The 2018 IRONMAN World Championships brought to you by Amazon to feature nearly 20 hours of unprecedented live race day coverage produced by ASO on NBC Sports and Facebook Live.
Celebrating 40 Years of Dreams, IRONMAN to also provide extensive daily race week coverage giving the world a front row seat to the pinnacle event in endurance sports. The 2018 IRONMAN® World Championship is excited to announce unprecedented global coverage from the Island of Hawai`i for the 2018 IRONMAN® World Championship brought to you by Amazon. This year as IRONMAN celebrates 40 Years of Dreams, nearly 20 hours of live coverage is scheduled and will be available through NBCSN, NBC and NBCSports.com in the United States and globally on www.facebook.com/IRONMANNow. Beginning in the early morning hours with athlete body marking, the dynamic coverage will take viewers through the male and female professional races and all the way through the event’s final finisher just after midnight.
“There is no better way to celebrate IRONMAN’s 40th Anniversary and the amazing achievements of our athletes from around the world than with coverage that takes viewers inside the action,” said Matthieu Van Veen, Chief Revenue Officer for IRONMAN. “As we celebrate this important milestone in our history, we are proud to be able to work with premiere global media companies to give an unprecedented look inside the pinnacle event of endurance sports.”
Coverage for the 2018 IRONMAN World Championship brought to you by Amazon triathlon begins Tuesday, October 9 with daily live shows at 2 p.m. ET from the Island of Hawai`i, running through race day on www.facebook.com/IRONMANNow. The daily coverage will bring the global audience to the island with behind-the-scenes access to the athlete preparation, interviews with professional athletes, age groupers, legends of the sport as well as presentations of the legendary course and event
The IRONMAN World Championship brought to you by Amazon will be broadcast in the USA through the various platforms of NBC Sports including the live start of the race on NBCSN on Saturday, October 13 from 12:30-2:00 p.m. ET with live reports airing on NBCSB and NBC throughout race day and the live race coverage on NBCSports.com. A full race highlight program will air on NBCSN, Sunday, October 14 from 12:00-1:00 a.m. ET and 1:00-2:00 p.m. ET.
The IRONMAN Now channel on Facebook Watch will provide 20 hours of live coverage on race day.
The live body marketing show will air from 10:40-11:40 a.m. ET, and will feature a fully-produced, “red carpet” event as athletes prepare for their race. Paula Newby-Fraser, 8x IRONMAN World Champion will join IRONMAN World Champion Greg Welch, 3x IRONMAN Champion Michael Lovato and IRONMAN Europe Commentator Paul Kaye to capture the tension and excitement of this unique element of our sport.
Live in-depth race coverage will begin at 12:10 p.m. ET. and continue through the male and female professional races.
Coverage will continue at 5:20am ET on Sunday, October 14, with the Finish Line Party, an inspiring celebration of the IRONMAN World Championship as the 2018 crowned champions will come back to the celebratory finish line with as spectators cheer on the final athletes as they cross the magical finish line.
Producing this year’s event is Amaury Sport Organisation (A.S.O.), a best-in-class television production company that is highly experienced in Live coverage of endurance sports events such as the Tour de France to audiences around the world. The live-action will include more cameras than ever before and aerial imagery that will put viewers into the heart of the race, showcasing the amazing beauty and grueling conditions that the island of Hawai’i is known for.
Kailua-Kona, located on the west coast of the Island of Hawai`i, offers the perfect year-round climate and is an ideal location for this iconic, single-day sporting event. The 2018 field of athletes will tackle the ROKA 2.4-mile ocean swim in Kailua Bay, followed by the Ventum 112-mile bicycle ride along the Queen Ka’ahumanu Highway from Kailua-Kona to the turnaround in Hawi, capped with a 26.2-mile HOKA ONE ONE run beginning on Ali’i Drive, where spectators pack the roads, up Palani Road to the Queen Ka’ahumanu Highway, before making their way to the infamous Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawai`i Authority. Athletes will complete their journey to the roar of tens of thousands of spectators as they cross the historic Ali’i Drive finish line.
For live tracking, real-time results and instant tracking notifications, fans can follow both professional and age-group athletes on the IRONMAN Tracker app, available for download from iTunes App Store and Google Play.
About the 2018 IRONMAN World Championships brought to you by Amazon
Since its inception in 1978 on the island of Oahu, the IRONMAN World Championship brought to you by Amazon has etched its name in history through stellar performances, inspirational participants and emotional memories. In 1981, the race moved from the tranquil shores of Waikiki to the barren lava fields of Kona on the Island of Hawai`i where it continues to take place to this day. The race now sees approximately 2,500 athletes embark on a 140.6-mile journey that presents the ultimate test of body, mind and spirit to earn the title of IRONMAN World Champion. Athletes will enter Kailua Bay for the 2.4-mile ROKA swim course and then embark out on the Queen Ka’ahumanu Highway for the 112-mile Ventum Bike course before finally capping the day through the crowds of Kona town, Palani Road, the Queen Ka’ahumanu Highway and the infamous Natural Energy Laboratory Hawai`i Authority (NELHA) and Ali’i Drive for the 26.2-mile HOKA ONE ONE run course. The most iconic one-day sporting event in the world is the culmination of 40 global IRONMAN events with athletes around the world striving for one of the coveted qualifying slots.
About IRONMAN
As part of Wanda Sports Holdings, the IRONMAN Group operates a global portfolio of events that includes the IRONMAN® Triathlon Series, the IRONMAN® 70.3® Triathlon Series, 5150™ Triathlon Series, the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon Series®, Iron Girl®, IRONKIDS®, International Triathlon Union World Triathlon Series races, road cycling events including the UCI Velothon® Series, mountain bike races including the Absa Cape Epic®, premier marathons including the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon, trail running like Ultra-Trail Australia™, and other multisport races. IRONMAN’s events, together with all other Wanda Sports Holdings events, provide more than a million participants annually the benefits of endurance sports through the company’s vast offerings. The iconic IRONMAN® Series of events is the largest participation sports platform in the world. Since the inception of the IRONMAN® brand in 1978, athletes have proven that ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE® by crossing finish lines at the world’s most challenging endurance races. Beginning as a single race, IRONMAN has grown to become a global sensation with more than 230 events across 53 countries. For more information, visit www.ironman.com.
