Ironman World Championship

For other uses, see Ironman.

Swimmers at the start of the 2005 race
Swim start, 15 October 2005

The Ironman World Championship is a triathlon competitions held annually in Hawaii, United States from 1978 to 2022, with no race in 2020 and an additional race in 1982. It is owned and organized by the World Triathlon Corporation. It is the annual culmination of a series of Ironman triathlon qualification races held throughout the world. From 2023, the Men's and Women's Ironman World Championships were separated with one at Kona and the other hosted at another venue.[1]

History

[edit]

From 1978 through 1980 the race was held on the island of Oahu, the course combining that of three events already held there: the Waikiki Roughwater Swim (2.4 mi./3.86 km), the Around-Oahu Bike Race (115 mi./185.07 km, originally a two-day event), and the Honolulu Marathon. The bike stage was reduced by 3 miles to link it to the start of the marathon course. In 1981 the race was moved to the less urbanized Big Island, keeping the distances the same: a 2.4 miles (3.86 km) open water swim in Kailua-Kona Bay, a 112 miles (180.25 km) bike ride across the Hawaiian lava desert to Hāwī and back, and a marathon (26 miles 385 yards, 42.195 km) run along the coast of the Big Island from Keauhou to Keahole Point and back to Kailua-Kona, finishing on Aliʻi Drive.

Since 1982, the race has been held in the fall each year, before which it was held in the spring, giving two races in 1982.

Athletes with disabilities compete in the event in the physically challenged category, which was instituted in 1997, and are required to meet the same cutoff times as able bodied competitors.[2] Australian John Maclean was the first physically challenged athlete to complete the event under the cut-off time.[3][4]

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 Ironman World Championship was initially postponed to February 2021 and then canceled with that year's qualifiers able to defer to race in 2021 or 2022.[5] The 2021 Championship was postponed to May 2022 and held in St. George, Utah due to travel restrictions.

The 2022 Ironman World Championship was split with a men's and women's race and the Women's Championship on October 6 followed by the Men's Championship two days later. Also from 2022, Vietnam's automobile maker VinFast was the first ever naming rights partner for 2022 Ironman World Championship and 2023 Ironman 70.3 World Championship.[6]

Since 2023 the men's and women's Ironman World Championships have been split and alternated between Nice, France, and Kona, Hawaii. In 2023, the men's event held on September 10 in Nice, France, and the women's on October 14 in Kona, Hawaii.[7] The men's and women's Championships alternate between these venues until 2026.[1]

Qualifying for the World Championship is achieved through placement in one of the other Ironman races or some Ironman 70.3 races.

The current Ironman Hawaii course record was set in 2024 by Patrick Lange (Germany), whose winning time was 7 hrs 35 min 53 sec.[8] The women's course record is 8 hrs 24 mins 31 sec, set in 2023 by Lucy Charles-Barclay (UK).[9]

Course records

[edit]

Men

[edit]
Event Record Speed Athlete Nationality Edition Ref
Full Course 7:35:53
(47:09 - 2:20 - 4:06:22 - 2:30 - 2:37:34) 		Patrick Lange  Germany 2024 [8]
Swim (3.862 km) 45:43 1:12 min/100 m Sam Askey-Doran  Australia 2024 [10]
Bike (180.246 km) 3:57:22 45.56 km/h Sam Laidlow  France 2024 [8]
Run (42.195 km) 2:36:15 16.2 km/h / 3:42 min/km Gustav Iden  Norway 2022 [8]

Women

[edit]
Event Record Speed Athlete Nationality Edition Ref
Full Course 8:24:31
(49:36 - 2:29 - 4:32:28 - 2:20 - 2:57:38) 		26.91 km/h Lucy Charles-Barclay  United Kingdom 2023 [9]
Swim (3.862 km) 48:14 1:14 min/100 m Lucy Charles-Barclay  United Kingdom 2018 [11]
Bike (180.246 km) 4:26:07 40.64 km/h Daniela Ryf  Switzerland 2018 [12]
Run (42.195 km) 2:48:23 3:57 min/km Anne Haug  Germany 2023 [13]

