Analysis

Fastest Times

In 2017 we’ve had a total of 23 sub-9 finishes – compared to 17 the year before. This ties the record number from 2014 and continues the series of “20 or so” sub-9s per year that’s been going on since 2013. Daniela continues to dominate the fast times, this year she had three of the four fastest times!

Here’s a list of all the sub-9 times from 2017:

As in all lists, I don’t count IM Frankfurt as it had officially a shortened bike-course.

Best Performances

It’s not a surprise that there are a lot of Kona results in the list of best performances – everyone tries to be in top shape for the most important race of the year! This year the Top 5 from Kona are in ranks 1, 2, 3, 5 and 7. Daniela’s three races are in the Top 6, Kaisa Sali also has three performances in the Top 10 (though in ranks 7 to 9 a bit behind Daniela ).

2017 Ratings

After three wins with fast times in three big races, there can’t be any doubt that Daniela continues to be the #1-ranked female athlete. She has extended her lead to a dominating 25 minutes, only partially because last year’s #2 Mirinda Carfrae has dropped from the rankings. (Rinnie’s rating would be close to 9:01, still more than 20 minutes behind Daniela.)

Nonetheless, we’ve seen a number of promising improvements in the female field, meaning that Daniela won’t be able to become complacent. You could see that in this year’s Kona race: Last year she had 13 minutes on her competitors at 90 miles on the bike (with the sole exception of Anja Beranek who was just five minutes behind), this year she had two athletes (Lucy Charles and Lauren Brandon) five minutes in front of her, two riding with her (Sarah Crowley and Annabel Luxford) and Heather Jackson just 90 seconds behind her. This situation put some pressure on Daniela, but she responded with a monster bike-effort, taking the lead by T2 and not giving her competitors the slightest chance for a Kona win.

Foto: Daniela after crossing the finish line in Kona. Credit: Ingo Kutsche

But there a number of athletes that will work hard to challenge Daniela even harder in 2018. Lucy Charles entered the ranks of top athletes with a bang, Susie Cheetham returned after injuries with a successful 2017 season, Kaisa Sali and Heather Jackson continued their improvement on the long-distance (improving their ratings by six minutes and more), Carrie Lester also repeated in the Kona Top 10, Sara Crowley made a huge step forward (rating improvement of almost 16 minutes!) and is now a Kona podium finisher, Mel Hauschildt seems to be always struggling with injuries but finished the season healthy. In addition, there are a few “Super Moms” returning to racing: Rachel Joyce already qualified in 2017 but then was too tired to race well in Kona, Mirinda Carfrae is already back in training, as are Liz Blatchford, Meredith Kessler or Caroline Steffen. At the end of the 2017 season, Daniela is still way ahead of the rest of the female field, but there is a long list of athletes looking to become more than just a threat to her.

This post looks at the fastest times and best performances by the men in the run leg.

Fastest Times

Patrick Lange’s run in Kona was the only sub-2:40 run this year (last year there were four). Other than Texas (three runs) each course has just one of run in the Top 10.

Best Performances

There can’t be a doubt that Patrick’s run in Kona is also the best 2017 run performance – the fastest run time on one of the harder run courses is in fact more than five minutes quicker than any other run performance. Of note is also the #5 performance: Even though Kevin Collington “only” ran a 3:07, doing so in the tough conditions of Taiwan means it’s equivalent to a 2:44 run on a “neutral” run course!

2017 Ratings

Patrick also storms to the front of the run rankings, he’s leading by five minutes over last year’s #1 Jan Frodeno. Patrick’s runs in Kona have raised the marathon in an IM to a new level, there’s no doubt that he’s currently the fastest runner in long-distance triathlon.

Foto: Patrick grabbing drinks on the run in Kona.

Almost everyone in the Top 10 has improved their run rating – a clear indication that we can expect some more fast runs in the 2018 season.

Fastest Times

There was a total of eleven sub-3 runs by Ironwomen this season. The fastest was by Kelly Williamson at IM Texas, Kristin Moeller had two sub-3s in Brasil and Hamburg, Lisa Roberts even had three within two months.

Best Performances

Lisa’s run at Challenge Madrid was the best run performance in 2017 – a lot of athletes struggled on the run in Madrid, but she was able to run another sub-3.

Foto: Lisa on the run at Challenge Madrid. Credit: Challenge Madrid

Even though no woman was able to break 3 hours on the Kona marathon, there are three Kona runs in the Top 10 performances.

2017 Ratings

With Mirinda Carfrae (the #1-ranked runner at the end of 2016) not racing this year and dropping from the rankings, Daniela is now also the best female runner. With their improved run ratings, Kaisa Sali and Lisa Roberts have been closing the gap to Daniela and are ranked second and third.

This post looks at the fastest times and best performances by the men in the bike leg.

Fastest Times

The 2017 season continued the trend of extremely fast bike legs. Andy Starykowicz continues his push towards the first sub-4 bike leg, his 4:01 from Texas is the fastest bike time in an Ironman – a great comeback from his horrific injuries in 2016. Tim Don’s 4:06 from Brasil is the best bike time by an athlete who went on to win the race.

Best Performances

The best bike performance was Cameron Wurf’s new bike course record in Kona – it’s pretty unusual that a Kona bike ride shows up in the fastest overall rides (previous section)!

Foto: Cam Wurf leading the bike in Kona. Credit: Ingo Kutsche

Andy Starykowicz has three of the best ten bike performances in 2017 (from Louisville, Texas and Wisconsin), Lionel Sanders has two (from Kona and his win at IM Arizona). It’s interesting to note that Cam Wurf’s 4:57 from IM Wales is the seventh best performance – even if it’s almost an hour slower than Starky’s fastest time in Texas!

2017 Ratings

With his return to Ironman Racing, Andrew Starykowicz also re-claims the #1 spot in the bike rankings. Even though he has been biking well this season, Sebi has dropped back into second place. With his six(!) Ironman finishes in 2017, Cam Wurf has entered the rankings in third place. Lionel Sanders continues to climb in the rankings, he also had the biggest rating improvement among the top bike riders.

Continuing my look at fast times and great performances from last year, this post has a close look at the bike leg by the Professional women.

Fastest Times

There were a number of fast bike times in 2017, most of them from courses such as Barcelona that are known to be quite fast. By now you have to be able to race well under five hours if you want to be competitive in the female Pro field.

Other quick 2017 bike rides were from Western Australia where Mel Hauschildt rode a 4:37 and Carrie Lester a 4:38, but while the bike was accurate the swim at IM WA was cancelled.

Best Performances

Looking at Normalized Times that adjust for a fast or slow course, the best bike performance was Jen Annett’s course-record setting ride at IM Arizona, closely followed by Daniela’s time from Challenge Roth. Jen and Dani are way ahead of the next performances who are more than five minutes back.

2017 Ratings

Even though Daniela’s bike rating has become slightly slower this season (not a big surprise considering she raced IM South Africa with back problems and her times in Roth and Kona were quicker in 2016), she still leads the rankings by more than seven minutes over Heather Jackson. Heather, Kaisa Sali (now #9) and Tine Deckers (#10) were able to improve their bike rating by more than a minute.

Foto: Daniela on the bike in Kona. Credit: Flows Journal