Parting Thoughts on Kona

A few meandering notes as I detox from drinking four 24 ounce cold brew coffees that had an espresso shot added to them…

The Women Delivered: Any take that isn’t “Kona was awesome this year” is simply garbage. Every part of the industry stepped up to make sure that Kona felt just as important, just as big, as it always has. Specifically, everyone — from IRONMAN to brands to media to athletes — all had their content volume turned to eleven, and it all looked good. FOMO was definitely real.

And then there’s the race itself. And, well, if you build it, the pro women are going to come and put on an outstanding race — more on some of those performances in a moment. The age group women did a great job, too — every woman who took the start on Saturday made the swim cutoff, and 13% of the field finishing under 11 hours, and 36% of the field under 12 hours. In other words, 710 athletes went sub 12. That more than doubles the number of women who finished that fast prior to the expanded World Championship (and is a larger figure than the number of women who finished the race in 2018 and 2019). So much for a “watered down field.”

Speaking of, your 2023 IRONMAN Age Group World Champions:
18-24: Ava Warfel 9:47:27
25-29: Maelle Deruaz 9:14:12
30-34: Barbora Besperat 9:19:52
35-39: Vanessa Murray 9:34:27
40-44: Jana Richtrova 9:38:51
45-49: Jessica Jones Lasley 9:57:28
50-54: Sandra Daenzer 10:19:29
55-59: Michelle Enslin 10:40:06
60-64: Donna Kay-Ness 10:57:10
65-69: Judy Daggett 12:22:53
70-74: Missy Lestrange 14:08:00

If anything, this proves that women need their own IRONMAN World Championship Day, either continuing the split venue model or by finding a location (or locations) that will allow for two days to happen.

Lucy Charles-Barclay’s Dominance: According to statisticians, Charles-Barclay is only the second IRONMAN World Champion ever to have led from the opening cannon, sharing that record with Dave Scott. Everyone’s known Charles-Barclay’s method for a while: take the swim out hard, build even more of a lead while on the bike, then hold on for dear life on the run. It’s a strategy that’s had strong dividends, with an amateur IRONMAN World Championship and four second-place finishes here in Kona.

But someone always managed to chase her down — Chelsea Sodaro, Anne Haug, Daniela Ryf. This year, the script seemed to be playing out much like those prior four second-place finishes, as Charles-Barclay led by almost two minutes out of the water, and then started hammering the bike, building an over ten minute lead in transition over everyone except Taylor Knibb. But then a curious thing happened — Charles-Barclay was one of the fastest runners through the opening time checks. And as the miles kept ticking off, and Haug remained 8 or so minutes back with less than 10 miles remaining, it seemed inevitable. Charles-Barclay ran 2:57 — her fastest marathon here, and the fourth fastest marathon on the day.

She can do it all.

Eating Crow Department: I remarked in a couple of our forum threads that I found it funny that I had written in our preview article that it would be a fool’s errand to not include Anne Haug in your podium picks, to only then promptly leave Haug off my own picks. Naturally, Haug made sure to make the early part of my article true, shattering the run course record while erasing all but three minutes of Charles-Barclay’s massive lead.

Note to self: do not make this same mistake next year.

Taylor Knibb Hits the Wall: For a long time during the broadcast, it looked like Knibb was going to test the “can’t win Kona in your first attempt” theory that the likes of Chrissie Wellington and Chelsea Sodaro have proven wrong. Knibb followed her playbook from IRONMAN 70.3 — swim well, take a little extra time in transition to get set, then rocket out on the bike. She quickly found herself second on the road and matching Lucy Charles-Barclay.

But things didn’t go fully to plan. They tend to when a race is this long. Knibb dropped multiple bottles on the bike. According to her, it was the third time it happened when a race official saw it and she picked up her one-minute penalty for unintentional littering (reminder — race officials can only penalize what they witness, which is why Jan Frodeno didn’t pick up the same penalty in Nice). Knibb chatted with the camera to explain her penalty while Matt Lieto was supposed to do his hit on the broadcast. If there were ever a triathlete that should be mic’d up for the race, she might be it.

Early on the run it seemed like Knibb was pacing herself well to hold onto a podium position. As the run crept on, she looked like she was suffering more than most; one of the first contenders to roll her top down, then the only top contender to visit the port-o-johns, and by the exit of the Energy Lab she looked cooked. Laura Philipp made up minutes of time in the closing 10K to snatch third.

Knibb’s fourth is still a valiant effort. In most years her time would have been win-worthy. But this wasn’t most years. She most likely will not be competing at this distance again until the 2025 qualification cycle; after all, she’s got an Olympics to try and win. That should build up plenty of excitement for 2025.

Also, About That Penalty. It’s the second year in a row this has happened, so it deserves mentioning. At Kona, the first two penalty tents on the outbound leg will swap over to the other side of the road once most of the age group field has come through. It’s a system that generally works well, so long as the head of the field doesn’t go too far up the road.

But, well, Charles-Barclay and Knibb were that far up the road. The penalty tents hadn’t flipped positions yet, so Knibb served her penalty at the final tent, just before T2. Magnus Ditlev did the same thing last year to serve his position foul before heading out on the run. It’s the reality of race logistics when you have 2,000 athletes on course.

The Valiant Defense of Chelsea Sodaro: The defending champion was in good position coming out of the water, in the main chase pack at roughly 4.5 minutes down, and rode early with this pack. But when Laura Philipp made her charge through this pack, Sodaro went the wrong way. She wasn’t the only one; Fenella Langridge also was one of the strong riders from 2022 that got spit backwards. Sodaro came into transition 22 minutes down from the lead, and more than 12 minutes back from the podium, in 20th place.

I will admit that I’d written her off in my notebook. Second big mistake of the weekend on my part. Sodaro’s 2:53:02 marathon was the second fastest of the day and coming under two minutes from catching Daniela Ryf. Clearly I need to add her to the “doubt her at your peril” section of my IRONMAN World Championship previews; she simply can perform at the biggest stage.

The Speed. THE SPEED!: Yes, a Top Gear reference. Sixteen women went under nine hours. Of them, five were Americans — Knibb, Sodaro, Skye Moench, fellow New Hampshire resident Sarah True, and Jocelyn McCauley. Haley Chura almost made it six, coming in at 9:01:01.

And Laura Siddall has the dubious honor of being the first woman to go sub 9 hours and not earn an IRONMAN paycheck for the effort.

I just can’t wait to see what the women do in Nice yesterday.

IRONMAN Broadcast Grade: B: IRONMAN simply had a better broadcast in Kona than they did in Nice. Part of that boils down to course logistics — it’s easier to get media in places where you are more familiar, and where the roads are wider. And some of that comes down to enhancements in graphics, in data, and in explanation from the rotating cast of additional commentators.

Michael Lovato and Dede Greisbauer did a very good job steering the talk track, including able to provide correction at times when on-course reporting was a touch off. The biggest limiter for them talking is data — just not having penalty info, or things not happening on camera, at their fingertips. This has certainly improved over the years, but it remains a gap. That said, when talking about what happens on screen (notably, how race officiating works without video replay), they do a commendable job. Mirinda Carfrae, Greg Welch, and Matt Lieto were also all solid in their roles.

It’s just the stuff we missed — Charles-Barclay making the final two right-hand turns to the finish; Philipp passing Knibb; Sodaro’s blitz through the field — that hurts the overall grade. Those are critical race moments that you had to mostly infer versus see, and they needed to be shown on screen.

Photos: Lead Photo – Donald Miralle for IRONMAN
Other Photos: Getty Images for IRONMAN

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