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Trivia

DailyTriTrivia – Questions & Answers

Here are all the questions and answers of the #DailyTriTrivia series.

September 2nd

Question: Which athletes hold the overall female and male Kona course records?

Answer: The female course record was set by Daniela Ryf🇨🇭 in 2018 (8:26:18), the fastest male time is held by Jan Frodeno 🇩🇪 (7:51:13 in 2019).

September 1st

Question: Which female athletes finished on the Kona 2019 podium?
Bonus: When had each of them their first Kona podium finish?

Answer: The female Kona 2019 podium:

  • Winner: Anne Haug 🇩🇪 (was 3rd in 2018)
  • Second: Lucy Charles-Barclay 🇬🇧 (was 2nd in 2017)
  • Third: Sarah Crowley 🇦🇺 (was 3rd in 2017)

September 1st

Question: Which male athletes finished on the Kona 2019 podium?
Bonus: When had each of them their first Kona podium finish?

Answer: The male Kona 2019 podium:

  • Winner Jan Frodeno 🇩🇪 (was 3rd in 2014)
  • Second Tim O’Donnell 🇺🇸 (was 3rd in 2015)
  • Third Sebastian Kienle 🇩🇪 (was 3rd in 2013)

August 31st

Question: Which male athlete has the most sub-8 finishes in IM-distance races?

Answer: Sebastian Kienle 🇩🇪 has six sub-8 finishes:

  • 3* Roth 2010/11/18 (incl. his PR of 7:46:23)
  • 2* Frankfurt 2014/16
  • Cozumel 2017

Next up are Jan Frodeno 🇩🇪 and Joe Skipper 🇬🇧 with five each. (Plus a few more “slightly short” for all of them.)

August 30th

Question: Which female athlete has the most sub-9 finishes in IM-distance races?

Answer: Yvonne Van Vlerken🇳🇱 has 16 sub-9 finishes:

  • 7* Roth 2007/08/13/14/15/16/18
  • 3* Almere 2007/17/19
  • 2* Barcelona 2015/17
  • 2* Florida 2012/13 (incl. her PB of 8:43:07)
  • Arizona 2016
  • Melbourne 2015

August 27th

Question: This weekend there’s going to be Challenge Davos @challengedavos 🇨🇭. Who were the 2019 Pro winners?

Answer: Females: Radka Kahlefeldt 🇨🇿 3:58:23, Males: Pieter Heemeryck 🇧🇪 3:27:59

August 26th

Question: Who is currently the last Swiss🇨🇭male athlete to finish an IM-distance race in under eight hours?

Answer: Manuel Küng went 7:54:59 at IM Cozumel on November 24th, 2019.

August 25th

Question: Who are currently the last Professional female and male IM-distance winners from Canada🇨🇦?

Answer: Angela Naeth at IM Chattanooga (Sept 29th, 2019) and Cody Beals at IM Mont Tremblant (Aug 18th, 2019).

August 24th

Question: Who is currently the last British 🇬🇧 female athlete to finish an IM-distance race in under nine hours?

Answer: At IM Western Australia on December 1st, 2019, both Katrina Matthews (8:53:58) and Kimberly Morrison (8:57:53) went sub-9.

August 23rd

Question: Who are the last Professional female and male IM-distance winners from France 🇫🇷?

Answer: On the men’s side, Arnaud Guillaux won IM Wales on Sept 15th, 2019. The last female winner is Camille Deligny, she won Challenge Almere @challengealmere on Sept 10th, 2016. The last female French winner in an Ironman is Alexandra Louison (IM France on June 24th, 2007).

August 21st

Question: Who is currently the last Australian🇦🇺 male athlete to finish an IM-distance race in under eight hours?

Answer: Matt Burton finished IM Western Australia on December 1st, 2019 in 7:55:40, claiming 2nd place and a Kona slot.

August 20th

Question: Who are the last female and male Ironman winners from Belgium 🇧🇪?

Answer: Frederik Van Lierde won IM Lanzarote on May 25th, 2019, Sofie Goos Challenge Venice on June 11th, 2017.

If you don’t want to accept Sofie’s Challenge win (as technically it wasn’t a WTC-branded Ironman), then it’s Tine Deckers at IM France on June 5th, 2016

August 19th

Question: Who is currently the last German🇩🇪 male athlete to finish an IM-distance race in under eight hours ?

Answer:  Paul Schuster finished IM Cozumel on November 24th, 2019 in 7:58:37 (5th place).
Paul was also the first German finisher at IM Hamburg 2019, claiming the German long course title.

August 18th

Question: Who are the last female and male Ironman winners from the UK 🇬🇧?

Answer:  Joe Skipper won IM New Zealand on March 7th, 2020,  and Simone Mitchell won IM Wales on Sept 15th, 2019.

August 17th

Question: Who is currently the last female US🇺🇸 athlete to finish an IM-distance race in under nine hours?

Answer:  Meredith Kessler finished IM New Zealand on March 7th, 2020 in 8:56:03, claiming second place.
So far, IM New Zealand is the only full-distance Ironman race taking place in 2020.

August 16th

Question: One year ago was IM Mont Tremblant🇨🇦. Who were the Pro winners?

Answer: The female winner was Carrie Lester 🇦🇺 8:48:26, the male winner Cody Beals 🇨🇦 7:58:34.

As both winners were already Kona qualified, the Kona slots went to second-place finishers Sarah True 🇺🇸 and Lionel Sanders 🇨🇦.

August 15th

Question: One year ago on were IM Sweden🇸🇪 (Saturday, MPRO) and IM Copenhagen🇩🇰 (Sunday, WPRO). Who were the Pro winners?

Answer: In Sweden, Boris Stein 🇩🇪 won in 7:49:14, in Copenhagen Anne Haug 🇩🇪 in 8:41:32.

August 12th

Question: Who is currently the last male US🇺🇸 athlete to finish an IM-distance race in under eight hours?

Answer: Andrew Starykowicz and Ben Hoffman went sub-8 at IM Florida on Nov 2nd.

If you don’t want to allow ties for the same date, Andrew finished after Ben, so he’s the “very last” US 🇺🇸 athlete with a sub-8 finish. He’s also the first US athlete to go sub-8, so he’s the first and the last (at least for now)!

August 11th

Question: Who are the last female and male Ironman winners from Australia🇦🇺?

Answer: Carrie Lester won IM Cozumel on November 24th – as did Sarah Crowley at IM Arizona. On the men’s side it’s Cameron Wurf at IM Italy on September 21st.

August 9th

Question: Who are the last female and male Ironman winners from Germany🇩🇪?

Answer: Anne Haug and Jan Frodeno both won IM Hawaii on October 12th.

August 8th

Question: Who are the last female and male Ironman winners from the USA🇺🇸?

Answer: Linsey Corbin won IM Wisconsin (Sept 8th), Sam Long IM Chattanooga (Sept 29th).

August 7th

Question: In addition to Ali Brownlee, Anne Haug, and Nicola Spirig, which athlete(s) have raced in the 2012 London Olympics and also won an Ironman?

Answer: There are seven additional athletes:

  • Daniela Ryf 🇨🇭 SUI (multiple wins)
  • Tyler Butterfield 🇧🇲 BMU (IM Cozumel 2019)
  • Bevan Docherty 🇳🇿 NZL (IM New Zealand 2013 & IM Texas 2014)
  • Jan Frodeno 🇩🇪 GER (multiple wins)
  • Javier Gomez 🇪🇸 ESP (IM Malaysia 2019)
  • Brent McMahon 🇨🇦 CAN (4 wins)
  • Daniil Sapunov UKR (IM Malaysia 2018, doping suspension since 2019)

August 6th

Question: Which athlete(s) have raced in the 2016 Rio Olympics and also won an Ironman?

Answer: There were three athletes:

  • Alistair Brownlee 🇬🇧 GBR (won Ireland & Western Australia 2019)
  • Anne Haug 🇩🇪 GER (won Copenhagen & Kona 2019)
  • Nicola Spirig 🇨🇭 SUI (won Cozumel 2014)

August 5th

Question: Which male Pro athlete won the most half-distance races in 2019?

Answer: Pieter Heemeryck 🇧🇪 BEL won five half-distance races in 2019: Challenge Salou, Challenge Gran Canaria, Challenge Geraardsbergen, Challenge Davos & Challenge Peguera.

