Ironman World Championship: How to Watch


2021 Ironman World Championship Saturday morning in Utah, St. It will be held in George. There’s a lot to take away from this odd sentence, because pretty much everything about this event, which usually takes place in October on Kona on Hawaii’s Big Island, is somewhat out of tune.

So let’s try to get some basics covered here:

This 2021 Ironman World Championship (yes, 2021) Saturday, May 7th.

The 2022 Ironman World Championships are appropriately scheduled for Hawaii in early October.

The race will be broadcast live IronmanNow The Facebook page starts at 7:30 in the East. It will also be broadcast live on Peacock in the East at 8am.

The Ironman triathlon is a beast: the 2.4-mile swim, the 112-mile bike segment, and the standard 26.2-mile marathon.

The pandemic that turns sports programs upside down, A special challenge for Ironman.

Organizing triathlons at different distances around the world throughout the year, the organization had to suspend global races for months. The 2020 world championships also had to be cancelled.

This is no small matter, because the athletes have dedicated years of their lives trying to qualify for the Kona where the race has been for years. Ironman had hoped to hold the 2021 world championship last October, but Covid-19 fluctuations have foiled those plans. Fortunately, the site of the popular semi-Ironman World Championship in September, St. George offered to host a contest. 2021 full Ironman championship postponed this weekend. In addition to the elites, the race will also feature some triathletes who qualify for the event in 2019, when nearly 3,000 athletes from 80 countries, regions and territories are expected to start.

“This was a unique opportunity to do something different and make sure we provide a race for athletes who are put on hold and then prepared and put back on hold,” said Diana Bertsch, Senior Vice President of World Championship Events. at Ironman.

No. The event has been held in Hawaii since 1978 and in Kailua-Kona since 1981.

The distance is the same as always, but the similarities pretty much end there.

In October, the Kona race begins in the floating salt water of the ocean, which is about 79 degrees. st. George swim will take place in Sand Hollow Reservoir. Fresh water was 59 degrees cold this week. Bertsch said he expects athletes to be allowed to wear wet suits, but that’s not the case at Kona.

The iconic challenges of the Kona trail include intense humidity, which averages 86 percent, and hot winds of up to 60 mph over lava fields.

The signature feature of the Utah trail is a bike ride that includes some wild climbing in Snow Canyon. It’s a breathtaking part of the course for athletes, but as Bertsch says, “I’m not sure how many people would be looking around and enjoying the view at this point.”

According to Ironman, the cycling segment includes 7,300 feet of climbing, which is about 1,500 feet more than the Kona trail. The marathon has an elevation gain of 1,400 feet compared to about 900 meters at Kona.

Not much. The forecast can change quickly in that part of Utah, but it should be around 90’s and windy right now. It will still be a dry temperature. Average humidity is 26 percent this time of year, which can be less annoying than the stifling humidity during a 140.6-mile race.

This could be anyone’s race, with many top triathletes out of the race.

Considered one of the sport’s greats, reigning world champion Jan Frodeno of Germany withdrew from the race last month after what he described as a minor partial tear of his Achilles tendon.

“For now it’s time to play it safe a bit,” Frodeno wrote on Instagram. “My dream is still to go to the big island of Hawaii and have a really great race there.”

With Frodeno gone, the focus will shift to the two Norwegians. Kristian BlummenfeltGustav Iden, Olympic champion and two-time semi-Ironman world champion.

In women, 2019 world champion Anne Haug will try to defend her title. Daniela Ryf of Switzerland, four times back-to-back world champion from 2015 to 2018, will also be on the starting line. Lucy Charles-Barclay from Britain last September in St. He was an early favorite as the reigning half-Ironman world champion, a competition he won in St. But she came out with a broken hip in March.

On Monday, 2021 Ironman European Champion Laura Philipp withdrew after testing positive for Covid-19. “This is a nightmare!” wrote on Instagram. “After waiting 2.5 years for a big race to happen, I’m now stopped by the virus.”

All that said, the race should have a lot of surprises. In ten years St. Since George isn’t exactly an Ironman, there isn’t a clear strategy for running the race the way Kona did. This world championship can go to an athlete with certain strengths.

And then in October they’re going to do it all over again in Kona.





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