IM Hamburg

Course Conditions

The obvious “course feature” of the second edition of Ironman Hamburg was the cancellation of the swim which was replaced with a 6k run that did not create much separation. (Compared to last year’s swim records of 47 and 55 minutes the run was around 25 minutes quicker.) Another change that affected the finishing times was the new, totally flat bike course. James Cunnama had the fastest male bike split with a 4:00:44, Daniela Sammler rode a 4:32:12. Overall, the new bike course was roughly 25 minutes quicker than last year’s course. After that the run was just a bit slower (even though Bart ran a 2:39:51), and it seems that a lot of athletes struggled in the heat in Hamburg.

Male Race Results

For most of the day, Bart Aernouts and James Cunnama were close together at the front of the race. They passed through T2 at the same time:

James had the quicker transition but the Bart quickly closed the gap. By the start of the last run he had built a comfortable margin and went on to win the race with a gap of seven minutes:

Second place went to Joe Skipper who had a strong first half of the marathon but then ran a bit out of steam in his third long-distance race in four weeks:

After the race James Cunnama said that he was not quite at the level of his win in Hamburg last year, but he was happy to take third (and probably relieved to validate his Kona slot):

Tim Don’s return to racing Ironman after breaking his neck three days before last year’s IM Kona did not have a happy end. For a long time he was in a great position, but eventually struggled with hip issues and fell back to ninth place which is unlikely to be enough for a Kona slot for him:

Rank	Name	Nation	Run1	Bike	Run2	Time	Diff to exp.	Prize Money	KPR Points
1	Bart Aernouts	BEL	00:19:47	04:00:50	02:39:51	07:05:26	n/a	US$ 15,000	2000
2	Joe Skipper	GBR	00:19:49	04:01:39	02:45:38	07:12:35	n/a	US$ 7,500	1600
3	James Cunnama	ZAF	00:19:52	04:00:44	02:48:44	07:13:54	n/a	US$ 5,000	1280
4	Will Clarke	GBR	00:19:48	04:08:58	02:45:39	07:20:17	n/a	US$ 3,250	960
5	Franz Loeschke	GER	00:19:53	04:07:13	02:54:35	07:26:56	n/a	US$ 2,750	720
6	Jonathan Shearon	USA	00:21:08	04:12:07	02:50:59	07:30:09	n/a	US$ 2,000	540
7	Patrick Dirksmeier	GER	00:19:50	04:13:00	02:51:46	07:30:40	n/a	US$ 1,500	405
8	Paul Schuster	GER	00:19:53	04:07:13	03:02:08	07:34:05	n/a	US$ 1,250	305
9	Tim Don	GBR	00:19:52	04:01:31	03:14:30	07:40:59	n/a	US$ 1,000	230
10	Thomas Bosch	GER	00:19:50	04:14:03	03:03:35	07:43:03	n/a	US$ 750	170
11	Christian Haupt	GER	00:21:14	04:23:19	03:03:37	07:53:46	n/a		120
12	Philipp Mock	GER	00:21:53	04:11:14	03:16:03	07:55:31	n/a		85
13	Christian Brader	GER	00:19:49	04:32:25	03:03:35	08:01:35	n/a		60
14	Christian Kramer	GER	00:19:59	04:19:01	03:41:06	08:25:50	n/a		40
15	Michael Raelert	GER	00:19:48	04:13:04	03:57:14	08:35:19	n/a		30
16	Michal Ivanco	SVK	00:23:10	05:00:22	03:35:02	09:05:23	n/a		20
17	Marek Nemcik	SVK	00:26:40	05:31:31	04:02:54	10:09:57	n/a		15
	Markus Fachbach	GER	00:19:53	04:18:50		DNF
	Pavel Simko	SVK	00:20:54	04:41:24		DNF
	Artem Parienko	RUS	00:19:48			DNF
	Domenico Passuello	ITA	00:19:51			DNF
	Jesper Svensson	SWE	00:19:51			DNF
	Horst Reichel	GER	00:19:51			DNF
	Markus Mlinar	AUT	00:21:48			DNF
	Inaki De La Parra	POL	00:29:52			DNF

Female Race Results

For a long time the female race was a horse race between defending champion Daniela Sämmler and Sarah Crowley. By the half marathon mark Sarah moved into first place and started to put time into Daniela:

With Daniela and Sarah close together, it went almost unnoticed that Katharina Grohmann was not too far behind. When Daniela struggled in the last lap of the run, Katharina was the fastest runner and finished in second place.

