Underwhelming response for the women’s Nice 2024 event leads to addition of slots at select 70.3 races and for loyal age-groupers: https://www.triathlete.com/culture/news/ironman-changes-womens-world-championship-qualification-process/
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I don’t think it’s necessarily that bad that there are two separate qualification process for men and women. The sport is overwhelmingly male and one way to encourage more female participation is through the WCs.
Messick noted that they have data that show that women are less likely to race consecutive IM races than men (whether due to family obligations or other reasons) - so even having Nice slots at a 70.3 isn’t necessarily watering down the WC. Even if it’s someone’s first IM distance, giving that person a slot achieves one goal of the WC - pulling female participation up. plus, if they’re fast enough to get a slot at a 70.3, then you’re still getting a high calibre athlete anyway.
I don’t know whether the menz also got this email, but I got one directly from IM today outlining four paths to qualification.
… We believe that a dedicated IRONMAN World Championship experience for women is critical to the growth of our sport. Bringing more opportunities to showcase triathlon - and in turn draw more athletes to participate - will strengthen competition and the sustainability of triathlon by attracting new enthusiasts, and youth.
We recognize that this growth will take time.
With this mission in mind, we have revised the 2024 VinFast IRONMAN World Championship female slot allocation process, and augmented this with additional pathways to IRONMAN World Championship participation that will continue to bring the fastest and most competitive women to the ultimate triathlon event. These additional pathways enable us to recognize exceptional skill and ability beyond the traditional slot rolldown procedure, and to provide opportunity to those contributing to the sport as an up-and-comer, or dedicated advocate. …
Female Qualification Pathways for the 2024 VinFast IRONMAN World Championship
- Age Group Qualification
All IRONMAN events will have dedicated, predetermined quantities of female (and male) IRONMAN World Championship slots awarded to the fastest finishers via a roll down process where the slot rolls to the next fastest, if not claimed. IRONMAN slot allocations can be reviewed, here.
- IRONMAN 70.3 Invitational Slots
Female athletes who finish top-5 in their age group at select IRONMAN 70.3 events will be emailed an invitation to accept a slot to the VinFast IRONMAN World Championship, in addition to the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship slot that they may or may not have accepted during roll-downs. Note, these slots do not roll down should an eligible podium finisher decline their invitation.
- Top Age Group Ranked Invitational Slots
Female athletes who finish at the top of their age group for the 2023 year-end Age Group Rankings will be emailed an invitation to the VinFast IRONMAN World Championship. The finalized top-ranked will be confirmed by early January and email invites will be issued in February. These qualifiers must validate their entry by completing an in-season race before the World Championship.
- 2023 IRONMAN World Championship Age Group Top 10 Invitational Slots
The top ten finishers of each Age Group category at the 2023 VinFast IRONMAN World Championship will be emailed an invitation to accept a slot to the VinFast IRONMAN World Championship. These qualifiers must validate their entry by completing an in-season race before the World Championship.
Let’s not forget that Ironman’s first race had only 28 athletes and grew organically to a race that no longer could fit on the pier.
It takes time to build a global field of competitors, and the women showed at Kona that if they build it we will show up, and come prepared and finish. All women finished the swim, and there was a 97.3 percent finishing rate for the full Ironman field. All within the same time constraints, cutoffs and on the same course as always. I was there, and it was a fantastic day. So much so that I’m gunning for Nice.
The new qualification process means I need to finish top five age group at one of a selected list of 70.3 races, or go through the regular win-or-place-high-and-luck-out-in-the-rolldown at at full Ironman race. Or end the year with very high AWA points.
I’ve decided to train for Nice as if I’m going to qualify for that race with 8k feet of mountain climbing on the bike, and take the 70.3 route to finish top-five in my age group.
This feels fair, it feels affordable and competitive and I congratulate Ironman on making this possible.
I’m assuming the validation process is for a 70.3 in the same season and not just for an Ironman? Otherwise this feels kinda moot as it seems like if you race an Ironman you pretty much already qualify.
I don’t think it’s necessarily that bad that there are two separate qualification process for men and women. The sport is overwhelmingly male and one way to encourage more female participation is through the WCs.
This.
Your guess is as good as mine as far as what the validation race would be.
I don’t think it’s really fair to say that “if you complete a full, you qualifyâ€, particularly to the women who trained and raced hard to get their slots. If it were that easy, you’d have bums like me doing it. But IM obviously feel that they want higher placing finishers overall on the starting line at WCs to prevent that perception.
Let’s not forget that Ironman’s first race had only 28 athletes and grew organically to a race that no longer could fit on the pier.
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Lets just hope they get more than 28 athletes for Nice.
I agree that this feels totally fair, and 100% encourage women to pursue whatever pathway works for them to get to Nice!! Especially the 70.3 route - way less wear and tear (and risk) compared to a full and anyone that’s raced at the front of a 70.3 knows exactly how fast they are!
Innovative and thoughtful move by IM.
Why don’t they just open it up to anyone, still call it a World Championship, but any female that does an Ironman can register for it? The qualification process is now a joke, so do away with it.
Not every female that does an Ironman can get a slot. My mind is boggled by this attitude.
