Updated: The 2023 Nice Ironman World Championship Men’s Pro Start List & Race Numbers

The final events for the 2023 men’s Ironman World Championship qualification period have concluded. While it’s likely that some pros will decline their slots and some may be added as wildcards, we’ll continue to update the list as we approach race day.

But aside from a few possible last-minute withdrawals, the vast majority of the field racing in France in September on the new World Championship course is set. Keep reading below for the full, updated men’s qualification list and bib numbers for the race, along with a quick analysis of who’s racing, and some stats to help develop the picture of what the Ironman men’s World Championship event could look like on Sunday.

Vive la France! Visit our Nice Central hub for news, analysis, history, photo galleries, and so much more – new stories added daily from our team on the ground at the men’s 2023 Ironman World Championship.

Pro Men Ironman World Championship Qualifiers: 2023

Last year, we saw almost every male pro with a PTO top-20 rankings earn and accept a slot to Ironman World Championship—in fact, two-thirds (66%) of the Kona field was ranked in the top 50 of the PTO rankings. This year, however, we see a very big shift: There were seven men in the PTO top 20 missing from the original Nice start list, and less than 50% of the top 50 PTO-ranked men will be in Nice.

Is this a matter of the PTO recently changing their ranking system, putting a bigger emphasis on their events, which are shorter than the 140.6 distance? Or are we seeing a shift where top-level pros no longer feel the need to race at IMWC?

This year we see a few former IMWC winners, names like Patrick Lange and Jan Frodeno. We also know a lot more about dangerous up-and-comers like Magnus Ditlev and Sam Laidlow than we did at this time last year.

There are also some notable names missing from the qualification list like Sam Long, Lionel Sanders, and Alistair Brownlee, a few who decided against racing, like Gustav Iden, Kristian Blummenfelt, and Max Neumann, as well as some missing longtime Kona veterans like Tim O’Donnell and Ben Hoffman.

Despite the fact that the men’s world championships race has moved from Kona to France (the first time it’s been in Europe), the makeup of the top nations represented in the pro race hasn’t changed much since 2022. Traditional tri powerhouses like Australia and the U.S. still lead the way with familiar countries like France, Denmark, and Germany not far behind.

The nations represented at IMWC Nice 2023 look vastly different than previous iterations of World Championship fields, with only two Australians (for the first time in a very long time) and the vast majority comprised of French athletes (for the first time ever). The U.S. still features prominently, but not in the top spot as years past when hosted in Kona (or St. George). The breakdown of the list as of 9/8 is below:

France – 8

United States, Germany – 5

Brazil, Denmark, New Zealand – 3

Australia, Austria – 2 

Belgium, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, South Africa, Taiwan, United Kingdom, Norway – 1

Who will win?

It’s an amazingly talented field, and – as even the pros themselves admitted in a pre-race press conference – anything could happen. Our Trirating analyst Thorsten Radde gave us a detailed analysis of the top contenders, plus a play-by-play preview of how things could shake out on race day.

How to watch

You won’t want to miss a second of the action. For all the details on following the race, check out How to Watch the Free Men’s 2023 Ironman World Championship Livestream.

Men’s 2023 Ironman World Championship Nice Start List & Race Numbers