Third place (and a Kona slot) went to Maja Stage Nielsen who almost posted the same run split as Sarah:

Rank	Name	Nation	Run1	Bike	Run2	Time	Diff to exp.	Prize Money	KPR Points
1	Sarah Crowley	AUS	00:22:48	04:34:45	03:05:36	08:08:21	n/a	US$ 15,000	2000
2	Katharina Grohmann	GER	00:23:16	04:38:14	03:06:17	08:13:30	n/a	US$ 7,500	1600
3	Maja Stage Nielsen	DEN	00:23:59	04:46:26	03:05:39	08:21:23	n/a	US$ 5,000	1280
4	Trine Boye Larsen	DEN	00:29:04	05:01:12	03:28:02	09:04:24	n/a	US$ 3,250	960
5	Daniela Saemmler	GER	00:22:56	04:32:12	04:18:13	09:18:32	n/a	US$ 2,750	720
6	Rahel Bellinga	NED	00:26:11	04:52:52	03:52:28	09:19:10	n/a	US$ 2,000	540
7	Jana Candrova	CZE	00:25:23	05:13:33	03:37:14	09:22:42	n/a	US$ 1,500	405

Kona Qualifying Implications

The following athletes have secured their Kona slots:

• Will Clarke and Maja Stage Nielsen added enough points to now be safe for a July slot.
• Bart Aernouts and James Cunnama just needed an Ironman finish for a slot.
• Joe Skipper and Sarah Crowley were already safe before the race.

Update July 27th: Ironman was forced to cancel the swim, instead the race will start with a 6k and then continue as planned (180k bike and a marathon). This is a closer look at the changed situation for the race on Sunday.

After record temperatures (above 30 °C) for a prolonged time, the water temperature in the Alster (a man-made lake in the middle of Hamburg) has also increased, leading to an explosion of toxic blue algae. The town of Hamburg declared swimming the Alster and a number of other swim venues as a health risk and does not allow people in the water. There was no option for Ironman Hamburg to have a swim under the current circumstances. Instead it was decided to have a swim-bike-run, and there will be a 6k to start the event (replacing the swim) before the unchanged bike and run. The only other changes will be a later start (7:00/7:02 am for Pros instead of 6:30/6:32) and a longer rolling start for the agegroupers (now starting at 7:10 but taking a full hour instead of the planned 30 minutes for the swim).

I have updated my seedings with the changed course. (The original seedings can still be found below.) A few notes:

• Instead of a swim there will be a 6k run. I have calculated the runtime from their marathon time, so the actual times for the first run are likely to be a bit faster.
• The race dynamics will change significantly from the normal swim-bike-run format. I don’t expect the leading group to break up (both for the men and the women), but it could also mean that quite a few athletes overtake the first run. However, they will only find out in the second half of the marathon that the initial run was too fast for them.
• In the “#” column (indicating the seeding rank) I have added in (brackets) where athletes have been seeded based on the normal Ironman format. As you can see, the order of the seedings isn’t much impacted, the bigger change will result from the new race dynamics. However, weaker swimmer (Bart Aernouts, Joe Skipper or Katharina Grohmann) will move up a bit in the rankings, and two good runs can significantly change the outcome of the race.
• A few of the male athletes still on the list have not been present at the Pro meeting, they might not be racing on Sunday. I have marked their bib number with a “?”.

