TAMPA, Fla. / BOULDER, Colo. (Jan. 26, 2022) – The documentary special of the 2021 Intermountain Healthcare IRONMAN^® 70.3^® World Championship Presented by Utah Sports Commission will premiere worldwide on Thursday, January 27 at 8:00 p.m. ET on Outside, as part of The IRONMAN Group’s recently announced partnership with the active lifestyle content company. Airing of the documentary marks the first piece of content for a five-year partnership that includes 12 IRONMAN 70.3 events to be broadcast live on Outside in 2022.

The broadcast special will chronicle the stories of both professional and select age-group athletes competing in the iconic triathlon that took place on September 18, 2021 in St. George, Utah. The premiere will be available to viewers  around the world on Outside across web, mobile, and connected TV distribution channels.   

Since 2006, the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship triathlon has showcased not only the limitless physical capability and competitive nature of the top endurance athletes in the world, but also some of the most awe-inspiring and impactful stories of courage and resilience from the age-group athletes. The broadcast special spans from the pre-race build-up to the final hours of the finish, unveiling the intensity, emotion, physical demands, and dramatic competition of the more than 3,500 athletes. Representing more than 85 countries, regions and territories, athletes took on a 1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike and 13.1-mile run across the rugged St. George terrain, proving that ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE^®. 

Among the features of this year’s IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship special:

• From the firing of the start cannon to the finish line tape, Lucy Charles-Barclay dominates the women’s professional field with prowess and a determination to win, taking down five-time and defending world champion Daniela Ryf.
• Following his quick rise and stunning 2019 IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship win in Nice, France as a seemingly unknown challenger, Norwegian professional Gustav Iden crosses the finish line with an unrivaled race that cements him as a force for others to catch. 
• Australian Paralympic triathlon silver-medalist Lauren Parker competes in St. George with big ambitions after suffering a bike crash that paralyzed her at the peak of her career, now proving that no obstacle is too big to overcome including race week medical challenges. 
• Northern Utah native and elite cyclist Kyle Brown was diagnosed with an aggressive form of ALS in early 2021 and given only 6-8 months to live by doctors. Instead of letting his diagnosis suppress his passion, Kyle competes against all odds and completes the race of a lifetime, saying, “When faced with tragedy we can either come alive or come undone. I choose to come alive.”
• Sam Holness of London, England, is a 28-year-old autistic athlete on a mission to prove that a perceived disability cannot limit him. St. George becomes Sam’s stage to show the world how autism is his “super power.” 

The broadcast special of the 2021 Intermountain Healthcare IRONMAN^® 70.3^® World Championship Presented by Utah Sports Commission was filmed and produced by The IRONMAN Group Productions team and is the first piece of content to air on Outside in what will also include live event coverage  over the next five years. In total, the documentary special took four months of production time, utilizing 50 hours of footage and content from 13 cameras to capture race day and tell the amazing story of this unique event and the athletes competing.

After the premiere of the documentary, the content for 2022 continues with live broadcast coverage of 12 IRONMAN 70.3 Triathlon Series events, starting with the IRONMAN 70.3 OCEANSIDE including the 2022 IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship. Live viewing will be available for free across Outside’s multiple distribution platforms globally on the web, mobile, and connected TV apps. 

Subscribe to Outside+ to watch all of the IRONMAN 70.3 events on demand.  

For more information on Outside Interactive, Inc., visit OutsideInc.com.

For more information about the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship, please visit  www.ironman.com/im703-world-championship. For more information on the IRONMAN brand and global event series, visit www.ironman.com. Media may contact press@ironman.com. 

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About Outside Interactive, Inc.

Outside Interactive, Inc., is the premier destination for active lifestyle enthusiasts and home to leading brands in the endurance sports, outdoor, and healthy living spaces. Each month, Outside reaches 80 million of the most active consumers in the world across its 40+ media, digital, and technology platforms, creating an experience for both longtime adventurers and those just getting started. Outside believes life is best spent outdoors, experiencing healthy, connected, and fulfilling lives. Outside’s membership offering, Outside+, bundles best-in-class storytelling, meal plans, gear reviews, online courses, discounted event access, magazines, and more. Learn more at OutsideInc.com.

IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship

In 2006 the inaugural IRONMAN^® 70.3^® World Championship was held in Clearwater, Florida becoming another test for the world’s elite triathletes. Since that auspicious beginning, the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship has grown in stature and popularity moving first to Henderson, Nevada in 2011, where athletes encountered a more challenging terrain and then to Mont-Tremblant, Quebec—its first stop on the new “global rotation” for the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship. The event reached European soil for the first time ever in 2015, with Zell am See, Austria, hosting an epic and memorable event. In 2016, the race moved from the mountains to the beaches of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia. In 2017, the race returned to the United States, taking place in Chattanooga, Tennessee where it became a two-day event for the first time. In 2018, the event reached the African continent for the first time and was hosted in Nelson Mandela Bay in South Africa. Continuing the rotation, 2019 saw the French Riviera and Nice, France play host to the ever-growing IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship event. After a year in which the event was not able to take place due to a global pandemic, the race returned in 2021 with over 3,500 athletes competing in St. George, Utah. The event will again take place in St. George, Utah, returning to a two-day format on October 28-29, 2022, before shifting to Lahti, Finland on August 26-27, 2023 and Taupō, New Zealand on December 14-15, 2024. Historically, more than 200,000 athletes have participated annually in a series of qualifying races, consisting of over 100 global events. Hosting more than 5,000 athletes from around the world, participants in the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship have ranged in age from 18 to 85-plus. For more information, visit www.ironman.com/im703-world-championship. 

About The IRONMAN Group 

The IRONMAN Group operates a global portfolio of events that includes the IRONMAN^® Triathlon Series, the IRONMAN^® 70.3^® Triathlon Series, the IRONMAN^® Virtual Racing™ (VR™) Series, 5150™ Triathlon Series, the Rock ‘n’ Roll^® Running Series, the Rock ‘n’ Roll Virtual Running™ Series, IRONKIDS^®, World Triathlon Championship Series, premier running events including the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon™ and The Sun-Herald City2Surf^®, Ultra-Trail^® World Tour events including Tarawera Ultra and Ultra-Trail Australia™, mountain bike races including the Absa Cape Epic^®, road cycling events including Haute Route^®, and gravel racing like Gravel Epic^®, and other multisport races. The IRONMAN Group is the largest operator of mass participation sports in the world and provides more than a million participants annually the benefits of endurance sports through the company’s vast offerings. Since the inception of the iconic IRONMAN^® brand and its first event in 1978, athletes have proven that ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE^® by crossing finish lines around the world. Beginning as a single race, The IRONMAN Group has grown to become a global sensation with hundreds of events across 55+ countries. The IRONMAN Group is owned by Advance, a private, family-owned business. For more information, visit www.ironman.com/about-ironman-group.

About Advance

Advance is a private, family-held business that owns and invests in companies across media, entertainment, technology, communications, education, and other promising growth sectors. Our mission is to build the value of our companies over the long-term by fostering growth and innovation. Advance’s portfolio includes Condé Nast, Advance Local, Stage Entertainment, The IRONMAN Group, American City Business Journals, Leaders Group, Turnitin, 1010data and Pop. Together these operating companies employ more than 17,000 people in 29 countries. Advance is also among the largest shareholders in Charter Communications, Discovery and Reddit. For more information visit www.advance.com.