IM Hawaii

This year, the Ho’ala swim is held six days before the Kona race on the swim course. There are slight changes towards the end, the finish is on the small beach at the King Kam hotel instead of back on “Dig Me Beach”, usually resulting in slightly quicker times compared to the Kona swim. It is used by a lot of athletes as an excellent open-water training session, the table below shows just the Kona Pros that I have been able to identify in the results, comparing their times in this year’s swim, their expected swim times for this year’s Ironman race (plus the difference, usually faster) and the same results (as long as they are available) for last year’s Ho’ala swim and Ironman Hawaii swim. (There were probably a few more Pros in the swim, for example, Matt Hanson and Matt Russell posted about their swims.)

Some observations:

• On average, the Kona Pros swam about three minutes quicker than their “expected swim times” for Kona.
• The first three athletes swam a time that would have been under the current male Kona swim course record (46:29 by Jan Sibbersen). There were two more age-groupers between Alistair and Josh.
• With Ali beating Josh, it’s likely he is going to be a front group swimmer next Saturday, probably coming out of the water in a potential Amberger/Frodeno group. As expected, Daniel Baekkegard might also be in that group.
• Another interesting data point is that Lionel Sanders was about 30 seconds in front of Cam Wurf – that would create an interesting dynamic in the Ironman race.
• Lucy Charles was on the start list and posted on Instagram that she was looking for a re-match with Josh, but in the end she did not race (neither did husband Reece Barclay).
• In the absence of Lucy, the fastest female Pro was Sarah Crowley who had a great swim (6 minutes quicker than seeded). Other good swims (relative to the expected swims) were by Jen Annett (5:30 quicker), Nikki Bartlett and Els Visser (about 5 minutes quicker). There were quite a few female Pros with great swims, they might have benefitted from the bigger swim groups.

Athlete	Ho’ola Swim	Expected Swim	Faster By	2018 Ho’ola	2018 Race
Alistair Brownlee	00:46:07	00:50:34	00:04:27
Josh Amberger	00:46:14	00:48:40	00:02:26	00:47:08	00:47:39
Daniel Baekkegard	00:46:19	00:49:21	00:03:02
Andi Boecherer	00:49:20	00:50:16	00:00:56
Frank Silvestrin	00:49:35	00:52:30	00:02:55
Sarah Crowley	00:49:40	00:55:46	00:06:06		00:54:19
Nils Frommhold	00:49:41	00:50:47	00:01:06
Joe Gambles	00:49:41	00:52:29	00:02:48
Philipp Koutny	00:49:47	00:52:23	00:02:36
Ben Hoffman	00:49:50	00:50:45	00:00:55
Timothy O’Donnell	00:49:50	00:49:48	(-00:02)	00:49:41	00:47:45
TJ Tollakson	00:49:50	00:52:44	00:02:54
Will Clarke	00:51:54	00:51:43	(-00:11)	00:50:37	00:50:39
David Plese	00:51:55	00:55:13	00:03:18		00:54:02
Lionel Sanders	00:51:56	00:55:49	00:03:53	00:51:22	00:53:59
Jeanni Seymour	00:52:14	00:55:15	00:03:01
Cameron Wurf	00:52:24	00:53:28	00:01:04	00:50:58	00:50:51
Kimberley Morrison	00:54:33	00:58:37	00:04:04
Kaisa Sali	00:55:08	00:59:46	00:04:38	00:55:47	00:58:23
Els Visser	00:55:54	01:00:59	00:05:05
Mareen Hufe	00:56:58	01:01:17	00:04:19	00:58:47	00:58:34
Jen Annett	00:57:37	01:03:13	00:05:36		00:58:47
Annah Watkinson	00:57:37	01:01:36	00:03:59
Nikki Bartlett	00:57:46	01:02:57	00:05:11
Stefan Schumacher	00:58:05	01:01:30	00:03:25
Mirinda Carfrae	00:58:38	01:00:01	00:01:23	00:59:03	00:58:18
Bianca Steurer	01:01:31	01:03:22	00:01:51
Gurutze Frades Larralde	01:01:52	01:05:47	00:03:55	01:03:02	01:05:03

For the 2019 Ironman World Championships in Kona on October 12th I have released a 150+-page Rating Report with tons of information:

• Detailed results and analysis of last year’s race
• Information about the Kona course, top Kona finishers and the current course records
• A summary of Pro qualifying and who will be on the startline
• How the race may unfold and what to watch for during the race
• The Kona 2019 start list and my predictions and odds for the Pro athletes
• Details about all Pros including their input and a lot of photos

The Report is available for free, but it would be great if you can support my work before Kona and during the year by donating an amount of your choice. (For comparison, triathlon magazines sell for about $8.)

