IM Hawaii

This is an excerpt from my “Kona 2018 Rating Report“. You can download your copy here.

[float left: points]

James had a stellar second half of 2017: After qualifying with a fourth place in Frankfurt, he won IM Hamburg with one of the fastest runs of the year and finished fifth in Kona. After a serious crash and a few broken ribs he struggled at the start of the 2018 season, but was still able to finish sub-8 at Challenge Roth and secured his Kona slot with a third place at IM Hamburg.

James knows what is needed to do well in Kona: Not lose too much time on the bike (he was just four minutes behind in T2 in 2017) and then run well off the bike. He’s been training with a 2:40 Kona marathon in mind, but maybe this will have to wait a bit after the tough start to his 2018 season. But even a slight improvement on his 2:56 marathon from last year would see him fighting for a podium.

Photo: James on the bike at Challenge Samorin, Credit: James Mitchell

This is an excerpt from my “Kona 2018 Rating Report“. You can download your copy here.

Kaisa already has two fifth-place finishes in Kona and will be looking to step it up this year.

After securing her Kona slot for this year with a win at Ironman Arizona, she was going for the win at Challenge Roth. She was working very hard on the bike to close the gap to the nominally stronger bikers Lucy Charles and Daniela Sämmler and even with severe GI issues posted the fastest marathon. She wasn’t rewarded for her efforts and ended up in third place. Even though she and coach Siri Lindley had earlier decided on only one IM before Kona this year, she raced and won IM Switzerland just four weeks after Roth, probably to fine-tune her nutrition plan.

Kaisa is always racing with a lot of heart, and it’s quite likely that she will also put in some surges on the bike and run in Kona. If she manages to have a better Kona swim, she will have faster athletes around her that will help her work even harder for a good bike split. That would help her to start the run with a chance to run up to the podium spots, and she would like nothing more than a close running fight in the final kilometers of the run.

Photo: Kaisa chasing the leaders on the bike leg of Challenge Samorin. Credit: James Mitchell

This is an excerpt from my “Kona 2018 Rating Report“. You can download your copy here.

Cam has been touted as “Ironman’s Top Cyclist” by Triathlete Magazine – and like Andrew Starykowicz he has been setting bike course records left and right, including a 4:12 in Kona last year. Still he was a bit disappointed with his Kona 2017 race, calling it his “life time best bike” but also “life time worst swim and run”.

Cam has been racing a lot this year: He finished six IM-distance races. Even without showing all his cards the progress on the run has been evident, in his last two races he posted his first sub-3 runs (2:58 in Switzerland and 2:52 in Almere). He will also be racing Kona with a few more improvements in his bike setup: He was racing a Pinarello prototype in Almere and afterwards went to the wind tunnel for some fine-tuning.

It’s likely that Cam’s plan for Kona 2018 starts with a faster swim than last year – last year he first had to play catch-up to join Sebi and Lionel for the chase to the front. Once Cam and the rest of the group hit the lead, a lot of athletes will be forced to drop back even without Cam putting in a surge. He will be interested in a good position at the start of the run, but more so in having a great marathon as well. Even Cam is unsure of what he’s able to do as all his marathons this year have been controlled, steady efforts without going all out in the last kilometers. Last year, a 3-hour marathon would have seen Cam in fifth place – what will he be able to do this year?

Photo: Cameron racing the bike leg at Challenge Almere with a new Pinarello tri bike. Credit: James Mitchell

This is an excerpt from my “Kona 2018 Rating Report“. You can download your copy here.

After her baby break last year, Rinny is back in Kona, looking for another title or at least a podium. She validated her Kona slot with a sub-9 hour second place at IM Cairns and focused on racing 70.3s over the summer, a typical Kona build for her. Even though a lot of young fast women are now racing in Kona, Rinny wants to show them that she is still competitive, and she and coach Siri Lindley will have worked hard to be able to challenge Daniela for the win in Kona. Based on her previous results she’s expected to start the run around 20th place, about ten minutes behind the podium spots. And even though she’s still my pick for the fastest run split, there are now a lot of athletes that aren’t much slower than her.

To be in a better T2 position the second half of the bike is crucial for her – that is where she has been losing most of the time to the others. Instead of riding on her own as she often had to in previous years, she could benefit from being pushed by other women around her, allowing her to minimize the time she’s behind in T2. If she can then unleash another marathon like her course record 2:50 from 2014, the last hour of the female race could develop into be a battle you shouldn’t miss.

Photo: Rinny running in the Energy Lab on the way to second place in Kona 2016. Credit: Jay Prasuhn