Making Nice with Nice

Even with men having competed in Nice in the inaugural edition of a European IM World Championship last year, a fair amount of curiosity still remained around what Nice is like as a world championship host as the women’s IM World Championship rolled around this past September.

My hope is that by sharing my experiences – both good and “could’ve been better” – I lift the shroud of mystery around this new host of the IM World Championships and clarify some common questions asked about the venue and experience.

My personal adventure in Nice was a tough one: it was actually my first-ever DNF in more than 15 years of triathlon, nine years of IMs and 14 Ironman start lines.

I faced a few unexpected challenges during race week (don’t we all), but perhaps most damning was the fact that I slipped and fell on a marble staircase a handful of days out from race day and landed right on my lower spine vertebrae, full force, no banister to catch me, on the edge of a stair and then proceeded to slide down six more stairs.

The ensuing bruise was pretty gnarly, as was the stiffness and pain. I got to the halfway point on the run and decided that’s enough Nice and triathlon for me for one week. No regrets, DNFs happen, my ego is less bruised than my low back.

Regardless of my unique race situation, I still had some takeaways about racing a World Championship in Nice. This was my third IM World Championship, the last two having been in Kona in 2022 and 2023. 

I was curious to see what Nice was like, because they are so vastly different. 

The oh-so-shocking gist is this: Nice is a World Champs-worthy course, that much has already been said and agreed on by the general triathlon population. It is not Kona, it is not trying to be Kona, we all need to get away from using Kona as our Holy Grail for a World Championship.

That being said, Nice was good but still had some drawbacks. Let’s dive into the “good” and the “what could be better.”

The Good

There are two obviously very good things about Nice. The first one is that it allows women to have their own race day (this is not dependent on Nice per se, but more so on a second World Champs location/separate race day) and the second one is that Nice is far easier to get to for most of the world than a tiny island in the Pacific Ocean.

The City

The lodging and dining options are extremely plentiful in Nice, so much so that you can stay there for well over a week and never repeat a cafe or brasserie twice if desired. I never had to wait more than a few minutes to be seated at a table to begin a meal, and as a pescatarian, I had plenty of seafood or vegetarian options at most places.

Nearly everything you could need is within walking distance, and there is really no reason to get a car given how plentiful Uber and taxis are should you need to go a bit farther. If you want to drive the bike course, renting a car for a day is easy and relatively inexpensive. On race day, there is no need to fret about where to park because you and your support crew will likely be able to walk to and from the race area.

The Race Course

Some people are saying that Nice is a harder course than Kona. I think they’re both challenging, but in very different ways. 

Nice is more “traditionally” challenging in that its bike course packs in tons of elevation changes and a twisty descent and its run is a four-loop death march that truly tests one’s mental fortitude, even with the vibrant crowds in the miles near the Promenade. 

Kona sneaks up on you. The bike course can have wicked wind, but even when it doesn’t, eventually the heat and exposure can leave even the best athletes feeling knackered, just in time to tackle a lonely, rolling marathon as you bake in the sun. 

Let me say that a massive “good thing” about Nice was the volunteers. This is true for every triathlon I’ve ever done. Thank you to every volunteer who devoted some of their time to making this race, and the men’s race last year, possible.

The Nice swim was a lot more fun than Kona’s swim, in my opinion (all of this is just my opinion, remember). There were fewer sighting buoys between the turn buoys and that meant you could truly pick your own line and have fun with it. The intense swells this year on the Nice swim made for some pleasant adversity, too. 

The bike course is epic, from the climb to the tundra-esque plateau to the ripping descent. I actually think that most age groupers would do well to consider doing this bike course on a road bike, which lowers the barrier to entry for some. In Kona, you most definitely need a time trial bike to be at your fastest. 

The run is well-supported nearly the entire way of each lap, with the miles back towards town feeling like a big party. No lonely marathon vibes in Nice.

The Women-Only Vibe

I don’t think we can ever go back to having women and men pros race on the same day for an IM World Champs. It’s been proven now how epic it is to focus on the pro women in their own separate race; they can now get the full attention they deserve during an IM World Championship. 

I also heard a lot of age group women saying they were glad not to be contending with male athletes on such a dynamic bike course, especially on the descent. To be surrounded only by fellow women was a relief, it seemed, for many toeing the line on Sunday.

Plus, this course gave women who don’t find success as easily in Kona the chance to find it on a hillier, colder, and more varied course. This is good for both pros and amateurs alike.

What Could Be Better

Just like with any large-scale event, there are always things that could be better, or that you wish were able to change but maybe can’t. As epic as the bike course was during the race, as well as all of the other good things I just listed, I still have a few gripes about IMWC Nice, too.

The City

Believe it or not, this was my first-ever trip to Europe (but not my first trip internationally), and a few things that may have been “givens” for those who have been to Europe were a bit of culture shock for me.