August 4th

Question: Which Pro athlete won the most half-distance races in 2019?

Answer: Radka Kahlefeldt (nee Vodickova) 🇨🇿 won seven half-distance races in 2019: 70.3 Geelong, 70.3 Davao, Challenge Walchsee, 70.3 Astana, Challenge Prague, Challenge Davos & Challenge Peguera. She also has four more podium finishes and was 6th at 70.3 Worlds.

August 3rd

Question: Monday (yesterday) was Cameron Wurf’s 🇦🇺 birthday. How many IM-distance races did he finish in 2018?
Bonus Question: How many new bike course records did he set in these races?

Answer:  Cam finished eight IM-distance races in 2018.
He set seven new bike course records, missing the last one (in South Africa) by 3 seconds.

August 2nd

Question: Åsa Lundström set her marathon PR in Kona 2016. Which other Pro athletes still have their fastest IM run from Kona 2016?

Answer:  There were two other athletes:

  • Daniela Ryf 🇨🇭posted her PR of 2:56:51
  • Patrick Lange 🇩🇪 ran a course-record marathon of 2:39:45

August 1st

Question: Sunday is Åsa Lundström’s 🇸🇪 birthday. She has finished 23 IM-distance races. In which IM-distance race has she run her fastest marathon?

Answer:  Åsa set her PR of 3:06:42 in Kona 2016. Happy Birthday, Åsa!

July 31st

Question: Which female Pro athlete(s) won two IM-distance races in 2019?

Answer:  There were five athletes:

  • Teresa Adam 🇳🇿NZL (IM Cairns & IM W.Australia)
  • Lucy Charles-Barclay 🇬🇧GBR (IM South Africa & Challenge Roth)
  • Anne Haug 🇩🇪GER (IM Copenhagen & IM Hawaii)
  • Lisa Roberts 🇺🇸USA (Challenge Taiwan & Madrid)
  • Daniela Ryf 🇨🇭SUI (IM Texas & IM Austria)

July 30th

Question: Which male Pro athlete(s) won two IM-distance races in 2019?

Answer:  There were three athletes:

  • Alistair Brownlee 🇬🇧  (IM Ireland & IM Western Australia)
  • Jan Frodeno 🇩🇪 (IM Germany & IM Hawaii)
  • Cameron Wurf 🇦🇺 (IM Australia & IM Italy)

July 29th

Question: Which Pro athlete won the most Ironman-distance races in 2019?

Answer:  Carrie Lester 🇦🇺 won three races in 2019: IM France, IM Mont Tremblant and IM Cozumel.
No other athlete was able to win as many IMs in 2019. She also finished 8th in Kona – what a spectacular season!

July 28th

Question: July 29th is Dylan McNeice’s 🇳🇿 birthday. He’s competed in 24 IM-distance races. In how many of these races was he NOT the fastest swimmer?

Answer:  There were only three races:

  • Mar del Plata 2018 (shortened swim lead by Matt Chrabot, so maybe not a “full” IM-distance race)
  • Frankfurt 2019 (same swim time as Jan Frodeno, but one step behind)
  • Wales 2019 (Andrew Horsfall-Turner, an agegrouper, was 18 seconds quicker)

Happy Birthday, Dylan!

July 27th

Question: Who is the youngest male athlete to finish an IM-distance race in under eight hours?

Answer: Mathias Lyngsoe Petersen 🇩🇰 DEN was 24 years and 205 days old when he finished IM Sweden 2019 in 7:52:29.

Patrik Nilsson 🇸🇪 SWE was 152 days older when he went 7:49:18 at IM Copenhagen 2016. The third-youngest athlete is Sebastian Kienle 🇩🇪 GER with his 7:59:06 at Challenge Roth 2010.

July 26th

Question: Who is the youngest female athlete to finish an IM-distance race in under nine hours?

Answer: Lucy Charles-Barclay 🇬🇧 was 24 years and 29 days old when she finished IM Hawaii 2017 in 8:59:38.

She also went sub-9 4 3 months before at IM Germany but the bike course was officially short. Eva Wutti 🇦🇹 was 145 days older when she went 8:37:36 at IM Copenhagen 2013.

July 25th

Question: One year ago on Sunday were IM Lake Placid (MPRO-only) and IM Canada (Whistler, WPRO-only). Who were the Pro winners?

Answer: Lake Placid: Matt Russell 🇺🇸 USA 8:27:57
Whistler: Heather Wurtele 🇨🇦 CAN 9:20:41

July 24th

Question: IM Hamburg 2019 was one year ago on Sunday. Who were the male and female Pro winners?

Answer: The female winner was Susie Cheetham 🇬🇧 GBR in 8:58:02, the male winner Kristian Hogenhaug 🇩🇰 DEN in 8:11:26.

July 23rd

Question: July 24th is Sarah Piampiano’s 40th birthday. Two questions about her:
a. What’s her highest finish in Kona?
b. What’s her fastest IM finish?

Answers:
a. She was 7th in 2015 and 2016.
b. She went 8:40:48 at IM Brasil 2019.
Happy Birthday, Sarah!

July 22nd

Question: Which athletes not from Germany or Switzerland have won Kona or 70.3 Worlds since 2014?

Answer: There are five athletes (winning six out of 24 races):

  • Mirinda Carfrae 🇦🇺AUS (Kona 2014)
  • Holly Lawrence 🇬🇧GBR (Mooloolaba 2016)
  • Javier Gomez 🇪🇸ESP (Mont Tremblant 2014 & Chattanooga 2017)
  • Tim Reed 🇦🇺 AUS (Mooloolaba 2016)
  • Gustav Iden 🇳🇴 NOR (Nice 2019)

July 21st

Question: Which nation has a Kona winner but no 70.3 Worlds Champion?

Answer: It’s two nations:

  • Belgium🇧🇪 – Luc and Frederik Van Lierde won in 1996, 1999 and 2013
  • Zimbabwe🇿🇼 – Paula Newby-Fraser won five times between 1986 and 1992 (before becoming a US citizen and winning three more times)

July 20th

Question: Which nation has a 70.3 Worlds Champion but no Kona winner?

Answer:  There are two nations:

  • Spain🇪🇸 – Javier Gomez won in 2014 and 2017
  • Norway🇳🇴 – Gustav Iden won in 2019

July 19th

Question: Which female athletes at 40 years of age or older ran the marathon in an IM-distance race in under three hours?

Answer:  There are two athletes:

  • Corinne Abraham GBR🇬🇧 (twice: France 2018 & Hawaii 2019)
  • Ruth Brennan-Morrey USA🇺🇸 (Arizona 2016)

July 18th

Question: IM Switzerland 2019 (MPRO only) was one year ago on Sunday. Who were the Top 3 athletes?

Answer:  The Top 3 at IM Switzerland 2019 were:

  1. Jan van Berkel SUI 🇨🇭 8:17:04
  2. Sven Riederer SUI 🇨🇭 8:24:07
  3. Cyril Vienot FRA 🇫🇷 8:31:03

Sven declined his Kona slot, so Jan and Cyril qualified for Kona.

July 17th

Question: Which female athletes finished an IM-distance race in under nine hours at 40 years of age or older?

Answer:  There are five athletes:

  • Corinne Abraham GBR🇬🇧 (4 times! Sweden 2018, Hawaii 2018, Tallin 2019, Hawaii 2019)
  • Meredith Kessler USA🇺🇸 (New Zealand 2020)
  • Sonja Tajsich GER🇩🇪 (Brazil 2017)
  • Caroline Steffen SUI🇨🇭 (Western Australia 2018)
  • Yvonne Van Vlerken NED🇳🇱 (Almere 2019)

July 16th

Question: Which male athletes finished an IM-distance race in under eight hours at 40 years of age or older?

Answer:  There are three athletes:

  • Eneko Llanos ESP🇪🇸 (Vitoria 2019)
  • Frederik Van Lierde BEL🇧🇪 (Barcelona 2019, Cozumel 2019)
  • Victor Zyemtsev UKR🇺🇦 (Barcelona 2017)

July 15th

Question: 70.3 Worlds are held in different locations across the globe. Which host nation hasn’t had a 70.3 World Champion so far?

Answer:  Austria🇦🇹 (Zell am See 2015), South Africa🇿🇦 (Nelson Mandela Bay 2018) and France🇫🇷 (Nice 2019) don’t have a 70.3 Champion.

