Not four world championships in 2021: With a lot of lead, Ironman cancels both the World Cup in Hawaii in February and the planned Ironman 70.3 World Cup in New Zealand in spring. It also seems unlikely that the 70.3 World Cup 2022 will take place in Europe again.
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The Ironman World Championship in Hawaii and the World Championship over the Ironman 70.3 distance will not be held twice in the coming year. As Ironman announced from the company’s headquarters in Tampa, Florida, the Ironman Hawaii in Kailua-Kona, which was originally scheduled for February 6, 2021, will be canceled without alternative. The 2020 edition of the traditional race, which under normal circumstances should have taken place on October 10, 2020, will be completely canceled. The same applies to the Ironman 70.3 World Cup in Taupo (New Zealand), which was postponed from late November 2020 to an as yet unknown date in spring 2021 and will also not take place now. The two regular dates for the World Championships for 2021 remain: on September 17 and 18, 2021 in St. George (Utah, USA) and on October 9 in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii.
What has already been indicated due to the current global situation, but especially due to the still very tense situation in the United States around the corona pandemic, has now become reality: Ironman pulls the pull cord early and says the two new dates for the two world championships. It was a decision that the organizer wanted to make with a heavy heart, but as early as possible in the interest of everyone involved: “We were very hoping to welcome the athletes, their families and supporters to our biggest events in the spring. Unfortunately, the impact of the corona pandemic is so great that it is currently proving impossible. It is difficult to make such a momentous decision in July, but only in this way can we create the necessary clarity for the athletes, the venues and our partners in the planning. It is very disappointing for us as organizers that we have to cancel the Ironman Hawaii for the first time in its 43-year history and that the Ironman 70.3 World Cup cannot take place for the first time since the start in 2006, ”said Andrew Messick, President and CEO of Ironman, on the cancellations.
Taupo is scheduled for 2022
In order not to have to give up Taupo completely as a location for the Ironman 70.3 World Cup in the near future and still enable a premiere in New Zealand in the medium term, Ironman is working to have the World Cup there in 2022. This would mean that the Ironman 70.3 World Cup, which changes its location every year, will not return to Europe as planned in the year after next. So far, Lahti in Finland and Klagenfurt in Austria have been available for competition in 2022. It is not yet clear whether the two locations will automatically be considered for the 2023 race.
The athletes who have won a slot for the Ironman 70.3 World Championship in Taupo in the past few weeks via the Ironman Virtual Racing Championship Series will be given their right to start in St. George in mid-September 2021.
Further information on the current situation in Hawaii in the latest podcast of “Carbon & Lactate”
In the current episode of our podcast “Carbon & Lactate” – a few hours before the event is officially announced by the organizer – Frank Wechsel and Simon Müller discuss, among other things, the currently applicable entry regulations, the overall situation, including the mayor’s restrictive behavior on the Big Island, and thus connected assumption and thesis that the Ironman World Cup will not take place in February. More information and some insights into the current situation in Kailua-Kona can be found in the second half of the new episode.
This article will be continuously updated or linked to the follow-up content as soon as there are official votes from athletes, coaches and organizers about the cancellations and the new situation …
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