and registered for the 2023 Ironman World Championship will be contacted with additional information.
For more information about the Ironman World Championship, click here.