Here’s a look at the other host nations and their 70.3 Champions:

  • USA🇺🇸 (2006-13, 2017): Andy Potts 2007, Joanna Zeiger 2008
  • Canada🇨🇦 (Mont Tremblant 2014): Sam McGlone 2006
  • Australia🇦🇺 (Mooloolaba 2016): Mirinda Carfrae 2007, Mel Hauschildt 2011&13, Craig Alexander 2006&2011, Tim Reed 2016
  • New Zealand🇳🇿 (Taupo 2020?): Terenzo Bozzone 2008

July 14th

Question: Which athletes have been able to win 70.3 Worlds in their home country?

Answer:  There are three athletes:

  • Andy Potts 🇺🇸 2007
  • Joanna Zeiger 🇺🇸 2008
  • Tim Reed 🇦🇺 2016

Jan Frodeno gets a “quarter home win” as he has spent part of his youth in South Africa.

July 13th

Question: Which athletes are multiple winners of the 70.3 World Championships?

Answer:  There are seven athletes:

  • Melissa Hauschildt 🇦🇺 (nee Rollison, 2011 & 2013)
  • Daniela Ryf 🇨🇭 (2014, 2015, 2017, 2018 & 2019)
  • Craig Alexander 🇦🇺 (2006 & 2011)
  • Michael Raelert 🇩🇪 (2009 & 2010)
  • Sebastian Kienle 🇩🇪 (2012 & 2013)
  • Javier Gomez 🇪🇸 (2014 & 2017)
  • Jan Frodeno 🇩🇪 (2015 & 2018)

July 12th

Question: IM Vitoria 2019 was one year ago. Who were the male and female Pro winners?

Answer:  Females: Heather Jackson USA🇺🇸 8:52:10
Males: Eneko Llanos ESP🇪🇸 7:55:15

July 4th

Question: Challenge Roth 2019 was one year ago on Sunday. Who were the male and female Pro winners?

Answer:  Female Winner: Lucy Charles-Barclay GBR🇬🇧 8:31:09
Male Winner: Andreas Dreitz GER🇩🇪 7:59:02

July 3rd

Question: Who are the three fastest males from South America on the run at Ironman Hawaii?

Answer:  The three fastest runners are Christian Bustos (CHI🇨🇱 2:48:05, 1995), Ezequiel Morales (ARG🇦🇷 2:51:32, 2009) and Mario de Elias (ARG🇦🇷 2:53:11, 2019).
I’m surprised that no Brazilian🇧🇷 is in that list .. goals for 2020/2021!

July 2nd

Question: Who are the three fastest British🇬🇧 females on the run🏃‍♀️ at Ironman Hawaii?

Answer:  The three fastest British women on the Kona marathon are Chrissie Wellington (2:52:41, 2011), Corinne Abraham (2:59:28, 2019) and Leanda Cave (3:03:13, 2012).

July 1st

Question: Who are the three fastest males from New Zealand🇳🇿 on the run🏃‍♂️ at Ironman Hawaii?

Answer:  The three fastest New Zealanders on the Kona run are Braden Currie (2:46:25, 2019), Cameron Brown (2:50:13, 2005) and Daniel Plews (2:50:56, 2018).
Dan was racing as an agegrouper and ran faster than Terenzo Bozzone (2:53:47, 2017).

June 30th

Question: Who are the three fastest Australian🇦🇺 male athletes on the bike🚵‍♂️ at Ironman Hawaii?

Answer: The three fastest Aussie males on the Kona bike are Cameron Wurf (4:09:06, 2018, Bike CR), Tim Reed (4:19:56, 2018) and Luke McKenzie (4:22:25, 2013).

June 29th

Question: Who are the three fastest Scandinavian females on the run at Ironman Hawaii?

Answer:  The three fastest runners are Kaisa Sali (FIN🇫🇮 2:57:19, 2019), Maja Stage-Nielsen (DEN🇩🇰 3:05:47, 2019) and Asa Lundstroem (SWE🇸🇪 3:06:42, 2016).

June 28th

Question: IM France 2019 was one year ago. Who were the male and female Pro winners and why were the times so fast?

Answer:  Female Winner Carrie Lester AUS🇦🇺 8:05:20, Male Winner James Cunnama  ZAF🇿🇦 7:16:16
Because of extreme heat, the bike was shortened to about 153k and the run to about 31k.

June 27th

Question: IM Frankfurt 2019 was one year ago. Who were the male and female Pro winners?

Answer:  The female Winner was Skye Moench USA🇺🇸, the male Winner Jan Frodeno GER🇩🇪.
The male podium was all-German🇩🇪 (2nd Sebastian Kienle, 3rd Franz Loeschke), while the female podium was International (2nd Imogen Simmonds SUI🇨🇭, 3rd Jen Annett CAN🇨🇦). Sarah True looked like the female winner but collapsed a few hundred meters before the finish.

June 26th

Question: Who are the three fastest German🇩🇪 female athletes on the bike🚵‍♀️ at Ironman Hawaii?

Answer:  The three fastest German females on the Kona bike are Mareen Hufe (4:43:50 2018), Laura Philipp (4:45:04 2019) and Daniela Bleymehl (4:45:08 2019).

June 25th

Question: Who are the three fastest Scandinavian males on the run at Ironman Hawaii?

Answer: The three fastest Scandinavian males on the Kona run are Pauli Kiuru (FIN🇫🇮 2:49:45, 1992), Daniel Baekkegard (DEN🇩🇰 2:49:50, 2019) and Mika Luoto (FIN🇫🇮 2:53:04, 2003).

June 24th

Question: Who are the three fastest Canadian🇨🇦 male athletes on the bike🚴‍♂️ at Ironman Hawaii?

Answer: The three fastest Canadian male athletes on the Kona bike are Lionel Sanders (4:14:19 2017), Peter Reid (4:27:51 2005) and Brent McMahon (also 4:27:51 2015).
Lionel Sanders has the four fastest Canadian bike times (from his 2016 – 2019 races).

June 23rd

Question: Who are the three fastest Australian🇦🇺 females on the run at Ironman Hawaii?

Answer: The three fastest Australian females on the Kona marathon are Mirinda Carfrae (2:50:26, 2014), Sarah Crowley (2:59:20, 2019) and Kate Major (3:02:19, 2005).
Rinny has seven of the eight fastest Aussie run splits!

June 22nd

Question: Who are the three fastest US 🇺🇸 female athletes on the bike at Ironman Hawaii?

Answer: The three fastest US females on the Kona bike are Heather Jackson (4:44:45), Linsey Corbin (4:48:29) and Sarah True (4:49:19).
Next are Sarah Piampiano (4:52:01) and Jocelyn McCauley (4:53:01). All of these times are from 2018.

June 21st

Question: Who are the three fastest US🇺🇸 male athletes on the run at Ironman Hawaii?

Answer: The three fastest US males on the run are Mark Allen (2:40:04, 1989), Dave Scott (2:41:03, 1989) and Ben Hoffman (2:43:08, 2019).
Next are Tim DeBoom (2:45:54, 2001) and Andy Potts (2:48:18, 2014).

June 20th

Question: IM Ireland 2019 was one year ago today. Who were the male and female Pro winners and why were the finishing times so fast?

Answer: The female Winner was Emma Bilham🇨🇭(8:50:18), the male winner Alistair Brownlee🇬🇧(7:44:16). The swim was canceled due to “good Irish weather”.

June 19th

Question: Which IM-distance race had the smallest gap between the male and female Pro winners?

Answer: Rachel Joyce🇬🇧 won IM Texas 2013 in 8:49:14, only 24 min 8 secs behind male winner Paul Amey🇳🇿/🇬🇧.

June 18th

Question: Which Ironman Hawaii race had the smallest gap between the male and female Pro winners?

Answer: Paula Newby-Fraser won in 9:01:01 at IM Hawaii 1988 and finished 11th overall, 30:01 behind male winner Scott Molina.

June 17th

Question: Which 2019 IM-distance race had the smallest gap between the male and female Pro winners?

Answer: Lucy Charles-Barclay🇬🇧 was 32:07 behind Andi Dreitz🇩🇪 at Challenge Roth 2019.

June 16th

Question: Who is the most successful parent/child pair at Ironman Hawaii?

Answer: James Butterfield🇧🇲 was 7th in 1981, his son Tyler was 7th in 2013 and 5th in 2015.

