Which aquabike races had the most finishers in 2022? It´s not a big surprise that the World, European and US National Championships are the aquabike races which attract the most athletes. But there are also some other events all around the world with a significant number of aquabikers competing. It´s great to see that not only the number of events is growing continuosly. Also the size of some races show how fast this  multisport discipline is growing.

So let´s take a closer look…

Aquabike full distance races with the biggest number of finishers in 2022

With the long distance World Championships being reduced to a half distance race last year, there wasn´t really a big full distance race in 2022. The two races which attracted the most athletes where the national championships in Spain and Poland. Especially the nationals in Spain would certainly have some more potential, but with the date one week before the half distance championships most athletes rather opted for the latter.

Half Distance Aquabike Races with most finishers in 2022

As you can see the European Championships in Bilbao clearly outnumbered the World´s in Samorin. Most likely due to the quite late announcement of date and location of the World Championships. You might miss the Long Course US Nationals, which were carried out at the Toughman in Stony Point last September. 250 athletes finished the race – but after the swim had to be cancelled it was basically reduced to a bike time trial and not really an aquabike race anymore. That´s why we don´t have it in our statistics.

There still aren´t a lot of aquabike races in France, but with the Ch´Tri Man the biggest non championships aquabike race 2022 took place in the Grand Nation. The Australian National Championships and the Tauranga Half in New Zealand were the only aquabike races in the southern hemisphere with over a hundred aquabike athletes. It might be a surprise that the Spanish National Championships were not the biggest aquabike race in Spain. But you might consider that there was also an open race with eleven finishers. So, if you count them in, there were in fact a few more finishers in Pamplona than at the ICAN Triathlon Alicante.

Standard Distance Aquabike Races with most finishers in 2022

The US Nationals are the clear #1 race here and clearly outnumbered even the first ever World Championships over the standard distance. This might be quite different in 2023, with this year´s World´s taking place in Spain in late September it will probably attract much more athletes than the race in Abu Dhabi in November, when racing season is long over for most athletes in the northern hemisphere. This is also shown by the fact that the biggest races after this two championships races were the three British qualification races for next years World´s.

Sprint Distance Aquabike Races with most finishers in 2022

While we have a pretty big choice of sprint distance aquabike races in the US and the UK, the numbers of participating athletes in those short races usually aren´t that big. But there are indeed a few races which attract more than a handful of athletes. It´s not a big surprise that the National Irish Championships lead the ranking. However they have to share the top spot with two US events.

In sprint distance aquabike races female athletes were the majority last racing season with 1183 race finishes, while 1135 men finished an aquabike race. So, it might not be a big surprise that amongst the biggest sprint distance races in the US as well as in the UK are women-only races. So, if you want to bring more women into multisport, you might should consider adding an aquabike option to your triathlon event.