Male Race Participants

#	Bib	Name	Nat	Expected	Rating	ERun1	EBike	ET2	ERun2	Consistency	Overall
1 (1)	1	James Cunnama	ZAF	07:41:43	08:19:06	00:23:30	04:27:56	04:56:26	02:45:17	55% +29% -16% (27)	13
2 (2)	2	Tim Don	GBR	07:43:50	08:18:42	00:23:55	04:26:45	04:55:40	02:48:10	43% +33% -24% (5)	(12)
3 (3)	39	Bart Aernouts	BEL	07:45:12	08:18:38	00:22:41	04:37:57	05:05:38	02:39:34	93% +0% -7% (13)	11
4 (5)	26	Joe Skipper	GBR	07:47:39	08:23:17	00:23:35	04:33:09	05:01:44	02:45:55	71% +10% -20% (22)	22
5 (4)	34	Will Clarke	GBR	07:49:24	08:30:39	00:22:54	04:40:26	05:08:20	02:41:04	17% +46% -37% (9)	49
6 (6)	6?	Clemente Alonso McKernan	ESP	07:52:59	08:25:02	00:23:43	04:37:31	05:06:14	02:46:45	58% +7% -35% (16)	28
7 (7)	27	Jesper Svensson	SWE	07:55:30	08:35:40	00:24:33	04:33:20	05:02:53	02:52:37	n/a (1 IM Pro race)	(71)
8 (11)	36?	Bryan McCrystal	IRL	07:59:19	08:49:42	00:25:57	04:25:48	04:56:45	03:02:34	32% +45% -23% (6)	110
9 (8)	3	Horst Reichel	GER	08:02:03	08:44:24	00:24:23	04:41:11	05:10:34	02:51:29	34% +26% -40% (19)	91
10 (9)	38	Markus Fachbach	GER	08:03:57	08:46:33	00:24:56	04:38:40	05:08:36	02:55:21	47% +0% -53% (23)	99
11 (12)	9?	Miquel Blanchart Tinto	ESP	08:05:01	08:35:19	00:23:41	04:49:44	05:18:25	02:46:36	89% +2% -9% (20)	68
12 (20)	7?	Victor Arroyo Bugallo	ESP	08:05:03	08:55:58	00:23:59	04:47:26	05:16:25	02:48:38	n/a (1 IM Pro race)	(142)
13 (10)	37	Paul Schuster	GER	08:05:45	08:47:55	00:25:28	04:36:10	05:06:38	02:59:07	n/a (1 IM Pro race)	(105)
14 (15)	5?	Michael Patrick Alonso Mckernan	ESP	08:06:24	08:54:35	00:25:48	04:34:07	05:04:55	03:01:29	0% +42% -58% (3)	(136)
15 (16)	24	Jonathan Shearon	USA	08:06:34	08:46:08	00:25:10	04:39:27	05:09:37	02:56:57	63% +16% -21% (22)	97
16 (19)	29	Domenico Passuello	ITA	08:07:14	09:07:01	00:25:09	04:40:11	05:10:20	02:56:54	6% +10% -84% (10)	176
17 (18)	13	Christian Haupt	GER	08:07:42	08:54:13	00:25:05	04:41:15	05:11:20	02:56:22	n/a (1 IM Pro race)	(135)
18 (14)	22	Michael Raelert	GER	08:08:23	08:54:08	00:24:50	04:43:52	05:13:42	02:54:41	31% +0% -69% (4)	(135)
19 (13)	15	Christian Kramer	GER	08:08:45	08:37:28	00:25:21	04:40:03	05:10:24	02:58:21	75% +4% -20% (22)	79
20 (22)	33?	Michael Ruenz	GER	08:09:31	08:55:59	00:24:17	04:49:24	05:18:41	02:50:50	61% +0% -39% (14)	142
21 (17)	8?	Per Bittner	GER	08:11:04	08:45:20	00:25:18	04:42:51	05:13:09	02:57:55	43% +6% -51% (26)	93
22 (23)	10	Christian Brader	GER	08:14:38	08:50:48	00:24:46	04:50:41	05:20:27	02:54:11	62% +2% -37% (42)	117
23 (21)	23	Alexander Schilling	GER	08:18:03	08:47:47	00:26:09	04:43:02	05:14:11	03:03:52	100% +0% -0% (3)	104
24 (25)	19	Philipp Mock	GER	08:19:54	09:08:30	00:26:51	04:39:12	05:11:03	03:08:51	100% +0% -0% (2)	(184)
25 (24)	16	Markus Liebelt	GER	08:21:26	09:20:09	00:26:39	04:42:22	05:14:01	03:07:25	23% +0% -77% (3)	(212)
26 (27)	32	Thomas Bosch	GER	08:25:51	09:10:10	00:25:43	04:54:16	05:24:59	03:00:52	54% +34% -12% (6)	187
27 (26)	21?	Andreas Niedrig	GER	08:35:30	09:15:35	00:28:38	04:40:27	05:14:05	03:21:25	28% +19% -53% (15)	(203)
28 (28)	25?	Pavel Simko	SVK	08:42:22	09:22:02	00:28:11	04:50:58	05:24:09	03:18:13	53% +0% -47% (5)	222
29 (29)	11	Inaki De La Parra	POL	08:57:04	09:46:09	00:29:26	04:55:37	05:30:03	03:27:01	43% +0% -57% (2)	(266)
30	30	Michal Ivanco	SVK	09:09:09	10:13:59	00:28:27	05:15:34	05:49:01	03:20:08	100% +0% -0% (4)	282
31 (30)	18	Markus Mlinar	AUT	09:15:50	10:22:15	00:30:26	05:06:18	05:41:44	03:34:06	15% +0% -85% (4)	(286)
32 (32)	14?	Aleksander Kochetkov	LTU	10:12:22	11:11:58	00:32:54	05:43:05	06:20:59	03:51:23	n/a (1 IM Pro race)	(296)
33 (33)	20	Marek Nemcik	SVK	10:38:25	11:59:59	00:36:44	05:38:20	06:20:04	04:18:21	35% +20% -45% (47)	301
	12	Patrick Dirksmeier	GER	n/a	unrated	unrated	unrated	unrated	unrated	n/a (no IM Pro race)	(n/a)
	17	Franz Loeschke	GER	n/a	unrated	unrated	unrated	unrated	unrated	n/a (no IM Pro race)	(n/a)
	35?	Artem Parienko	RUS	n/a	unrated	unrated	unrated	unrated	unrated	n/a (1 IM Pro race)	(n/a)