June 15th

Question: Who is the most successful couple at Ironman Hawaii?

Answer: Lori Bowden🇨🇦 (7 podiums incl. 2 wins) and Peter Reid🇨🇦 (7 podiums incl. 3 wins) is the most successful couple.

Next up are Julie Moss🇺🇸 /Mark Allen🇺🇸 and Mirinda Carfrae🇦🇺/Tim O’Donnell🇺🇸 (10 podiums for each couple).

June 14th

Question: Who are the most successful siblings at Ironman Hawaii?

Answer: Jeff (2 podiums) and Scott Tinley 🇺🇸(8 podiums incl. 2 wins) are the most successful siblings.

On the female side, it’s Patricia (2 podiums) and Sylviane Puntous 🇨🇦 (5 podiums incl. 2 wins).

June 13th

Question: How long was the swim at Ironman California 2000?

Answer: It was 2.4 NAUTICAL miles (or 4.445 km), about 15% longer than normal.

Apparently, the Marines who were setting up the swim course were accustomed to work with nautical miles on the water. Bob Babbitt reports that they measured it lasers and insisted it was spot on.

June 12th

Question: Who was the first athlete to finish an Ironman in North America (excluding Hawaii) in under eight hours?

Answer: Ronnie Schildknecht🇨🇭 went 7:59:42 at Ironman Florida 2011.

June 11th

Question: Who was the first female to finish an Ironman in North America (excluding Hawaii) in under nine hours?

Answer: Chrissie Wellington🇬🇧 went 8:36:13 at Ironman Arizona 2010.

June 10th

Question: IM Boulder 2019 was exactly one year (and one day) ago. Who were the male and female Pro winners?

Answer: The female winner was Lauren Brandon🇺🇸, the male winner Matt Hanson🇺🇸.

June 9th

Question: IM Cairns 2019 was exactly one year ago. Who were the male and female Pro winners?

Answer: The female winner was Teresa Adam🇳🇿, the male winner Braden Currie🇳🇿.

(What happened to the Aussies in their home race?! At least Sarah Crowley and Tim Berkel claimed both 2nd places for them.)

June 8th

Question: Who was the first Canadian🇨🇦 athlete to finish an IM-distance race in under eight hours?

Answer: Brent McMahon went 7:55:48 at Ironman Arizona 2014, also breaking the record for the fastest debut.

Before that, Peter Reid went 7:51:56 at IM Austria 1999, but he acknowledges that the run course was well short.

June 7th

Question: Who was the first Swiss🇨🇭 female to finish an IM-distance race in under nine hours?

Answer: Caroline Steffen went 8:34:51 at Ironman Melbourne 2012, becoming the first Swiss female to finish sub-9.

If you don’t want to accept IM Melbourne as “IM-distance” because of a very quick run, “Xena” also went sub-9 three months later at IM Frankfurt.

June 6th

Question: Who was the first British🇬🇧 athlete to finish an IM-distance race in under eight hours?

Answer: Joe Skipper went 7:56:23 at Challenge Roth 2016, becoming the first British athlete to finish sub-8.

Just a month later at Ironman Copenhagen, Will Clarke also went sub-8, Tim Don set the currently fastest British IM finish at IM Brasil in 2017.

June 5th

Question: Who was the first Australian🇦🇺 female to finish an IM-distance race in under nine hours?

Answer: Belinda Granger went 8:58:08 at Challenge Roth 2008, becoming the first Australian woman to finish sub-9.

June 4th

Question: Who was the first🇺🇸 athlete to finish an IM-distance race in under eight hours?

Answer: Andrew Starykowicz was the first US athlete to finish sub-8, he went 7:55:22 at Ironman Florida in 2013. Still, a result with mixed feelings for Andrew – as he was run down and finished 2nd on the day (full results for IM Florida 2013).

June 3rd

Question: Who was the first female athlete to finish an IM-distance race in under nine hours?

Answer: Thea Sybesma🇳🇱 was the first female to finish sub-9, she went 8:55:29 at Ironman Europe in Roth in 1991.

June 1st

Question: Who was the first athlete to finish an IM-distance race in under eight hours?

Answer: Lothar Leder🇩🇪 was the first athlete to finish sub-8, he went 7:57:02 at Ironman Europe in Roth in 1996.

May 31st

Question: “The Championship” in Samorin was one year ago. Who were the male and female Pro winners?

Answer: The female Winner was Lucy Charles-Barclay🇬🇧, the male Winner Sebastian Kienle🇩🇪.

May 30th

Question: Which athlete (male or female) won IM Hawaii with the smallest margin over second place?

Answer: These are the closest finishes in Ironman Hawaii history:

  • 29 seconds between Kathleen McCartney and Julie Moss (February 1982)
  • 33 seconds between Dave Scott and Scott Tinley (1983)
  • 58 seconds between Mark Allen and Dave Scott (1989)
  • 1:04 between Leanda Cave and Caroline Steffen (2012)
  • 1:11 between Normann Stadler and Chris McCormack (2006)

May 29th

Question: Which athletes have been able to win ITU Short Course Worlds and IM Hawaii in different years?

Answer: There are five athletes who won the title in different years:

  • Erin Baker🇳🇿 (ITU: 1989; Kona: 1987&1990)
  • Greg Welch🇦🇺 (1990; 1994)
  • Michellie Jones 🇦🇺 (1992&93; 2006)
  • Chris McCormack 🇦🇺 (1997; 2007&10)
  • Leanda Cave 🇬🇧 (2002; 2012)

In addition, Mark Allen 🇺🇸(1989) and Karen Smyers 🇺🇸 (1995) won in the same year.

May 28th

Question: Which athletes have been able to win ITU Short Course Worlds and IM Hawaii in the same year?

Answer: There are two athletes: Mark Allen🇺🇸 (1989) & Karen Smyers🇺🇸 (1995)

May 27th

Question: What’s the significance of the Aloha Tower in Ironman history?

Answer: The Aloha Tower was the location of the bike-to-run transition when IM Hawaii was contested on Oahu from 1978 to 1980. It is also the starting point of the Honolulu Marathon (hence becoming T2).

May 26th

Question: IM Brazil 🇧🇷 2019 was exactly one year ago. Who were the male and female Pro winners?

Answer: The female winner was Sarah Piampiano🇺🇸, the male winner Andy Potts🇺🇸.

May 25th

Question: IM Lanzarote 2019 was exactly one year ago. Who were the male and female Pro winners?

Answer: The female winner was Nikki Bartlett🇬🇧, the male winner: Frederik Van Lierde🇧🇪.

May 24th

Question: How often has Daniela Ryf finished an Ironman in more than nine hours?

Answer: It’s only three times out of her 16 IM-distance finishes:

  • IM Switzerland 2014 (9:13:30, her debut)
  • IM Hawaii 2014 (9:02:57, her first Kona)
  • IM Hawaii 2019 (9:14:26)

May 23rd

Question: Who among these Kona Champions has the slowest Ironman finish?

Answer: Slowest IM-Finishes of these Kona Winners:

  • Anne Haug 9:14:06, IM Germany 2018
  • Daniela Ryf 9:14:26, IM Hawaii 2019
  • Jan Frodeno 9:15:44, IM Hawaii 2017
  • Patrick Lange 8:47:49, IM Germany 2019

Overall, the slowest finish is by Jan Frodeno – Frodo wins again!

May 22nd

Question: Who is the last Professional who had his/her IM-debut in Kona?

Answer: Julie Dibens🇬🇧 raced IM Hawaii in 2010 as her first full-distance race, finishing third.
She qualified as the 70.3 Champion in Clearwater in 2009.

She was the last 70.3 Champion who could race Kona without a validation race. Before her a few more 70.3 Champions used that way to Kona, among them Mirinda Carfrae, Andy Potts, Leanda Cave and Sam McGlone.

May 21st

Question: Excluding DNFs & DNS, what’s the worst place by a Kona winner in the previous year’s race?

Answer: Not counting DNFs & DNS, the Kona winner usually comes from the Top 4 the year before. There are only two exceptions:

  • Heather Fuhr finished 7th in 1996 before her win in 1997.
  • On the men’s side, Mark Allen was 5th in 1988 before winning in 1989.

May 20th

Question: How often were all three podium finishers at IM Hawaii (male or female) able to repeat their podium finish in the next race?

