The future of the Ironman World Championship

Triathlon Forum
385

Just a general reply to this thread.

I looked at ironman’s website and if I see things correctly in this cycle the sold out races are Hamburg, Nice (the regular race), Ottawa and Copenhagen

For now you can register in every other race. I found it interesting that Nice itself is sold out. I don’t recall that it sold out historically before IM Austria, or IM Frankfurt, or for that matter before IM Barcelona…it has sold out ahead of Kalmar, Italy, Leeds, Lanzarote (as you would expect they are all open), but Nice selling out with the tough course is interesting.

Also one more thing to consider in terms of overall numbers. Did the numbers in 70.3’s go up for women who wanted to go to worlds in Nice last year but did not want to do an Ironman?

I know at this point in time the total slots for women in Kona 2025 don’t add up to the number of men in kona in 2024, so some are speculating that these slots are being saved for top women finishers in 70.3s and that will be announced this summer.

Or as Brian speculates they get rid of Nice in 2025 and send everyone to Kona in which case its a massive Kona cohort with both genders but given the number of slots allocated to women in Kona 2025 (around 1400), they could likely cram in 2000 men into a 1 day event

386


“send everyone to Kona in which case its a massive Kona cohort with both genders but given the number of slots allocated to women in Kona 2025 (around 1400), they could likely cram in 2000 men into a 1 day event.”
FTFY

387

i am not certain but because it was more a last minute thing it likely did not move the needle much for more 70.3 entries
i do think halfs is a good a good idea it worked well with males in the earlier days, but again it would need to be communicated earlier and clearer.

and yes i guess you are right nice was never one of the first races to sell out so nice works for nice lol
and of course this is a very common phrase in europe, why should i do nice for 1500 euro if i can do it for 650 in june

388

In fact you could argue it in reverse. If Kona has been made famous due to exclusivity, what does it do to Nice WC having an open version?

I actually think it may be easier to explain why Nice sold out this year. It received a lot of publicity and anyone who doesn’t plan/think of qualifying has a chance to just sign up to the non-WC version.

And if on the other hand you do plan on racing the WC you have a chance to practice on the same course three months in advance.

Besides, I believe the June IM Nice race is smaller because they run both the 70.3 and IM on the same day.

What I don’t understand is how Copenhagen sold out so much quicker than last year. Yes there seems to be a new wind for Ironman in Europe and Copenhagen is very beginner friendly. But why Copenhagen before the other ones?

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389

as i said above nice works for nice ie i agree the publicy works for the june race
as for inclusitivioty i dont think you have to worry to much if you look bellow lol

i had a quick look to find north america participitation numbers for 2024
could not find nothing

but found this

https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/news/new-ceo-working-to-build-ironman-into-a-lifestyle-brand/ar-AA1tRtUe

we might go from hotel complex to hotel complex for the worlds in the not so far future.

DeRue is also not opposed to following the lead of his former employer, Equinox, which has “done a great job elevating the brand beyond the gym,” he said. “They think of it as a luxury experience and they build a sense of community and connection. The same is true with Ironman.”

There is an Equinox hotel, high-end partnerships with other brands in fashion, travel, nutrition and entertainment such as the StockX resale site, the Bezel concierge service, the Oura smart ring, and others.

So while Ironman may not open a branded hotel in the near term, it already works with Club La Santa, an active holiday resort in Lanzarote in the Canary Islands, to sponsor the race it holds there every spring.

and before we migh have have a world champs at the breitling headquarter

At the Ironman women’s World Championship race in Nice, France, in September, DeRue said the company held an activation at the Breitling store there that was well-attended. "This has elevated the Ironman brand to a new level,

anyway i did not do a deep search but it was certainly easeir to find the positve europe numbers and than north america numbers.

390

Is Ironman not already a “lifestyle” brand?

391

yes , but it was not elevated to a new level before they had the activation event at the breitling store…

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392

:joy:

393

Just a theory and certainly something I look at when choosing an event. Copenhagen is easy to get to directly from a reasonably connected airport without having to rent cars etc. The others similar that I can think of without researching are Hamburg, Frankfurt and Nice which a train ride brings you to the location and an abundance of accommodation. Barcelona and Cascais are a bit further away so a little more expensive transfer, and Tallinn airport is very close to the event location. Nearly forgot about Lanza. It’s handy as anything.

Copenhagen is also the last qualifier for Nice 2025 a month later so maybe a few people who care have signed up in the hope of getting some roll downs. If you’re fit for 1 Ironman why not do another 4 weeks later. Nice is cheap as chips to travel to for those in Europe so it’s a no brainier.

You’re probably right with it being a beginner friendly course though.