Female Race Participants

#	Bib	Name	Nat	Expected	Rating	ERun1	EBike	ET2	ERun2	Consistency	Overall
1 (1)	65	Sarah Crowley	AUS	08:36:56	09:15:36	00:26:00	05:03:06	05:34:06	03:02:50	54% +46% -0% (7)	8
2 (2)	51	Daniela Saemmler	GER	08:39:27	09:20:18	00:26:57	04:57:55	05:29:52	03:09:35	46% +40% -14% (12)	19
3 (4)	60	Sonja Tajsich	GER	08:47:20	09:29:09	00:26:12	05:11:55	05:43:07	03:04:13	88% +2% -10% (25)	35
4 (3)	59	Maja Stage Nielsen	DEN	08:50:23	09:28:02	00:26:38	05:11:25	05:43:03	03:07:20	65% +0% -35% (4)	33
5 (6)	55	Katharina Grohmann	GER	08:59:22	09:49:51	00:27:05	05:16:46	05:48:51	03:10:31	81% +19% -0% (18)	72
6 (5)	57	Carolin Lehrieder	GER	09:14:16	10:32:57	00:28:23	05:21:17	05:54:40	03:19:36	13% +5% -82% (13)	(142)
7 (7)	58	Kristin Lie	NOR	09:32:33	10:26:29	00:29:57	05:26:57	06:01:54	03:30:39	93% +1% -6% (16)	135
8 (8)	53	Rahel Bellinga	NED	09:48:33	10:33:20	00:33:25	05:15:05	05:53:30	03:55:03	88% +9% -3% (10)	144
9 (9)	62	Jana Candrova	CZE	09:54:45	10:47:15	00:31:04	05:40:10	06:16:14	03:38:31	57% +0% -43% (20)	152
	56	Trine Boye Larsen	DEN	n/a	unrated	unrated	unrated	unrated	unrated	n/a (no IM Pro race)	(n/a)

---

Update July 24th: Removed a few DNS, especially on the female side.

Previous Winners

Year	Male Winner	Time	Female Winner	Time
2017	James Cunnama (ZAF)	08:00:36	Daniela Saemmler (GER)	09:07:49

Last Year’s TOP 3

Here’s the link to the full results analysis from last year.

Male Race Results

Rank	Name	Nation	Swim	Bike	Run	Time
1	James Cunnama	ZAF	00:49:05	04:24:32	02:40:58	08:00:36
2	Horst Reichel	GER	00:48:59	04:40:12	02:47:35	08:22:27
3	Markus Fachbach	GER	00:49:10	04:36:27	02:53:47	08:25:36

Female Race Results

Rank	Name	Nation	Swim	Bike	Run	Time
1	Daniela Saemmler	GER	00:55:53	04:55:24	03:08:53	09:07:49
2	Eva Wutti	AUT	00:58:58	05:14:59	03:02:02	09:23:35
3	Kristin Moeller	GER	01:03:37	05:30:06	02:58:10	09:39:43

Course Records

There have been significant changes to the bike course from last year, this year’s course is flat and expected to be much faster.

Leg	Gender	Record	Athlete	Date
Total	overall	08:00:36	James Cunnama	2017-08-13
Swim	overall	00:47:38	Carlos Lopez Diaz	2017-08-13
Bike	overall	04:24:32	James Cunnama	2017-08-13
Run	overall	02:40:58	James Cunnama	2017-08-13
Total	female	09:07:49	Daniela Saemmler	2017-08-13
Swim	female	00:55:53	Daniela Saemmler	2017-08-13
Bike	female	04:55:24	Daniela Saemmler	2017-08-13
Run	female	02:58:10	Kristin Moeller	2017-08-13

Course Rating

The Course Rating for IM Hamburg is 05:18.

Race Adjustments for IM Hamburg

Year	Adjustment	Swim Adj.	Bike Adj.	Run Adj.	# of Finishers	Rating	Swim Rating	Bike Rating	Run Rating
2017	05:18	00:18	04:14	07:05	18 of 20	05:18	00:18	04:14	07:05

KPR points and Prize Money

IM Hamburg is a P-2000 race. It has a total prize purse of 80.000 US$, paying 10 deep.

Male Race Participants

The strength of the field is 13% of a typical Kona field.

