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.