Breaking News: IRONMAN Moves to 20-Meter Draft Zone for Pros

We’ll have more on this story later today, but in a release this morning IRONMAN has announced that it will increase the draft zone for professional athletes from 12 to 20 meters effective March 1. Based on testing done by IRONMAN last year, the organization has determined that it makes sense to increase the draft zone immediately for professional racing, but the age-group draft zone won’t change.

“The results of the testing provided clear and consistent insights demonstrating a meaningful and measurable difference at a longer draft zone distance, supporting a move from the longstanding 12-meter standard to a 20-meter draft zone for professional athletes,” today’s release stated. “Based on differing factors for age-groupers such as racing speeds, the age-group draft zone will remain unchanged at 12 meters.” 

Slowtwitch spoke with IRONMAN’s head of officials, Jimmy Riccitello, about the testing in our Slowtwitch Podcast – you can listen to our conversation here.

Eric Wynn also wrote about his thoughts on the issue – you can read his story below.

IRONMAN conducted two different tests last year with aerodynamic expert Marc Graveline. The most recent testing included five pro men, whose bikes “were instrumented to capture power, speed, wind, air density, road inclination, and additional variables, with RaceRanger technology used to precisely maintain designated draft zone distances.”

“Over multiple tests, the results showed that at professional racing speeds, increasing the draft zone distance from 12 meters to 16 meters did not have a material change, however, increasing from 12 meters to 20 meters significantly reduced aerodynamic benefits,” IRONMAN reported in today’s release. “As racing speeds have increased over the years, the change to a 20-meter draft zone for professional athletes will help ensure fair competition that is consistent with the intent of non-drafting rules.”

IRONMAN will continue to test through the 2026 season and continue to take athlete feedback about the new rules. There’s still no confirmation on all the rules around the new draft zone – according to IRONMAN: “Operational details related to the 20-meter draft zone (e.g., time allowed to pass) will be communicated through the 2026 IRONMAN Competition Rules in advance of implementation to ensure clarity for athletes, officials, and event teams. In addition, as previously announced, IRONMAN will be expanding the use of RaceRanger as a tool across more pro events to support this change and fair competition.”

There will be no changes to age-group draft zones.

“Compared to professional racing, age-group racing presents a very different set of factors, including racing speeds and course density,” IRONMAN CEO Scott DeRue said. “Based on those realities and informed by historical data, we are confident that the existing 12-meter draft zone continues to best serve the age-group racing experience at this time.” 

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