#	Bib	Name	Nat	Expected	Rating	ESwim	EBike	ET2	ERun	Consistency	Overall
1	1	James Cunnama	ZAF	08:07:23	08:19:06	00:49:10	04:27:56	05:22:06	02:45:17	55% +29% -16% (27)	13
2	2	Tim Don	GBR	08:07:51	08:18:42	00:47:56	04:26:45	05:19:41	02:48:10	43% +33% -24% (5)	(12)
3	39	Bart Aernouts	BEL	08:14:25	08:18:38	00:51:54	04:37:57	05:34:51	02:39:34	93% +0% -7% (13)	11
4	34	Will Clarke	GBR	08:15:29	08:25:36	00:48:58	04:40:26	05:34:25	02:41:04	22% +58% -20% (8)	30
5	26	Joe Skipper	GBR	08:17:01	08:24:21	00:52:56	04:33:09	05:31:06	02:45:55	67% +11% -22% (21)	26
6	6	Clemente Alonso McKernan	ESP	08:17:57	08:25:02	00:48:41	04:37:31	05:31:12	02:46:45	58% +7% -35% (16)	28
7	27	Jesper Svensson	SWE	08:18:04	08:35:40	00:47:06	04:33:20	05:25:27	02:52:37	n/a (1 IM Pro race)	(71)
8	3	Horst Reichel	GER	08:26:54	08:44:24	00:49:14	04:41:11	05:35:25	02:51:29	34% +26% -40% (19)	91
9	4	Johann Ackermann *	GER	08:28:07	08:38:32	00:48:38	04:33:25	05:27:03	03:01:04	80% +0% -20% (11)	83
10	38	Markus Fachbach	GER	08:28:49	08:46:33	00:49:48	04:38:40	05:33:28	02:55:21	47% +0% -53% (23)	99
11	37	Paul Schuster	GER	08:29:54	08:47:55	00:49:36	04:36:10	05:30:47	02:59:07	n/a (1 IM Pro race)	(104)
12	36	Bryan McCrystal	IRL	08:30:35	08:49:42	00:57:13	04:25:48	05:28:01	03:02:34	32% +45% -23% (6)	109
13	9	Miquel Blanchart Tinto	ESP	08:31:05	08:35:19	00:49:45	04:49:44	05:44:29	02:46:36	89% +2% -9% (20)	68
14	15	Christian Kramer	GER	08:31:48	08:37:28	00:48:24	04:40:03	05:33:27	02:58:21	75% +4% -20% (22)	79
15	22	Michael Raelert	GER	08:31:54	08:54:08	00:48:21	04:43:52	05:37:13	02:54:41	31% +0% -69% (4)	(134)
16	5	Michael Patrick Alonso Mckernan	ESP	08:35:30	08:54:35	00:54:54	04:34:07	05:34:01	03:01:29	0% +42% -58% (3)	(134)
17	24	Jonathan Shearon	USA	08:35:48	08:46:08	00:54:24	04:39:27	05:38:51	02:56:57	63% +16% -21% (22)	97
18	8	Per Bittner	GER	08:35:51	08:45:20	00:50:05	04:42:51	05:37:56	02:57:55	43% +6% -51% (26)	93
19	13	Christian Haupt	GER	08:35:59	08:54:13	00:53:22	04:41:15	05:39:37	02:56:22	n/a (1 IM Pro race)	(134)
20	29	Domenico Passuello	ITA	08:37:23	08:58:57	00:55:18	04:40:11	05:40:29	02:56:54	9% +14% -76% (9)	(150)
21	7	Victor Arroyo Bugallo	ESP	08:37:40	08:55:58	00:56:36	04:47:26	05:49:02	02:48:38	n/a (1 IM Pro race)	(140)
22	23	Alexander Schilling	GER	08:40:49	08:47:47	00:48:54	04:43:02	05:36:57	03:03:52	100% +0% -0% (3)	103
23	33	Michael Ruenz	GER	08:42:02	08:55:59	00:56:48	04:49:24	05:51:12	02:50:50	61% +0% -39% (14)	140
24	10	Christian Brader	GER	08:45:23	08:50:48	00:55:31	04:50:41	05:51:12	02:54:11	62% +2% -37% (42)	116
25	16	Markus Liebelt	GER	08:50:23	09:20:09	00:55:35	04:42:22	05:42:58	03:07:25	23% +0% -77% (3)	(211)
26	31	Niclas Bock	GER	08:51:38	09:27:06	00:52:20	04:42:31	05:39:51	03:11:47	5% +0% -95% (4)	(236)
27	19	Philipp Mock	GER	08:52:09	09:08:30	00:59:06	04:39:12	05:43:18	03:08:51	100% +0% -0% (2)	(184)
28	21	Andreas Niedrig	GER	08:55:13	09:10:05	00:48:21	04:40:27	05:33:48	03:21:25	44% +30% -26% (14)	(188)
29	32	Thomas Bosch	GER	08:58:51	09:10:10	00:58:43	04:54:16	05:57:59	03:00:52	54% +34% -12% (6)	188
30	25	Pavel Simko	SVK	09:06:06	09:22:02	00:51:55	04:50:58	05:47:53	03:18:13	53% +0% -47% (5)	221
31	11	Inaki De La Parra	POL	09:27:09	09:46:09	00:59:32	04:55:37	06:00:08	03:27:01	43% +0% -57% (2)	(268)
32	18	Markus Mlinar	AUT	09:43:14	10:22:15	00:57:49	05:06:18	06:09:08	03:34:06	15% +0% -85% (4)	(288)
33	30	Michal Ivanco	SVK	10:00:34	10:13:59	01:19:52	05:15:34	06:40:26	03:20:08	100% +0% -0% (4)	284
34	28	Kevin Thewes	GER	10:15:35	10:53:36	01:10:39	05:19:31	06:35:11	03:40:24	n/a (1 IM Pro race)	(296)
35	14	Aleksander Kochetkov	LTU	10:49:02	11:11:58	01:09:34	05:43:05	06:57:39	03:51:23	n/a (1 IM Pro race)	(298)
36	20	Marek Nemcik	SVK	11:14:54	11:59:59	01:13:13	05:38:20	06:56:33	04:18:21	35% +20% -45% (47)	302
	12	Patrick Dirksmeier	GER	n/a	unrated	unrated	unrated	unrated	unrated	n/a (no IM Pro race)	(n/a)
	17	Franz Loeschke	GER	n/a	unrated	unrated	unrated	unrated	unrated	n/a (no IM Pro race)	(n/a)
	35	Artem Parienko	RUS	n/a	unrated	unrated	unrated	unrated	unrated	n/a (1 IM Pro race)	(n/a)

Note: Athletes with a ‘*’ are also registered for another race within 8 days.

