Let’s take three IRONMAN races that are considered to be the fastest and analyze the performance of athletes who manage to finish it sub-10 (times 9:55 to 9:59) in 2019.
tl;dr: you can be (relatively) slow in one discipline and still finish sub-10, so Anything is possible™ 🙂
Course (from event page): Swim – lake; Bike – flat; Run – rolling
Sub-10 finishers in range: 9 athletes (of 910)
| Swim | T1 | Bike | T2 | Run | |
| Slowest | 1:08:57 (1:49 min/100m) | 0:05:38 | 5:18:38 (34 km/h) | 0:05:10 | 3:55:22 (5:35 min/km) |
| Fastest | 0:56:49 (1:30 min/100m) | 0:02:59 | 4:55:03 (36.6 km/h) | 0:02:06 | 3:29:13 (4:58 min/km) |
| Average | 1:01:23 (1:37 min/100 m) | 0:04:05 | 5:09:17 (35 km/h) | 0:03:13 | 3:39:23 (5:12 min/km) |
Fun facts:
- An athlete, who was slowest both in the swim, T1, and T2, ran a close-to average marathon and showed 3rd fastest bike time.
Course (from event page): Course: Swim – ocean; Bike – flat; Run – flat
Sub-10 finishers in range: 52 athletes (of 3379)
| Swim | T1 | Bike | T2 | Run | |
| Slowest | 1:23:24 (2:12 min/100m) | 0:09:04 | 5:19:41 (33.9 km/h) | 0:13:07 | 4:08:10 (5:53 min/km) |
| Fastest | 0:51:49 (1:22 min/100m) | 0:02:55 | 4:43:04 (38.2 km/h) | 0:02:34 | 3:09:28 (4:29 min/km) |
| Average | 1:06:17 (1:45 min/100 m) | 0:04:58 | 4:57:25 (36.4 km/h) | 0:04:22 | 3:44:17 (5:19 min/km) |
Fun facts:
- Fastest swimmer had slower-than-average bike (5:09); run and T’s were close to an average
- Athlete, who was slowest in T1 and bike (and had a not impressive swim), showed impressive 3:09 marathon
Course (from event page): Swim – ocean; Bike – rolling; Run – rolling
Sub-10 finishers in range: 53 athletes (of 3078)
| Swim | T1 | Bike | T2 | Run | |
| Slowest | 1:27:12 (2:18 min/100m) | 0:09:22 | 5:19:20 (33.9 km/h) | 0:07:19 | 3:59:12 (5:40 min/km) |
| Fastest | 0:57:15 (1:30 min/100m) | 0:03:42 | 4:40:57 (38.6 km/h) | 0:01:58 | 3:08:17 (4:28 min/km) |
| Average | 1:07:30 (1:47 min/100 m) | 0:05:21 | 5:00:35 (36 km/h) | 0:04:19 | 3:39:47 (5:13 min/km) |
Fun facts:
- The slowest swimmer was not impressive on the bike either (5:13), but flew through the marathon distance in 3:08
- Slowest runner was well above the average in swim and bike.