Breaking Down Barriers: IRONMAN CEO Reveals Kona/Nice Split 'Shrinking

When IRONMAN announced its decision to split the World Championship between Kona and Nice in 2022, the triathlon community had mixed reactions. The intent seemed noble: create more opportunities for athletes and shine a stronger spotlight on women's racing. Now, in a surprising revelation, IRONMAN CEO Scott DeRue has admitted that this well-intentioned change was actually “unintentionally shrinking the global triathlon community” rather than expanding it.

This candid admission comes alongside the announcement that both men's and women's World Championship races will return to a unified format in Kona beginning in 2026. Behind this strategic reversal lies extensive research that challenges conventional wisdom about how to grow women's participation in endurance sports.

The Evolution of the IRONMAN World Championship Format

The World Championship's format has undergone significant changes in recent years:

The Traditional Single-Day Format

For decades, the IRONMAN World Championship was held as a single-day event in Kona, with men and women racing together on the same iconic course.

COVID's Ripple Effect

When the pandemic forced race cancellations, a substantial backlog of qualified athletes with deferred entries emerged. As DeRue explained: "When we decided to split the races, there were really two reasons why we did that. The first is we had all these deferrals from the cancellations [after Covid] and we had to go to essentially two days of racing to accommodate all those deferrals."

The Kona Two-Day Experiment

In 2022, IRONMAN tested a two-day format in Kona—women racing on Thursday and men on Saturday. However, this approach quickly proved "unsustainable for the local community," according to DeRue.

The Split Championship Solution

To address both the overcrowding in Kona and the desire to showcase women's racing, IRONMAN divided the championship between Hawaii and Nice, France. Women competed in Kona in 2022, men in 2023, with women scheduled for Nice in 2024 and men returning to Kona.

Back to Unified Racing

Starting in 2026, both men and women will once again race together on the same day in Kona, marking a return to tradition based on data rather than nostalgia.

The Surprising Research Findings

The most eye-opening aspect of IRONMAN's announcement is that the original aim of the split format—highlighting women's racing to increase female participation—produced the exact opposite effect.

IRONMAN conducted comprehensive research including “surveys, focus groups, interviews, expert panels, as well as looking at our own data about where people are racing, where they're not racing, qualifying slots and so on.” The results defied expectations:

Women were exiting the sport after their World Championship experience: "We were seeing more women exit the sport after doing the World Championship race," DeRue revealed. Rather than inspiring continued participation, reaching the pinnacle was becoming an endpoint rather than a milestone.
The "bucket list" effect: The Nice location created easier qualifying opportunities for many athletes. Once they achieved their World Championship goal, many considered their triathlon journey complete and moved on.
Focus on the pinnacle wasn't growing the base: "What we found is that we need to focus more on the entry points to the sport and less on the World Championship and the pinnacle of the sport," DeRue concluded.

This data challenges the common sports marketing assumption that highlighting elite competition naturally inspires grassroots participation. For IRONMAN, the evidence pointed to a need for a fundamentally different approach.

Three Key Areas to Grow Women's Participation

1. Visibility: Women Seeing Women in Triathlon

The power of representation emerged as a critical factor. DeRue emphasized that seeing women participating in the sport is crucial for recruiting and retaining female athletes.

Content Evolution: "We've already evolved how we do our social content, our original content documentary series, with that insight in mind," DeRue noted, pointing to changes in how IRONMAN presents women in the sport.
Beyond Elite Representation: Showing the diversity of women participating at all levels creates more accessible entry points and relatable role models than focusing solely on professional athletes.

2. Race Experience: Creating Women-Specific Accommodations

The actual race environment needs thoughtful adaptation to be truly welcoming to women.

Practical Innovations: DeRue shared a revealing example: "I was having a conversation with Chelsea Sodaro the other day and she was asking this question and I asked her, do you know that we had lactation room space on course last year for women who were racing who needed lactation space?"
Communication Gap: "Most of our athletes don't know that, but those who needed it, they do. And so I think we can do a better job of educating our community around some of the innovations that we've been investing in." This highlights that implementing positive changes is only half the battle—raising awareness is equally important.

3. Community: The Missing Piece in Triathlon

Perhaps most significantly, the research identified community as a critical factor that differentiates triathlon from sports with better gender balance.

The Running Model: "In running, for example, there's much more of a community around training relative to triathlon." Road running has achieved much better gender parity than triathlon, suggesting valuable lessons to be learned.
Community as an Entry Barrier: "That relative lack of community was keeping people from actually coming into the sport." The intimidation factor and perceived isolation of triathlon training may disproportionately affect women's willingness to participate.
TriClub Growth Opportunity: IRONMAN's TriClub program represents one avenue for building the supportive networks that can encourage entry and sustained participation.