The Kona Rating Report is the ideal information to have when following the Ironman Kona coverage!

Get The Kona Report

This post looks at some data points on the Kona 2019 Pro field. There’s going to be a lot more information about Kona and the Kona Pro field in my “Kona 2019 Rating Report” that you can already pre-order here.

Distribution by Nation

First, let’s have a look at how many Pro athletes are going to be racing in Kona and how those numbers have changed in recent years. I’m using 2011 as the starting year since the Kona Pro field has been pretty much around 90 athletes since then. In earlier years the Pro fields have been much larger – for example there were 148 Pro starters in 2009!

Here’s the graph that looks at the number of Pros broken down by nation:

Some main points:

• The US has always had the largest number of Pro athletes racing in Kona. This year isn’t any different – the US has 21 Pro athletes which is also a record number (tied with 2013 and 2015).
• Next up is Germany – 19 German Pros is also a record number and more than double than last year. Germany was in #4 four last year, they have clearly moved to take the #2 this year.
• Last year, Australia and the United Kingdom were tied at nine athletes each, and not much has changed: Australia stayed the same, the British Pro team has grown by one athlete.
• Switzerland has closed the gap to the top nations, with eight Pros in 2019 they have almost closed the gap to Australia.
• There is a lot more movement for the smaller nations. In 2018 New Zealand had seven athletes in Kona, this year they have dropped down to three. The big mover is South Africa with an improvement from two athletes last year to five.

Kona Experience of the Pro Field

This section look at how the Kona field is changing over time.

First, a look at how often the Kona Pros have raced there before:

This graph shows that there hasn’t been much change from last year. The men’s average of 3.30 races per starter continues to be at record levels. The corresponding female number (an average of 2.20 races per starter) is almost one race lower than that.

The next graph looks at what part of the field is athletes returning from the previous year’s race and which part consists of Kona rookies:

There is a bit more movement here:

• The Return Rate for the men has dropped from 64% to just over fifty percent. At the same time, the segment of Kona rookies has grown to 25%, the highest number since 2015 when it was 33%.
• The number of female rookies has reached a new record level: 16 rookies result in a rookies quota of 36%. Exactly half of the 2019 field has raced Kona 2018.

It’s not quite clear why these changes have happened, but it’s quite likely that the new qualifying system has played a role.

Age of the Kona Pros

Here’s a graph showing the age distribution of the Kona Pros (click for a hi-res version):

The youngest Pros racing in Kona are Daniel Baekkegard (23 years) and Nina Derron, Imo Simmonds and Lucy Charles-Barkley (26 years). Sue Huse and Daniel Fontana are the oldest.

It’s interesting to cross-reference this with the Age of Kona winners and some extra material for speculation.

Individual Athlete Kona Results

The following tables look at the results each Kona 2019 Pro athlete has had on the Big Island in previous years.

Female Participants

Athletes	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	# of Starts	Highest Finish
Corinne Abraham									11			16	9	3	9
Jen Annett													25	1	25
Nikki Bartlett														0 of 1
Emma Bilham
Daniela Bleymehl											36			1	36
Lauren Brandon												26		1 of 2	26
Mirinda Carfrae				2	Win	2	3	Win	Win		2		5	8 of 9	1
Lucy Charles-Barclay												2	2	2	2
Susie Cheetham										6		6	26	3 of 4	6
Linsey Corbin	23		5	11	12	16	8	10	12		13	13	10	11 of 12	5
Sarah Crowley											15	3	6	3	3
Nina Derron
Gurutze Frades Larralde											33	22	24	3	22
Anne Haug													3	1	3
Mareen Hufe							19			21		11	13	4 of 5	11
Sue Huse
Heather Jackson										5	3	4	14	4	3
Meredith Kessler					26			7		26	35			4 of 7	7
Martina Kunz
Carrie Lester					23						10	7		3 of 4	7
Kristin Liepold							17	15	25		26			4	15
Danielle Mack
Jocelyn McCauley												10	30	2	10
Skye Moench
Kimberley Morrison
Camilla Pedersen										8	11			2 of 3	8
Laura Philipp
Sarah Piampiano							23			7	7		11	4 of 5	7
Barbara Riveros
Daniela Ryf									2	Win	Win	Win	Win	5	1
Kaisa Sali											5	5	7	3	5
Jeanni Seymour
Laura Siddall												15	17	2	15
Imogen Simmonds
Lesley Smith														0 of 1
Jennifer Spieldenner
Maja Stage Nielsen												12	15	2	12
Caroline Steffen					2	5	2	5	5	9				6	2
Bianca Steurer											28			1	28
Svenja Thoes
Sarah True													4	1	4
Els Visser
Annah Watkinson
Kelsey Withrow

