Triathlon’s top talent has come together on the Sunshine Coast of Queensland, Australia for the 2016 IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship taking place on 4 September. Boasting one of ‘the most competitive professional fields in the sport, IRONMAN adds that history can be made in this weekend’s marquee event.
“It’s hard to miss the incredible talent that will be represented here on the Sunshine Coast this weekend,” said Andrew Messick, Chief Executive Officer for IRONMAN (a Wanda Sports Holding company). “The best triathletes from around the world have traveled to this incredible location and will surely put on a spectacular show while soaking in the stunning coastline.”
The 2016 IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship triathlon will offer a $250,000 total professional prize purse which will be distributed to male and female first through tenth place finishers.
In addition to the competitive professional field, approximately 3,000 registered age-group athletes representing more than 80 countries from around the world are expected to compete at this year’s IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship. In order to qualify, more than 130,000 age-group athletes competed to earn slots at over 85 IRONMAN 70.3 events held worldwide.
Live race coverage of the 2016 IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship can be viewed on ironman.com.
2016 IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia:
- Mooloolaba is the fifth city in history to host the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship following Clearwater, Florida (USA) (2006-2009), Henderson, Nevada (USA) (2010-2013), Mont-Tremblant, Quebec (CAN) (2014), and Zell am See-Kaprun, SalzburgerLand (AUT) (2015)
- Five countries are sending athletes to the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship for the first time, India, Lithuania, Mauritius, El Salvador, and Seychelles
- 66% of registered participants (2,152 athletes) are male
- 345 of registered participants (1,116 athletes) are female
- 42 is the average age of male registrants and 40 is the average age of female registrants
- More than 80 race participants, or approximately 3% of the total field, are professional athletes
- 1,207 competitors representing 468 different TriClubs from around the world are racing this year and total over 37.7 percent of the field
- Garth Barfoot (Auckland, New Zealand) is the oldest participant at 80, while Connor Mckay (Queensland, Australia) is the youngest at 19
- 13 athletes will be celebrating their birthday on race day
- 43 of the 50 US states are accounted for, with the greatest number coming from California (177), Texas (73), Florida (71), Washington (41) and New York (41)
- More than 130,000 registered athletes compete in IRONMAN 70.3 races each year, representing over 90 countries
- Since the series began in 2006, the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship has been controlled by Australia (five champions), Germany (five champions) and Great Britain (three champions).
- The United States has had two winners along with Switzerland, while Canada, New Zealand and Spain each has one winner
- In 2015, Jan Frodeno regained Germany’s hold on the men’s IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship crown as they have now won five of 10 titles. Meanwhile in the women’s field Daniela Ryf of Switzerland earned her second IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship title in as many years, becoming the first female to win back-to-back championships
- Over 1,000 volunteers will help make the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship a success
On 4 September 2016, the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia, will host the first ever IRONMAN World Championship held in the southern hemisphere. Back in May 2013, IRONMAN brand owner World Triathlon Corp (WTC) confirmed that, starting in 2014, the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship triathlon will rotate globally among different regions on an annual basis. The 2014 IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship took place in Mont-Tremblant in Quebec, Canada, on 7 September 2014; and the 2015 event was hosted in Zell am See-Kaprun, SalzburgerLand, Austria.