Female Race Participants

The strength of the field is 23% of a typical Kona field.

#	Bib	Name	Nat	Expected	Rating	ESwim	EBike	ET2	ERun	Consistency	Overall
1	61	Helle Frederiksen	DEN	09:05:09	09:24:25	00:52:24	05:02:43	06:00:07	03:05:02	n/a (1 IM Pro race)	(27)
2	65	Sarah Crowley	AUS	09:05:36	09:15:36	00:54:40	05:03:06	06:02:46	03:02:50	54% +46% -0% (7)	8
3	51	Daniela Saemmler	GER	09:08:41	09:20:18	00:56:10	04:57:55	05:59:06	03:09:35	46% +40% -14% (12)	19
4	52	Corinne Abraham	GBR	09:10:30	09:17:44	01:00:41	05:04:37	06:10:18	03:00:12	77% +23% -0% (15)	13
5	54	Anja Beranek	GER	09:18:24	09:29:34	00:52:26	05:01:48	05:59:14	03:19:10	52% +3% -45% (13)	36
6	66	Sara Svensk *	SWE	09:21:50	09:33:21	00:58:17	05:08:19	06:11:36	03:10:14	47% +30% -23% (4)	41
7	59	Maja Stage Nielsen	DEN	09:22:50	09:28:02	00:59:05	05:11:25	06:15:30	03:07:20	65% +0% -35% (4)	33
8	60	Sonja Tajsich	GER	09:24:04	09:29:09	01:02:57	05:11:55	06:19:51	03:04:13	88% +2% -10% (25)	35
9	63	Angela Naeth *	CAN	09:28:06	09:51:46	00:59:36	05:00:26	06:05:01	03:23:05	9% +16% -75% (7)	76
10	57	Carolin Lehrieder	GER	09:41:53	10:32:57	00:56:00	05:21:17	06:22:17	03:19:36	13% +5% -82% (13)	(141)
11	55	Katharina Grohmann	GER	09:43:35	09:49:51	01:11:18	05:16:46	06:33:04	03:10:31	81% +19% -0% (18)	73
12	58	Kristin Lie	NOR	10:14:47	10:26:29	01:12:11	05:26:57	06:44:08	03:30:39	93% +1% -6% (16)	134
13	53	Rahel Bellinga	NED	10:21:36	10:33:20	01:06:28	05:15:05	06:26:33	03:55:03	88% +9% -3% (10)	143
14	62	Jana Candrova	CZE	10:31:13	10:47:15	01:07:32	05:40:10	06:52:42	03:38:31	57% +0% -43% (20)	151
	56	Trine Boye Larsen	DEN	n/a	unrated	unrated	unrated	unrated	unrated	n/a (no IM Pro race)	(n/a)

Note: Athletes with a ‘*’ are also registered for another race within 8 days.

Winning Odds

Male Race Participants

• James Cunnama: 45% (1-1)
• Tim Don: 25% (3-1)
• Bart Aernouts: 14% (6-1)
• Joe Skipper: 6% (15-1)
• Will Clarke: 5% (18-1)
• Clemente Alonso McKernan: 4% (27-1)

Female Race Participants

• Daniela Sämmler: 43% (1-1)
• Sarah Crowley: 26% (3-1)
• Corinne Abraham: 22% (4-1)
• Helle Frederiksen: 4% (27-1)
• Anja Beranek: 2% (49-1)

Kona Qualifying

As IM Hamburg is one of the final races before the July cutoff, a lot of athletes are looking for points to secure their slots. Here’s the “who needs what” for Hamburg.

Male Participants

• Just finish: James Cunnama, Bart Aernouts
• 8th or better: Will Clarke (but likely racing IM UK)
• 4th or better: Jonathan Shearon, Tim Don
• 3rd or better: Christian Kramer, Jesper Svensson
• 2nd or better: Joe Skipper (Joe is now safe after his win at IM UK)
• Win: Miguel Blanchard Tinto, Johann Ackermann

Female Participants

•  Already Safe: Sarah Crowley, Helle Frederiksen
• 4th or better: Sara Svensk
• 2nd or better: Maja Stage Nielsen, Corinne Abraham
• Win: Daniela Sämmler

The above is what the athletes will have to finish at to have a chance for a slot, for more details see my analysis of Kona July Qualifying.

