Food for thought: There were 1,471 registered athletes, with approximately 1,300 actually starting. Considering that there were so few North American fulls that qualified women for Nice (that were not also in conflict with last year’s Kona), and that the highest rate of women’s participation occurs in North America…that’s still a pretty darn healthy number.
What those numbers – combined with the quality of the pro races, both women and men – tell me is we’re never going back to a single day World Championship. And I do think that IRONMAN, and its customers, are going to pull the brand in the direction of having a single venue.
I think if IM were to re-visit two days with Kona after the current deal expires in 2026 for the split venues, it will be for the discussion of “there’s either going to be two days, or no days, here. Choose wisely.”
Kona will be fine without Ironman, but Ironman won’t be fine without Kona, so that’s a difficult starting point and stance for negotiation for Ironman.
Based on conversations that I’ve had around what happened with the two days (and subsequent move to Nice) – I think there’s more warmth to the idea of a two day IMWC in Kona from local authorities than there was in 2022.
And even if it were to, say, follow in the footsteps of what happened with 70.3 Worlds – its my understanding that the bigger pain point for athletes and families is that the venues are split, and not that it’s “not Kona.”
I don’t agree with you but can see your sentiment.
A great deal of marketing revenue I would imagine is from North America, the European time zone is difficult as half the race is finished before US has had breakfast.
I think the format of alternating is working for now, but whether it is sustainable as a long term model would be interesting.
Dev, if you speak with anyone at Ironman they barely survived the Covid interruption. What a world championship in St. George and now twice in Nuce has shown them is that their reliance on Kona is alive and well. They recognize the split format isn’t working and athlete uptake in Nice isn’t nearly what they want. In regards to industry, they are much more willing to spend the money to go to Kona, much less do Nice. I hope Ryan is right and Kona is more amenable to a two day race. I think by 2026, we see a return to the single day, 2300 men and women Kona. If they can only get 1300 AG women to Nice, that’s not going to cut it.
What if I told you return on investment in female athletes was the bigger issues? Do you really think it’s a good idea for a company that if it has one or two bad years it’s on the verge of bankruptcy to put more money into a group of athletes that generates less return on spend?
What if the problem wasn’t companies not spending enough on women, but female customers not buying enough and or just not being enough of them?
You might say, precisely, so we need to “invest” in getting more women into sport. But keep in mind, those brands and races didnt invest in getting the men into sport. They just put on a product or advertised and the men (more of them) turned up. You might say, well it’s just a social inequality problem…ok, in which case it’s unreasonable to expect a small sand wall built by a brand to hold back the tsunami of society.
It’s a total cop out to blame the brands or the races. If the women turned up and spent in comparable numbers the money would be there because it would pay for the results.
How many women bought a Canyon because of Kat or Laura? How many men bought a Canyon because of Jan and Lionel?
this is an interesting comment given that sodaro out biked philipp by 3 min and had the 4th fastest bike split 2022 and was beaten by ryf and haug on the bike
its more like she regained her old bike form
if its better , the same or worse is within the margin of error as one would assume nice would suit her more than kona given power to weight ratio.
last year she was beaten by 15 min on the bike this year by 12.5 i think
marc is more a man of facts rather than emotions would be interested to know how he sees it . post race
Didn’t Phillip have a penalty in 2022? Is that factored in? Chelsea also got towed up to Hawi in Kona by Moench, if I remember right and then dropped her after afterwards.
You have to remember, Hawaii was coming out of the pandemic. Free money, no tourists, followed by huge tourism boom, massive money flowing in, and a feeling of “we don’t need you, we have all we can handle at premium prices all on our own, thank you very much.”
Now, were in this quasi recession, inflation, stagnation economy depending on which sector you’re in. Reality is setting back in. Hawaiian government and consumer debt is at historic highs.
The only way out is growth (and some moderate cuts and fees). So I can see this play working. And I can also see Ironman not wanting to have the extra work of two different locations. It’s a real commitment on their end that’s not as much as a money grab as they might have supposed.
For my part, I’m actually planning to race Nice next year. Personally, I’m interested in the course and the better quality event that comes with a marginally more expensive world championship event.
First – the ultimate number we care about is registrations, not starters. And 1451 isn’t a bad haul for the first non-Kona split. And, again, remember that last year’s qualifying cycle for women in North America was very abbreviated. 2023 Kona’s date meant you needed to cross off most of the fall races, which left you Florida, Arizona, Texas, and LP to get it done – especially if you were one of the women who were IN Kona in 2023, and we know that there’s a high rate of repeaters for IMWC.
Second – they aren’t going to kill the golden goose that is men registering for worlds by reducing the number of slots available to them. There’s too many full distance races. You want to talk about an angry customer base.
I do not ever see them going back to a one day IMWC. It’s just a matter of where they pull off a two day one – whether in one place or two. I don’t think they will continue the split beyond 2026 but that’s speculative at this point.
Sam has had one major championship and I will guarantee he is getting paid more than Laura and Kat put together.
Jan probably got paid more than all 3 of them put together. By all means talk about return on investment but outside of LCB, Haug and Ryf I doubt any of them are making a decent percentage of the blokes.
Im not sure mate, she obviously had no idea at the start of the year she’d be coming onto the run with just her and Phillipp for company, in Nice when deciding what races she wanted to do.
I cant be arsed to research splits from previous races, but im sure im not imagining her shoulder to shoulder with both Philip and EPB and dropping them both recently.
Again, im not saying the outcome would have been any different, I think she may have been closer though.
With haug and Lucy out this felt like watching a non pro women’s only event. Of course doesn’t help T100 and Olympics took out a good pack of racers too. Maybe Kona might be the same
I think it is having an impact everywhere. There are only 41 men and 28 women on the start list for the WTCS race in China. I don’t think I have ever seen a WTCS race without a wait list. A full start list is 55 or 65 depending on race.