Côte d’Azur instead of the Pacific Ocean, southern France instead of Hawaii: The men’s Ironman World Championship, which was separated for the first time, will take place in Nice this year.
The organizer announced this. The date for the race over the legendary 3.86 kilometers of swimming, 180.2 kilometers of cycling and 42.2 kilometers of running will be September 10th. Ironman announced this on Thursday.
On October 14th, more than a month later, the starting signal for the women’s race will be fired by a cannon at the Kailua-Kona pier. For the first time in the history of the sport, culminating in the World Championships in the Mecca of triathletes, the titles will be awarded at two different locations.
Already last year, the high number of participants due to two Corona-related Hawaii cancellations prompted the organizer to let the two professional fields for women and men start separately. But two days of racing were too much for the small town. Nice has been traded as an alternative for weeks.
In 2024 the women will start in Nice (September 22nd), the men in Hawaii (October 26th). The rotation is to be maintained up to and including 2026.