The Ironman Kona World Championships have been postponed from Oct. 10 to Feb. 6, 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Ironman 70.3 World Championships, originally scheduled for New Zealand in late November, have been postponed indefinitely. Organizers hope to schedule it for early 2021, too.
“As the global COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact events around the world, both world championship events have seen a majority of their respective qualifying events postponed or unable to take place in 2020, impeding the ability to produce and host truly competitive world championship events,” according to an Ironman press release. “Based on these factors and circumstances beyond our control, coupled with a mission to give athletes and communities as much preparation time as possible, it is clear the world championship events cannot proceed as planned in October and November, respectively.”
Updated Ironman qualifying information can be found here.
The Ironman has been held annually in Hawaii since 1978 (and twice in 1982). It was originally a February event on Oahu. It was moved to the Big Island in 1981.
The 2019 Ironman world champions were Germans Jan Frodeno and Anne Haug. Full 2019 Ironman results are here.
The Ironman combines a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike and a 26.2-mile marathon run, taking the top men around eight hours and the top women nine hours.
OlympicTalk is on Apple News. Favorite us!
MORE: Alistair Brownlee returns from Ironman to Olympic triathlon