Ironman Cozumel 2017: Age Group Results and Kona Qualification

Latest statistics for Ironman Cozumel

One of the last races of the 2017 Ironman calendar, Ironman Cozumel, took place on Sunday. Cozumel is a medium sized race with around 1500 competitors for the standard 40 Kona slots. This year’s race looks to have been one of the quicker years for the event.

Once again, a note on this analysis: the Ironman.com results page is only including splits for those who completed the race. This means I have no DNF or DNS data, it’s impact on other charts should be minimal though

Distribution of Finisher Splits at Ironman Cozumel 2017 Compared with 2009-2016

The shift in the swim distribution at this year’s race is probably the most obvious difference in these charts. The 2017 swim was much faster than usual and much faster than most Ironman races with almost 50% of the field taking less than an hour. I’d assume there were currents or course alterations involved here. The swim alone isn’t enough to make for a fast race and this year’s bike also trended faster and ensured the overall distribution came in ahead of the amalgamated data.

DNS and DNF Rates at Ironman Cozumel
Year
Listed Athletes
Swim Finish
Swim DNS/DNF
Bike Finish
Bike DNF
Run Finish
Run DNF
Overall DNS/DNF
2009
1927
1444
25.1%
1407
2.6%
1318
6.3%
31.6%
2010
2314
1761
23.9%
1682
4.5%
1628
3.2%
29.3%
2011
2300
1855
19.3%
1820
1.9%
1751
3.8%
23.8%
2012
2664
1930
27.6%
1794
7%
1787
0.4%
32.9%
2013
2485
1728
30.5%
1947
%
1849
5%
25.5%
2014
2292
1909
16.7%
1839
3.7%
1700
7.6%
25.8%
2015
1586
1561
1.6%
1495
4.2%
1390
7%
12.4%
2016
1390
1318
5.2%
1265
4%
1198
5.3%
13.8%

As mentioned above, the data that’s been uploaded to Ironman.com only indicates those who successfully finished. I’ve presented previous DNF stats for some form of reference. Looking at sportstats.ca results DNF levels appear to have been low throughout.

Median Splits by Age Group at Ironman Cozumel 2017
Median Splits by Age Group at Ironman Cozumel 2009-2016

As with the distribution, this year’s medians trend a lot faster in the swim and faster in the bike. While the run trends slightly slower for some age groups the combined result is a faster race across most divisions.

Top 10 Nationalities at Ironman Cozumel
Country
Count
Percentage
Mexico
485
32.8
United States
412
27.9
Canada
86
5.8
Brazil
48
3.2
Germany
41
2.8
Argentinia
40
2.7
Costa Rica
31
2.1
France
28
1.9
Japan
28
1.9
United Kingdom
26
1.8
Ironman Cozumel 2017 Predicted Kona Qualifiers by Country
Country
Percentage of Slots
Percentage of Field
United States
30.0
27.9
France
12.5
1.9
Germany
10.0
2.8
Mexico
7.5
32.8
Canada
7.5
5.8
Austria
5.0
0.7
Russia
2.5
0.5
Paraguay
2.5
0.2
Belgium
2.5
0.3
United Kingdom
2.5
1.8
South Africa
2.5
0.3
Costa Rica
2.5
2.1
Brazil
2.5
3.2
Chile
2.5
0.5
Italy
2.5
1.0
Denmark
2.5
0.3
Portugal
2.5
0.5

Cozumel draws a diverse field of athletes from round the world and also looks to distribute the Kona slots widely.

Changes in Male Finishing Times by Position at Ironman Cozumel
Changes in Female Finishing Times by Position at Ironman Cozumel

There is a definite improvement in times at this year’s race compared with previous years. 2010 looks to be the best comparison for most of the age groups. this puts the 2017 race as one of the fastest. It’s not true for every age group and moving back in the field sees smaller improvements in time.

Ironman Cozumel 2017 Predicted Kona Qualification Times
Age Group
Slots
Winner
Average Kona Qualifier
Final Qualifier
M18-24
1
09:45:50
09:45:50
09:45:50
M25-29
2
08:38:02
09:00:08
09:22:14
M30-34
3
08:57:24
09:00:12
09:01:39
M35-39
4
08:47:21
09:03:06
09:17:28
M40-44
4
08:58:14
09:10:43
09:25:17
M45-49
4
09:02:02
09:17:20
09:24:41
M50-54
3
09:25:47
09:39:14
09:49:02
M55-59
2
09:54:31
09:56:30
09:58:30
M60-64
1
10:25:09
10:25:09
10:25:09
M65-69
1
12:58:51
12:58:51
12:58:51
M75-79
1
13:17:17
13:17:17
13:17:17
F18-24
1
10:19:10
10:19:10
10:19:10
F25-29
1
10:15:57
10:15:57
10:15:57
F30-34
1
09:51:37
09:51:37
09:51:37
F35-39
2
09:22:44
09:50:11
10:17:38
F40-44
2
09:53:25
10:01:02
10:08:40
F45-49
2
09:49:52
09:54:34
09:59:16
F50-54
1
11:19:32
11:19:32
11:19:32
F55-59
1
11:14:17
11:14:17
11:14:17
F60-64
1
12:20:35
12:20:35
12:20:35
F65-69
1
13:27:17
13:27:17
13:27:17
F70-74
1
14:41:07
14:41:07
14:41:07

Based on the start numbers at the race, I’ve estimated the slot allocations, exact numbers may vary especially as DNS details aren’t accurate for this event. From this I’ve calculated the automatic qualifying times without accounting for roll down. You can compare this with other races on my Kona qualification page.

Top Twenty Male Performances and Kona Qualification by Age Group at Ironman Cozumel 2017
Top Twenty Female Performances and Kona Qualification by Age Group at Ironman Cozumel 2017

With some variations, times for the top twenty in each age group are average or faster. While this race appears to trend faster, it’s not consistent at the front and it’s not always that much faster.

You can access a spreadsheet of the results from Ironman Cozumel 2017 on my Google Drive.

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