Last weekend’s IRONMAN 70.3 Colombo ended up being a duathlon after the swim was cancelled on the eve of the race.

We’ve had swim cancellations before in triathlon – and even the Olympics in Paris in 2024 was in jeopardy until late in the day because of concerns over water quality in the River Seine.

But what happened in Sri Lanka was definitely an unusual one.

‘In the interest of athlete safety’

Organisers posted on their social channels the day before: “IRONMAN would like to advise that the swim portion of Sunday’s triathlon will no longer be going ahead.

“Due to recent sightings of wildlife in the area near the swim course, and in the interest of athlete safety, IRONMAN has made the difficult decision to cancel the swim.

“The event will now become a bike-run event with athletes taking part in a 90km ride and a 21.1km run, with the race starting in a bike rolling start format.

“Tomorrow morning, all athletes are to head straight to T1 to get ready for bike portion of the event and remain with their bike at their bike rack position in Transition until it is their turn to start. Two athletes will start every five seconds from their bike rack position, starting with the row closest to the road and ending with the row furthest from the road, athletes are asked to follow the instructions of the Technical Officials for when to start.

“Each athlete’s time will not start until they cross the timing point at the mount line. It does not matter what position you start the event in. Bike course and run course cut off times will remain based on the time of day the last athlete starts the event.

“IRONMAN would like to thank athletes for their understanding based on these extenuating circumstances as the safety of athletes, volunteers and staff are our top priority.”

Crocodiles compared to alligators

Speculation has since been rife as to exactly what “wildlife” was sighted, with a crocodile suggested by many, though not confirmed by organisers.

Given which it’s no surprise that even though it was obviously disappointing for athletes having a triathlon reduced to a duathlon, there was widespread support for the call.

“First of all respect and thank you to the organizers for prioritizing athlete safety. That always comes first,” was a fairly typical comment in response to the original post.

Plenty of people did suggest that IRONMAN events take place in Florida where alligators are commonplace in the freshwater landscape – but there’s a huge difference between the two semi-aquatic reptiles.

Crocodiles are generally considered more dangerous to humans than alligators for a mix of behavioural, biological and geographical reasons.

They are powerful apex predators with a highly opportunistic feeding strategy, meaning they are more likely to view humans as potential prey rather than as a threat to avoid.

Alligators, by contrast, tend to be more shy and defensive than actively predatory toward humans.