Originally published at: We Noticed: IRONMAN’s Global Participation Trends, Your Watch is Watching and More - Slowtwitch News
Athletes line up at the 2025 IRONMAN World Championship Nice. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon
IRONMAN has released some data from the 2025 year of racing, and reports that, compared to last year, there’s been a marked rise in first-timer participation, an increase in women’s participation and a lot more younger athletes are taking part in IRONMAN races.
The data comes from the 148 IRONMAN and IRONMAN 70.3 events that included over 250,000 registered athletes.
2025 IRONMAN Global Overview
| Metric | 2025 Value |
|---|---|
| Total Events | 148 |
| Total Athlete Registrations | 250,000+ |
| First-Time Athlete Growth (YOY) | +10% |
| Total Women Registered | ~49,500 |
| Female Share of Total Athletes | 22.5% |
Age Demographic Trends (Global)
In terms of the age demographics, for the second year in a row the 30 to 34 age group was the largest category, and a lot more U30 athletes are competing at IRONMAN events, too.
| Metric | 2025 Value |
|---|---|
| Athletes Under 30 (Overall) | +35% YOY |
| Largest Age Group | 30–34 (second consecutive year) |
| First-Time Athletes Under 30 (Since 2019) | More than doubled |
| Under-30 First-Time Participation – Full IRONMAN | +46% YOY |
| Women’s 25 to 29 First-Time Participation | +44% YOY |
Female Participation
Women’s participation continued to grow in 2025 – this was the second highest year in terms of women racing IRONMAN events after 2019 – there were 49,748 women at IRONMAN events that year. The numbers continue to be under 20% for full-distance racing, but about one quarter of the fields at 70.3 events are women. (Entry data for 2026 looks for that trend to continue.)
In North America the average age of participants has decreased from 42.5 to 40 at full-distance races, and from 41 to 39 at 70.3 events.
| Metric | Value / Change |
|---|---|
| Total Female Registrations | ~49,500 |
| Female Share of All Athletes | 22.5% |
| YOY Growth (Overall Female Participation) | +7% |
| Female Share – IRONMAN | 17% (+10% YOY) |
| Female Share – IRONMAN 70.3 | 25% (+5.4% YOY) |
| Women Under 30 | +36% YOY |
| Women 25–29 | +44% YOY |
| Highest Participation Year (All-Time) | 2019. 49,748 athletes, 19% at IRONMAN, 25% at 70.3. 23.5% of all athletes. |
(In case you’re wondering how 49,500 female athletes turns into 22.5% of the total, that 250,000 number is registrants, and some athletes registered for more than one race. The 49,500 number is the number of unique female competitors.)
IRONMAN also reports that demand for its races has grown globally, with 32 IRONMAN and 70.3 races in Europe already sold out and other regions expanding their race schedules.
Age-Group Numbers from T100 Qatar
Photo: PTO
In a “We Noticed” last week we commented on the numbers from the 70.3 race in Bahrain, so we figured it would be interesting to see what the participation numbers were like for the T100 age-group racing in Qatar last weekend, too.
The Qatar event did have a large turnout for its 5K Kickoff race, with 657 women and 1,158 men (1,815 total). Leading the way at the 5K? None other than Jan Frodeno, who won the event in a time of 15:48.
There were two age-group T100 triathlon events – the “World Championship” saw 85 women compete along with 152 men (237 total). There was also an “Open” race that had 145 women and 740 men (885 total). Combined the two events would have had 1,122 age group athletes.
There was also a sprint event with 109 women and 345 men for a total of 454.
Your Watch is Watching You
At the beginning of the month Garmin released its Garmin Connect data report, while Polar released its report earlier this morning. The key insights from Polar’s report included:
- The average weekly training time in 2025 was 301 minutes—double the amount recommended by the World Health Organization.
- More than half of Polar users reported getting enough sleep, with an average duration of 7 hours and 26 minutes.
- Running, walking, and strength training remained the most popular sports.
- Polar users recorded more than 150 different types of activities.
- The average marathon finishing time was 4 hours and 12 minutes.
You can download the full Polar 2025 Reflected Report here.
The 2025 Garmin Connect data report can be viewed here.
Some of the highlights from the Garmin report include:
- Garmin Connect users performed 8% more activities in 2025 compared to 2024
- Outdoor running increased by 6% this year, while indoor running increased by 16%
- Garmin users spent about 55 minutes per activity on average
- More than a quarter of the runs recorded on Garmin devices were 30 to 45 minutes long, while nearly half the cycling activities lasted an hour or longer.
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