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Mon, October 3, 2022 at 11:50 AM2 min read
The Ironman
Kona World Championships return after a three-year hiatus with a new format,
live on Peacock on Thursday and Saturday at 12
p.m. ET.
The
Ironman, held annually in Hawaii since 1978, and in Kailua-Kona since 1981, was
not held in 2020 or 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The world
championships made a one-time-only stop in St. George, Utah, on May 7 to make
up for the 2021 cancellation. The winners were Norway’s Kristian
Blummenfelt, the Tokyo Olympic triathlon champion, and
Swiss Daniela Ryf, who bagged her fifth Ironman world title.
Both are
entered in Kailua-Kona, where the races are now split between two days —
Thursday for the women and Saturday for the men.
An Ironman
includes a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike and a marathon — totaling 140.6 miles
of racing. It takes top triathletes eight hours to complete. Very arguably, it
crowns the world’s fittest man and woman.
WATCH LIVE: Ironman Kona, Thursday, 12 p.m. ET — STREAM LINK
Ryf, 35 and
a 2008 and 2012 Olympian, can tie retired countrywoman Natascha
Badmann for second place on the women’s list at six
Ironman world titles. Only Zimbabwean-turned-American Paula
Newby-Fraser has more with eight.
The field
also includes German Anne Haug, the 2019 Kona champ
and only woman other than Ryf to win since 2015. Brit Lucy
Charles-Barclay, the Kona runner-up in 2017, 2018 and 2019,
returns after missing the St. George event due to a stress fracture in her hip.
Blummenfelt,
28 and in his Kona debut, will try to become the youngest male champion in Kona
since German Normann Stadler in 2005. His top challengers
include countryman Gustav Iden, the two-time
reigning Half Ironman world champion, and German Patrick Lange,
the 2017 and 2018 Ironman Kona winner.
Also racing Saturday is Dallas Clark,
a retired All-Pro NFL tight end with the Indianapolis Colts, and Tony Kanaan,
the 2013 Indy 500 champion who completed the 2011 Kona Ironman in 12 hours, 52
minutes, 40 seconds.