I got a slot this morning from IMCA. I finished 9th in my age group and needed 2 roll downs to get the slot. I didn’t know if it would get to me or not.
When I was at St. George last spring (a world championship, that had Kona slots), the whole “if you want a slot come to the stage” process happened in at least three age groups - ON THE MEN’S SIDE. 40-44, 45-49, and 50-54, all rolled at least to 40 (and then went off mic) and 30-34 and 35-39 both rolled to 30ish.
I’m not trying to take my frustration out on you for this comment, but I am just at a total loss for why there is such disdain for women’s fields suddenly having the same number of slots that *MEN’S *fields used to have all the time. All the time! The sense I get is that the guys don’t like suddenly feeling like the women have felt for years.
I am psyched for Nice. I am so excited to race everyone that goes. Because I know that with those four pathways, I know that deserving, FAST competition will be there. Including women who haven’t raced an Ironman before but are fast enough to crush a field in a competitive 70.3. I don’t know if you’ve looked at the 70.3s on the qualification list, but the first three in the US are Oceanside, Texas, and St. George. Those are competitive races!
That would make it closer to USAT Nationals, where anybody in the top 10 percent of their age group finishers qualifies. Including that small race where I was the only person registered in my ten-year cohort.
Ironman World Championships is still exceptionally competitive. We had nine women pros finish under nine hours this year. I’m not fast, but as I was riding my bike back into town, at about mile100, at about 4 in the afternoon, it was absolutely astonishing to see the very large number of women who were on mile 15 of the run, and the less large number of women who were already at mile 23 of the run.
Also, I’m very used to passing a large number of broken down men in the final hours of the run. At 162 marathons and 65 years old, I tend to have the stamina to still be making decent progress at that point. And the number of men who killed it on the bike and have found a chat buddy to walk it in with from mile 15 on is often astonishing to me at non-championship races. These are the one-and-done dudes, the do-it-on-a-dare guys, the birthday-ends-with-a-zero-midlife heroes.
Sure, plenty of women in those categories too at a non-championship Ironman race. And I saw that at Kona last year when the older men raced on Thursday with the women and the rest of the men raced on Saturday.
But — I did NOT see a lot of that breakdown death march at Kona 2023 in the all-women’s race. And I was one of those who walk/ran with more walk in miles 18-25. The vast percentage of women showed up ready to race. I’m talking the champions who qualified, the near-champions who got Women for Tri extra slots, the 70.3 top qualifiers who were gunning for their first Ironman finish and especially the Legacy women who have raced 12 or more full IMs to get a slot at Kona.
I do think we will see similar respect and preparation for Nice 2024 World Championships. And I hope to be there.
but I am just at a total loss for why there is such disdain for women’s fields suddenly having the same number of slots that MEN’S fields used to have all the time. All the time! The sense I get is that the guys don’t like suddenly feeling like the women have felt for years.
I very much agree with you. I remember back in the early 2000s when you had to declare at registration if you were going for a Kona slot and so many women said “No” thinking it would be impossible to qualify, while nearly every man, no matter how slow, always said “Yes”. It was very difficult to qualify as a female because the number of slots were based on how many people said YES!
BTW - CONGRATULATIONS on your slot for 2024! It should be a great race.
I’m not trying to take my frustration out on you for this comment, but I am just at a total loss for why there is such disdain for women’s fields suddenly having the same number of slots that *MEN’S *fields used to have all the time. All the time! The sense I get is that the guys don’t like suddenly feeling like the women have felt for years.
I suspect some of the frustration stems from the very low number of slots allocated for 2024 men’s Kona because of the backlog of people who deferred / rolled over to it. So even in a big group like M40-44 it’s maybe 3 KQ slots.
zedzded may sound harsh, but it’s just the situation right now. The last race I did, I saw a couple female age groups roll down slots that no one claimed, even after they opened it up to everyone.
Whoa - well, learned something new, I didn’t know that you had to declare that you were going for a Kona slot then!? Wow.
And, thank you - I am very excited and I promise I’ll stop posting about it here soon 
Nice '24 is gonna be great!!
Totally - but 3 slots still more than most women’s age groups were allocated just a few years ago. We know it sucks, we’ve lived it. Not saying it’s right, but like you said that’s just the reality due to the backlog. I don’t think it’s right to take out that frustration by denigrating recent women’s fields and the Nice rolldowns and the smart way Ironman is going about handling it.
Why don’t they just open it up to anyone, still call it a World Championship, but any female that does an Ironman can register for it? The qualification process is now a joke, so do away with it.
You have brass balls saying it. I agree. The qual process shouldn’t be an absolute joke. For women, it’s a joke.
Not every female that does an Ironman can get a slot.
Last year, that was basically the standard if you could pay for Kona.
So even in a big group like M40-44 it’s maybe 3 KQ slots.
3 slots for a “world championship” seems reasonable.
So even in a big group like M40-44 it’s maybe 3 KQ slots.
3 slots for a “world championship” seems reasonable.
We all know AG racing isn’t for real anyhow. “Reasonable” is just a function of how many people WTC wants in Nice or Kona, versus how many finished in all the other races across the calendar. I was just saying that the 3 in my example might be a fair amount higher for men shooting for 2025 Nice or 2026 Kona.