Ironman World Championship: More equality comes at a cost

The question many are pondering at this year's Ironman World Championship is whether the decision to have the female triathletes compete two days before the men has been an entirely positive development.   

On Thursday, Chelsea Sodaro was the surprise winner on the women's side. Lucy Charles-Barclay of Britain came in second, followed by Germany's Anne Haug — who had won the 2019 edition of the race, before it had to be cancelled for two years running due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The organizers argued that having the women compete in a separate event on a different day than the men generates more attention through television exposure and therefore revenue, in addition to generally better conditions for the women. 

Indeed, in the past, the performances of the female triathletes were often lost in the maelstrom of attention paid to the men's competition. 

"It creates a much fairer race," German triathlete Laura Philipp stressed ahead of Thursday's competition, in which she finished fourth. "However, it's certainly a big challenge logistically to stage such a big race two days in a row in such a small place." 

Mammoth event reaches its limits 

With a population of just 20,000, Kailua-Kona is the triathlon community's Mecca. In previous years, when the men and women competed on the same day, Kailua-Kona already struggled to cope with a sudden influx of 2,500 participants. This time, 5,500 triathletes are taking part. 

"There is a lot of controversy here," said DW reporter Tobias Oelmaier, who is also a triathlete competing at the Ironman. 

"The infrastructure here is simply not designed for this," he said. "Take the local supermarket, for example. At times there hasn't been any bottled water or noodles on the shelves."

Clearly, Kailua-Kona is struggling to cope with this year's World Championship.

"We can't sugarcoat it," conceded race director Diana Bertsch, who has had great difficulty organizing enough volunteers for both races. In concrete terms, this means there are significantly fewer aid stations on the cycling course as well as on the marathon route. 

The reason that the number of competitors has more than doubled has to do with the method of qualifying. Each year the field is made up of triathletes in various age groups who have qualified through competitions held around the globe.

Since the World Championship hadn't been held since 2019, athletes who qualified for 2020 and 2021 retained their right to compete this year. 

This is why the World Triathlon Corporation, the organizer of the event, decided to split the competition into women's and men's races. However, the fact that the World Championship in 2023 is being planned as a similarly huge event demonstrates that commercial interests are also at play. 

"I think it's a brave step to have already planned this for next year," triathlete Phillip said, adding that if she were the organizer, she would have waited to see how this year's event pans out before planning another mammoth World Championship.

"With so many participants, the usual atmosphere of a World Championship has also been lost," DW reporter Oelmaier noted. 

Exploding prices

One American market research institute found that the 2019 event injected some $72 million (€73.4 million) into Hawaii's economy. This time that figure is expected to be more than $100 million.

But there is also a downside, with a severe increase in the costs associated with participating in the event. Britain's Joe Skipper, winner of Ironman Wales, took to Instagram to vent his anger after his landlady in Kona revoked his booking and unceremoniously demanded three times the original price.  

Criticism of expansion

 In light of such developments, two-time winner Patrick Lange is also critical of the new format. 

"I have thought long and hard about where I stand on it, but I have identified more and more negative aspects associated with the doubling (of the field)," the 36-year-old told the German paper, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

"I think in general that the classic version is much better. One day, one race. The same number of competitors as before," he said.

This article was translated from German.