Slot Allocation/Rolldown Ceremony

Age Group Qualification Slots:

Each race will be allocated a number of age group qualification slots, with men and women allocated an equal number of age group qualification slots. A portion of these slots will be “Automatic Qualifying Slots.” The remaining age group slots will be “Performance Pool Slots.”

Athletes may claim their slot only IN PERSON and only at the 2026 IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship Slot Allocation/Rolldown Ceremony immediately following Awards – according to schedule. For the most up to date information and qualifying slot numbers, please CLICK HERE.

Payment and Registration Information:

Please be prepared to pay the entry fee with CREDIT CARD ONLY; no check or cash accepted. Credit card only (no Debit, Diners or cash payment). Your physical credit card including full credit card number, expiry date and CVV must be available at time of payment and only one card is accepted (split payment will not be accepted).  Athletes will also need their IRONMAN Profile login information to accept a slot. If you do not remember your logo information, please CLICK HERE and follow the instructions to reset your password prior to the Slot Allocation ceremony. Photo ID is also required at time of payment.

Slot Allocation and Roll-down Process:

Before race day:

Each qualifying event is allocated a number of age-group qualification slots for men and, the same number for women.

• From this allocation, each Male & Female Age Group is allocated one slot to be awarded to the Age Group winner. This is referred to as the “Automatic Qualifying Slot.”

• All other slots available for the race are attributed to the Performance Pool, to be offered after the race is complete. These slots are referred to as the “Performance Pool Slots.” A separate Performance Pool of slots is maintained for men and for women so that slots remain equally split between genders.

On race day:

The winner of each Male & Female Age Group will automatically earn a qualifying slot, (“Automatic Qualifying Slot”):

• If that slot is not taken, it will roll to the second-place finisher, and then to the third-place finisher if not taken by the second-place finisher.
• If the automatic qualifying slot for a specific age group is not taken by one of the top three finishers, that slot is allocated to that gender’s ‘Performance Pool’ of qualifying slots that will then be offered to the next-most competitive athletes at the same event.

Once Age Group Winners have been offered slots following the process above, we move on to the allocation of slots via the “Performance Pool Slots”:

• The finish times of all remaining athletes at the event will be compared to a benchmark (IRONMAN 70.3 Standard) that is created by averaging the top 20% of IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship finish times over the past 5 years for each age group (i.e., a global age-group standard for each gender and age group). By comparing each finish time to its age-group standard, we create an age-graded finish time for each athlete 
• To read more about the IRONMAN 70.3 Standard, click here.
• Athletes are then ranked within their gender, based on their age-graded finish times (i.e., their performance in the race relative to their own age-group standard); the athletes who are most competitive on race day relative to their age-group standard will rank highest.
• Using this ranking of the most competitive athletes, slots will then be offered and allocated using a ‘first to accept’ roll-down process. This roll-down process will continue until all qualifying slots for the women’s race are allocated, and then for the men’s race (or vice versa).

Other Information:

Only Age Group Athletes are eligible to receive Age Group World Championship Qualifying Slots. Athletes holding current Professional or Elite status with any World Triathlon Member National Triathlon Governing Body, WTC’s Pro Membership program or having raced as an elite athlete in any international events during the calendar year, are not eligible for Age Group Slots. Athletes may not at the time of the event, nor at the time of the IRONMAN World Championship event they qualified for, hold Professional or Elite status. 

Any change in an athlete’s status prior to any event participation, or a qualified World Championship event, must be disclosed to IRONMAN (World Triathlon Corporation, WTC) immediately. Failure of the athlete to make such disclosure will be cause for disqualification from such event and may result in sanction from WTC Events.