Medalists

[edit]

Men

[edit]
Year Gold Time Silver Time Bronze Time
1978  Gordon Haller (USA) 11:46:58  John Dunbar (USA) 12:20:27  Dave Orlowski (USA) 13:59:13
1979  Tom Warren (USA) 11:15:56  John Dunbar (USA) 12:03:56  Ian Emberson (USA) 12:23:30
1980  Dave Scott (USA) 9:24:33  Chuck Neumann (USA) 10:24:41  John Howard (USA) 10:32:36
1981  John Howard (USA) 9:38:29  Tom Warren (USA) 10:04:38  Scott Tinley (USA) 10:12:47
1982 (Feb)  Scott Tinley (USA) 9:19:41  Dave Scott (USA) 9:36:57  Jeff Tinley (USA) 9:53:16
1982 (Oct)  Dave Scott (USA) 9:08:23  Scott Tinley (USA) 9:28:28  Jeff Tinley (USA) 9:36:53
1983  Dave Scott (USA) 9:05:57  Scott Tinley (USA) 9:06:30  Mark Allen (USA) 9:21:06
1984  Dave Scott (USA) 8:54:20  Scott Tinley (USA) 9:18:45  Grant Boswell (USA) 9:23:55
1985  Scott Tinley (USA) 8:50:54  Chris Hinshaw (USA) 9:16:40  Carl Kupferschmid (SUI) 9:26:32
1986  Dave Scott (USA) 8:28:37  Mark Allen (USA) 8:36:04  Scott Tinley (USA) 9:00:37
1987  Dave Scott (USA) 8:34:13  Mark Allen (USA) 8:45:19  Greg Stewart (AUS) 8:58:53
1988  Scott Molina (USA) 8:31:00  Mike Pigg (USA) 8:33:11  Ken Glah (USA) 8:38:37
1989  Mark Allen (USA) 8:09:14  Dave Scott (USA) 8:10:13  Greg Welch (AUS) 8:32:16
1990  Mark Allen (USA) 8:28:17  Scott Tinley (USA) 8:37:40  Pauli Kiuru (FIN) 8:39:24
1991  Mark Allen (USA) 8:18:32  Greg Welch (AUS) 8:24:34  Jeff Devlin (USA) 8:27:55
1992  Mark Allen (USA) 8:09:08  Cristián Bustos (CHI) 8:16:29  Pauli Kiuru (FIN) 8:17:29
1993  Mark Allen (USA) 8:07:45  Pauli Kiuru (FIN) 8:14:27  Wolfgang Dittrich (GER) 8:20:13
1994  Greg Welch (AUS) 8:20:27  Dave Scott (USA) 8:24:32  Jeff Devlin (USA) 8:31:56
1995  Mark Allen (USA) 8:20:34  Thomas Hellriegel (GER) 8:22:59  Rainer Müller-Hörner (GER) 8:25:23
1996  Luc Van Lierde (BEL) 8:04:08  Thomas Hellriegel (GER) 8:06:07  Greg Welch (AUS) 8:18:57
1997  Thomas Hellriegel (GER) 8:33:01  Jürgen Zäck (GER) 8:39:18  Lothar Leder (GER) 8:40:30
1998  Peter Reid (CAN) 8:24:20  Luc Van Lierde (BEL) 8:31:57  Lothar Leder (GER) 8:32:57
1999  Luc Van Lierde (BEL) 8:17:17  Peter Reid (CAN) 8:22:54  Tim DeBoom (USA) 8:25:42
2000  Peter Reid (CAN) 8:21:01  Tim DeBoom (USA) 8:23:10  Normann Stadler (GER) 8:26:45
