Tim Heming Explains the New Ironman World Championship Slot System to Us Like We’re 12 Years Old

Ironman is changing the way age-group triathletes qualify for the Ironman World Championship in Kona and the 70.3 World Championship beginning in 2026 by moving to a more “performance-driven” model – as Ironman CEO Scott DeRue puts it – in hopes of ensuring more top-tier triathletes have the opportunity to race in Hawaii or 70.3 Worlds.

The new age-graded system for Ironman and 70.3 Worlds slot distribution will use historic world championship performance results to essentially pit the whole amateur field against one another, taking into account age and gender. This model will replace the current qualification structure, where athletes compete for a fixed number of slots per age group.

“We’ve been doing a lot of work on this for a while,” Ironman CEO DeRue tells Triathlete. “It is entirely performance-based, and will allocate slots based on how competitive one is relative to a global age-group standard.”

The new global qualification standards will begin for the 2026 qualification period, which means from this weekend (July 6) for 70.3 races and beginning August 16-17 for full-distance events.

Ironman’s new world championship qualifying system: How it works, what’s changing

The current Ironman and Ironman 70.3 qualification system sees each event given a set number of qualifying slots for the world championships.

For example, the recent Ironman Frankfurt had 85 slots to the male-only 2025 Ironman World Championship in Nice, France, and 65 slots for the female-only championship in Kona. You can see a breakdown per race for the full distance in 2025 here. Qualification for the 2025 70.3 worlds followed a similar structure.

Nothing is changing in this respect. Each race will still be handed a quota of slots at Ironman’s discretion.

New for 2026: Only one triathlete per category is guaranteed qualification

Each age-group category winner, from the men’s and women’s 18-24 age group to the oldest contested (e.g., 80-84), will then receive an invitation to take up their world championship slot.

If they choose not to, it will roll down to second and then third place in the age group, but no further than that. If the slot is declined by the third-place finisher in that age group, it will be placed in what Ironman is calling the race’s “performance pool.” (Which we’ll get to below.)

In contrast to the current system, where the number of slots per age group were awarded relative to the starters in that category (more entrants, more slots), now only one triathlete per age group is guaranteed to qualify at each race, regardless of how many competitors per age group on the start line.

New for 2026: Remaining slots will be awarded on an age-graded basis

Outside of the top athlete per age group (or second or third, depending on rolldowns), triathletes next compete against the whole field for the remaining race slots, with everyone’s finish time adjusted to an age-graded score for their category. This is the Performance Pool.

The age-grading is worked out using a benchmark – called the Kona Standard or 70.3 Standard – that is calculated by taking the average times of the top 20% of competitors in each category over the past five years of racing in Hawaii or the Ironman 70.3 World Championship, which rotates venues every year. It is designed to equalize performances across the board, ensuring a fair comparison across gender. The standards will evolve year-over-year with a rolling five-year period.

The age-graded performance for 2026 qualifying period is calculated by multiplying all athletes’ finishing times by their age-group standard, using the tables below:

Ironman World Championship normalized age grading table – Kona standard 

*Note: the Women 80-84 and 85-89 age groups are TBD because, over the past 5 years of racing the Ironman World Championship in Kona, there have not been any finishers in these age groups. The Kona Standard will be updated when we have finishers in these age groups.

Ironman 70.3 World Championship age grading table

From there, all athletes will be ranked and slots are distributed on a rolling basis. For example, once the age-group winners have punched their ticket, a 65-69-year-old female who narrowly missed winning and claiming the available slot in her category could claim the first age-graded slot from the overall Performance Pool, followed by a 25-29 year old male, and then a 30-34 year-old female.

Here’s a hypothetical scenario provided by Ironman on how this would look:

Anne is 42. She finishes Ironman Kalmar in 9:19:51, giving her an age-graded finish time of 8:07:26, applying the Kona Standard of 0.8707 (9:19:51 x 0.8707 = 8:07:26).

John is 43 and finishes Ironman Kalmar in 8:50:31, giving him an age-graded time of 8:33:42, applying the Kona Standard of 0.9683 (8:50:31 x 0.9683 = 8:33:42).

Anne would rank above John in the age-graded rankings due to her age-graded time of 8:07:26 being faster than John’s age-graded finish time of 8:33:42.

How was the global standard (Kona Standard or 70.3 Standard) created?

Having analyzed different data sets with the support of premier timing company Sportstats, Ironman has settled on using the top 20% of finishers at the world championships (Kona-only for full distance) over the past five years because it believes it provides a robust benchmark on which to set qualification standards.

“We’ve tested the model on recent seasons and all races globally, and feel very confident that by using the five-year rolling average, it will account for any effect that any crazy outliers would have,” DeRue explains. “Every year the standard will update. That’s important, because times get faster, so the standard has to evolve.”

DeRue says Ironman has been working on implementing the performance-based Kona qualifying system since 2019, but it was put on hold due to the pandemic and is only now ready to launch.

Because the standards for 2026 are based on historical data, they are already set and provided in the tables above.

How many Ironman World Championship slots are there in total?

With the decision to revert to a one-day Ironman World Championship in Hawaii annually, Ironman also brought the men’s and women’s races back together after three years of split championships in different locations and dates.

At the time of the announcement, Ironman said they anticipated there would be “nearly 3,000” triathletes racing in Kona. DeRue says they plan to grow into that number, with entries likely to be around 2,500 for 2026.

