Editing Ironman Triathlon (section)

==Ironman 70.3==
{{main|Ironman 70.3}}
[[File:Andrey Danilov RU Ironman 70.3 Budapest - 2014.08.23 (9).JPG|thumb|Ironman 70.3 Budapest - 2014]]
In 2005, WTC instituted the Ironman 70.3 race series. This shorter course, also known as a Half Ironman, consists of a {{convert|1.2|mi|km|adj=on}} swim, {{convert|56|mi|km|adj=on}} bike ride, and {{convert|13.1|mi|km|adj=on}} run.  As with the Ironman series, it consists of a number of qualifying races at various locations worldwide ending in a world championship race with athletes drawn largely from top finishers in the qualifying events.

For amateur athletes, some 70.3 events acted as qualifiers for the full Ironman World Championships in Hawaii.<ref name="Qualify">{{Cite web|url=http://ironmanworldchampionship.com/qualification/|title=Ironman World Championship Qualification|access-date=November 22, 2011|publisher=World Triathlon Corporation|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110713060727/http://ironmanworldchampionship.com/qualification/|archive-date=July 13, 2011}}</ref> However, the 2015 qualifying year marked a large de-emphasis on using certain Ironman 70.3 series races as a path for amateur athletes to qualify for the Ironman World Championships. The change was made to accommodate for the increased number of qualifying slots created from the full Ironman events which had been recently added.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://triathlon.competitor.com/2014/07/news/losing-kona-slots-will-affect-70-3-races_102757|title=How Losing Kona Slots Will Affect 70.3 Races|last=Mavis|first=Bethany|date=July 22, 2014|access-date=March 24, 2015|publisher=Competitor Group, Inc.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150922200823/http://triathlon.competitor.com/2014/07/news/losing-kona-slots-will-affect-70-3-races_102757|archive-date=September 22, 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref>

For professional triathletes, up to three 70.3 events can be used to accumulate points to be put towards their championship qualifying point rankings.<ref name="ProQualify" />