The eyes of the triathlon world will be on St. George, Utah this coming Saturday (September 18) for the 2021 IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship.

With no Kona this year and an increased prize purse of $350,000 on offer, the racing is guaranteed to be intense.

Here is the official men’s start list, along with some notes on which athletes are likely to take their places at the swim start come Saturday.

Official start list – Men

Here is the official start list, which we will continue to update with any confirmed withdrawals.

BIB	Athlete	COUNTRY
1	Gustav Iden	NOR
2	Alistair Brownlee	GBR
3	Rudy Von Berg	USA
4	Kristian Blummenfelt	NOR
5	Javier Gomez	ESP
6	Sam Appleton	AUS
7	Bradley Weiss	RSA
8	Ben Kanute	USA
9	Lionel Sanders	CAN
10	Tim Reed	AUS
11	Michael Raelert	GER
12	Sam Long	USA
14	Matthew Hanson	USA
15	Daniel Bækkegård	DEN
16	Chris Leiferman	USA
17	George Goodwin	GBR
18	Magnus Ditlev	DEN
19	Max Neumann	AUS
20	Andreas Dreitz	GER
21	Frederic Funk	GER
22	Florian Angert	GER
23	Jackson Laundry	CAN
24	Kyle Smith	NZL
26	Filipe Azevedo	POR
27	Jan Stratmann	GER
28	Maurice Clavel	GER
30	Collin Chartier	USA
31	Joe Gambles	AUS
32	Clement Mignon	FRA
33	Jason West	USA
34	Antony Costes	FRA
35	Paul Ruttmann	AUT
36	Mauricio Mendez Cruz	MEX
37	Marcus Herbst	GER
38	Miki Taagholt	DEN
39	Yvan Jarrige	FRA
40	James Teagle	GBR
41	Elliot Smales	GBR
42	Taylor Reid	CAN
43	Nils Frommhold	GER
44	Gregory Barnaby	ITA
45	Nicholas Chase	USA
46	Robbie Deckard	USA
47	Robert Kallin	SWE
49	Eric Lagerstrom	USA
50	Igor Amorelli	BRA
51	Martin Ulloa	CHI
52	Fernando Toldi	BRA
53	Ivan Rana	ESP
54	Tim Rea	AUS
55	Mika Noodt	GER
56	Brennen Smith	CAN
57	Yohan Le Berre	FRA
58	Gabor Faldum	HUN
59	Dylan Magnien	FRA
61	Marty Andrie	USA
62	Aaron Royle	AUS
63	Tomas Rodriguez Hernandez	MEX
64	Justin Metzler	USA
65	Tyler Butterfield	BER

Who is racing, and who is not?

There are several notable names absent, including Alistair Brownlee (post-Leeds surgery recovery), Rudy Von Berg (recovering from the illness which kept him out of Collins Cup), Matt Hanson (knee surgery), Lionel Sanders (focus now on Q4 IRONMAN races) and Kyle Smith (recovery post-crash at Collins Cup), among them.

Unlike in the women’s race, the Olympic Champion is present as Kristian Blummenfelt aims for an astonishing Olympic / World / 70.3 championship treble.

Finishing as the first Norwegian home will be a challenge in itself with Gustav Iden also racing. World Champion in 2019, he also won the quasi-world championship Challenge Daytona in 2020.

U.S. hopes meanwhile may rest with ‘Yo Yo Yo” Sam Long, who will be among a host of young guns looking to show their talents, including George Goodwin, Daniel Bakkegard, Magnus Ditlev and Kyle Smith.