2001  Tim DeBoom (USA) 8:31:18  Cameron Brown (NZL) 8:46:10  Thomas Hellriegel (GER) 8:47:40
2002  Tim DeBoom (USA) 8:29:56  Peter Reid (CAN) 8:33:06  Cameron Brown (NZL) 8:35:34
2003  Peter Reid (CAN) 8:22:35  Rutger Beke (BEL) 8:28:27  Cameron Brown (NZL) 8:30:08
2004  Normann Stadler (GER) 8:33:29  Peter Reid (CAN) 8:43:40  Faris Al-Sultan (GER) 8:45:14
2005  Faris Al-Sultan (GER) 8:14:17  Cameron Brown (NZL) 8:19:36  Peter Reid (CAN) 8:20:04
2006  Normann Stadler (GER) 8:11:58  Chris McCormack (AUS) 8:13:10  Faris Al-Sultan (GER) 8:19:05
2007  Chris McCormack (AUS) 8:15:34  Craig Alexander (AUS) 8:19:04  Torbjørn Sindballe (DEN) 8:21:30
2008  Craig Alexander (AUS) 8:17:45  Eneko Llanos (ESP) 8:20:50  Rutger Beke (BEL) 8:21:23
2009  Craig Alexander (AUS) 8:20:21  Chris Lieto (USA) 8:22:56  Andreas Raelert (GER) 8:24:32
2010  Chris McCormack (AUS) 8:10:37  Andreas Raelert (GER) 8:12:17  Marino Vanhoenacker (BEL) 8:13:14
2011  Craig Alexander (AUS) 8:03:56  Pete Jacobs (AUS) 8:09:11  Andreas Raelert (GER) 8:11:07
2012  Pete Jacobs (AUS) 8:18:37  Andreas Raelert (GER) 8:23:40  Frederik Van Lierde (BEL) 8:24:09
2013  Frederik Van Lierde (BEL) 8:12:29  Luke McKenzie (AUS) 8:15:19  Sebastian Kienle (GER) 8:19:24
2014  Sebastian Kienle (GER) 8:14:18  Ben Hoffman (USA) 8:19:23  Jan Frodeno (GER) 8:20:32
2015  Jan Frodeno (GER) 8:14:40  Andreas Raelert (GER) 8:17:43  Timothy O'Donnell (USA) 8:18:50
2016  Jan Frodeno (GER) 8:06:30  Sebastian Kienle (GER) 8:10:02  Patrick Lange (GER) 8:11:14
2017  Patrick Lange (GER) 8:01:40  Lionel Sanders (CAN) 8:04:07  David McNamee (GBR) 8:07:11
2018  Patrick Lange (GER) 7:52:39  Bart Aernouts (BEL) 7:56:41  David McNamee (GBR) 8:01:09
2019  Jan Frodeno (GER) 7:51:13  Tim O'Donnell (USA) 7:59:40  Sebastian Kienle (GER) 8:02:04
2021‡  Kristian Blummenfelt (NOR) 7:49:16  Lionel Sanders (CAN) 7:54:03  Braden Currie (NZL) 7:54:19
2022  Gustav Iden (NOR) 7:40:24  Sam Laidlow (FRA) 7:42:24  Kristian Blummenfelt (NOR) 7:43:23
2023  Sam Laidlow (FRA) 8:06:22  Patrick Lange (GER) 8:10:17  Magnus Ditlev (DEN) 8:11:43
2024  Patrick Lange (GER) 7:35:53 CR  Magnus Ditlev (DEN) 7:43:39  Rudy Von Berg (USA) 7:46:00
Winners by country

