We take another small step closer now to the delayed 2021 IRONMAN World Championship set for St George, Utah, on May 7 2022 – while the list of athletes qualified to race has been known for a while, we now have the final start lists with bib numbers.
A total of 40 athletes are scheduled to start in the Men’s Pro race, with several notable withdrawals already known, including multiple winners Jan Frodeno and Patrick Lange. We can now add Spain’s Javier Gomez to the list of known absentees as he battles COVID-19.
With defending champion Frodeno out, the only previous IRONMAN World Champion set to start for the men – Germany’s Sebastian Kienle – has been given the lowest start number (M2) with M3 going to the IRONMAN 70.3 World Champion from St George last year, Gustav Iden.
Aside from 2014 Kona champion Kienle, the only previous IRONMAN World Championship podium finishers are Ben Hoffman (M4), Bart Aernouts (M8), Lionel Sanders (M16), David McNamee (M38).
The USA – with Sam Long arguably its top pick for podium success – leads the way in volume terms with eight athletes, followed by France and Germany with five each.
There are three top-quality British athletes on the list, with McNamee joined by two-time Olympic Champion Alistair Brownlee and, COVID recovery permitting, Joe Skipper.
Start list and bib numbers – Pro Men
BIBFIRSTLASTCOUNTRYM2SebastianKienleGERM3GustavIdenNORM4BenHoffmanUSAM5KristianBlummenfeltNORM6JoeSkipperGBRM7BradenCurrieNZLM8BartAernoutsBELM9ChrisLeifermanUSAM10AlistairBrownleeGBRM11JanVan BerkelSUIM12MichaelWeissAUTM14AndyPottsUSAM15DanielBækkegårdDENM16LionelSandersCANM17SamLongUSAM18FlorianAngertGERM19KristianHogenhaugDENM21MatthewHansonUSAM22DenisChevrotFRAM23JavierGomezESPM24AndreasDreitzGERM25KyleSmithNZLM26LeonChevalierFRAM27CameronWurfAUSM28SamLaidlowFRAM29JustinMetzlerUSAM30AndiBoechererGERM31TylerButterfieldBERM32MaxNeumannAUSM33MattTrautmanRSAM34ArnaudGuillouxFRAM35BorisSteinGERM37HenrikGoeschFINM38DavidMcNameeGBRM39MattRussellUSAM40PieterHeemeryckBELM41AdamFeighUSAM42MattBurtonAUSM43KevinPortmannFRAM44PatrickNilssonSWE
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