Male Participants

Athletes	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	# of Starts	Highest Finish
Bart Aernouts							11	8	9		8	12	2	6 of 7	2
Clemente Alonso McKernan				17										1 of 3	17
Josh Amberger												29		1 of 2	29
Daniel Baekkegard
Cody Beals
Andi Boecherer					51	8	21			20	5			5 of 6	5
Terenzo Bozzone				11	20							6		3 of 5	6
Alistair Brownlee
Kyle Buckingham									24	30		26	23	4 of 5	23
Will Clarke											41		42	2	41
Maurice Clavel													19	1	19
James Cunnama				51				4			26	5	17	5 of 6	4
Braden Currie												30	5	2	5
Mario De Elias
David Dellow							9				24			2 of 3	9
Tobias Drachler
Andreas Dreitz													13	1	13
Marc Duelsen												18		1 of 2	18
Daniel Fontana						12			33					2 of 5	12
Jan Frodeno									3	Win	Win	35		4	1
Nils Frommhold									6	29				2 of 3	6
Joe Gambles						20			27					2 of 4	20
Matt Hanson												34	33	2 of 3	33
Ben Hoffman				55	42			15	2	27	4	9		7 of 8	2
Kristian Hogenhaug
Sebastian Kienle							4	3	Win	8	2	4		6 of 7	1
Philipp Koutny													15	1	15
Lukas Kraemer
Patrick Lange											3	Win	Win	3	1
Chris Leiferman
Eneko Llanos	5	7	2	14	7			11		7	27	24		9 of 12	2
Franz Loeschke
David McNamee										11	13	3	3	4	3
Patrik Nilsson												8		1 of 2	8
Timothy O’Donnell							8	5	32	3	6	19	4	7 of 8	3
Kennett Peterson
Mike Phillips													16	1	16
David Plese								27			17		21	3 of 5	17
Andy Potts			7	9	21	17	7		4	4	11	7	8	10	4
Tim Reed									21			23	18	3 of 4	18
Matthew Russell						23	20	18	23		12		6	6 of 7	6
Lionel Sanders										14	29	2	28	4	2
Daniil Sapunov
Stefan Schumacher
Frank Silvestrin
Joe Skipper										13	41		7	3	7
Andrew Starykowicz								19					40	2 of 3	19
Boris Stein									20	10	7	10		4	7
Jesper Svensson
TJ Tollakson		29	58	32	38			20						5 of 7	20
Matt Trautman														0 of 1
Jan van Berkel										32		22	24	3 of 4	22
Tim Van Berkel									7	36	19	15	12	5	7
Cyril Viennot						15	18	12	5	6	18		35	7 of 8	5
Michael Weiss				25	13				16	16	32		10	6 of 8	10
Cameron Wurf												17	9	2	9

---

There’s going to be a lot more information about Kona and the Kona Pro field in my “Kona 2019 Rating Report” that you can already pre-order here.