‡The 2021 World Championship was held in St. George, Utah on May 7, 2022. The delay and change from the original Kona, Hawaii venue were due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Women

[edit]
Year Gold Time Silver Time Bronze Time
1979  Lyn Lemaire (USA) 12:55:38
1980  Robin Beck (USA) 11:21:24  Eve Anderson (USA) 15:40:59
1981  Linda Sweeney (USA) 12:02:32  Sally Edwards (USA) 12:37:25  Lyn Brooks (USA) 12:42:15
1982 (Feb)  Kathleen McCartney (USA) 11:09:40  Julie Moss (USA) 11:10:09  Lyn Brooks (USA)
 Sally Edwards (USA)		 11:51:00
1982 (Oct)  Julie Leach (USA) 10:54:08  Jo Ann Dahlkoetter (USA) 10:58:21  Sally Edwards (USA) 11:03:00
1983  Sylviane Puntous (CAN) 10:43:36  Patricia Puntous (CAN) 10:49:17  Eva Ueltzen (USA) 11:01:49
1984  Sylviane Puntous (CAN) 10:25:13  Patricia Puntous (CAN) 10:27:28  Julie Olson (USA) 10:38:10
1985  Joanne Ernst (USA) 10:25:22  Elizabeth Bulman (USA) 10:26:55  Paula Newby-Fraser (ZIM) 10:31:04
1986  Paula Newby-Fraser (ZIM) 9:49:14  Sylviane Puntous (CAN) 9:53:13  Joanne Ernst (USA) 10:00:07
1987  Erin Baker (NZL) 9:35:25  Sylviane Puntous (CAN) 9:36:57  Paula Newby-Fraser (ZIM) 9:40:37
1988  Paula Newby-Fraser (ZIM) 9:01:01  Erin Baker (NZL) 9:12:14  Kirsten Hanssen (USA) 9:37:25
1989  Paula Newby-Fraser (ZIM) 9:00:56  Sylviane Puntous (CAN) 9:21:55  Kirsten Hanssen (USA) 9:24:31
1990  Erin Baker (NZL) 9:13:42  Paula Newby-Fraser (ZIM) 9:20:01  Terri Schneider (USA) 10:00:34
1991  Paula Newby-Fraser (ZIM) 9:07:52  Erin Baker (NZL) 9:23:37  Sarah Coope (GBR) 9:33:20
1992  Paula Newby-Fraser (ZIM) 8:55:28  Julie Anne White (CAN) 9:21:40  Thea Sybesma (NED) 9:26:57
1993  Paula Newby-Fraser (ZIM) 8:58:23  Erin Baker (NZL) 9:08:04  Susan Latshaw (USA) 9:20:40
1994  Paula Newby-Fraser (ZIM) 9:20:14  Karen Smyers (USA) 9:28:08  Fernanda Keller (BRA) 9:43:30
1995  Karen Smyers (USA) 9:16:46  Isabelle Mouthon (FRA) 9:25:13  Fernanda Keller (BRA) 9:37:48
1996  Paula Newby-Fraser† (USA) 9:06:49  Natascha Badmann (SUI) 9:11:19  Karen Smyers (USA) 9:19:13
1997  Heather Fuhr (CAN) 9:31:43  Lori Bowden (CAN) 9:41:42  Fernanda Keller (BRA) 9:50:02
1998  Natascha Badmann (SUI) 9:24:16  Lori Bowden (CAN) 9:27:19  Fernanda Keller (BRA) 9:28:29
1999  Lori Bowden (CAN) 9:13:02  Karen Smyers (USA) 9:20:40  Fernanda Keller (BRA) 9:24:30
