Thorsten

Kona Kings & Queens is a collaboration project with sports photographer James Mitchell to highlight some of the Pros racing in Kona. James supplies his awesome pictures (for more check his Instagram account), I add some data and commentary.

Kim is one of the strongest Ironman athletes on the bike, and when things go well she’s able to quickly overcome her swim deficit. In Texas she was able to make up more than four minutes to Daniela Ryf and Jocelyn McCauley and was the first female on the run. In Kona she’s probably hoping for tough conditions with lots of wind in order to maximize her bike strength. Which position in the strong and deep Kona field will she have when she reaches T2 in her debut race on the Big Island?

This is an excerpt from my “Kona 2019 Rating Report”. You can download your copy here.

Kona Kings & Queens is a collaboration project with sports photographer James Mitchell to highlight some of the Pros racing in Kona. James supplies his awesome pictures (for more check his Instagram account), I add some data and commentary.

Josh continues to be the best swimmer on the Ironman distance, and he’s likely going to be the T1 leader in Kona for the third year in a row. A lot of the dynamic in the early part of the race will depend on his pace at the start of the swim: Will he swim away from everyone else in the field as in 2017 (maybe even going for a course record this year?), or will he start at a more moderate pace which resulted in a much bigger lead group in 2018? Maybe he will find “a middle ground” that helps to quickly create a small lead group of athletes who are then able to build a nice gap to the chase group. This would be great for the faster swimmers such as Jan Frodeno or Tim O’Donnell but might create problems for the others who then will either have to work harder on their own or lose more time than they would like to.

Once on the bike, Josh has been riding well in Kona and was able to stay with the faster bike riders at least until Hawi. Maybe that was a bit too hard for him, he lost a lot of time in the second half of the bike and also didn’t have a good run: In 2017 he finished 29th after a 3:25 marathon, in 2018 he DNF’d. With his additional experience in long-distance racing and in Kona, he’ll be looking to have a better result this year.

In his 2019 Ironman races he was able to run sub-3 marathons and I’m sure that’s his target for Kona as well. It’ll be interesting to see what pacing strategy he’s going to choose for his 2019 Kona race.

This is an excerpt from my “Kona 2019 Rating Report”. You can download your copy here.

Kona Kings & Queens is a collaboration project with sports photographer James Mitchell to highlight some of the Pros racing in Kona. James supplies his awesome pictures (for more check his Instagram account), I add some data and commentary.

Susie has been up and down in Kona: She has two sixth places in 2015 and 2017, but also two disappointments with a DNF in 2016 and a 26th in 2018. Based on this series, she’s due for another Kona Top 10 this year. Her win at IM Hamburg has shown that she’s ready to hard work on the bike and is then still able to run well. A similar performance in Kona would see her in a great T2 position, ready to fight for a good Kona result on the run.

This is an excerpt from my “Kona 2019 Rating Report”. You can download your copy here.

Kona Kings & Queens is a collaboration project with sports photographer James Mitchell to highlight some of the Pros racing in Kona. James supplies his awesome pictures (for more check his Instagram account), I add some data and commentary.

Andi raced his first long-distance race at the end of the 2017 season and has quickly found his stride. In 2018 he was second at Challenge Roth, then he finished 13th in Kona, leading the chase group for most of the bike leg. He played a big role in Patrick Lange’s race as well – his strong effort on the bike helped Patrick to reach T2 is a great position to defend his title.

This season also went well for Andi: He was able to secure an early slot with a sixth place at IM South Africa. This opened up his summer calendar and he was able to once again race Challenge Roth. This year he and Andi Boecherer kept Cam Wurf from taking the lead on the bike, and after a solid 2:51 marathon Andi became the first Franconian athlete to win in Roth.

Andi is a solid Top 10 contender for Kona, however he had a bike crash when he was racing 70.3 Worlds in Nice. He’s already back on his bike and in his final Kona prep in Gran Canaria. Fingers crossed that he’ll be on the Kona start line fit and healthy – then you can expect him to play an even bigger role in this year’s race!

This is an excerpt from my “Kona 2019 Rating Report”. You can download your copy here.