It looks like European nations delivered four of the five fastest average finish times at this year’s Ironman World Championship, with Spanish athletes delivering an impressive 10:19hrs average for the 140.6 miles.
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That’s according to the latest round of analysis from tri statistician Raymond Britt, who says that the next four fastest average finish times were taken up by athletes from France, Belgium, Brazil and Switzerland. The UK holds its own with an average of 11:23hrs, despite sending a large contingent:
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The RunTri.com founder also looked at the correlation between fast bike and run splits – in other words, how many athletes rode the bike hard and left enough in the tank to have a great run.
He breaks the results down into four groups: 1. Fast and Balanced; 2. Energy to Spare for a fast run; 3. Left it on the Bike Course; 4. Smooth and Steady for a slow bike and slow run. You want to be #1 or #4, according to Britt:
“With the best-of-the-best triathletes racing Kona, a clear majority are in quadrant #1 and #4,” he says. “Outliers in #2 and #3 were either racing too cautiously or rode too hard and suffered on the run, respectively.”
(Main image: Paul Phillips)
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Did you race Kona this year? Where are you in the graph? Let us know in the comments!