I’ve just watched the slot allocation in Austria, 2200 competitors, 175 slots for Nice, 50 for Kona.
On the womens side 13 out of 50 slots were not taken, final call was “is anybody here who wants to go to Kona?”
On the mens side approximately 60 slots were not taken, for example in M45 the last regular slot (10th out of 28) went to 234th place.
…no more words needed!
It’s a total joke.
Ouch - somewhat expected!
I’ve just watched the slot allocation in Austria, 2200 competitors, 175 slots for Nice, 50 for Kona.
On the womens side 13 out of 50 slots were not taken, final call was “is anybody here who wants to go to Kona?”
On the mens side approximately 60 slots were not taken, for example in M45 the last regular slot (10th out of 28) went to 234th place.
…no more words needed!
A little surprising for the European women. From what I understood, the roll downs were not that drastic for IM Hamburg. I do think most of the slots will be taken in US Ironmans with 100 slots for women. Also easier to travel to Kona from the US Mainland.
I have not followed IM for a long time. Does this mean that the 2023 Kona race is a woman’s only event? The men race in Nice, France?
I only checked into this thread as my two nephews raced in the M25-29. Any idea what that roll down was?
I’ve just watched the slot allocation in Austria, 2200 competitors, 175 slots for Nice, 50 for Kona.
On the womens side 13 out of 50 slots were not taken, final call was “is anybody here who wants to go to Kona?”
On the mens side approximately 60 slots were not taken, for example in M45 the last regular slot (10th out of 28) went to 234th place.
…no more words needed!
Wow!
What a different world it is compared to pre-pandemic.
Is it???
A) IM shot themselves in the foot by watering down the meaning of a WC, for AG’ers
B) Demographics taking their toll
C) the WW economy, e.g., inflation, or…
D) all of the above
I have not followed IM for a long time. Does this mean that the 2023 Kona race is a woman’s only event? The men race in Nice, France?
I only checked into this thread as my two nephews raced in the M25-29. Any idea what that roll down was?
Yes, Kona 23 is women only, Nice a so called World Championship for men only. Regarding the rolldown: M25 had 34 slots, last one was slot number 6(!), went to 52nd place, 28 slots were not taken.
general thread reply…
it perhaps is time for me to admit i was wrong about IM knowing the market, and i was wrong in thinking that people will still want to qualify, and that making it easier to qualify would not change the demand… sure seems like i was very wrong.
I’ve just watched the slot allocation in Austria, 2200 competitors, 175 slots for Nice, 50 for Kona.
On the womens side 13 out of 50 slots were not taken, final call was “is anybody here who wants to go to Kona?”
On the mens side approximately 60 slots were not taken, for example in M45 the last regular slot (10th out of 28) went to 234th place.
…no more words needed!
I’m a little lost whenever I read comments like yours. I just don’t get it. Let me explain:
2)However, if you go back enough years (and it doesn’t take as long as you’d think), qualifying for Kona wasn’t much more difficult than it is now. Yet, that’s supposedly the period when the myth was created. So how is it possible that ease of qualification is both something that didn’t hinder the creation of the myth but is supposedly what’s destroying it now?
I’m not playing devil’s advocate, I genuinely want to understand your thinking.
Obviously I’m setting aside all the arguments of how badly the situation has been handled. I can totally get that some people are put off by that.
in 2022, i had 11 women qualify from my squad for kona.
This year, only 1 of my age group wants to go. Everyone else as turn down slots. Only my professional girls are after the kona slot.
I dont have a single age group men wanting to go to Nice…everyone as turn down the Nice spot also…
to me, this speaks volume on the state of ironman.
Sorry, but I’m not getting it. Is the conclusion that neither men nor women want to go to the WC no matter where it is held?
