Triathlon: The Ironman brand is certainly the best-known in the international sport of triathlon. This is probably not least due to the importance of the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii. In view of this, the Ironman company has now announced some rule changes
In addition to the pros, age groupers will also start in groups this year in Hawaii. Originally, all starters started the race together, before the organizers let the pros start before the age groupers in recent years. In October there will be four starting waves for the first time at the World Championships, with men and women starting separately from each other. The background to these changes is the striving for more equal opportunities for the starters.
There will also be some other innovations for the professionals. According to Ironman, from next year there will only be a few selected races where the pros can score points for the Hawaii qualification. The same goes for the Ironman 70.3 distance. The winners of regional championship races are then automatically qualified for the respective World Championship distance. The background to these changes is the redistribution of the prize money. These are now only paid out in certain races. All races not taken into account, worldwide more than 100 races belong to the Ironman series, will be held as pure amateur competitions. In this way, Ironman wants to increase the quality of the starting field for professionals at certain events.