Anticipating that the 2020 Vega IRONMAN World Championship will take place as scheduled on October 10 in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii if restrictions on public gatherings due to the Covid-19 pandemic are lifted, IRONMAN announced changes to slot allocations for qualifying events impacted by the coronavirus.
To start with, the qualifying window for 2020 World Championship has been extended from August 23 to August 30. Thus the 2020 editions of IRONMAN Canada-Penticton (August 30), IRONMAN Kazakhstan (August 23) and IRONMAM Vichy (August 23) will offer 60 qualification slots apiece to the World Championship in addition to the qualifying slots they offer for the 2021 IRONMAN World Championship.
IRONMAN races that have been postponed from an earlier date in the 2020 season and are rescheduled to take place on or before August 30 will remain in the 2020 IRONMAN World Championship qualifying season. Events that have been postponed to take place after August 30 will be added to the 2021 IRONMAN World Championship qualifying season.
In addition, the IRONMAN World Championship Legacy Program has been allocated more slots for the 2020 event. IRONMAN announced that “every eligible waitlisted Legacy athlete [will have] the ability to race the 2020 IRONMAN World Championship.”
IRONMAN specified that Legacy athletes who accept their slots will participate in the Kukui division of the 2020 IRONMAN World Championship. IRONMAN added that this invitation is valid for 2020 only and may not be deferred to another year.
A Slowtwitch reader placed on the Slowtwitch Forum his notification of a Legacy invite, and asked Ironman about the refund policy if the 2020 Kona race is canceled. He is awaiting an answer.
The Legacy program is one of four ways to qualify for Kona. They also include: Earning a slot at one of the full distance qualifiers, winning an entry at the IRONMAN Lottery Program, purchasing an entry through the IRONMAN Foundation’s charitable eBay Auction.
To be eligible for the Legacy Program, athletes must have completed a minimum of 12 full-distance IRONMAN branded races in their career, have never started the IRONMAN World Championship, have completed at least one full-distance IRONMAN event in each of the last two years, and be registered for a full-distance IRONMAN event in the current year.
