The Ironman 70.3 World Championship Marbella will bring together nearly 7,000 athletes

Ironman 70.3 World Championship Marbella will be held in this city on the Costa del Sol from November 8 to 9, gathering around 7,000 athletes from all over the world and is expected to generate an economic return of about 60 million euros.

This was announced this Wednesday at the event presentation within the framework of the International Tourism Fair in Madrid, Fitur, which featured the Deputy Minister of Culture and Sports of the Junta de Andalucía, Macarena O'Neill, and members of the local government team.

O'Neill noted that 60% of the participating athletes would come from the United States, "many of them accompanied, which, with an average stay of six days of lodging, gives us an approximate figure of 21,000 attendees and 126,000 overnight stays in the area, hence an expected economic return of about 60 million euros."

She also highlighted that "Marbella, besides being a town with a strong connection to tourism, is a city committed to sports, having organized major sporting events, and already knows what it is to host events of the 'Ironman' brand, Davis Cup matches, World Padel Tour events, and the Rhythmic Gymnastics Grand Prix, among many others; thus, success is guaranteed."

Marbella will be this year's host, following Lahti in Finland in 2023 and Taupo in New Zealand in 2024. The Andalusian town will be the fourth European city and the first Spanish city to host this global event, after the Austrian city of Zell am See-Kaprun in 2015; the French city of Nice in 2019; and the aforementioned Lahti last year.

The event has a two-day format, first adopted in 2017, with professional and age group women competing on Saturday November 8 and professional and age group men competing on Sunday November 9, with about 7,000 athletes expected at the starting line.

Since 2018, Marbella has hosted five Ironman 70.3 events; in 2023, it held the Ironman 70.3 TriClub European Championship, and in October 2024, it hosted the sixth edition of Ironman 70.3 Marbella, with nearly 12,000 athletes participating.

It has also witnessed other notable sporting events such as various Davis Cup matches, World Padel Tour tournaments, the Ladies European Golf Tour, the International Rhythmic Gymnastics Grand Prix, ATP tennis tournaments, and the Marbella Crossfit Championship. Additionally, the city is known for its wide range of water sports such as surfing, kitesurfing, paddle surfing, and sailing, among others.

The first Ironman 70.3 World Championship was held in Clearwater, Florida, in 2006, and became another challenge for elite triathletes around the world. Since then, the competition has grown in popularity, moving first to Henderson, Nevada, in 2011, where athletes found more challenging terrain, and later to Mont-Tremblant, Quebec, in 2014, the first stop in its new "global rotation" format.

In 2016, the race moved from the mountains to the beaches of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia. The following year it returned to the United States in Chattanooga, Tennessee, becoming a two-day event for the first time. In 2018, the championship reached the African continent for the first time, held in Nelson Mandela Bay, South Africa. In 2019, it took place on the French Riviera, with Nice as the host city.

It returned in 2021 after not being held in 2020 due to COVID-19, with over 3,500 athletes competing in St. George, Utah, where it also took place the following year, retaining the two-day format. In 2023, it was held in Lahti, Finland, and last year, in December, it moved to Taupo, New Zealand, the last event before Marbella.