Reigning IRONMAN World Champion Sam Laidlow has had his place on the start line for this year’s race in Kona confirmed – despite his disqualification from IRONMAN Vitoria-Gasteiz on Sunday.

The Frenchman was using that race to validate his spot in Hawaii – by “racing competitively” and “finishing”. But having been removed from the results – and not receiving any prize money or IRONMAN Pro Series points – the big question was whether he had ticked both of those boxes.

And if the answer was ‘no’ then he faced a race against time to find an alternative route.

Here’s how the whole process has played out…

What happened in Sunday’s race?

IRONMAN Vitoria-Gasteiz was Laidlow’s first full-distance race of the season but things didn’t go to plan.

He was disqualified towards the end of the bike leg after failing to serve a drafting penalty but – as he was allowed to do – continued to race under protest.

He completed the marathon, seemingly making sure he didn’t interfere with the race dynamics as Antonio Benito Lopez took a memorable win in the Basque Country.

But, after finishing, his disqualification was upheld. That potentially meant that Laidlow might have to race another full-distance event before the big dance in Hawaii.

What is the validation criteria?

As an IRONMAN World Champion, Laidlow receives a five-year exemption to the IMWC – so 2024 through to 2028 in his case.

However there is a catch to that as the following document from IRONMAN explains:

Former Pro Athlete IRONMAN® World Champions using the Five-Year Exemption to enter the 2024 Championship Race will be required to validate their entry by completing a Validation Race.

“Validation Race” means racing competitively (as determined by IRONMAN in IRONMAN’s sole discretion) and finishing at least one Qualifying IRONMAN (excluding the 2023 IRONMAN World Championship) OR two Qualifying IRONMAN 70.3 (excluding the 2023 IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship) events that offers Pro qualifying slots during the 2024 IRONMAN Qualifying Year. (Period ending August 19, 2024, for IRONMAN events and period ending June 30, 2024, for IRONMAN 70.3 events).

Noting those qualifying periods, the two 70.3 races isn’t now an option given we are already well past June 30.

And it’s a rapidly-closing window for the full-distance races as only two male pro ones are scheduled between now and August 19 – IRONMAN Lake Placid this weekend and IRONMAN Frankfurt on August 18. And what’s more, the registration deadline for both has now closed.

So whether Laidlow met the validation criteria on Sunday became all-important…

The IRONMAN verdict

We reached out to IRONMAN to find out exactly what the situation was – and it was good news for Laidlow as a spokesperson told TRI247: “At Sunday’s IRONMAN Vitoria-Gasteiz triathlon, Sam Laidlow was disqualified for failing to serve a drafting penalty but, in line with the IRONMAN Competition Rules, chose to continue the race and exercise his right to protest after his finish.

“Sam raced competitively until the end and was the second professional male to cross the finish line.

“Sam proceeded to follow the protest process on site, but the competition jury upheld the disqualification, meaning Sam was not eligible for IRONMAN Pro Series points or prize money.”

But crucially they added the following: “Sam Laidlow’s completion of the IRONMAN Vitoria-Gasteiz triathlon meets IRONMAN’s written 2024 policy on the IRONMAN World Championship validation, which stipulates that an athlete must race competitively and finish an IRONMAN triathlon (or two IRONMAN 70.3 triathlon races) within the qualifying period.

“Sam followed the onsite protest process, acted professionally throughout, and most importantly, showed respect to the process and his fellow competitors, all of which is in the spirit of the sport and reflective of Sam’s professionalism.

“Sam’s completion of the event matches the fulfilment of other validation eligible athletes and the spirit of the policy extended accordingly.

“We look forward to welcoming him back to Kona for the 2024 edition of the VinFast IRONMAN World Championship.”

Sam Laidlow’s reaction

Not surprisingly that was met with relief by Laidlow who said the following on his Instagram page: “Sunday was a very tough day for me both mentally and physically.

“This was my first ever experience getting a penalty. Some miscommunication led to my decision to not take the penalty during the race.

“I would like to thank @ironmantri for hearing me out and taking @race.ranger data into account to validate my start at the IRONMAN WC.”