Ironman Malaysia 2014: Results and Analysis

Latest statistics for Ironman Malaysia

While not technically a new race, it’s been a few years since Ironman Malaysia was last run. As such, for this analysis I’m treating it as a new event and will compare the results against those of Europe and North America for some context. Hot and humid conditions tend to make for a tough race, especially for those travelling from more temperate climates. So unsurprisingly Ironman Malaysia comes in at the slower end of the Ironman spectrum.

Median Splits by Age Group at Ironman Malaysia 2014
Median Splits by Age Groups Across all 2013 North American Ironman Races
Median Splits by Category at 2013 European Ironman Races

What’s quite clear in the charts is that results from Ironman Malaysia are much slower than either North American or European averages form the previous year. This is spread across all three disciplines, although probably most significantly on the run. The impact is also seen in the professional field.

Distribution of Finisher Splits at Ironman Malaysia 2014
Distribution of Finisher Splits at All 2013 North American Ironman Races
Distribution of Finishers' Splits at 2013 European Ironman Races

Comparing the distribution of splits doesn’t really add much to this – again Malaysia is slower across all disciplines. There is a more notable rightward skew towards slower times at each stage of the race.

Top Twenty Male Performances and Kona Qualification by Age Group at Ironman Malaysia 2014
Top Twenty Female Performances and Kona Qualification by Age Group at Ironman Malaysia 2014

At the front of the age groups it’s not surprising to see that qualifying times are slower than we find at most races. Clearly conditions in Malaysia make for a challenging day. We can also note there is a very rapid drop off in performance within the top twenty, there might be a few athletes pushing the pace, breaking 9:30 in the M35-39 age group for example, but outside that times quickly fall. If you’re prepared for the conditions it’s potentially a good qualifier although it doesn’t offer many Kona slots.

You can view a spreadsheet of the full results and splits from Ironman Malaysia 2014 on my Google Drive.

Latest statistics for Ironman Malaysia

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