Nice to Host 2026, 2028 IRONMAN 70.3 World Championships
IRONMAN today announced that Nice, France will continue to be the site of an IRONMAN World Championship race, awarding the city the 2026 and 2028 IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship. The 2026 race will take place on September 12 & 13, 2026 — the same weekend of the calendar that had previously been received for half of the IRONMAN World Championship, which will now return to a single day of racing in Kona.
It will be the second time that the city has hosted the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championships. By 2028, Nice will have hosted six IRONMAN and IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship races, second-most only to Kona in all host cities. There is also an option available for Nice to host the 2030 70.3 Worlds event.
In a release, IRONMAN cited that across the four world championship events that Nice has hosted thus far, more than 50 million Euros in direct economic benefit has been generated.
IRONMAN Chief Executive Officer Scott DeRue said in a statement, “The natural beauty of the coastal Mediterranean city, paired with a rich culture and community who appreciates the highest levels of sporting excellence, makes Nice a global destination that aligns perfectly with our goal to deliver race experiences that inspire athletes to dream and pursue their greatest ambitions in life. The City of Nice has captured the hearts of our athletes, and their hosting the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in these coming years will be met with great anticipation and enthusiasm by our community. We are truly honored to extend our longtime partnership with Nice and Mayor [Christian] Estrosi.”
The three world championship races that Nice has already hosted have been excellent affairs. The 2019 IRONMAN 70.3 race saw Gustav Iden prevail for the first time, while Daniela Ryf earned her fifth and final 70.3 crown. The 2023 men’s world championship race saw Sam Laidlow take his inaugural title, while we also saw the retirement of Jan Frodeno. And in 2024, Laura Philipp emerged victorious in a long race duel with Kat Matthews.
This year’s 70.3 World Championship will take place in Marbella, Spain in early November. The venue for 2027 is yet to be announced. In conversations with IRONMAN, the company plans on continuing to rotate the venue for 70.3 Worlds over the next few cycles, with the potential for certain host cities to be re-visited.
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It’s a great announcement and I really like it but for 2026 it puts me in a bit of a planning misery that I will have to figure out, all while not knowing if I’d be even good enough to qualify for the WCs at any of the 70.3 races.
This year I have three long distances planned in June, September, and October, including Ironman Les Sables and the one in September is quite tough too with 3800 meters elevation. No annulation policy on any of them. Really wish they would have announced the 70.3 plans earlier, alas…
I’d love to do IM 70.3 Vichy to try to qualify and then have ideally the WC 70.3 as a September target for next year. We are planning to get our first child in April-June next year which would make races like Aix or Tours not possible and the window closes end of June for Nice 2026. Which would then leave me to try for Nice some years and do other triathlons in the meantime (I could live with that ofc). Right now, thinking if I might be able to switch the Full in Evian Les Bains into a Relay race or downgrade it to a Half and then load up Vichy 70.3 as the qualification race… but comes at additional costs… hm.