Answer: It happened three times:

  • Men February and October 1982: Scott Tinley, Dave Scott, Jeff Tinley
  • Women 2001 & 2002 & 2003 (three years in a row!): Natascha Badmann, Lori Bowden, Nina Kraft

May 19th

Question: How many different male athletes finished on the podium at Ironman Hawaii in February and October 1982?

Answer: The same three men were on the podium: Scott Tinley (Winner in February) and Dave Scott (Winner in October) switched places, while Jeff Tinley (brother of Scott) was third in both races.

May 18th

Question: How many different female athletes finished on the podium at Ironman Hawaii in February and October 1982?

Answer: Even though Sally Edwards finished third in February and October, there were six different women on the podium:

  • February: Kathleen McCartney, Julie Moss, Lyn Brooks & Sally Edwards (tied for third).
  • October: Julie Leach, JoAnn Dahlkoetter, Sally Edwards (third again).

May 17th

Question: Which IM-distance race had the tightest male Pro podium?

Answer: At IM Chattanooga in 2015, there were 8 seconds between Winner Kirill Kotshegarov (8:08:32) and Stefan Schmid in third (8:08:40). Second Place was Matt Chrabot (8:08:34).

May 16th

Question: Which IM-distance race had the tightest female Pro podium?

Answer: At IM Frankfurt in 2011, there was 2m 01sec between Winner Caroline Steffen (9:12:13) and Sonja Tajsich in third (9:14:14). Second Place was Lucie Zelenkova (9:13:46).

May 15th

Question: Which year had the tightest male Pro podium at IM Hawaii?

Answer: In 2010, there was 2:37 between Winner Chris McCormack (8:10:37) and Third Place Marino Vanhoenacker (8:13:14).
Second Place was Andreas Raelert (8:12:17).

May 14th

Question: Which year had the tightest female Pro podium at IM Hawaii?

Answer: In 2005, there was 3:09 between Winner Natascha Badmann (9:09:30) and Third Place Kate Major (9:12:39).
Second Place was Michellie Jones (9:11:51).

May 13th

Question: How often has there been an Ironman Hawaii in February?

Answer: Three times: 1978, 1981, and 1982.

Originally, IM Hawaii was held at the start of the year until a switch to October starting in 1982. In 1979 and 1980, the race was in January.

May 12th

Question: Who is the last male athlete to win Kona after posting the fastest bike split?

Answer: Sebastian Kienle won Hawaii 2014 with the fastest bike split. His 4:20:46 was more than ten minutes quicker than anyone else finishing in the Top 10.

May 11th

Question: Who was able to ride the last 70km (43mi) of the bike in 2018 faster than Daniela Ryf?

Answer: Daniela rode 1:37:11 for the last 70k.

Only seven male Pros were faster: Bart Aernouts (1:35:21), Michael Weiss, Cameron Wurf (1:35:25), Matt Russell (1:35:39), David Plese (1:35:43), Joe Skipper (1:35:50) and Andy Potts (1:36:44).

She rode quicker than the first big male lead group with Braden Currie (1:38:00), Patrick Lange (1:38:01), Tim O’Donnell (1:38:05) and Andi Dreitz (1:38:06).

May 10th

Question: Who is the last athlete (male or female) to win Kona after posting the fastest bike split?

Answer: Daniela Ryf won IM Hawaii 2018 with the fastest bike split.

May 9th

Question: Which athletes (male or female) have been able to lead IM Hawaii “wire to wire”?

Answer: Four athletes have managed to do that five times:

  • Lyn Lemaire 1979
  • Robin Beck 1980
  • Dave Scott 1980 & October 1982
  • Linda Sweeney 1981

Other suggestions included a few male races in the 1980s (when Wolfgang Dittrich was “almost always” leading after the swim) and Faris Al-Sultan’s win in 2005 (when Hirokatsu Tayama had the fastest swim split by 28 seconds, finishing 29th Pro in the end).

On the female side, Paula Newby-Fraser was very impressive in 1992, but Wendy Ingraham had the fastest swim split (51:23 vs. Paula’s 53:30) before DNF’ing on the bike.

May 8th

Question: How big was the lead of Mark & Dave in T2 at Ironman 1989?

Answer: Wolfgang Dittrich held a lead of almost two minutes in T2. It took Mark and Dave less than two miles to erase the deficit after flying out of T2.

May 7th

Question: Which Ironman Hawaii winner (male or female) overcame the biggest deficit at the start of the run?

Answer: Kathleen McCartney (USA) was 18 minutes and 33 seconds behind Julie Moss (USA) at the start of the run in February 1982.

Some have suggested the 2011 race when Chrissie Wellington was more than 22 minutes behind T2 leader Julie Dibens, but Julie it was very apparent that Julie wouldn’t be able to finish the race.

Other suggestions with big T2 deficits:

  • Mirinda Carfrae (AUS) 13:32 behind Daniela Ryf (SUI) in 2014
  • Mark Allen (USA) 13:31 behind Thomas Hellriegel (GER) in 1995
  • Craig Alexander (AUS) 11:55 behind Chris Lieto (USA) in 2009
  • Karen Smyers (USA) 11:47 behind Paula Newby-Fraser (USA) in 1995
  • Dave Scott (USA) 11:37 behind Mark Allen (USA) in 1984
  • Patrick Lange (GER) 10:40 behind Cameron Wurf (AUS) in 2017

May 6th

Question: How many athletes have been able to win IM Hawaii on debut?

Answer: There have been 13 athletes:

  • 4 Men: Gordon Haller 1978, Tom Warren 1979, Dave Scott 1980, Luc Van Lierde 1996
  • 8 Women: Lyn Lemaire 1979, Robin Beck 1980, Linda Sweeney 1981, Kathleen McCartney February 1982, Julie Leach October 1982, Sylviane Puntous 1983, Joanne Ernst 1985, Chrissie Wellington 2007

May 5th

Question: IM Australia 2019 was exactly one year ago. Who were the male and female Pro winners?

Answer: The female winner was Laura Siddall, the male winner Cameron Wurf.

May 4rd

Question: Who is the last female athlete to win IM Hawaii on debut before Chrissie Wellington in 2007?

Answer: Erin Baker (NZL) won Kona 1987. Before that, she was prohibited from entering the US as an “undesirable alien” after anti-Apartheid protests in 1981.
[Update: Erin’s debut was in 1986 when she wasn’t able to finish. Therefore, it was Joanne Ernst in 1985 who was the last female before Chrissie to win on debut.]

May 3rd

Question: Who is the last male athlete to win IM Hawaii on debut before Luc Van Lierde in 1996?

Answer: Dave Scott (USA) won IM Hawaii in 1980 when it was still held on Oahu. In his first Ironman he became the first athlete to finish sub-11 and sub-10 hours.

May 2nd

Question: Who is the last male athlete to win Kona on debut?

Answer: Luc Van Lierde (BEL) won Ironman Hawaii in 1996. In his first Ironman race ever he also set a new course record that stood for 15 years.

May 1st

Question: Who is the last athlete to win Kona on debut?

Answer: Chrissie Wellington (GBR) won Kona 2007. She qualified just 7 weeks before when she won IM Korea, her Ironman debut. Second place finisher Sam McGlone also raced in Kona for the first time.

April 30th

Question: Which female athlete has the fastest IM-distance debut?

Answer: Laura Philipp (GER) finished Ironman Barcelona 2018 in 8:34:57.

April 29th

Question: Which male athlete has the fastest IM-distance debut?

Answer: Florian Angert (GER) finished Ironman Barcelona 2019 in 7:45:05.

April 28th

Question: Which female athlete has the most sub-3:00 marathons in IM-distance races?

Answer: Kristin Liepold (nee Möller) has ten sub-3:00 marathons (IM UK 2011 to IM Tallinn 2019).

Mirinda Carfrae (nine, 2009-2016) is next, followed by Caitlin Snow (2008-2015) and Chrissie Wellington (2007-2011) with eight.

April 27th

Question: Which male athlete has the most sub-2:45 marathons in IM-distance races?

Answer: Cameron Brown has seven sub-2:45s: Cameron Brown (IM Germany 2004, IM New Zealand 2009, IM Melbourne 2012, IM Cairns 2014, IM New Zealand 2016-17-18).

There are two athletes with six: Gerrit Schellens (Almere 2003-04, IM Lanzarote 2005, IM Switzerland 2010, Almere 2010), and Joe Skipper (Challenge Roth 2016, Challenge Almere 2017, Challenge Roth 2018, IM Texas 2019, IM Florida 2019, IM New Zealand 2020).