The Strategic Pivot: From Pinnacle to Entry Points

Based on these findings, IRONMAN is making a fundamental shift in focus from the championship event to the entry points of the sport:

Experimenting with Short-Course Formats: "We can start to experiment in different places with more short-course. We just launched this race in New Mexico, a 70.3, but around it we built a festival that does include some short-course racing. And that's an experiment to see if that can be helpful in this regard."
Ecosystem Collaboration: "How do we work with USAT and the federations around the world, other race directors, to identify ways that IRONMAN as a brand, as a community, can be helpful in advancing the short-course formats to inspire more people to get into the sport?"
Cross-Pollination from Other Sports: "Road running is much more balanced from a gender participation perspective and trail running still is catching up and we've learned a lot from our UTMB experience." This indicates that by examining successful models within their own portfolio, IRONMAN aims to apply winning strategies across disciplines.
Embracing Experimentation: "Some things are going to work, some things won't, but that's how we learn, that's how we get better and that's how we grow."

This approach acknowledges that growing participation requires attention to the full athlete journey, not just the destination event.

The Broader Challenge: Gender Balance in Endurance Sports

The Current Reality: The gender split in IRONMAN races remains starkly imbalanced at approximately 20:80 (20% women, 80% men).
Comparative Success Stories: Road running events have achieved much better gender balance, suggesting different barriers or more successful outreach strategies.
Similar Struggles in Other Disciplines: Trail running and ultra events face comparable challenges in achieving gender parity.
Unwavering Commitment: "Our commitment to the goal is as strong and as steadfast as it's ever been," DeRue emphasized, suggesting that achieving gender balance remains a long-term strategic priority.

What This Means for the Triathlon Community

Championship prestige alone doesn't build sustainable participation—the aspirational value of elite events may have limits.
Community building is more critical than previously recognized, especially for recruiting and retaining women.
Entry points deserve more attention and investment, as accessible on-ramps are likely more effective than solely showcasing the pinnacle.
Women-specific accommodations matter, but they must be effectively communicated to have maximum impact.
Data-driven decision making can challenge conventional wisdom and pave the way for more inclusive strategies.

For athletes, coaches, race directors, and the broader triathlon community, this research-driven approach offers valuable insights into how to nurture and grow the sport.

Building a More Inclusive Triathlon Community

The return to a unified World Championship in Kona represents more than a format change—it’s a recognition that growing triathlon requires thoughtful attention to how the entire ecosystem functions.

Strengthen local triathlon communities through clubs, training groups, and mentorship programs.
Highlight diverse participants at all levels of the sport, not just elites.
Create welcoming entry-level events with appropriate support and education.
Address practical barriers that disproportionately affect women.
Partner with organizations to build a cohesive development pathway.

By shifting focus from the sport's pinnacle to its foundation, IRONMAN hopes to build a stronger, more diverse community of triathletes for generations to come.

Conclusion: Data-Driven Direction for Future Growth

IRONMAN's decision to reunite the World Championship in Kona reflects a research-based approach to growing participation, especially among women. The discovery that separating the races contributed to women leaving the sport demonstrates the importance of testing assumptions and adapting strategies based on evidence.

Why did IRONMAN decide to revert the World Championships back to Kona?

IRONMAN CEO Scott DeRue revealed that the split between Kona and Nice was unintentionally shrinking the global triathlon community. Research showed that more women were exiting the sport after participating in the World Championship race, and the separate races failed to increase female participation as hoped.

What were the main reasons for the previous split between Kona and Nice?

The split was originally implemented to handle the large number of deferrals after COVID and to put more spotlight on the women’s race. It was also thought that hosting the event in Nice, due to its triathlon history, would be a viable alternative to Kona.

What were the key findings of IRONMAN's research on global participation?

The research indicated that there was not a significant increase in female participation due to the split races. It highlighted a lack of appetite for age-groupers racing in Nice, making it easier to qualify for the World Championship, which led participants to look for other challenges post-race.

How does IRONMAN plan to increase women's participation in triathlon?

IRONMAN aims to focus on three areas: increasing visibility for women in the sport, improving the race experience with facilities like lactation rooms, and enhancing the community aspect by promoting training collectives like those found in running.

What experiments is IRONMAN conducting to attract more participants?

IRONMAN is experimenting with integrating short-course races into events like the New Mexico 70.3 to see if this format can attract more participants. They are also collaborating with USAT and global federations to promote short-course formats as entry points to the sport.

#TriathlonCommunity #WomenInTriathlon

Source: https://www.tri247.com/triathlon-news/age-group/ironman-chief-scott-derue-kona-nice-world-championship-split-shrinking-triathlon-community

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