Update June 21st:

• Added Corinne Abraham, Maja Stage Nielsen (WPRO), James Cunnama, Christian Haupt, Christian Kramer, Philipp Mock, Joe Skipper and Jesper Svensson

Male Race Participants

Name	Nation	KPR points	KPR races
James Cunnama	ZAF	6500	1+2 (5250/500)
Jesper Svensson	SWE	2620	1+2 (2000/220)
Christian Kramer	GER	2355	2+1
Miquel Blanchart Tinto	ESP	2340	3+1 (405/15)
Joe Skipper	GBR	2140	2+0
Horst Reichel	GER	1445	1+2 (405/400)
Johann Ackermann	GER	1185	1+2 (685/220)
Michael Patrick Alonso Mckernan	ESP	960	1+0
Victor Arroyo Bugallo	ESP	405	1+0
Per Bittner	GER	325	2+0
Christian Brader	GER	265	1+2 (230/15)
Inaki De La Parra	POL	150	2+0
Markus Liebelt	GER	135	0+1
Pavel Simko	SVK	135	1+1
Philipp Mock	GER	100	0+2 (0/35)
Christian Haupt	GER	75	0+1
Markus Mlinar	AUT	17	0+2 (0/7)
Kevin Thewes	GER	5	0+1
Aleksander Kochetkov	LTU	0	0+0
Andreas Niedrig	GER	0	0+0
Andreas Raelert	GER	0	0+0
Alexander Schilling	GER	0	0+0

Female Race Participants

Name	Nation	KPR points	KPR races
Sarah Crowley	AUS	6480	1+0
Maja Stage Nielsen	DEN	3335	2+1
Laura Philipp	GER	3180	0+2 (0/750)
Daniela Saemmler	GER	2460	1+2 (1280/540)
Katharina Grohmann	GER	2020	2+1
Anja Beranek	GER	2000	1+2 (960/500)
Sonja Tajsich	GER	1800	2+1
Corinne Abraham	GBR	1280	1+1
Carolin Lehrieder	GER	0	0+0
Kristin Lie	NOR	0	0+0

Kona Qualifying

Here’s a look at the male athletes that can secure a Kona slot in Hamburg:

• James Cunnama just needs a finish.
• Jesper Svensson could get a slot with fourth place.
• Christian Kramer would need podium finish.
• Joe Skipper needs at least a second place, but is on a number of other entry lists.
• Miguel Blanchard and Horst Reichel can secure a Kona slot but probably need a win.

A number of female Pros could also secure their Kona slot:

• Sarah Crowley just needs a finish (but is probably only on the list as a backup for IM Frankfurt).
• Maja Stage Nielsen will secure a slot with a podium finish.
• Laura Philipp is also racing IM Frankfurt, in case she races Hamburg she’d need a podium.
• Daniela Sammler has to defend her title to get a July slot.

Race Conditions

This was the first edition of IM Hamburg, and almost all of the Pros seemed to like the venue and the course. The swim was wetsuit-legal (and still not very fast), the rolling bike course wasn’t very quick, followed by a fast run-course with lots of spectators. This race had adjustment of 5:18, comparable to Mont Tremblant or Switzerland.

Male Race Results

James Cunnama showed a great performance, in the end he won by more than twenty minutes. He was in the first chase group after the swim and rode the first loop of the bike with four other athletes (who ended up in second to fifth). Towards the end of the first bike loop he took control of the race, quickly building a demanding lead that he extended for the rest of the day, posting the fastest bike leg and a 2:40 marathon. A great confidence builder for Kona!

Since winning IM Sweden in 2014, Horst Reichel hasn’t had a good Ironman distance race (and DNF’ing a number of times). He was very solid in Hamburg: Swimming with James Cunnama and biking with the first chase group. In T2 he was three minutes behind Markus but then methodically closed the gap and secured second place with the second best marathon.

On the surface Markus Fachbach could be happy with his race: A third place finish secured a Kona slot for him, but he wasn’t satisfied with his performance. He said he tried to ride too long when James out down the hammer and never really recovered from going a bit too hard for a bit too long. Even though he suffered quite a bit, his third place was never in doubt.

 

Rank	Name	Nation	Swim	Bike	Run	Time	Diff to exp.	Prize Money	KPR Points
1	James Cunnama	ZAF	00:49:05	04:24:32	02:40:58	08:00:36	-21:31	US$ 15,000	2000
2	Horst Reichel	GER	00:48:59	04:40:12	02:47:35	08:22:27	-34:30	US$ 7,500	1600
3	Markus Fachbach	GER	00:49:10	04:36:27	02:53:47	08:25:36	-05:14	US$ 5,000	1280
4	Carlos Lopez Diaz	ESP	00:47:38	04:45:34	02:54:55	08:35:36	-04:16	US$ 3,250	960
5	Alexander Schilling	GER	00:49:02	04:40:02	03:07:00	08:42:05	07:44	US$ 2,750	720
6	Mike Schifferle	SUI	00:59:01	04:47:46	02:57:09	08:54:09	-06:43	US$ 2,000	540
7	Lachlan Kerin	AUS	00:52:42	04:52:02	03:10:40	09:03:00	-32:37	US$ 1,500	405
8	Lukas Polan	CZE	01:03:18	05:22:22	03:11:40	09:45:12	05:02	US$ 1,250	305
9	Valentin Zasypkin	RUS	01:03:48	05:17:45	03:20:02	09:50:11	-23:25	US$ 1,000	230
10	Michal Ivanco	SVK	01:19:23	05:14:39	03:20:19	10:04:51	-03:46	US$ 750	170
11	Marek Nemcik	SVK	01:09:19	06:12:29	05:02:00	12:38:35	1:02:35		120
	Christian Birngruber	AUT	00:52:40	04:52:55		DNF

