Yes, 950m according to their FB page.
Hopefully the weather isn’t as bad as last year.
I’m not a million miles from Weymouth but the weather is fine here I Winchester. Had some rain overnight and will have some later but temp is fine and it’s not windy at all.
I’m assuming they reduce the swim to keep closer to shore where its calmer?
If that’s the case, what stops them making it a multi-lap swim to preserve distance? There’d be a lot of congestion with people lapping others so maybe I’ve answered my own Q, but would rather explore everything possible to maintain distance.
Was the same last year too.
Perhaps they need to look at a date change for this race
And Tenby 
Racing in September in the UK should be resigned to end of season sprints.
Actually, scratch that, they should do away with the swims entirely, maybe a quick 100-200m in a pool, then just do a 161km bike and a 10km run.
That’s everyone’s favourite distance, right?
MAMIL distance
At least they still have a race. Ironman South Korea completely cancelled due to typhoon threat!
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Think last few years have shown there is no safe date. Outlaw this year rained out, yet last year IMUK nearly cancelling swim because of algae from heatwaves.
Plus seems like more races are being changed/cancelled for conditions that would previously have been OK. As Ironman continue to market themselves as the challenge for anyone to achieve they need to protect people hence more safety conscious it feels.
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The last 2 years in Weymouth, the sea state has been pretty typical for the time of year. Last year the wind was NW which is off shore, so maybe a little more undertandable shortening the swim, this year WSW is spot on prevailing wind direction. I am not sure that winds in August will be massively more favourable… and there is no way you could close roads in August in peak holiday season.
3 years ago, I took part in the OD triathlon in August, on the same weekend that several people drowned around the country due to storms. It was blowing 25-30kts (force 7) with large choppy waves. I know that Tenby has been run in the past with some pretty epic conditions, however, IM no longer seems to be comfortable with the swim taking place in even slightly challenging conditions. The reason is very clear - in July 2019 Wanda tried to raise $500m through an IPO, unfortunately the IPO only raised $290m (effectively writing off around $650m of Wanda’s investment).
As part of the exercise of filing for an IPO, companies identify their risks. Wanda Sports noted[ the risks of running a mass participation business], from “from safety and security to bad publicity around deaths and weather, or even damage to the brand because of perceptions of doping or infringement on intellectual property.”
Unfortunately it is the nature of long distance triathlons that people will die on the swim. It happended this year in Nice to a very experienced 66year old triathlete, and last year to 2 athletes in SA … and this is at World Championship level.
It comes down to money, deaths and doping are being blamed on impacting the valuation of Ironman. I wouldn’t be surprised if many coastal events end up being phased out as they represent too high a risk
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I also can’t help thinking they bought at the peak of the 1 and done era which wasn’t really sustainable, there are still people who do that and will be for a few years, but some now prefer Xtri or Ultra’s.
The cost is also a factor, even if I was to race in Bolton next year with 2 days accommodation and fuel etc. I don’t think I’d get much under £700, people with families or who race abroad would need to pay a lot more, that’s a lot of disposable income if you’ve got a mortgage to pay etc.
I appreciate the safety aspect but I’m not sure why if they can do a 950M swim they couldn’t make it longer or multi-lap, although with multi-lap I’m sure they’d need some ability to count the laps.
Jeff
A Chinese company that’s worried about safety? Oh yeah, there’s money involved 
Was discussing with A triathlete friend, who also runs a tech investment fund. The IPO in July was the second worst performing in the world this year… are they under pressure? Hell yes
I actually think that there is a lot more that they can do to make the Ironman brand even more successful.
Which they appear to be doing, just not in triathlon.
I’ve done a shortened swim in June in Weymouth; there is no good time. I agree that the appetite for ‘risk’ is what’s causing these changes & cancellations.
I’m still not quite sure what was going on with Hamburg though; there seemed to be a lot of algae there the day after the race…
(not that I’m complaining!)
And the women’s race in Nice, where the sea temperature made a surprising drop just ahead of the race, but came back up again on Sunday for the men (I’m not complaining as I had a half decent swim for a change). The sad irony is that a male competitor died during the swim
Chattanooga WC 2017 also had a surprise drop that allowed wetsuits. Unlike their ‘usual’ IM’s/70.3’s this had 800m of upstream swimming.
The IMJ types that had Q’d with a 6:50 after an ‘anyone want a slot’ roll down were in meltdown about non wetsuit, so the old ‘bucket of ice and measure’ ploy was used…
@chickenboy just put in the performance of the year in Weymouth: 1st in AG
Dave is quietly doing his thing, smashing everyone in every event
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