Or is the conclusion something to do with whether moving to Nice was a good or bad idea?
the comments i get from my group
womens
-it s not a accomplishement to qualify for kona anymore… anyone can, it s too easy
-it s not exclusive anymore
-it s not fun if the guys arent there
-the race isnt what it use to be…quality as gone down too much in kona…no volonteer, poor race organisation vs years ago
Men
-Nice isnt kona…
-anyone can go, they are giving away slot to anyone that wants one
-it s simply not a world championship race
I have not followed IM for a long time. Does this mean that the 2023 Kona race is a woman’s only event? The men race in Nice, France?Yes, Kona 23 is an Ironman designated World Championships for women only, Nice a so called World Championship for men only.FTFY See also the hardest long distance WPRO race to win in 2023: Challenge Roth this weekend.
2025 all will be restored back to a one day event in Kona (with significant price rise). Kona is a stronger pull than “World Championship†and Ironmans pro rata allocation across men’s and women’s (slots pro rata) debates all seem settled.
2025 all will be restored back to a one day event in Kona (with significant price rise). Kona is a stronger pull than “World Championship†and Ironmans pro rata allocation across men’s and women’s (slots pro rata) debates all seem settled.Define pro rata; just so’s we ‘know’.
the comments i get from my group
womens
-it s not a accomplishement to qualify for kona anymore… anyone can, it s too easy
-it s not exclusive anymore
-it s not fun if the guys arent there
-the race isnt what it use to be…quality as gone down too much in kona…no volonteer, poor race organisation vs years ago
Men
-Nice isnt kona…
-anyone can go, they are giving away slot to anyone that wants one
-it s simply not a world championship race
Are they doing anything else instead?
the comments i get from my group
womens
-it s not a accomplishement to qualify for kona anymore… anyone can, it s too easy
-it s not exclusive anymore
But if the whole thing is that it becomes an accomplishment, wouldn’t this take time to lose its luster? e.g. no one who was on the bubble and otherwise wanted to go back when it was harder will say no thanks because suddenly the unwashed masses can now go as well?
I mean, if Boston suddenly opened its registration to anyone who has completed a marathon in the past year, regardless of time, and said they were taking 100,000 people, you’d have more people apply in year 1, not fewer. Sure, the BQ diehards might say no thanks, but I doubt you’d turn off so many people that no one wants to go.
I’d hazard that it has more to do with overall demand than anything else and creating more spaces than people who potentially want to go. On the women’s side they went from 600 slots worldwide to 2300+. Maybe there was never 2300 women who wanted to go every year?
To go back to my BQ analogy, if they opened it up to the top 100k people, and didn’t sell out, would we say that it was a total loss if they managed to get 80k people? No, we’d say that they opened it up too quickly.
i dont have the answer to this. you bring some good points. what i can say is that there is a bit of a ‘‘depression’’ going on with the elite age group community in long distance. The carrot that fuel them for years is gone… So many are trying to reinvent themself and find new challenges other then ironman.
time will tell but looking forward to see how kona is in 2023 and what lay ahead in 2024-25.
But i sure hope we get back to 2000 athlete in kona mix between men and woman and keep it a hard exclusive difficult to qualify event.
I think the biggest thing that they lost was having everyone together for the same WC, rather than the lustre of the WC itself.
I get why they moved to a WC for each gender, and also why they decided to move it to an alternate location - they owed some people a Kona experience who had already paid (men who qualified early specifically), and also couldn’t do a 2 day event in Kona so they had to look elsewhere. So they were both stuck in Kona and needed to find an alternate venue if they wanted to expand the women’s race to a full day.
I actually don’t mind the alternate venue - the 70.3 WC rotates and the demand is there, and people want to go. When they first moved the 70.3WC outside of the US, how easy was it to qualify? I mean, I snagged a spot in 2019 for what was supposed to be Taupo in 2020 in 15th in M35, and another slot rolled down to easily to mid 30s.
i dont have the answer to this. you bring some good points. what i can say is that there is a bit of a ‘‘depression’’ going on with the elite age group community in long distance. The carrot that fuel them for years is gone… So many are trying to reinvent themself and find new challenges other then ironman.
time will tell but looking forward to see how kona is in 2023 and what lay ahead in 2024-25.
But i sure hope we get back to 2000 athlete in kona mix between men and woman and keep it a hard exclusive difficult to qualify event.
Excellent perspective