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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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 Norways Kristian Blummenfelt, the Tokyo Olympic triathlon champion, and SwissDaniela Ryf, who bagged her fifth Ironman world title.<\/p>\n
Both are entered in Kailua-Kona, where the races are now split between two days Thursday for the women and Saturday for the men.<\/p>\n
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 worlds fittest man and woman.<\/p>\n
WATCH LIVE: Ironman Kona, Thursday, 12 p.m. ET STREAM LINK<\/p>\n
Ryf, 35 and a 2008 and 2012 Olympian, can tie retired countrywoman Natascha Badmann for second place on the womens list at six Ironman world titles. Only Zimbabwean-turned-American Paula Newby-Fraser has more with eight.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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