Now official: IRONMAN World Championship will be divided - Hawaii + X?

Now it's a fact: in an official press release that IRONMAN published on its website, the spatial separation of the IRONMAN World Championship for women and men from 2023 will be announced. In addition to Hawaii, there will be another venue for the World Championship race. The search is on. A decision is announced for January 2023.

We reproduce the following press release verbatim (translated from English):

"Following the first-ever two-day IRONMAN World Championship and ongoing commitment to providing women and men with their own race day, the 2023 VinFast IRONMAN World Championship will be held in two different venues.

To ensure that both professional and amateur women and men have a once-in-a-lifetime IRONMAN World Championship racing experience, the women will compete on October 14, 2023 in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, with the date and location of the men's race currently outside Hawaii is being evaluated and is expected to be announced in January 2023. For 2024, the men and women would swap locations.

The 2022 VinFast IRONMAN World Championship was held over two days in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii last October for the first time in the event's history, showcasing the best women and men in the sport while both receiving their deserved spotlight. With the future dual venues and race week separation, the women's and men's races will each receive further attention, with all eyes on the race week's activities leading up to their respective race days of the IRONMAN World Championship.

While the two-day format of the 2022 VinFast IRONMAN World Championship was a success in many areas, and the two-day format in Kailua-Kona for 2023 had already been announced, IRONMAN and the Hawaiian authorities jointly concluded that the impact of two-day racing in Kona are not currently in the best interest of the island community.

“We reaffirm our commitment to a dedicated World Championship racing experience for both women and men to give each an exclusive spotlight on their race. Hawaii is in our DNA and we're looking forward to the first-ever Women's World Championship race week in Kona. At the same time, we look forward to announcing a co-host location for the men's race worthy of an IRONMAN World Championship that will capture the imagination of our athletes and fans alike,” said Andrew Messick, President and Chief Executive Officer for the IRONMAN Group.

Hawaii is the proud birthplace of IRONMAN and while unable to host a two-day World Championship event at this time, it will continue to be an important part of IRONMAN's shared history, with Kona continuing to co-host the IRONMAN World Championship.

“Hawai'i County has a long history of working with IRONMAN, and this year's epic races were another example of world-class athletic competition held on the traditional Kona-Kohala world championship course,” said Mitch Roth, Mayor of Hawai'i County. However, we have learned that more than one race day during IRONMAN week is too many for the community to handle. We are excited that IRONMAN plans to return to Kailua-Kona as co-hosts of the 2023 VinFast IRONMAN World Championship and look forward to more exciting events in the future.”

With this major step to ensure dedicated IRONMAN World Championship races for both women and men, the qualification cycle and slot allocations will be adjusted slightly. Allocations can be viewed here , with further adjustments to be made in line with the announcement of the Men's Championship venue in January. Additionally, all athletes who previously qualified and registered for the 2023 VinFast IRONMAN World Championship will be contacted directly with additional information.

- end of press release -