Here is a list of resources for Kona 2019 (race on Saturday, October 12th):

• Kona Rating Report (150+ pages with tons of information about the Pro field, order at this link or click “Get Kona Report” in the sidebar)
• “TriRating Kona 2019 Cheat Sheet” (one page of who and what to look for during the race)
• Always Up-to-date Kona 2019 Startlist and Kona Seedings
• Some Kona 2019 Data Points
• Kona Kings & Queens, a look at some of the Pros racing Kona with pictures by James Mitchell

Some posts from other Triathlon media:

• Tim Heming’s discussion for the British “220 Triathlon” magazine about his Top 10 Kona Predictions for the Women and Men
• The schedule for “Breakfast with Bob” (starting Monday) can be found here. If you have a chance to watch it live, by all means do so – most of the Pros are really friendly and still relaxed. If you can’t be in Kona, watch the interviews live or taped on YouTube.
• Talbot Cox has a series of videos in his “Kona 2019” series on YouTube.
• The Ironwomen podcast is doing a lot of interviews with female Pros on their Facebook page.
• Laura Siddall has written for Red Bull about the male and female Pro fields.  Always interesting to get the perspective of someone racing in the Pro race herself!
• Witsup has produced a hilarious spoof of the Kona coverage: “The 2019 Witsuo Kona Kall“

Here is the start list for Kona 2019. I will update when athletes withdraw from the race.

For details about Pro qualifying and where each athlete qualified, check out the “Kona 2019 Qualifying” page.

I provide a lot more details on the race and the participants in my free “Kona Rating Report” – you can order the Report here or by clicking “Get Kona Report” in the sidebar on the right.

Updates

• On October 6th, Terenzo Bozzone withdrew from the race (see his Instagram post), citing an Achilles injury that is on the mend but just not good enough to be competitive on the run.
• On September 26th, Skye Moench posted on Instagram that she’s been in a bike crash. Her injuries (among others a concussion, shattered elbow, and broken clavicle) won’t allow her to race in Kona this year.
• On September 17th, Kyle Buckingham announced on Instagram that because of visa problems he won’t be able to race Kona. He has instead switched his focus to IM Italy and IM Barcelona.
• In early July, Frederik van Lierde announced that he will not race Kona but is instead going to focus on 70.3 Worlds in Nice in early September and then IM Barcelona in October.

To the athletes with an injury, fingers crossed for a speedy and full recovery!

Injury List

Not all Kona preps are going according to plan, and some athletes are open about the problems they are facing in getting ready for Kona:

• Mirinda Carfrae and Tim O’Donnell posted an update on their YouTube channel. The title of the episode says it all: “I broke my elbow and Tim hurt his foot“. Both are still planning to race Kona, even if Rinny thinks her swim will suffer.

Male Race Participants

Bib	Name	Nation	Age	Previous Results
M1	Patrick Lange	GER	33	3 finishes, 2 wins (2017, 2018)
M2	Bart Aernouts	BEL	35	6 finishes (7 starts)
M3	David McNamee	GBR	31	4 finishes
M4	Jan Frodeno	GER	38	4 finishes, 2 wins (2015, 2016)
M5	Sebastian Kienle	GER	35	6 finishes (7 starts), 1 win (2014)
M6	Timothy O’Donnell	USA	39	7 finishes (8 starts)
M7	Braden Currie	NZL	33	2 finishes
M8	Matthew Russell	USA	36	6 finishes (7 starts)
M9	Joe Skipper	GBR	31	3 finishes
M10	Andy Potts	USA	42	10 finishes
M11	Cameron Wurf	AUS	36	2 finishes
M12	Michael Weiss	AUT	38	6 finishes (8 starts)
M14	Ben Hoffman	USA	36	7 finishes (8 starts)
M15	Patrik Nilsson	SWE	28	1 finish (2 starts)
M16	Tim Reed	AUS	34	3 finishes (4 starts)
M17	Lionel Sanders	CAN	31	4 finishes
M18	James Cunnama	ZAF	36	5 finishes (6 starts)
M19	Andi Boecherer	GER	36	5 finishes (6 starts)
M20	Cody Beals	CAN	29	none
M21	Daniel Baekkegard	DEN	23	none
M22	Eneko Llanos	ESP	42	9 finishes (12 starts)
M23	Terenzo Bozzone	NZL	34	3 finishes (5 starts)
M24	Alistair Brownlee	GBR	31	none
M25	Daniel Fontana	ITA	43	2 finishes (5 starts)
M26	Matt Hanson	USA	34	2 finishes (3 starts)
M27	Kristian Hogenhaug	DEN	28	none
M28	Chris Leiferman	USA	33	none
M29	Mike Phillips	NZL	28	1 finish
M30	Daniil Sapunov	UKR	37	none
M31	Boris Stein	GER	34	4 finishes
M32	Jesper Svensson	SWE	29	none
M33	Matt Trautman	ZAF	34	0 finishes (1 start)
M34	Jan van Berkel	SUI	31	3 finishes (4 starts)
M35	Clemente Alonso McKernan	ESP	41	1 finish (3 starts)
M36	Josh Amberger	AUS	30	1 finish (2 starts)
M38	Will Clarke	GBR	34	2 finishes
M39	Maurice Clavel	GER	31	1 finish
M40	Mario De Elias	ARG	35	none
M41	David Dellow	AUS	40	2 finishes (3 starts)
M42	Tobias Drachler	GER	28	none
M43	Andreas Dreitz	GER	30	1 finish
M44	Marc Duelsen	GER	34	1 finish (2 starts)
M45	Nils Frommhold	GER	33	2 finishes (3 starts)
M46	Joe Gambles	AUS	37	2 finishes (4 starts)
M47	Philipp Koutny	SUI	36	1 finish
M48	Franz Loeschke	GER	30	none
M49	Lukas Kraemer	GER	35	none
M50	Kennett Peterson	USA	33	none
M51	David Plese	SLO	36	3 finishes (5 starts)
M52	Stefan Schumacher	GER	38	none
M53	Frank Silvestrin	BRA	37	none
M54	Andrew Starykowicz	USA	37	2 finishes (3 starts)
M55	TJ Tollakson	USA	39	5 finishes (7 starts)
M56	Tim Van Berkel	AUS	35	5 finishes
M57	Cyril Viennot	FRA	37	7 finishes (8 starts)

