It’s race week for the best long course triathletes in the world. The 2021 Ironman World Championships will take place on Saturday, in St. George, Utah.

There are a couple of strange things about this race.  Firstly, it is the 2021 version of the Ironman World Championships, and yet it is occurring in 2022.  Secondly, the race is not happening in Kona, Hawaii.  Both of these unusual circumstances are a result of the global pandemic.  The pandemic has prevented Ironman from holding races in Hawaii, and so they moved the 2021 race to St.George. Then the pandemic intervened again, and caused the race to be delayed until this week.

It is going to be an amazing race to watch.  The different course will change the dynamics of the race. The course has a very cold swim, an extremely hilly bike course, and a marathon run that is also very hilly.  It is going to take a very special, and very strong, athlete to win on this course.

My picks for the race are Gustav Iden in the men’s race and Kat Matthews in the women’s race.  Gustav is currently ranked number one in the world, so my pick here is quite a safe one.  There are plenty of men who can beat him however; the race is loaded.  I like Kat in the women’s race after her recent win at Ironman 70.3 Lanzarote.  That course is brutal and Kat raced amazingly well to beat the reigning Ironman World Champion, Anne Haug.

I can’t wait for Saturday. Both races should be great to watch.