Last year Craig Alexander took silver in Clearwater and in Kona for both the Ironman and 70.3 World Championships.
But this year's he's taking a break after taking the top podium spot in Hawaii last month.
"I actually recovered really well (from Hawaii) this year, it was completely different from last year - last year I was sore for probably four or five days afterwards," said Alexander, who was second behind McCormack last year in his Hawaiian debut.
"They say it never hurts as much when you win, but I just think one extra year of the endurance training, it helped my recovery.
"By the Monday (two days later) it kind of felt like I hadn't raced at all, my legs felt that good.
"But with my wife (Neri) we'd made a decision that it had been a great season ... it was nice way to finish off, combined with the fact that we had to come back to Australia because a good friend was getting married."
According to theage.com:
"Alexander will miss this weekend's Ironman 70.3 world title in Clearwater, Florida, opting instead to help promote the Scody Half Ironman at Port Macquarie on the New South Wales mid north coast.
The 35-year-old won the inaugural Ironman 70.3 world crown at Clearwater two years ago and was second last year.
Last month, Alexander went from very good to greatness in the sport, joining Greg Welch, Michellie Jones and Chris McCormack as the only Australians to have won Hawaii."