Finally, there are a few more with five: Timo Bracht 2009-14, Victor Del Corral 2013-16, Jan Frodeno 2014-19, Ivan Rana 2012-17, Matt Hanson 2014-18 (if you include his marathon at Texas 2018), Ben Hoffman 2014-19 (if you include his marathon from the shortened IM South Africa 2019) and Brent McMahon 2014-18 (also with IM Texas 2018).

April 26th

Question: Which athlete worked the longest for another IM-distance win?

Answer: Petr Vabrousek🇨🇿 had 11 years between winning IM Korea 2000 and Challenge Henley 2011.

Caitlin Snow🇺🇸 had to wait seven years between her wins at IM Lake Placid 2008 and IM France 2015.

April 25th

Question: Who (male or female) has the most Kona podiums but was never able to win?

Answer: Fernanda Keller 🇧🇷 was third six times between 1994 and 2000.

Andreas Raelert🇩🇪 was second three times and third twice between 2009 and 2015. Next up is Cam Brown🇳🇿 with four podiums (two seconds, two thirds) between 2001 and 2005.

April 24th

Question: Who is the youngest official finisher of Ironman Hawaii?

Answer: Michael Collins (son of Judy and John Collins) was 14 years old when he finished the 1979 race. I think it was Michael who said, “A bad day is when the newspaper has already printed the results of the race you’re still competing in.”

April 23rd

Question: Who is the slowest official finisher of Ironman Hawaii?

Answer: Walt Stack finished the 1981 Ironman Hawaii in 26:20:25 when he was 73 years old. After a 4:11 swim leg he “raced” on his single speed basketed granny bike and then stopped to eat a full waffle breakfast before completing the final run stage the next morning. His motto was “Start slow .. then taper off”.

April 22nd

Question: Who has won the most IM-distance races in one calendar year?

Answer: Bella Bayliss (then Bella Comerford) won five IM-distance races in 2008: IM South Africa, IM Lanzarote, IM UK, Embrunman and IM Florida. She was also 4th at IM New Zealand, 2nd at IM Austria and 7th in Kona in that same year.

There are quite a few athletes with three wins in a year .. but only Bella again with four wins (Lanzarote, Austria, UK and Embrun).

April 21st

Question: Which Australian females had the fastest Kona run split in that year’s race?

Answer: There are three athletes: Kate Major (2005), Mirinda Carfrae (5 times: 2009-11, 2013-14), and Liz Blatchford (2015).

April 20th

Question: Which German athletes (male or female) had the fastest Kona run split in that year’s race?

Answer: There are five athletes: Lothar Leder (1997-98), Sonja Tajsich (2012), Patrick Lange (2016-18), Anne Haug (2018-19), and Jan Frodeno (2019).

April 19th

Question: Which Australian males had the fastest Kona run split in that year’s race?

Answer: There are four athletes: Greg Welch (1994), Chris McCormack (2005, 2007), Craig Alexander (2008, 2009,) and Pete Jacobs (2010, 2011).

April 18th

Question: Which Canadian females had the fastest Kona run split in that year’s race?

Answer: There are four athletes: Sylviane Puntous (1983-84, 1987), Heather Fuhr (1993, 1997-98, 2002, 2004), Lori Bowden (1999-2001, 2003), and Lisa Bentley (2006).

April 17th

Question: Which German males had the fastest Kona bike split in that year’s race?

Answer: There are six athletes: Jürgen Zäck (1991-93, 1997-98),  Thomas Hellriegel (1995-96, 1999, 2002), NormannStadler (2000, 2003-04, 2006), Sebastian Kienle (2012, 2014), Maik Twelsiek (2015), and Boris Stein (2016).

Other names that were mentioned include Wolfgang Dittrich (just a few seconds off in 1991) and Faris Al-Sultan (he won in 2005 when Torbjörn Sindballe set a new bike course record).

April 16th

Question: Which Swiss females had the fastest Kona bike split in that year’s race?

Answer: There are three athletes: Natascha Badmann (8 times, 1996, 1998, 2000-02, 2004, 2006, 2012), Karin Thuerig (3 times, 2005, 2010, 2011), Daniela Ryf (5 times, 2014-18).

Some have also thought that Caroline Steffen was able to have the fastest bike split: In her best years she was among the strongest athletes on the bike, in 2012 she was within a minute of Natascha Badmann.

April 15th

Question: Who has finished 1st, 2nd and 3rd at Ironman Hawaii?

Answer: There are eleven athletes: Scott Tinley, Mark Allen, Paula Newby-Fraser, Greg Welch, Karen Smyers, Thomas Hellriegel, Lori Bowden, Peter Reid, Tim DeBoom, Mirinda Carfrae, and Sebastian Kienle.

April 14th

Question: Who has the most consecutive Ironman Pro wins in the same race?

Answer: Ronnie Schildknecht won IM Switzerland seven times in a row from 2007 to 2013.

The next ones with six wins in a row are Joanna Lawn at IM New Zealand (2003 to 2008) and Marino Vanboenacker at IM Austria (2006 to 2011). There are also a number of athletes with five wins in a row: Cam Brown at IM New Zealand (twice: 2001 to 2005 and 2007 to 2011), Mark Allen in Hawaii (1989 to 1993), Marcel Zamora at IM France (2006 to 2010), Meredith Kessler at IM New Zealand (2012 to 2016) and Lisa Bentley and Chris McCormack at IM Australia (2002 to 2006)

April 13th

Question: Who has the most Ironman Pro wins in the same race?

Answer: Cameron Brown won 12 times at IM New Zealand. He won from 2001 to 2005, from 2007 to 2011 and in 2015 and 2016.

April 12th

Question: Who is the athlete (male or female) with the most long-distance Pro wins?

Answer: Paula Newby-Fraser has 28 wins between 1986 and 2004.

She won 24 Ironman races (8*Hawaii, 5*Japan, 3*Roth, 3*Lanzarote, 2*Australia, Canada, Korea, South Africa) and 4 times in Nice.

Lots of posters got this one right! Other suggestions included Marino Vanhoenacker (18 Ironman wins), Cam Brown (17 wins), Mark Allen (16 wins – 6 in Kona and 10 in Nice!), and Natascha Badmann (11 wins, including 6 in Kona).

April 11th

Question: Who is the last female US athlete to lead on the run course in Kona?

Answer: Meredith Kessler was leading on the run in Kona 2013.

She rode away from the lead group in the final miles and had the second-fastest bike split. With a 3:16 marathon she finished in seventh place, her best Kona result so far.

April 10th

Question: Who is the last male US athlete to lead on the run course in Kona?

Answer: Andrew Starykowicz was leading on the run in Kona 2013.

He posted the fastest bike split (4h21, just 3 minutes off Normann Stadler’s bike course record) and had a lead of 3:45 minutes at the start of the run. After running a 3:25 marathon he finished in 19th place.

Other suggestions were focused on Chris Lieto (years mentioned included 2007, 2009, 2010 and 2011). Chris was first off the bike three years in a row between 2009 and 2011. In 2009 the eventual winner Craig Alexander had to make up a gap of almost 12 minutes to Chris.

April 9th

Question: Who is the first non-US female athlete on the Kona podium (1st to 3rd)?

Answer: Sylviane Puntous from Canada won the race in 1983.

She is the first non-US athlete ever to place on the podium and also the first non-US winner.

April 8th

Question: Who is the first non-US male athlete on the Kona podium (1st to 3rd)?

Answer: Carl Kupferschmid (SUI) was third in 1985.

Earlier that year, Carl posted what was then the fastest known time on the IM-distance with an 8:42:56 at the “Swiss Triathlon” in his home country.

April 7th

Question: Who is the last female US athlete who has won IM Hawaii?

Answer: Paula Newby-Fraser won Kona 1996, she became a US citizen in 1993.

A couple of answers suggested Karen Smyers, she won in 1995 (one year before Paula’s last win).

April 6th

Question: Who is the last male US athlete who has won IM Hawaii?

Answer: Tim DeBoom won IM Hawaii 2002, defending his 2001 title.

This was probably the easiest question so far – no surprise that there were a lot of posts with the correct answer!

April 5th

Question: What’s the longest time between two IM-distance wins by the same athlete?

