Nice Pulls Out of 2028 and 2030 70.3 World Championships

After the new mayor of Nice, Éric Ciotti, pulled the plug on providing IRONMAN any money to host the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship this September, the company had to do a quick scramble to keep things on the Cote d’Azure. We reported on all that earlier this year, as you can see in the link below, and today we got an update on IRONMAN racing in Nice in the future.

After IRONMAN decided to stop the dual world championship races in Nice and Kona, ending its contract with Nice early, it negotiated a deal with the city to host the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championships this year, along with 2028 and 2030. Then, when Ciotti, who was elected on a platform of fiscal responsibility, said the city wouldn’t pay for this year’s worlds, IRONMAN quickly announced that it would forgo the 1.6 million euro fee for the race the year. At the time we questioned whether Nice would host the additional world championship events, and today “IRONMAN and the Ville de Nice announced that it will not be possible to continue hosting the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in Nice in 2028 and 2030.”

“For us at IRONMAN, our first priority is always our athletes,” said Scott DeRue, IRONMAN Group’s Chief Executive Officer. “And that’s why, back in April, we confirmed that the 2026 IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship triathlon, would take place as planned his year. We are delivering on our promise to our athletes, their supporters, the fans, and the City of Nice by giving them the World Championship experience they are expecting and deserve.”

At today’s press conference It was confirmed that Nice will continue to host the IRONMAN and IRONMAN 70.3 races at least through 2029.

“Looking forward, we are excited that Nice will remain a valued part of the IRONMAN calendar for years to come, with IRONMAN France Nice – which will celebrates its 21^st anniversary this weekend – and IRONMAN 70.3 Nice, continuing to offer athletes a unique racing experience in one of the most beautiful destinations in the world,” DeRue said.

Last week IRONMAN made the long-awaited announcement of next year’s host for the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship – Chattanooga, Tennessee. Oman will host the 2029 70.3 world championship.

Here’s the question we pondered earlier this year when the initial announcement was made about this year’s world championship:

Whether or not the events from the last few days will affect IRONMAN’s ability to attract cities to host the 70.3 worlds in the future will be interesting to watch. Is Oman, the host of the 2029 worlds, paying more than 1.6 million euros for the event? (That’s probably a complicated question since the event is part of a larger package that includes more races and its sponsorship of the IRONMAN Pro Series.) Are other potential venues going to balk at those fees? One would hope not – certainly an event that draws roughly 6,000 athletes and their families provides a financial boost to a city and region that makes that fee more than reasonable. (The folks in Taupo, New Zealand were thrilled to host the race in 2024, and it seemed to me that the community in Marbella were more than happy last year, too.)

We have seen some statistics that offered insights to that question. According to IRONMAN, last year’s race in Marbella “delivered over €60 million in total economic impact to the city of Marbella.” With the race in Chattanooga expected to attract an even larger field than Marbella, the race could provide even more economic benefit there.

That’s the message IRONMAN will no-doubt be selling hard right now as it looks for venues to replace Nice in 2028 and 2030.

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