I think I experienced a bit of Paris Syndrome when I visited Nice. I was sold on crystal-clear blue waters, a quaint European experience, sunny skies and birds chirping with every step. Was I a bit naive to think this would all pan out? Yes, absolutely, but hindsight is 20/20.

For those coming from locales where cigarettes are not as common, Nice (and other parts of Europe in general, I’m told) may take a bit of getting used to. Cigarette smoking is part of the social culture in Nice, and most outdoor patios and pedestrian-filled streets brought with them a faint smokey haze that, at times, left me with a bit of a headache.

Additionally, elevators are the exception, not the rule in Nice (and again, in other parts of Europe). You should expect to utter a few expletives as you haul your bike box and other luggage through the narrow sidewalks and up a few flights of stairs. The mainstream hotels have elevators, but it’s unlikely your AirBnb or short-term rental will. If you travel with a companion, this will be less difficult than traveling solo as I was for my arrival and departure.

Neither of the things listed are insurmountable or trip-ruining obstacles, but are two things I wish I’d been more prepared for heading to Nice, so I share them in the hopes of apprising others who also may not be as familiar with France.

The Race Course

I have no real gripes about the swim course; I thought it was fun and a nice break from the typical rectangular swim courses of most IMs. 

My biggest issue with the bike course was that it was ( for the most part) open to cars in both directions. From both pros and amateurs alike, I’ve heard and seen stories of far too many racers almost getting hit by cars during IMWC Nice this year. At one point, I had a van suddenly pull out in front of me on the descent and at that moment, I’ve never been happier to have disc brakes. 

I do want to give credit where credit is due, which is the fact that IM successfully worked with all 17 of the small villages through which the bike course passes, getting permission to send more than a thousand cyclists through these tiny towns on a random Sunday in September. I can’t imagine such a feat in the U.S. or many other countries.

I’d like to see some improvements regarding traffic on the bike course; I don’t think we’ll ever see a fully closed course in Nice, but a bit more education about the event with regards to traffic flow in local areas could be helpful for drivers and cyclists alike.

A small gripe is that bike Personal Needs was super easy to miss, if you planned on using it. It was located on the opposite side of a roundabout and there was one sign a few feet before the roundabout notifying you of it. Of course, it is the athlete’s job to know the race course, but I think more signage beginning a half-mile or so before Personal Needs would be helpful. 

A four-loop run is one loop too many, to me. And I’m one to talk, I DNF’d at the second loop! I don’t think there’s anything to be done about four loops, but whew, that’s a lot of times to run a flat 10km-ish lap. 

I also want to note that while the crowd support was appreciated for the miles of the run course that ran parallel to the Promenade, the amount of spectators smoking cigarettes while cheering on athletes led to an uncomfortable amount of cigarette smell for an Ironman. And it’s not just me who thought this – 40-44 age group World Champion Jana Richtrova shared her thoughts about this on Instagram, too.

Again, not sure what can be done about that, but I was glad to hear I wasn’t the only one who thought the air quality of the run course was “meh” in that section.

The Women-Only Vibe

We’ve already established that gender-separated IM World Championships are both good for the sport and likely the way things are going to remain. 

I think the question IM still needs to figure out is how to make a non-Kona location feel like a World Championship. Kona is so steeped in the lore of the 140.6 distance that it can be hard to build the same giddiness around another location, even one with the triathlon history of Nice.

Most amateur women I spoke with said that leading up to the race, it didn’t feel like a World Championship in terms of hype or marquee World Championship things like the race expo. After the race, many said the race was well-executed and fun, but didn’t have the same je ne sais quoi as Kona (check out that French!). Is this because Nice is so much larger than what we are used to on that little “Big Island”?

Does IM need to do more to promote the race locally in Nice so more businesses and residents are aware of it? Do athletes need to simply stop comparing “Kona vibes” to other race venues? Does the livestreamed coverage of race day need to be better?

A mix of answers to all of those questions can be considered, and I’m not sure of the solution, but I think those questions can and should be explored given that it’s unlikely we’ll ever return to a solely Kona World Championship location.

Closing Thoughts

My personal circumstances meant that, to be honest, I had a much more difficult time in Nice than I anticipated. I am just one athlete out of nearly 1,260 who started the race, though, and I know many women who absolutely loved their trip to the French Riviera. 

There were a lot of very good things about Nice, from its convenient city layout to its breathtaking bike course. And, there were some things that could be better, like traffic control on the bike course on race day and continuing to focus on building increased hype around a non-Kona World Championship location.

IRONMAN sent out a women-focused survey to some earlier this year, and one of the questions on it was about one’s preferences for the future state of the World Championship: bring it back to Kona only, or continue to rotate locations. 

I haven’t heard anything since I submitted my survey answers a few months ago, but it tells me that IM is still ideating on what the best solution is for the IM World Championships. Time will tell, but for now, I’m gearing up to cheer on the men in Kona – another perfectly imperfect location –

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