Why Does Kona Feel so Quiet at the 2025 Ironman World Championship?

With roughly 25% fewer racers in town than Kona has seen in decades and $1 million less in total entry fees, when compared to recent history, there is something different about 2025.

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The 2025 Ironman World Championship in Hawaii has far fewer participants than in recent history. (Photo: Chris Foster)

Much has been written about the subjective “vibe shift” of this year’s (final) women’s-only Ironman World Championship – the last before the event returns to a one-day, mixed-gender format in 2026. And yes, there is a palpable feeling one can attribute to a women’s-only event. But as a not-woman, I can only observe the smiles, high fives, events, and camaraderie from a small distance.

Certainly, the women’s-only positivity is real, and there have been some fantastic discussions – both positive and critical – about how to keep this feeling alive as the race goes back to two genders for the first time since 2022, when Ironman experimented with a two-day, mixed-gender format. Sadly, there was unanimous agreement from the local community that hosting an iron-distance world championship on a Thursday, then again on a Saturday (with double the participants) wasn’t reasonable, and so the gender and location split began in 2023.

I won’t spend any time here dissecting the merits (or criticisms) of the two-gender, two-location strategy that Ironman tried in Nice and Kona in 2023, 2024, and 2025, but on the eve of this (re)shift, it’s worth evaluating where we are right now.

On Wednesday, Triathlete hosted an incredible, near-historic conversation between four Ironman World Championship legends – Julie Moss, Michellie Jones, Mirinda Carfrae, and Daniela Ryf. Each represented a change in eras through the sport: triathlon’s catapult into the spotlight from obscurity (“sandwiched in between Canadian lumberjack competitions, throwing axes, and rolling on logs” on TV as Moss so eloquently put it); triathlon’s evolution into an Olympic sport; and then the sport taking a huge leap in performance with big jumps in women’s times and depth.

And one of the talking points that came up over and over was how the race felt different this year. The conversation mostly stuck to the incredible feeling of a women’s-only event, the positivity, but then also some apprehension around what it would look like in a year.

What’s different about Kona in 2025?

While it’s impossible to analyze data models and make a vibe forecast, the question of numbers is fairly easy: Yes, there will be more people at Kona in 2026 than 2025 – especially in the transition area on the pier.

That’s a certainty, and it certainly has nothing to do with the murkiness surrounding men or women bringing more family members, spending more money, vibes or whatever. The cold, hard fact is this: Ironman says that there are 1,762 participants on the start list of the 2025 Ironman World Championship. That’s approximately 600 fewer, or roughly 27% less than the average 2,400-person-per day trend over the last 10 years.

Ironman projects “nearly 3,000 athletes” in 2026, though they haven’t finalized numbers. But let’s get back to that 1,762 athlete number, which is actually an outlier if you’re paying attention.

Since 2013, the Hawaii Ironman World Championship has hosted over 2,000 participants per day, according to The State of Hawaii Data Book 2024 (which pulls figures from a variety of Ironman timer data sources). The last time there were approximately 1,700 racers in Kona was way back in 2007, 18 years ago, according to the same dataset.

In and of itself, this is fascinating, and before we answer why, let’s explore what this means, exactly.

Why is it significant that there are only 1,762 racers at the 2025 Ironman World Championship?

First, assuming each Ironman World Championship participant brings at least one (though probably more like two on average, but data is sparse) family members or friends with them to Hawaii, we can ballpark that there are between 1,000 and 2,500 fewer people in the town of Kona this week, maybe more.

Anecdotally, this can be “felt” in town, as the streets seem quieter, parking is easier, and restaurants are not backed up on wait times.

As of this writing, I could still book over 600 Airbnb rentals in the Kona area for two people between Thursday, Oct. 9 and Sunday, Oct. 12 – many of which are on deep, deep discount, with some below $200 per night (and only a few miles from the race start).

While few may shed a tear for condo owners missing out on a week of rental income, the economic picture is more complicated than that.

By Ironman’s own numbers, which projects “…more than $100 million dollars of economic impact for Hawai`i” in 2026, when they expect to field nearly 3,000 athletes. It’s also worth noting that this near-3,000 field size would be approximately 25% more one-day participants than ever before.

If nearly 3,000 racers would bring $100M, logic follows that approximately 1,800 racers should be expected to bring a ballpark of $55-60M in 2025. By that same math, the standard 2,400 field would have generated $80-85M, leaving a not insignificant gap with this year’s reduction in participants.

All that said, 2025 hasn’t been all bad for business.

“Our sales at the women’s Ironman are phenomenal,” Kebby Holden, founder of women’s triathlon apparel brand Coeur Sports, told Triathlete. “When you have almost 2,000 women from all over the world here, it’s huge for us economically. But more than that, it’s a community-builder.”

But while we’re on dollars and cents, it’s worth noting the financial sacrifice Ironman has taken by hosting 25% fewer racers in Kona in 2025 compared to the normal 2,400-person field. Ironman can’t comment before the whole event period has ended, but in cold, hard race-entry revenue from participants ($1,600 for 2025, less fees), Ironman missed out on nearly one million dollars, but likely to spend a pretty similar amount on costs, regardless of participant numbers.

Though of course, that $1M reduction in entry fees for Ironman was no surprise.

How did we get here?

So with a not-insignificant economic impact to the local community and a pretty easy-to-calculate reduction in entry fees for Ironman the next question is: How did this happen?

The answer is actually quite simple.

According to Ironman’s slot allocations at qualifying events for 2025, only 1,618 slots were offered to women for the 2025 Ironman World Championship in Kona at qualifying events. (For contrast, there were 2,620 slots allocated at qualifying events for 2025 for the men racing at the same event in Nice in September, with ostensibly different capacity logistics and a different slot allocation formula.)

So to be clear: It wasn’t a matter of waning interest in triathlon or the 2025 Ironman World Championship in Kona “not selling out.”

“The 2025 Ironman World Championship in Kona was planned in line with expected athlete demand for the women’s field,” Ironman told Triathlete when asked for comment on this piece. “In total, 1,800 slots were made available with 1,618 of those slots available via qualification at events.”

“In line with expected demand, 1,527 athletes accepted slots via event qualification (i.e. 6% of slots from events were ultimately not accepted) and a sum of 1,762 slots were allocated overall. Our focus remains on delivering an exceptional race experience for athletes and providing a pathway to the most deserving and committed athletes to race at the Ironman World Championship.”

So what about the Ironman World Championship in 2026?

By all accounts, 2026 will definitely be different than 2025 – nothing like 2022, but book your plane ticket right away.

With at least a 50% increase in participants from 2025 to 2026 – and likely the same increase in non-participant tourists – racers, their friends and family, plus men again joining women for the first time in years, the vibe will undoubtedly be different, for more reasons than we’re talking about.

For those reading this in Kona town – ironwomen or no – enjoy your unprecedented year.