These slots will be mostly distributed through the new performance-based system, though some will still be reserved for other initiatives, such as the Legacy program, human-interest stories, fundraising, and the Xclusive Challenge (formerly the Executive Challenge).

Are the pros affected by the Ironman World Championship qualification change?

DeRue confirmed there are no plans to change the slot allocation for professional athletes, who compete for a set number of slots per gender, depending on the race. The total number of slots for pro men and women will remain equal.

Why change the way people qualify for Kona and 70.3 worlds?

The existing qualification system was simple to understand. You lined up knowing how many slots you had to shoot for in your age group and kept your fingers crossed that if you just missed out, you might get a lucky rolldown at the awards ceremony the next day.

But it wasn’t perfect. One of the criticisms leveled was that the number of available slots per category wasn’t based on performance, but simply event popularity – more middle-aged men lined up, so more slots were on offer for those categories, irrespective of how competitive they were.

DeRue says Ironman’s new approach to qualifying addresses this issue: “These events are the greatest celebration of the most competitive and committed triathletes in the world. We want to ensure our slot allocation system rewards those athletes who are the most competitive relative to their peers. As the popularity of Ironman has grown, the prior system created situations where, in some cases, highly competitive athletes were unable to earn a slot because their age group or gender was under-represented in a race.

“In contrast, some athletes who were less competitive relative to their age group would earn a slot because their age group was over-represented and thus had more slots allocated to it.”

DeRue says moving to a system based entirely on performance ensures “the most competitive athletes are earning qualifying slots.”

To illustrate DeRue’s point, the men’s 40-44 category often sees the most sign-ups. Under the old system, every additional entry fee paid increased the chances of another slot being awarded to that category.

One might assume this age group would be one of the most competitive categories, but that’s not guaranteed. Under the previous system, you could have a situation where a lot of slots went to this category simply because there were a large number of sign-ups of people, just there to complete a bucket-list item (the just-finishers), not compete for Ironman World Championship slots. But as it stands, distributing slots by density is a zero-sum game – the more slots one category has, the fewer are available elsewhere.

Or consider a race with two slots available in the women’s 55-59 category. Under the past system, it didn’t matter whether second place was one minute or one hour behind the age-group winner; they still got their slot. In the performance-based model, the winner would qualify outright, but if there was a three-way sprint to the line involving three high-caliber performers, there could be a situation where all of them were awarded a slot.

In summary, the new performance system aims to remove the idiosyncrasies of the current system; in the future, you are effectively competing against everyone for a world championship slot, and times could matter more than age-group placings.

Will Ironman’s new slot allocation system mean more or fewer slots for my gender or age group?

We won’t know until after the first year of qualification, but DeRue says that in the modeling work Ironman has done to test the robustness of the new system, the numbers qualifying in each age group don’t alter greatly from the current system.

But it does skew slightly more to female participation, with an approximate 65% male to 35% female split. DeRue was clear to point out that this is a moving picture, with both the benchmarks changing from year to year and the caliber of athletes in different age groups.

Will there be more changes to Ironman World Championship or 70.3 worlds qualifying?

While the system is now in place for the foreseeable future, Ironman has also created a new Championship Competition Advisory Group to provide a forum for age-group athletes to offer feedback and help identify any elements that need refining.

“This group will consist of athletes, meet regularly to review the system, and work together to identify opportunities for continuous improvement,” DeRue says. “We are committed to transparency with regards to the new system and will be open with our community about what we learn on the journey.”

Ironman says the group will include a diverse set of experience levels, qualification backgrounds, age and gender representation, and geographies. Selected members will be shared at a later date.

Are there any downsides to the new Kona qualifying process?

Until we get started with the new qualification system, it will be hard to tell, but it seems to make sense.

There is an argument that it’s too complicated to understand, however, in reality it’s only one quick sum based on a known benchmark, and endurance athletes are becoming increasingly familiar with age-graded performance data in single discipline pursuits – even if it’s just been a curious footnote to the finish time until now.

More importantly, as soon as the final athletes cross the line, it can be worked out where you place in world championship qualifying, and whether you have secured a Kona or 70.3 spot (or have a chance through the roll down).

Does this address the gender imbalance in Ironman racing?

There is a long-held and polarized debate over how slots should be awarded at the Ironman World Championships.

One side of the argument is that, as the pinnacle of the sport, it should always have a 50-50 men-women split of competitors for equal gender representation. This is honored by having separate days of racing at the Ironman 70.3 worlds, and has been at the full distance in recent years due to split locations or races.

The other side is the position that Ironman currently adopts, which is a spread determined by the proportionality of sign-ups. In this logic model, more men enter, so more places are available for men at the world championships.

While it won’t be known until the new system is implemented, it is unlikely to measurably raise female participation at the Ironman World Championship to a level of parity, but Ironman says its modelling suggests it will help increase the percentage of women on the startline in Hawaii.

Women in Tri UK, a volunteer-led charity that delivers grassroots programs, targeted advocacy, and research to increase participation and visibility for women in triathlon, welcomed the new initiative. The organization recently released a report demonstrating how proportional allocation models – based primarily on participation – can unintentionally penalize high-performing women due to lower participation numbers.

“We’re pleased to see Ironman take this important step forward,” said its chair Bianca Fernandez-Clark. “Our mission has always been to remove systemic barriers to women’s participation and progression in triathlon. A qualification system that rewards true performance – not just participation rates – is key to leveling the playing field. We’re grateful that Ironman has taken our findings into account and hope this marks the beginning of a long-term collaboration to drive more equitable outcomes across the sport.”