Female Race Participants

Bib	Name	Nation	Age	Previous Results
F1	Daniela Ryf	SUI	32	5 finishes, 4 wins (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018)
F2	Lucy Charles-Barclay	GBR	26	2 finishes
F3	Anne Haug	GER	36	1 finish
F4	Mirinda Carfrae	AUS	38	8 finishes (9 starts), 3 wins (2010, 2013, 2014)
F5	Sarah True	USA	37	1 finish
F6	Sarah Crowley	AUS	36	3 finishes
F7	Kaisa Sali	FIN	38	3 finishes
F8	Corinne Abraham	GBR	41	3 finishes
F9	Linsey Corbin	USA	38	11 finishes (12 starts)
F11	Heather Jackson	USA	35	4 finishes
F12	Carrie Lester	AUS	37	3 finishes (4 starts)
F14	Nikki Bartlett	GBR	32	0 finishes (1 start)
F15	Emma Bilham	SUI	32	none
F16	Lauren Brandon	USA	34	1 finish (2 starts)
F17	Susie Cheetham	GBR	33	3 finishes (4 starts)
F18	Mareen Hufe	GER	41	4 finishes (5 starts)
F19	Sue Huse	CAN	45	none
F20	Jocelyn McCauley	USA	31	2 finishes
F21	Laura Philipp	GER	32	none
F22	Sarah Piampiano	USA	39	4 finishes (5 starts)
F23	Daniela Bleymehl	GER	31	1 finish
F24	Laura Siddall	GBR	39	2 finishes
F25	Jennifer Spieldenner	USA	33	none
F26	Caroline Steffen	SUI	41	6 finishes
F27	Svenja Thoes	GER	28	none
F28	Jen Annett	CAN	34	1 finish
F29	Nina Derron	SUI	26	none
F30	Gurutze Frades Larralde	ESP	38	3 finishes
F31	Meredith Kessler	USA	41	4 finishes (7 starts)
F32	Martina Kunz	SUI	35	none
F33	Kristin Liepold	GER	35	4 finishes
F34	Danielle Mack	USA	32	none
F35	Kimberley Morrison	GBR	31	none
F36	Camilla Pedersen	DEN	36	2 finishes (3 starts)
F37	Barbara Riveros	CHI	32	none
F38	Jeanni Seymour	ZAF	27	none
F39	Imogen Simmonds	SUI	26	none
F40	Lesley Smith	USA	36	0 finishes (1 start)
F41	Maja Stage Nielsen	DEN	31	2 finishes
F42	Bianca Steurer	AUT	33	1 finish
F43	Els Visser	NED	29	none
F44	Annah Watkinson	ZAF	38	none
F45	Kelsey Withrow	USA	37	none