Answer: Paula Newby-Fraser won IM Hawaii 1986 and IM Korea in 2004, 18 years apart.

Other notable mentions: Cam Brown won IM New Zealand in 2001 and 2016, 15 years apart. Pete Varbousek had 17 years between wins but at smaller IM-distance races, the Czech National long-distance champs in 1998 and Podersdorf in 2015 (thanks to TriOraklet for this). Marino Vanhoenacker has 13 years between his wins in Florida and Australia, as does Victor Zyemtsev with wins at IM Austria 2002 and IM Canada 2015. Eneko Llanos has 12 years between winning IM Lanzarote in 2007 and IM Vitoria in 2019.

Other female athletes with long careers are Yvonne Van Vlerken (12 years between wins at Challenge Roth 2007 and Challenge Almere 2019) and Heather Wurtele (11 years between IM Coeur d’Alene 2008 and IM Canada 2019).

April 4th

Question: What’s the shortest time between two IM-distance wins by the same athlete?

Answer: Daniela Ryf won two IM-distance races within 7 days in 2016, Challenge Roth (July 17) and Ironman Switzerland (July 24). She really dominated both races (winning by 20 and 30 minutes) and also posted sub-9 finishes in both races. I was really surprised by the number of replies who got this right, among them Diego Fort, phil_sin, TriOraklet, TJ Fry, Ed Stanley and Thomas Weber.

Other suggestions were not too far off: Lucy Gossage is #2, she took 13 days between her wins at IM Wales and IM Italy in 2017 (as posted by Race Force). For a long time the record stood at 14 days: Rebecca Preston won IM Switzerland and IM Austria 2006 (as posted by Harald Funk). We also have Kirsty Jahn who won IM Brasil and IM Boulder 2018 within 14 days of each other (suggested by Jennie Hansen). Also Michael Weiss won IM Cozumel and IM Mar Del Plata 2018 within 2 weeks. Others thought of Victor Del Corral who won IM Florida and IM Arizona 2013 within 15 days (posted by Joan, David Nieva, James Mitchell and TriOraklet).

April 3rd

Question: Who is the oldest female winner of Ironman Hawaii?

Answer: Natascha Badmann was 38 years and 313 days old when she won Kona 2005. She’s the oldest athlete to win Kona.

Another suggestion was Michellie Jones (she was 37 when she won in 2006), Paula Newby-Fraser was floated as an answer but quickly retracted (she was 34 when she last won Kona in 1996). The 2019 winner Anne Haug was 36 years old, so there’s no immediate candidate to break Natascha’s record.

April 2nd

Question: Who is the oldest male winner of Ironman Hawaii?

Answer: Craig Alexander was 38 years and 108 days old when he won Kona 2011.

Jan Frodeno was just a few days younger (38 years and 55 days) when he won Kona 2019. He would be the oldest if he manages to win Kona one more time (so Volker Voit’s answer “@janfrodeno in 2021” could become true).

An honorable mention goes to Tim Heming for the answer Hiromu Inada – at 86 years of age he is the oldest finisher in Kona, and of course won the 86-90 agegroup in 2017 which was opened just for him.

TriTrivia for IM Brasil

Here are a few “fun questions” about the top female and male contenders for IM Brasil. Can you guess which athletes I’m referring to? (If you need some help, the full Pro startlist can be found here. The solutions are posted at the bottom.)

  1. He/she finished second at IM South Africa with a wire in the arm as a pin for a broken elbow.
  2. He/she dropped the Kona GPS tracker in a porta-loo.
  3. He/she strained a muscle on the bike portion of IM Austria, but still ran a marathon PR.
  4. He/she had a Kona meltdown of PNF proportions .. running in 8th place at 37k, eventually finishing 21st.
  5. He/she started Kona with what turned out to be a broken fibula – a DNF probably prevented more severe damage.
  6. He/she tore a ligament in the hand, requiring a three week break from swimming and missing some early 2017 races.
  7. After Kona last year, he/she added a new member to the family .. a cute puppy.

If you need some hints, check out my previews for the male and female races, the athletes that “match” the facts above are (in alphabetical order):

  1. Susie Cheetham
  2. Haley Chura
  3. Linsey Corbin
  4. Tim Don
  5. Mareen Hufe
  6. Brent McMahon
  7. Andreas Raelert

Here are the matches: 1A 2D 3G 4E 5B 6F 7C

TriTrivia 2016

After Christmas I’ll be working on the TriRating Report 2016, my analysis of the results of at the 2016 Ironman-distance racing and interesting information about the athletes that played a major role in 2016. You can already pre-order it here (or use the link https://gum.co/2016RatingReport).

As a preview to the content of the Report, here are a few #TriTrivia2016 questions. If you have a problem answering the questions, I have posted my answers at the bottom of this post.

Questions

  1. As the fastest Ironman races this year are pretty obvious (and no one who was in Roth will forget them soon), who had the second fastest Ironman-distance races in 2016 (male & female)?
  2. Which North American athletes won an Ironman race in Europe or the Australian continent (Australia and New Zealand)?
    a) Four North American Athletes winning an Ironman in Europe
    b) Two North American Athletes winning an Ironman on the Australian continent
  3. There are three “active IM three-peats” (one athlete winning the same Ironman race in 2014, 15 and 16). Can you name them (athlete, race)?
  4. Who overcame the biggest deficits in T2 to win a 2016 Ironman (male & female athlete at which races)?
  5. Who are the athletes with the most wins on the IM-distance and the 70.3 distance in 2016?
  6. Which were the closest 2016 IM-distance races (male and female winners at which races)?
  7. We saw a number of continental records (fastest times in an IM-distance race) this year. Can you name all four (continent, male/female, athlete)?
  8. In winning Kona 2016, where did Daniela and Jan post the fastest times for the individual legs (swim, bike or run)?
  9. The most successful long-distance nations are the USA, Germany, Australia and Great Britain. Who has posted the fastest 2016 IM-distance finishes (male and female) from each of these nations?
  10. Who posted the fastest marathons in a full IM-distance race in 2016 (male & female)?

2016 TitlePage SmallAll the answers to these questions can be found in my TriRating Report 2016, available for pre-order here.

The Report will have about 70 pages, including:

  • Female and Male Athletes of the Year and Rookies of the Year
  • Top 10 Ratings (overall and individually for swim, bike and run)
  • Top 10 Performances (by “clock time” and by my normalized times)
  • 2016 Money List
  • Looking forward to the 2017 Racing season and Kona 2017

and a ton of race results and all rated athletes!