Female Race Results

Daniela Sämmler had focused her 2017 summer on racing IM Hamburg, and she won the female race in dominating fashion: She was first out of the water and then posted the fastest bike split. Her 4:55 was the only female sub-5 bike split and almost 15 minutes quicker than any other woman. She then continued with an even-paced 3:08 marathon, just a few seconds slower than her marathon PR from 2013. 

Before the race Eva Wutti hoped that she had recovered from her win at IM Austria just six weeks earlier – after the race she said she had never had to work so hard to finish a race. Even if she was disappointed that she wasn’t able to contend for the win, she still finished second but coming short of securing the points she needed to qualify for Kona.

Similar to Eva, third place Kristin Möller wasn’t happy with her swim and bike, in T2 she was in sixth place with a gap of more than 20 minutes to third place.

But Kristin was clearly the best runner in the field, she methodically closed the gap to the women in front of her. By the third of four loops on the run course she moved into fifth place and eventually even managed to build a gap of nine minutes to Sandra Wassink-Hitzert who was fourth in her first Pro Ironman race. Kristin’s 2:58 was the best marathon of the day and she finished in third place, also scoring a few more KPR points so she is now safe for an August slot.

Rank	Name	Nation	Swim	Bike	Run	Time	Diff to exp.	Prize Money	KPR Points
1	Daniela Saemmler	GER	00:55:53	04:55:24	03:08:53	09:07:49	-26:16	US$ 15,000	2000
2	Eva Wutti	AUT	00:58:58	05:14:59	03:02:02	09:23:35	10:54	US$ 7,500	1600
3	Kristin Moeller	GER	01:03:37	05:30:06	02:58:10	09:39:43	05:46	US$ 5,000	1280
4	Sandra Wassink-Hitzert	NED	00:55:56	05:25:10	03:19:31	09:48:37	n/a	US$ 3,250	960
5	Verena Walter	GER	01:00:30	05:19:04	03:24:29	09:52:03	08:26	US$ 2,750	720
6	Rahel Bellinga	NED	01:05:53	05:09:05	03:59:54	10:23:56	04:38	US$ 2,000	540
7	Annabel Diawuoh	GER	01:28:45	05:42:35	04:03:43	11:26:29	01:52	US$ 1,500	405
	Angela Kuehnlein	GER	01:03:45	05:42:41		DNF

Saturday in Hamburg has been a wet affair. Grey, low hanging clouds brought rain for most of the day – as you can see on this photo from the “Binnenalster” where the swim will happen on Sunday:

The buoys in the foreground are for the second part of the swim, the first part will go into the bigger “Aussenalster” and swimmers have to pass under the bridge next to the white tents on the right hand side. The weather for race day is supposed to be much better, but the rain added to the tension most athletes feel at bike checkin.

Starting with bib #1 will be Kristin Möller, she had a wide smile when dropping off her bike (before packing it into a number of orange trash bags to protect it from the rain):

You can see Kristin’s bike in the foreground, the picture shows bib #2 Daniela Sämmler who has focused her summer racing on Hamburg and seems confident but relaxed:

Eva Wutti (bib #4) was among the first to drop off her bike – it was setting unprotected in the rain, collecting a number of water droplets as the day progressed. Hopefully her electronic shifting is water-proof!

Dutch Pro Sandra Wassink-Hitzert (bib #14) came prepared – her kids helped her pick out some princess-themed pink plastic tablecloth in a discount store that she used to build a makeshift tent for her bike:

Mike Schifferle has finished more than 70 Ironman-distance races so far – of course he is “Thumbs Up” for the first edition of Ironman Hamburg:

Horst Reichel took some extra care to protect his chain from the rain – he’s hoping for a good, solid Ironman finish after a couple of not very satisfying races:

Carlos Lopez Diaz is going to be one of the fastest swimmers tomorrow, he’ll need a good finish to make it to Kona. I didn’t particularly like the color scheme of his bike, but that won’t impact how fast he’ll finish:

James Cunnama is the pre-race favorite on the men’s side – he was all business when he quickly dropped off his bike. It didn’t take too long for the bike to be drenched, with some droplets forming on the seatpost of his P5X.

Happy racing to all starters at IM Hamburg tomorrow!