Skip to content

Ironman Western Australia 2017 – Analyzing Results

IMWALogoRace Conditions

Because of a shark warning shortly before the race start, all athletes had to leave the water and the swim was cancelled. The race was started “just before T1” in a time trial fashion to break up big groups. Of course this changed the dynamic of the race: Looking at the times it seems that the bike was quite a bit faster than what’s “normal” for Busselton (adjustment would have been around 26 minutes, compared to the course rating of 14:13), probably because everyone was trying to move into a good position after the time trial start. The harder bike probably contributed to a significantly slower run (-6:33 minutes, compared to run course rating of 1:10). This is reflected in the run times – there were only two sub-3 marathons on the men’s side (by Terenzo and Cameron Brown) and the fastest female run split was a 3:09 by Camilla Borg.

The change in dynamic resulting from not having a swim makes it a bit hard to ask how the race would have panned out if there had been a swim – after all athletes could have paced more sensibly or a faster swimmer but slower bike rider could have keyed off a slightly slower swimmer and better bike rider. With that caveat, as far as I can see the swim wouldn’t have changed the overall results too much: Terenzo should have been one of the fastest swimmers, so he still should have been able to defend his title. Carrie might have swim slightly slower than Mel, but it’s hard to imagine how that could have resulted in a seven minute difference at the end.  Adding in expected swim times, Mel Hauschildt could have been able to set a new course record (she could have swum around an hour while I expected her to swim around 55 minutes). Carrie would have likely finished sub-9 and Terenzo’s time would likely have been sub-8 (but probably slower than his 7:51 course record from last year). In the results below I have also added a rough estimate in the “Diff to expected” column comparing each athlete’s performance on race day to their previous results (if available). 

Male Race Results

Rank Name Nation Swim Bike Run Time Diff to exp. Prize Money KPR Points
1 Terenzo Bozzone NZL   04:15:58 02:53:05 07:12:30 -15:41 US$ 10,000 2000
2 Dougal Allan NZL   04:12:34 03:01:51 07:18:07 -08:04 US$ 5,000 1600
3 Tim Van Berkel AUS   04:13:05 03:10:29 07:27:07 -01:06 US$ 3,250 1280
4 Cameron Brown NZL   04:33:46 02:53:43 07:32:22 02:04 US$ 2,500 960
5 Nathan Shearer AUS   04:15:50 03:15:33 07:35:32 -37:34 US$ 1,750 720
6 Konstantin Bachor GER   04:10:48 03:24:56 07:39:40 -16:34 US$ 1,250 540
7 Scott Defilippis USA   04:31:29 03:11:41 07:48:26 -16:15 US$ 750 405
8 Per Bittner GER   04:31:41 03:14:45 07:50:36 07:37 US$ 500 305
9 Leigh Stabryla AUS   04:39:57 03:10:02 07:54:05 -23:59   230
10 Philipp Koutny SUI   04:21:26 03:39:11 08:05:08 16:40   170
11 Damien Collins AUS   04:37:57 03:24:40 08:06:30 n/a   120
12 Carl Read NZL   04:43:49 03:29:10 08:18:46 10:14   85
13 Petr Vabrousek CZE   04:40:19 03:56:25 08:42:01 27:28   60
14 Josef Svoboda CZE   05:24:53 04:48:13 10:21:31 06:47   40
  Esben Hovgaard DEN   04:21:14   DNF      
  Lindsey Wall AUS   04:31:16   DNF      
  Pete Jacobs AUS   04:50:43   DNF      
  Allister Caird AUS       DNF      
  Luke Bell AUS       DNF      
  Cameron Wurf AUS       DNF      
  Courtney Ogden AUS       DNF      
  Callum Millward NZL   04:29:27   DNF      
  Martijn Dekker NED   04:20:52   DNF      

Female Race Results

Rank Name Nation Swim Bike Run Time Diff to exp. Prize Money KPR Points
1 Melissa Hauschildt AUS   04:37:42 03:10:46 07:52:04 -22:58 US$ 10,000 2000
2 Carrie Lester AUS   04:38:43 03:16:05 07:59:07 -16:13 US$ 5,000 1600
3 Camilla Lindholm Borg SWE   04:48:20 03:09:41 08:01:59 -27:43 US$ 3,250 1280
4 Yvonne Van Vlerken NED   04:45:06 03:22:19 08:11:01 00:41 US$ 2,500 960
5 Meredith Hill AUS   04:56:21 03:22:32 08:24:01 n/a US$ 1,750 720
6 Mareen Hufe GER   04:41:52 03:43:03 08:29:50 10:21 US$ 1,250 540
7 Tracy Morrison AUS   05:08:11 03:30:52 08:46:07 -38:22 US$ 750 405
8 Monica Juhart AUS   05:05:19 03:48:16 08:58:20 -1:41:30 US$ 500 305
9 Kierra Sansome AUS   05:24:59 03:38:12 09:08:40 n/a   230
10 Els Visser NED   04:53:26 04:17:06 09:14:25 n/a   170
  Claire Davis AUS       DNF      
  Alise Selsmark AUS   05:10:12   DNF      
  Michelle Gailey AUS   05:36:36   DNF      
  Jessica Mitchell AUS   05:16:27   DNF      

Kona Qualifying Implications

With their results in Western Australia a couple of athletes have secured their Kona slots:

  • Terenzo Bozzone (8.750 points) is safe for a July slot, as are the top female finishers Mel Hauschildt (6.285) and Carrie Lester (6.480). Mareen Hufe (4.775 points after her sixth place) can also plan for Kona 2018. 
  • Tim Berkel is on the bubble for a slot, at 3.455 points he’s right at the projected cutoff number. He already has four races in his total, so improving his total won’t be easy.
  • Dougal Allen has improved his total to 2.240 points, he’s in a good position to secure his slot early next year. Should Yvonne Van Vlerken (2.960) decide to try to qualify for Kona again, she should also be able to secure the remaining points.
Select your currency
EUR Euro

By continuing to use the site, you agree to the use of cookies. more information

The cookie settings on this website are set to "allow cookies" to give you the best browsing experience possible. If you continue to use this website without changing your cookie settings or you click "Accept" below then you are consenting to this.

Close