2000  Natascha Badmann (SUI) 9:26:17  Lori Bowden (CAN) 9:29:05  Fernanda Keller (BRA) 9:31:29
2001  Natascha Badmann (SUI) 9:28:37  Lori Bowden (CAN) 9:32:59  Nina Kraft (GER) 9:41:01
2002  Natascha Badmann (SUI) 9:07:54  Nina Kraft (GER) 9:14:24  Lori Bowden (CAN) 9:22:27
2003  Lori Bowden (CAN) 9:11:55  Natascha Badmann (SUI) 9:17:08  Nina Kraft (GER) 9:17:16
2004  Natascha Badmann (SUI) 9:50:04  Heather Fuhr (CAN) 9:56:19  Kate Major (AUS) 10:01:56
2005  Natascha Badmann (SUI) 9:09:30  Michellie Jones (AUS) 9:11:51  Kate Major (AUS) 9:12:39
2006  Michellie Jones (AUS) 9:18:31  Desiree Ficker (USA) 9:24:02  Lisa Bentley (CAN) 9:25:18
2007  Chrissie Wellington (GBR) 9:08:45  Samantha McGlone (CAN) 9:14:04  Kate Major (AUS) 9:19:13
2008  Chrissie Wellington (GBR) 9:06:23  Yvonne van Vlerken (NED) 9:21:20  Sandra Wallenhorst (GER) 9:22:52
2009  Chrissie Wellington (GBR) 8:54:02  Mirinda Carfrae (AUS) 9:13:59  Virginia Berasategui (ESP) 9:15:28
2010  Mirinda Carfrae (AUS) 8:58:36  Caroline Steffen (SUI) 9:06:00  Julie Dibens (GBR) 9:10:04
2011  Chrissie Wellington (GBR) 8:55:08  Mirinda Carfrae (AUS) 8:57:57  Leanda Cave (GBR) 9:03:29
2012  Leanda Cave (GBR) 9:15:54  Caroline Steffen (SUI) 9:16:58  Mirinda Carfrae (AUS) 9:21:41
2013  Mirinda Carfrae (AUS) 8:52:14  Rachel Joyce (GBR) 8:57:28  Liz Blatchford (GBR) 9:03:35
2014  Mirinda Carfrae (AUS) 9:00:55  Daniela Ryf (SUI) 9:02:57  Rachel Joyce (GBR) 9:04:23
2015  Daniela Ryf (SUI) 8:57:57  Rachel Joyce (GBR) 9:10:59  Liz Blatchford (GBR) 9:14:52
2016  Daniela Ryf (SUI) 8:46:46  Mirinda Carfrae (AUS) 9:10:30  Heather Jackson (USA) 9:11:32
2017  Daniela Ryf (SUI) 8:50:47  Lucy Charles-Barclay (GBR) 8:59:38  Sarah Crowley (AUS) 9:01:38
2018  Daniela Ryf (SUI) 8:26:18  Lucy Charles-Barclay (GBR) 8:36:32  Anne Haug (GER) 8:41:57
2019  Anne Haug (GER) 8:40:10  Lucy Charles-Barclay (GBR) 8:46:44  Sarah Crowley (AUS) 8:48:13
2021‡  Daniela Ryf (SUI) 8:34:59  Kat Matthews (GBR) 8:43:49  Anne Haug (GER) 8:47:03
2022  Chelsea Sodaro (USA) 8:33:46  Lucy Charles-Barclay (GBR) 8:41:37  Anne Haug (GER) 8:42:22
2023  Lucy Charles-Barclay (GBR) 8:24:31 CR  Anne Haug (GER) 8:27:33  Laura Philipp (GER) 8:32:55
2024  Laura Philipp (GER) 8:45:15  Kat Matthews (GBR) 8:53:20  Chelsea Sodaro (USA) 9:04:38
Winners by country

