We’re getting closer to the first cutoff for Kona qualification, so I think this is a good time to have a closer look at the KPR standings. This post looks at the men, the previous one looks at the women.
The exact number of points that is required for a Kona slot is not easy to determine as there are 40 slots at the end of July and another 10 slots at the end of August. In my 2012 Rating Report (available in the sidebar) I have determined that 4.000 points can be considered a safe number for qualification.
Who’s in
Athletes who have won Kona in the last five years just have to race another Ironman to qualify:
- Craig Alexander (7.220 points, already validated in Melbourne)
- Pete Jacobs (6.000 points, plans to race in Frankfurt)
- Chris McCormack (890 points, will probably race in Cairns, but it’s unclear if he’s going to race another Kona)
- Sebastian Kienle (70.3 champion, 7.500 points – plans to race IM Frankfurt)
- Javier Gomez (5150 champion, but I haven’t heard any rumors that he’s interested in racing a full IM in order to race Kona 2013)
As noted above, I consider athletes with at least 4.000 points as safe qualifiers. There are quite a few established athletes who took care of their Kona slots early in the qualifying period:
- Timothy O’Donnell (6.985 points)
- Faris Al-Sultan (5.688 points)
- Timo Bracht (5.300 points)
- Petr Vabrousek (5.120 points – with five Ironman results!)
- Eneko Llanos (5.085 points)
- Jordan Rapp (4.725 points)
- Ronnie Schildknecht (4.225 points)
- Dirk Bockel (4.090 points – cutting it close, and I’m not sure if he’s got any plans to add some more points racing ITU long distance and Challenge Roth)
We also have some athletes who haven’t raced Kona 2012 that already have a safe spot:
- Jimmy Johnsen (5.910 points)
- Bevan Docherty (5.900 points)
Who’s close to qualifying
- Andreas Raelert (6.290 points -scheduled to race Austria)
- Andy Potts (5.850 points – plans to qualify in Lake Placid as in 2012)
- Frederik Van Lierde (5.260 points – racing IM France again)
- Bart Aernouts (4.700 points – plans to race IM France)
From the Kona 2012 athletes, there is one who is close to qualifying but not quite in “safe territory”:
- Jeremy Jurkiewicz (3.620 points)
Then we have some athletes that haven’t qualified for Kona 2012 who are also close:
- Horst Reichel (3.745 points)
- Balazs Csoke (3.620 points)
- Marino Vanhoenacker (3.520 points)
Who needs more points
At this “early” point in the season, a lot of established athletes haven’t yet raced their “main” qualifying race and we will see a lot of movement in the KPR. (The Northern hemisphere season is just getting started.) From the Kona Top10, only one athlete hasn’t been mentioned yet:
- David Dellow (3.000 points – was injured and had to cancel Melbourne, he’s now getting ready for Frankfurt)
Some athletes made big headlines early in the qualifying cycle (remember Andy Starykowicz’s great bike times in Florida and Arizona?), but still need some more points to qualify:
- James Cunnama (3.245 points)
- Ian Mikelson (3.235 points)
- Justin Daerr (3.195 points)
- Andrew Starykowicz (3.050 points)
In addition, here are some Kona 2012 athletes that have already raced an Ironman and validated, but need quite a few more points:
- Cyril Viennot (3.380 points)
- Marko Albert (2.845 points)
- Luke McKenzie (2.375 points)
- Tom Lowe (2.350 points – had to skip Melbourne because of injury and is now re-evaluating his plans)