394

Realistically I think Breitling gets more out of their association with Ironman than Ironman gets from Breitling. I spent lots of time chatting with the Brietling guys in their booth at Lahti mainly on how they defend their pricing given how crowded the market is and how little functions their products have. The main function of Breitling is the logo. The rest I can get manufactured in Shenzhen for $9.99. I would imagine that a co branding with iWatch or Garmin would have greater “pull in” to recruit more customers into Ironman. You could literally have functions to do virtual ironman equivalents per week (between all your exercise “points” and motion). Heck they could give Kona slots to the people that do more than “X” ironmans per year in their day to day lives (building on lifestyle). And they could get all that data under an opt in license from Garmin for using the built in ironman functions in the watch and they could have co branding inside the app and website. I think there is much more upside here to what Breitling can bring given there is no ecosystem around Breitling (having said that my VP of finance says that if we ever go IPO he’s forcing me to get a Breitling to ring the bell at the stock exchange over my shitty low end Garmin lol…looks like I am keeping my Garmin for a while haha)

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395

Taken from the 2024 AWA rankings which is basically anyone who has finished an ironman event this year, many have done more than 1. They include a sample of countries in no particular order, so my apologies if yours is not included. Some have events and some not.

Country No. of Finishers. No. per 100,000 of country population
USA 41825 13
Canada. 7362 18
Mexico. 3800 3
Australia 6255 23
New Zealand 1274 24
Japan 1850 1.5
Philippines 1190 1
South Africa. 2918. 5
UK 12515 19
Spain 3199 7
France 10188. 15
Germany. 9029 11
Italy. 4289 7
Switzerland. 2254 26
Sweden. 2020 18
Norway. 574 10
Denmark. 1761. 30
Poland. 1973 5
Netherlands. 2970 17
Czechia. 1006 9
Austria. 1229 14
Portugal 996 10
Ireland 1758 33
Belgium. 4309 36

Percentage participation per population I’d imagine shows an interest in the sport in the location so looks like the World Championships should be held in multiple countries…and Belgium wins this year from that list. On met la patate.

Special mention goes to Ireland as there were no events in the country and so had to get a boat, fly or swim to the events. 2023 was 48 and 2022 53 when there were races.

Disclosure: I didn’t check all countries and some may have a much greater percentage.
If you believe your country has a claim then please write to Ironmanreallycaresaboutyouropinion@ironman.something

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396

That layout didn’t format how it looked when typing and I ain’t doing it again.

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397

It is easy to understand

398

I pasted your comment into chatgpt and asked it to make the layout work. It’s great at formating and sorting. I used it with my cross country teams lists and splits all the time

Country No. of Finishers No. per 1000 of Country Population
USA 41,825 13
Canada 7,362 18
Mexico 3,800 3
Australia 6,255 23
New Zealand 1,274 24
Japan 1,850 1.5
Philippines 1,190 1
South Africa 2,918 5
UK 12,515 19
Spain 3,199 7
France 10,188 15
Germany 9,029 11
Italy 4,289 7
Switzerland 2,254 26
Sweden 2,020 18
Norway 574 10
Denmark 1,761 30
Poland 1,973 5
Netherlands 2,970 17
Czechia 1,006 9
Austria 1,229 14
Portugal 996 10
Ireland 1,758 33
Belgium 4,309 36
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399

Looks like the sum of North America and the sum of Europe are roughly the same

400

I’m an idiot with the calculations. I’ve edited a mistake in the numbers above. Participation per 100000 not 1000.
Thanks for reformatting the data also.

401

There’s a good few European countries not included.
Acapulco, Indian Wells and Florida still to go in 2024 so the NA numbers would be up a bit more also so may well balance out.

402

Thanks for sharing and FTFY (by human and ordered by # per 100000)

Country Finishers # per 100,000
Belgium. 4309 36
Ireland 1758 33
Denmark. 1761 30
Switzerland. 2254 26
New_Zealand 1274 24
Australia 6255 23
UK 12515 19
Canada. 7362 18
Sweden. 2020 18
Netherlands. 2970 17
France 10188 15
Austria. 1229 14
USA 41825 13
Germany. 9029 11
Norway. 574 10
Portugal 996 10
Czechia. 1006 9
Spain 3199 7
Italy. 4289 7
South_Africa. 2918 5
Poland. 1973 5
Mexico. 3800 3
Japan 1850 1.5
Philippines 1190 1
1 Like
403

Europe is seriously underestimated.

  1. Missing, from the top of my head:
  • Luxembourg (extremely small, but probably highest ratio per population)
  • Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia (IM Tallinn btw)
  • Ukraine, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, Macedonia, Albania, Bosnia, Montenegro, Greece
  • Turkey (TBD)
  1. The middle & long distance market has one other big player in Europe, Challenge Family. Look at Germany and consider how many more you’d be counting, if the Challenge Roth was under IM flag.
404

but in fairness challenge participation has 0 impact on ironman world champs lol