Ironman has announced that since about half the field won’t be able to travel to St. George, Utah for this year’s Ironman 70.3 World Championship the event will be held on just one day “with men and women racing on Saturday, September 18.” Ironman also announced today that the next years 70.3 worlds event, which was to be held in Taupo, New Zealand will instead be held in St. George, too – the race will return to the two-day format and take place on October 28 and 29, 2022.
“We have continued to monitor border and travel restrictions closely, and it is increasingly clear that these restrictions are not likely to be relaxed in time for most international athletes to be able to race in St. George,” said Andrew Messick, President & Chief Executive Officer for The Ironman Group. “We have a special host partner in St. George and its surrounding communities, and we are looking forward to being able to host a full international two-day race in 2022.”
The 2023 Ironman 70.3 World Championship scheduled for Lahti, Finland, will go ahead as planned. Ironman says it will discuss “how to bring the Ironman 70.3 World Championship event to Taupo in a future year.”
The first Ironman 70.3 World Championship took place in Clearwater, Florida in 2006. After a five year stint there, the race moved to Henderson, Nevada for three years. In 2014 the 70.3 world championship began a global rotation starting with Mont-Tremblant, Quebec. The race then moved to Zell Am See, Austria in 2015, Sunshine Coast, Australia in 2016, Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA in 2018 and Nice, France in 2019.
