The Ironman Group announced changes on April 9 to their allocations for competitors in the 2020 Ironman World Championship in Kailua-Kona.
The primary change involved extending the qualification window from Aug. 23 to Aug. 30. With this change, three races — in Penticton, Canada, Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan and Vichy, France — will offer 60 qualification slots to the 2020 World Championship in addition to their existing slots for the 2021 World Championship.
Further changes were made regarding slots allocated to athletes in the Kona Legacy Program. Additional slots were added for the 2020 race, opening space for every eligible Legacy athlete on the waitlist. Qualifying athletes must have completed at least 12 full-distance Ironman-branded races and have never participated in the World Championship.
The exact number of additional slots allocated for Legacy qualifiers has not been made public at this time. Ironman officials could not be reached for comment regarding new qualifiers.
As of April 9, 56 Ironman races worldwide have either been rescheduled, postponed or canceled due to COVID-19 concerns. This number includes the 70.3 Hawaii race, which has been moved from May 30 to Aug. 15. The Aug. 15 race will serve as a qualifier for the 2020 World Championship, as well as the 70.3 World Championship in Taupo, New Zealand, on Nov. 28, 2020.
Races which served as qualifiers for the 2020 World Championship that have been postponed to dates after August 30 will now be considered part of the 2021 qualifying season.
The 2020 Ironman World Championship remains scheduled to take place in Kailua-Kona on Oct. 10, 2020. Ironman events that do run going forward will be functioning under stricter guidelines due to COVID-19 concerns.
“The Ironman Group, along with the Ironman Global Medical Advisory Board, has outlined a series of pragmatic and practical actions designed to reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19 or any other infectious agent to athletes and to members of our host communities,” said The Ironman Group President and CEO Andrew Messick in a press release earlier this year. “These steps will help athletes achieve their goals while allowing communities to secure the benefits of hosting mass participation sporting events. They will be implemented worldwide at all Ironman Group events beginning March 19 and will continue indefinitely.”