Kona Kings & Queens

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.

Imo made the female race in Frankfurt very interesting: After swimming with Sarah True at the front, she took the lead on the bike and no one wanted or was able to follow her. After the first bike loop she was more than five minutes ahead, and it took the chasers all of the second loop to catch up to her. Imo also ran a solid marathon in the Frankfurt heat and finished in second place, earning a Kona slot in her first full-distance race. (For more on the race in Frankfurt, check out my post on the “Female Podium at IM Frankfurt“.)

Even though Imo is one of the youngest female Pros in the field, she has already had some good results at big races, finishing 6th at 70.3 Worlds in 2018 and even a 3rd place podium at 70.3 Worlds in Nice this year. It’s unlikely that the atmosphere in Kona is going to have much of an impact on her.
As a good swimmer, Imo is likely to be close to the front at the start of the bike. Will she go with the strong bikers when they ride by or will she take a more conservative approach to her first race in Kona? I think it’s likely that she’s going to get her fair share of camera time on the bike. Maybe she’s also made a step forward in her marathon? Then a Top 10 is in the cards in her Kona debut.

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.

Last year a lot of speculation before Kona focused on the chances of Javier Gomez, Alistair’s short course rival. This year it’s almost harder to predict what Ali will be able to do in Kona. With Javier there was at least one valid IM-distance result in a decent field in Cairns, with Ali we only have a non-swim, cold weather Ironman Ireland that he was able to win. But it’s hard to draw any conclusions from that race for Kona other than that he’s been able patient enough with his pacing to cover the distance well. Maybe we can infer a bit more from his 70.3 racing: At least we can be pretty sure that he’ll be close to the front on the swim and also that he’s unlikely to be struggling at the start of the bike.

But with Ali’s previous problems in the heat, predicting the second half of the race will be tricky. Is he going to be able to balance riding strong with cooling down and eating enough? Maybe he will get excited and race too fast in the first two hours on the bike when almost everyone feels good? And what will happen once he’s on the run, especially on the hot section in the Energy Lab? Pretty much everything between a podium and a complete explosion is possible for Ali. A well-executed race should see him finish somewhere in the Top 10.

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.

So far, Carrie has had a stellar 2019 season. She was disappointed when her 2nd place at Arizona with an 8:44 wasn’t good enough for Kona qualifying, but she got her slot without a problem with a win at IM France in June and then also set a new course record at IM Mont Tremblant in August. Look for her to work hard on the bike to start the run in a good position – and if she can improve her marathon time (so far her best Kona run is a 3:15 from 2016), she might have her career-best Kona finish.

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.

Coming off a great fifth place in Kona 2018, Braden’s 2019 season has been a bit up and down. A third place at IM New Zealand in March wasn’t enough to grab a Kona slot, so he had to race IM Cairns in June even though he had already committed to race Challenge Roth in July. He defended his Asia/Pacific Regional Championship title in Cairns, winning by almost twenty minutes, but then was maybe a bit tired to race well in Roth just four weeks after Cairns. The wheels came off in the last part of the bike, and GI issues forced him to end his race after the first half of the run.
While disappointed with that result, his physical recovery has been relatively smooth: “When you don’t run that marathon on tired legs and just do the 20km at a steady pace, the impact physically isn’t significant. It just feels like it’s been a big training day.” He quickly focused on his Kona build, ending with an all-around solid win at 70.3 Sunshine Coast (4 seconds off the fastest swim, 7 seconds off the fastest bike, fastest run by almost two minutes).
It’ll be interesting to see how Braden is going to race with the experience he gained in his last Kona races and if he will be able to finish even higher up. If everything goes well, he should be in a good position at the start of the run, much like in 2018. If he is then able to run sub-2:50, he would be a strong contender for a podium finish.

This is an excerpt from my “Kona 2019 Rating Report”. The Report also has a detailed description of the 2018 race from Braden’s perspective. 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.

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.