Ironman World Championship: Nice start, but not there yet

Ironman is going to have to hold its nerve over the decision to split locations for the men’s and women’s world championship races for the next four years.

In picking Nice as the venue they made a smart and safe (even if some questions linger over the bike course) choice, and are likely to be delighted with the response on the ground from the event’s debut outside of North America.

As was brought to the fore many times in the months leading up to the event, this area of southern France has a long history with swim, bike and run – its Promenade des Anglais as used to the patter of ever-chunkier cushioned soles as its myriad restaurants are to enticing hungry tourists off the street.

In some ways the feedback is self-selecting, of course. The men that turned up wanted to be here, and those that didn’t – albeit depending on when they qualified – will head to Kona next year instead.

But while we’ll have a clearer picture after the women’s race in Hawaii next month, the real judgement can’t be made until we’ve reversed the venues in 2024 – men to Hawaii, women to Nice – and completed the first half of Ironman’s four-year experiment.

The jury, the paying punters, because Ironman is first and foremost an events company owned by private equity, will decide.

Is it good for the sport?

There were more than 2,000 finishers in France, and while rumours have varied wildly on the number of women expected to be lining up in Kona, recent sources suggest it will be similar.

However those numbers were achieved, and however deep the roll-downs went, we still have decent sized fields and quality triathletes in contention for the podium from every age-group through to the pro level.

Is it good for the sport? The answer you get differs depending who you ask, but everyone does seem to have a view.

For every individual who says Nice is the best thing to happen to Ironman in years, there are others bemoaning the fact a successful event format last seen in 2019 – men and women racing on the same single day in the same place – has been wantonly ripped up and tossed to the side.

Jan Frodeno is in the latter camp, making the point that Ironman’s dogmatic persistence in giving women their own race day is rank hypocrisy given that only a few years ago they weren’t even prepared to hand out an extra 15 slots to pro women to even up the professional fields.

If anyone has a voice from the outside, the retiring three-times winner is probably worth listening to.

Others, such as Richard Laidlow, father and coach of new men’s champion Sam, claim smaller venues such as Kona and Roth are of an intimacy to better embrace the event as the only show in town.

Given his son had just taken the tape in Nice, you could hardly accuse him of bias. It also suggests the Laidlows will defend the title with renewed vigour.

He makes a valid point. With the rugby World Cup fan park preparing to roar across the square from the Ironman expo, it was clear Nice were accommodating hosts to not just triathletes.

Splitting the triathlon family

But while we might not be the special ones here, there seems to be a lot less opprobrium for moving venues than there does from splitting the triathlon family.

This might be something Ironman didn’t give enough weight to in its initial decision, and it extends beyond partners and club team-mates who enjoy travelling to race together to brands too.

While plenty of European-based brands were in Nice as either official or unofficial sponsors, they were also preparing to fork out marketing budget for Hawaii too, some privately admitting it was because they felt boxed in and couldn’t be seen to NOT support the women’s race.

The racing itself was a spectacle, of course. It always is. Ironman’s production values are second to none in this sport, and rightly they make everyone who nervously lines up for bodymarking before dawn feel like true champions.

They are also Teflon-like when it comes to handling criticism, so while they might have to hold their nerve over this decision – particularly if there is pushback after the women’s race in Kona – don’t expect any u-turns on the near horizon.

A successful switch

Finally, pushed for a-quarter term report from this observer’s eyes, then the switch away from the Big Island was a success, the men-only “weird testosterone party” as Frodeno called it, less so.

Reuniting the sexes looks preferable, but the women need their own day or, as the racing becomes increasingly professionalised, it would be a retrograde step to squeeze it into the men’s race.

That dictates finding venues where two days of racing can take place in a Thursday-Saturday or Friday-Sunday format, and that’s a lot to put on your hosts.

Nice could have handled it, Kona has already said No, but if it was only every other year on the Big Island, or even every third year, then perhaps the mayor of Hawaii might give it a second look.

For now, all eyes turn to the women’s race in Hawaii and for a short period at least we can focus on the plot twists on the course instead.

Top image credit: Jan Hetfleisch/Getty Images for Ironma