Ironman Mallorca is a relatively new full distance race, completing it’s third year over the weekend. Like many of the European courses it’s fast and very competitive. There are 40 Kona slots on offer, but you need to be quick to grab one – close to 9 hours for men and under 10 for women. This is definitely not the easiest qualifier.
I’ve added a new table to my analysis – a look at what percentage of Kona slots are likely to go to different nationalities. It’s a little more interesting than the 10 most common nationalities at the race.
This year looks to be slightly faster than the previous two, but it’s really only by a small margin at best. The most notable change comes on the run course, here it appears to trend a few minutes quicker. Overall though, the race was very much on form for Mallorca – a fast Ironman.
| Listed Athletes | Swim Finish | Swim DNS/DNF | Bike Finish | Bike DNF | Run Finish | Run DNF | Overall DNS/DNF | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 2554 | 2144 | 16.1% | 2116 | 1.3% | 1990 | 6% | 22.1% |
| 2015 | 2323 | 1973 | 15.1% | 1893 | 4.1% | 1809 | 4.4% | 22.1% |
| 2016 | 2012 | 1741 | 13.5% | 1664 | 4.4% | 1602 | 3.7% | 20.4% |
A smaller field at this year’s race and with it a slight drop in the DNS/DNF rate. Again, it’s largely inline with the previous years of racing. The drop in DNFs on the run is perhaps most notable. I’d guess that conditions were a little more favourable on Saturday, but not exceptional for Mallorca.
Comparing the median splits across the age groups the difference between bike and run splits seems a bit more obvious. Here you can see that both bike and run splits are faster for many of the age groups.
| Country | Percentage of Slots | Percentage of Field |
|---|---|---|
| Germany | 45.0 | 12.3 |
| Austria | 15.0 | 2.6 |
| Switzerland | 10.0 | 3.5 |
| Denmark | 10.0 | 2.2 |
| Norway | 5.0 | 1.3 |
| Italy | 5.0 | 5.8 |
| France | 5.0 | 5.2 |
| Czech Republic | 5.0 | 1.2 |
Based on my estimates of slot allocations and automatic qualifying times, the table above shows how those slots would be distributed over the different nationalities competing. I’m curious to see which races tend to get mostly local fields and which involve more diverse slot winners. It’s a work in progress. Here we see a diverse mix of Europeans taking slots with the strongest showing from the Germans.
| Count | Percentage | |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 473 | 23.5 |
| Spain | 281 | 14 |
| Germany | 247 | 12.3 |
| Italy | 117 | 5.8 |
| France | 104 | 5.2 |
| Ireland | 86 | 4.3 |
| Switzerland | 71 | 3.5 |
| Sweden | 64 | 3.2 |
| Belgium | 62 | 3.1 |
| Austria | 52 | 2.6 |
For contrast, here’s how many athletes entered based on nationality. Despite being the largest group, the Brits didn’t fair too well when it came to Kona slots.
There’s a range of patterns in finishing times over the 3 years. So while many age groups see some improvement at this year’s race, it’s not outside the bounds of previous races for the most part. It’s also not consistent and in some divisions times were slower.
| Slots | Winner | Average Kona Qualifier | Final Qualifier | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| M18-24 | 1 | 8:56:51 | 8:56:51 | 8:56:51 |
| M25-29 | 2 | 9:08:55 | 9:09:34 | 9:10:13 |
| M30-34 | 4 | 8:45:07 | 8:55:25 | 9:02:47 |
| M35-39 | 5 | 8:53:56 | 9:01:43 | 9:09:13 |
| M40-44 | 5 | 8:55:16 | 9:08:41 | 9:20:13 |
| M45-49 | 4 | 9:08:53 | 9:19:00 | 9:27:17 |
| M50-54 | 3 | 9:03:29 | 9:18:59 | 9:35:53 |
| M55-59 | 2 | 9:49:13 | 10:00:37 | 10:12:01 |
| M60-64 | 1 | 10:27:37 | 10:27:37 | 10:27:37 |
| M65-69 | 1 | 11:55:09 | 11:55:09 | 11:55:09 |
| M70-74 | 1 | 14:05:54 | 14:05:54 | 14:05:54 |
| F18-24 | 1 | 10:08:58 | 10:08:58 | 10:08:58 |
| F25-29 | 1 | 10:24:27 | 10:24:27 | 10:24:27 |
| F30-34 | 2 | 9:55:12 | 9:59:41 | 10:04:11 |
| F35-39 | 1 | 9:41:35 | 9:41:35 | 9:41:35 |
| F40-44 | 2 | 9:54:46 | 9:57:25 | 10:00:04 |
| F45-49 | 1 | 9:56:24 | 9:56:24 | 9:56:24 |
| F50-54 | 1 | 11:04:49 | 11:04:49 | 11:04:49 |
| F55-59 | 1 | 12:13:53 | 12:13:53 | 12:13:53 |
| F60-64 | 1 | 12:34:26 | 12:34:26 | 12:34:26 |
The table above uses my estimated Kona slots (based on registration numbers) and calculates automatic qualifying times. Actually slots and times will vary depending on start numbers and roll down. For more statistics, check out my Kona qualification page.
Looking at top twenty age group times, there’s not a clear pattern. Fro quite a few of the main age groups the trend is slightly faster than average, but it’s not universal, M40-44 trended behind the average for example. So, Ironman Mallorca 2016 may have been a bit faster, but it wasn’t by much.
You can access a spreadsheet of the full results and splits from Ironman Mallorca 2016 on my Google Drive.
