Well that was fast. You may remember some big changes with the the proportional representation system for women that means the most competitive athletes would not get a Kona slot.
Well, after a lot of backlash.
CUT TO:
IRONMAN has introduced a new qualification system for its World Championship events—one that walks back past inconsistencies and attempts to level the playing field for amateur athletes.
Under the updated approach, winners of each age group at qualifying events still earn automatic slots. But if those slots go unclaimed, they’ll now roll down—but only as far as the top three finishers. From there, any unclaimed slots move into a new “performance pool,” distributed to the most competitive athletes based on age-graded finish times.
These times aren’t arbitrary. They’re derived from a rolling five-year average of the top 20 per cent of finishers at past IRONMAN World Championships in Kona. This benchmark—called the Kona Standard—normalizes performance across age groups and genders, rewarding athletes for racing fast, not just placing well in small or unbalanced categories.
The same system will apply to IRONMAN 70.3 events, with separate standards for men and women. According to IRONMAN, the idea isn’t brand new—it’s been in development since 2019, but delayed by the pandemic.
The system debuts this weekend at IRONMAN 70.3 Jönköping and IRONMAN 70.3 Muskoka. The first Kona 2026 slots will be awarded at IRONMAN Kalmar in August.
IRONMAN has also created a Championship Competition Advisory Group to monitor the rollout and fine-tune as needed.
Practically speaking, the change is big. In the past, small but highly competitive fields—like the 70–74 age group—might only get one slot, even with multiple world-class performances. Now, those efforts will have a better shot at being recognized.
Full details are available at ironman.com/qualifications.
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