For the first time ever there will be two Ironman World Championships within the same year, in two different venues! The rescheduled 2021 championships will take place in St George Utah, on 7 May. Then later on in October, the championships will return to their home of Kona, Hawaii, on 6-8 October.
This bumper year is set to be full of surprises, not only do athletes have a new course to reckon with, but there’s also been a string of athletes having to pull out of the race due to injury and illness.
How to watch the Ironman 2021 World Championships
With the UK being six hours ahead of St George, the best way for British tri fans to keep up to date with the action will be to plug into the live stream and follow the action on social media. You can also follow us on Twitter @220Triathlon for lots of insight and debate on what’s going on.
Lining up at Sand Hollow State Park at 6:15am local time (12:15am GMT), the pro men will set off just five minutes before the women, followed by the physically challenged/hand cycle participants and age-group atheltes. A full schedule of events can be found here.
Platforms available for streaming the event will include on the official Ironman Now channel on Youtube, Facebook Watch, and Twitch.
Who is racing the Ironman Championships in St George?
Recent events have seen a spat of athletes pull out of the running, including injured race favourites Brit Lucy Charles-Barclay and previous 2019 winner Jan Frodeno. Other key players are still recovering from the affects of Covid-19, including Britain’s Joe Skipper and spainiard Javier Gomez.
With some key players out of the game, the path seems clear for the Norweigen hype train in the form of Olympic champion Kristian Blummenfelt and training partner Gustav Iden. That being said, could Ailstair Brownlee‘s recent transition into full-distance racing finally come into fruition? Here’s who we think will win the men’s race.
Meanwhile on the women’s side, the absence of Charles-Barclay will inspire a fight for the crown, with 2019 winner Anne Haug and Kat Matthews both possibles to race it out for a British win. Here’s who we think will win the women’s race.
The course
![""]("https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/34/2019/10/GettyImages-1341148805-2acfaef.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413" "\"\"")
The course’s set in the same punishing landscape as the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in St George, with a drier heat to the tropical Kona, but a challenging amount of elevation and similar lack of shade en route. Check out the full course route here.
Top image: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images for Ironman