Gustav Iden on Kona/Nice IRONMAN World Championship split, and the solution that ‘most excites’ him

It’s one of the hottest topics in triathlon on a daily basis – what to do with the IRONMAN World Championship.

For the first 40-plus years of its existence, the famous race had found a spiritual home on the Big Island of Hawaii, until 2022 that is. Then a new plan to give both female and male athletes their own race day saw the grand plan flounder immediately with local authorities saying it just brought too much disruption to the Kona area.

IRONMAN responded by coming up with another plan – the race would now be split between Kona and Nice, France, with male and female athletes alternating between the two each year.

This solution maintained that goal to give both men and women their own day in the sun, but it also angered many athletes and pundits for two big reasons. Making the event either men-only or women-only went against the very ethos of the sport, and it also takes athletes away from their beloved Kona every other year.

Debate rages over Kona/Nice split

The debate was reopened recently when three-time IRONMAN World Champion Patrick Lange spoke about it at the press conference on the eve of his epic victory in October. He said: “It’s been great to be back, two years seems too long. I’d love to come year every year for racing.

“And also to you Scott [DeRue, IRONMAN CEO], we really miss the women, so please bring back the women to our race. So that would be much appreciated as well.”

Lange’s comments came just days after two-time Kona king Chris McCormack had blasted the decision to split the race between Kona and Nice, telling TRI247: “The Nice/Kona split doesn’t work for me with the men and women racing on different courses. Men and women should be on the same day. Same course, same World Championship. Splitting men and women is a debacle.”

The latest superstar pro to weigh in on the topic is Norwegian great Gustav Iden – who claimed a brilliant IMWC victory in Kona in 2022. He spoke recently about it on the Norwegian Method Podcast (watch the full episode at the bottom of this page), outlining what he would like as the way forward.

Gustav Iden’s favoured solution

He reasoned: “I think it should be together, joint male/female, the same time, same weekend, maybe not the same day. And maybe every other year at Hawaii or Kona. That would be the solution I think I’m most excited about, then you obviously have the legend of the island still, but also you see more interesting dynamics out there, especially like different courses like Nice.

“If it’s just gonna be the same-esque race by doing it in Texas or something I don’t think it’s that exciting. But if you bring in some X factors every second year I think that would be a very fun solution – especially for the pros.

“But if you think about Ironman as an industry for the Age Groupers, I guess most people would like it only to stay in Hawaii.”