†Paula Newby Fraser was a citizen and represented the United States for the 1996 race.

‡The 2021 World Championship was held in St. George, Utah on May 7, 2022. The delay and change from the original Kona, Hawaii venue were due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ironman lottery

[edit]

Until 2015, individuals could enter a lottery for the chance to participate in the Ironman World Championship. The lottery entry fee was $50 and afforded the chance to win one of 100 berths in the championship race. If selected the winners then had to pay the normal entry fee.[14]

However, according to a sworn complaint filed with the U.S. District Court in Tampa, Florida, Ironman illegally charged athletes for a chance to win the opportunity to compete in the Ironman World Championship.[15][16] According to Florida law, the state where the World Triathlon Corporation resides, it is illegal to set up and charge for a lottery.[17] Because WTC charged a $50 fee to enter the lottery, instead of giving away the opportunity to win a slot at the championships, they were in violation of this law.[18] Following the complaint WTC cooperated with the United States Attorneys office and the FBI's investigation of the matter and agreed to forfeit $2,761,910, the amount collected from the lottery since October 24, 2012.[15][19] The attorney representing the United States in the matter was 8-time Ironman finisher James A. Muench.[20]

Winners of the 2015 lottery were notified on March 17, 2015, prior to the announcement of the complaint.[16] WTC stated that these winners would be unaffected by this decision and that their slots for the upcoming championship race would be honored.[21]

References

[edit]

Citations

[edit]

[22]

  1. ^ a b "Ironman World Championships split between Kona and France". 5 January 2023.
  2. ^ "Athletes with disabilities competing at the IRONMAN: successes, failures, inclusion and accessibility". Ability Magazine. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
  3. ^ Lulham, Amanda (11 April 2016). "Ironman John Maclean awarded Hall of Fame status for heroics in wheelchair and on his own two feet". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
  4. ^ "1997 Race Results" (PDF). Ironman.com. p. 18. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 May 2012. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
  5. ^ "Ironman Kona canceled for first time". NBC Sports. 21 July 2020. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
  6. ^ VINFAST AND IRONMAN ANNOUNCE A GROUNDBREAKING AND COMPREHENSIVE GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP PR Newswire 22 Jul, 2022
  7. ^ "Re-Live the Action from Nice and Kona". Retrieved 30 July 2023.
  8. ^ a b c d "Patrick Lange Rises Above Kona Carnage for Course Record".
  9. ^ a b Sport, BBC (17 October 2023). "Lucy Charles-Barclay on winning Ironman World Championship in Kona". BBC. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
  10. ^ Foster, Chris (4 September 2019). "Jan Sibbersen: Meet the Kona Swim Course Record Holder". Triathlete. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
  11. ^ "Britain's Lucy Charles breaks course swimming record before winning silver at Ironman World Championship". The telegraph. 14 October 2018. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
  12. ^ James, Sutherland (31 December 2019). "Performances of the decade: Daniela Ryf smashes Kona course record by 20 minutes". Triathlon Magazine Canada. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
  13. ^ "IRONMAN Kona records: Detailing the best ever World Championship times on the Big Island". 15 October 2023.
  14. ^ "Lottery and Legacy". World Triathlon Corporation. 1 September 2013. Archived from the original on 17 February 2014. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
  15. ^ a b "World Triathlon Corporation (Ironman) Forfeits More Than $2.7 Million in Lottery Proceeds". Federal Bureau of Investigation. 13 May 2015. Retrieved 20 May 2015.
  16. ^ a b "U.S. District Court Complaint". scribd.com. Retrieved 20 May 2015.
  17. ^ "849.09 Lottery prohibited; exceptions". gambling-law-us.com. Retrieved 20 May 2015.
  18. ^ .Stein, Letitia (13 May 2015). "Ironman triathlon ran illegal lottery for athletes: U.S. prosecutors". Reuters. Retrieved 20 May 2015.
  19. ^ Moskovitz, Diana (19 May 2015). "Feds: Ironman Ran An Illegal Lottery And Made Millions". deadspin.com. Retrieved 20 May 2015.
  20. ^ Cornwall, Warren (18 May 2015). "The Ironman Lottery Is Dead. Up Next: Your Local Race?". Outside Online. Retrieved 23 October 2016.
  21. ^ "Statement from IRONMAN in response to recent DOJ decision". Ironman.com. 13 May 2015. Archived from the original on 5 October 2015. Retrieved 20 May 2015.
  22. ^ Foster, Chris (26 October 2024). "Patrick Lange Rises Above Kona Carnage for Course Record". Triathlete. Retrieved 27 October 2024.

Sources

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ironman World Championships.
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