Answers

    1. Lionel Sanders was the second fastest male – he finished IM Arizona in 7:44:29. For the women, the second fastest was Mirinda Carfrae who finished IM Austria in 8:41:17. These two races were also the fastest finished in Ironman-branded races, as the fastest ones were posted at Challenge Roth by Daniela Ryf (8:22:04) and Jan Frodeno (7:35:39). [back to questions]
    2. The four North Americans winning a European IM were Jesse Thomas in Lanzarote, Mary Beth Ellis in Netherlands, Darbi Roberts in Wales and Jocelyn McCauley in Mallorca. There two Americans winning on the Australian continent were Meredith Kessler at IM New Zealand and Beth Gerdes at IM Australia. [back to questions]
    3. Meredith Kessler has two of the “three-peats”, she has won IM Arizona in the last three years and IM New Zealand even for the last five years. The only other athlete with an “active three-peat” in Ironman races is Diana Riesler, she has won IM Malaysia in 2014, 15 and 16. (There are more streaks in 70.3s, the longest active one is probably Jodie Swallow having won 70.3 South Africa for the last six years!) [back to questions]
    4. There are very few cases where a gap of more than 10 minutes in T2 was overcome to win the race. In 2016 there were two on the male side: Tim Van Berkel closing a gap of 14:01 to win IM Cairns, and Patrik Lange (largest gap by a male winner) had a gap of 14:50 when winning IM Texas.
      On the female side, there were Beth Gerdes (gap of 12:19 to win IM Australia), Darbi Roberts (12:27 at IM Wales), Kaisa Lehtonen (12:38 at IM South Africa), and Kristin Möller. Kristin had the biggest T2 gap in 2016, she was able to overcome a gap of 15:45 to win IM Sweden. [back to questions]
    5. There were nine athletes that won two IM-distance races in 2016: Liz Lyles, Melissa Hauschildt, Marino Vanhoenacker, Mary Beth Ellis, Meredith Kessler, Patrik Nilsson, Jan Frodeno, Fredrik Croneborg and Jan Raphael. Only Daniela Ryf managed to win three (Challenge Roth, Ironman Switzerland and IM Hawaii) – all of them with a sub-9 time!
      The “winningest” athlete on the 70.3 distance of 2016 is Lionel Sanders: He won five races over the middle distance. With Heather Wurtele, Annabel Luxford and Andreas Dreitz there were three athletes with four wins.
      [back to questions]
    6. The closest female race was at Challenge Venice, where Erika Csomor won with 42 seconds in front of Martina Dogana. On the IM side it was IM Lanzarote, Tine Holst won with a margin of 2:18 over Alexandra Tondeur.
      The closest race on the male side was Challenge Poznan, 16 seconds separated Denis Sketako and Sergio Marques. The closest IM race was IM Malaysia, Fredrik Croneborg had a 33 seconds advantage over Thiago Vinhal. [back to questions]
    7. The four “continental records” (fastest IM-distance finishes by an athlete from that continent) were the male North American record (Lionel Sanders 7:44:29 from IM Arizona; Andy Potts and Brent McMahon – twice! – were also faster than the old record by Andy Starykowicz), the male Australian continent record (Terenzo Bozzone winning IM Western Australia in 7:51:26, beating the 2007 time by Chris McCormack), the male European record (Jan Frodeno going 7:35:39 at Challenge Roth, beating the old world record by Andreas Raelert) and the female African record (Annah Watkinson’s 9:12:13 at IM Barcelona, improving the 2013 record by Dianne Emery by more than 25 minutes). [back to questions]
      NB: Blog reader Rob pointed out that Paula Newby-Fraser is also an African athlete. Though she was racing for the US in the latter part of her career, she won Kona a number of times racing for Zimbabwe. For example, she won Kona in 1992 in 8:55:28, and also finished IM Germany (at that time still in Roth) in 8:55:00. So Paula is still the fastest female African athlete!
    8. Daniela had two fastest legs: After being 4 seconds behind on the swim, she had the fastest bike (by 8:05) and run legs (by 1:29).  Jan was in the lead or close the front for most of the day, but he didn’t have any of the fastest legs (his differences: 2 seconds on the swim to Harry Wilshire, 5:56 to Boris Stein on the bike, and 5:49 to Patrick Lange on the run). [back to questions]
    9. Here are the fastest times for these nations:
      AUS female: Mirinda Carfrae (8:41:17 at IM Austria on 2016-06-26)
      AUS male: Nick Kastelein (8:05:03 at Challenge Roth on 2016-07-17)
      GBR female: Laura Siddall (8:51:59, Challenge Roth on 2016-07-17)
      GBR male: Joe Skipper (7:56.23, Challenge Roth on 2016-07-17)
      GER female: Astrid Stienen (8:54:27 at IM Barcelona on 2016-10-02)
      GER male: Jan Frodeno (7:35:39 at Challenge Roth on 2016-07-17)
      USA female: Meredith Kessler (8:48:23 at IM Arizona on 2016-11-20)
      USA male: Andy Potts (7:55:12 at IM Western Australia on 2016-12-04)
    10. The fastest marathons in 2016 IM-distance races were by Joe Skipper (2:38:52 in Challenge Roth) and by Mirinda Carfrae (2:49:06 at IM Austria).

Kona Trivia Questions

Here’s a few tricky trivia questions about Kona, this year’s field and some earlier races.

  1. Who are the oldest and youngest athlete’s in this year’s Pro field?
  2. What’s the total number of Kona wins in the male and female field?
  3. Which nation has the most Kona Pros?
  4. Who won Kona (male and female) the last year that an American female was on podium?

I’ve discussed these questions with my friend Tawnee Prazak on an upcoming Endurance Planet episode looking ahead to Kona. Some more questions we didn’t have time for:

  1. Who finished in 10th and 11th place last year (male and female)?
  2. Which Pros will start Kona without a previous Ironman-distance finish?
  3. When was the last time when all Top3 (male or female) came from the same country?

All answers can be found with the information in my Kona Rating Report!

Multiple IM Winners in 2014

As part of my TriTrivia questions, I asked

Which athletes won two Ironman races in 2014?

Tawnee and I discussed this a few times on our TriNews podcast on EndurancePlanet, and a short, factual answer is also in my 2014 TriRating Report. (If you haven’t had a look at it, you can still download it for free!) This post has a longer look at these athletes and their results. Congratulations to these athletes on their great 2014 season – I’m very much looking forward to your 2015 seasons!

Linsey Corbin

CorbinBikeHoriz
Linsey had a great first half of the season, getting her two wins in March and June:

  • March 30: IM Los Cabos 9:16:43
    (53:11, 5:06:17, 3:12:03)
  • June 29: IM Austria 8:42:42
    (53:02, 4:47:02, 2:56:52)

She probably had big hopes for Kona, but unfortunately she did not have the race she wanted. Her 12th place should still give her enough points to plan a season focused on performing well in Kona.

Sebastian Kienle

KienleRunWideQueenK
Sebi had a dream year on the Ironman distance, winning the „big races“:

  • July 6: IM Frankfurt 7:55:14
    (49:40, 4:12:13, 2:49:35)
  • October 11: IM Hawaii 8:14:18
    (54:38, 4:20:46, 2:54:36)

His only disappointment was the 70.3 World Champs – but I guess that he prefers to have the Kona win instead of a 3rd 70.3 title.

Sarah Gross

SaraBrasilAt the start of the year, Sara was a bit frustrated by a string of DNFs. But she moved on and took a giant step forward by winning not only her first IM in Brasil but even following that up with another win in Mont Tremblant:

  • May 25: IM Brasil 8:56:35
    (55:41, 4:49:42, 3:06:12)
  • August 17: IM Mont Tremblant 9:40:26
    (58:42, 5:28:14, 3:07:33)

After all the racing in 2014 it wasn’t a big surprise to see her not have a great race in Kona. You can hear a lot more on her 2014 season in an interview with Sara that Tawnee an I did on EndurancePlanet.

Daniela Ryf

RyfRunNRGLabOut
Daniela was a great addition to the 2014 IM season. She won her first two IMs as part of a 6-week winning streak that also included the European and World 70.3 titles:

  • July 27: IM Switzerland 9:13:30
    (56:41, 5:00:18, 3:11:03)
  • August 24: IM Copenhagen 8:53:33
    (48:37, 4:44:09, 3:15:15)

She came very close to extending that streak by almost winning in Kona – she’ll be an athlete to watch in 2015 for sure!

Meredith Kessler

KesslerHoriz
At the start of the year, Meredith defended her New Zealand title and then clearly focused on Kona, only racing 70.3s over the summer. After her DNF in Kona, she finally won in Arizona after a string of 2nd place finishes:

  • March 1: IM New Zealand 9:08:46
    (46:47, 5:08:30, 3:08:06)
  • November 16: IM Arizona 8:50:41
    (50:22, 4:48:06, 3:07:56)

She seems very determined to finally deliver her best performance in Kona and will probably go with a similar season plan for 2015.

Britta Martin

BrittaWA
Britta had a great end to her 2014 racing season:

  • September 7: IM Wisconsin 9:30:08
    (59:13, 5:15:26, 3:08:40)
  • December 7: IM Western Australia 8:56:34
    (56:39, 4:55:37, 3:00:00)

In addition to these two IM races, she also won Challenge Taiwan in April, making her the only athlete with three wins over the Ironman-distance in 2014!

Including non-WTC Races

There are a few more athletes who won two races if I include non-WTC races over the Ironman distance:

  • Dylan McNeice
    Dylan is mostly racing Challenge races – he won Challenge Wanaka in January (8:38:48) and Challenge Taiwan in April (8:23:44).
  • Cam Brown
    In addition to IM Cairns in June (8:20:15), Cam also won MetaMan in August (8:28:21). He is currently aiming for his 11th win at his home race, IM New Zealand.
  • Mirinda Carfrae
    Rinnie’s 2014 wins are from Challenge Roth in July (8:49:31) and IM Hawaii in October (9:00:55). A great season, especially considering the strength of the women’s field in Roth this year.

Photo Credits

  • Jay Prasuhn: Linsey Corbin, Sebastian Kienle, Daniela Ryf, Meredith Kessler
  • Ironman: Sara Gross, Britta Martin
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