Ironman Frankfurt 2018: Age Group Results and Kona Qualification

Latest statistics for Ironman Frankfurt

Last weekend the European Ironman Championship took place in Frankfurt. Ironman Frankfurt is another race which draws a big crowd to a fast and competitive course. As with all championship events there are 80 Kona slots on offer. This year road works forced a 5km extension of the bike course which naturally impacts on race times for all competitors.

Distribution of Finisher Splits at Ironman Frankfurt 2018 Compared with 2008-2017
Adjusted Distribution of Finisher Splits at Ironman Frankfurt 2018

Unsurprisingly, the race trends slower this year than in the combined results of the previous ten years. This is mostly due to the much slower bike times, with the median bike split being about 25-30 minutes slower this year. Both swim and bike medians also come in slower this year, but not to a significant degree.

For further comparisons I’ve produced a chart with adjusted bike and overall times – using the average speed of each athlete to calculate the time 180km would have taken them. This bike distribution is still slower than the amalgamated results. However, I’d be wary of reading too much into such a simplistic correction of times, it will come down to more than just the change in distance.

DNS and DNF Rates at Ironman Frankfurt
Year
Listed Athletes
Swim Finish
Swim DNS/DNF
Bike Finish
Bike DNF
Run Finish
Run DNF
Overall DNS/DNF
2003
1697
1462
13.8%
1370
6.3%
1288
6%
23.9%
2005
1908
1809
5.2%
1608
11.1%
1730
9.3%
2006
2165
1950
9.9%
1956
710
63.7%
16.9%
2007
2284
2149
5.9%
2215
2121
4.2%
7.1%
2008
2265
2141
5.5%
2201
2142
2.7%
5.4%
2009
2593
2202
15.1%
2249
2128
5.4%
17.9%
2010
2434
2219
8.8%
2272
2119
6.7%
12.9%
2011
2750
2435
11.5%
2366
2.8%
2220
6.2%
19.3%
2012
2574
2552
0.9%
2456
3.8%
2317
5.7%
10%
2013
3015
2696
10.6%
2631
2.4%
2460
6.5%
18.4%
2014
3015
2647
12.2%
2591
2.1%
2388
7.8%
20.8%
2015
3064
2552
16.7%
2404
5.8%
2006
16.6%
34.5%
2016
3171
2748
13.3%
2694
2%
2606
3.3%
17.8%
2017
2740
2702
1.4%
2621
3%
2432
7.2%
11.2%
2018
2597
2549
1.8%
2449
3.9%
2261
7.7%
12.9%

DNF numbers look to fall within reasonable range of previous races. Nothing exceptional in the levels seen and certainly not on the scale of the heat wave of 2015.

Median Splits by Age Group at Ironman Frankfurt 2018
Median Splits by Age Group at Ironman Frankfurt 2008-2017

Age group medians again show the impact of the longer bike giving bike medians at least 20 minutes slower for this year’s race.

Top 10 Nationalities at Ironman Frankfurt
Country
Count
Percentage
Germany
1127
39.6
Spain
196
6.9
France
194
6.8
Italy
183
6.4
Israel
180
6.3
United Kingdom
142
5
Belgium
87
3.1
Japan
78
2.7
Netherlands
59
2.1
Poland
59
2.1
Ironman Frankfurt 2018 Predicted Kona Qualifiers by Country
Country
Percentage of Slots
Percentage of Field
Germany
51.3
39.6
Spain
7.5
6.9
Netherlands
6.3
2.1
France
5.0
6.8
Switzerland
3.8
1.9
Denmark
3.8
1.8
Sweden
2.5
0.8
Poland
2.5
2.1
Austria
2.5
1.7
Hungary
2.5
0.4
Belgium
2.5
3.1
United States
1.3
1.1
United Kingdom
1.3
5.0
Italy
1.3
6.4
Czech Republic
1.3
1.3
Croatia
1.3
0.1
Australia
1.3
0.5

Big races always draw a field from around the world and there looks to have been a wide spread of potential qualifiers at this years race.

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

for most age groups and positions the extra distance pushed this years race towards the slowest for Frankfurt. 2015 remains the stand out there thanks to exceptionally hot conditions that outweighed an additional 5K.

Ironman Frankfurt 2018 Predicted Kona Qualification Times
Age Group
Slots
Winner
Average Kona Qualifier
Final Qualifier
M18-24
2
09:56:26
10:00:44
10:05:02
M25-29
3
09:15:27
09:19:52
09:22:52
M30-34
7
09:04:43
09:11:29
09:15:11
M35-39
10
08:58:12
09:19:10
09:28:58
M40-44
12
09:09:49
09:29:42
09:40:26
M45-49
12
09:04:43
09:33:37
09:48:09
M50-54
9
09:28:48
09:48:23
09:58:42
M55-59
4
10:05:21
10:12:07
10:23:52
M60-64
2
10:47:55
10:58:32
11:09:09
M65-69
1
11:57:23
11:57:23
11:57:23
M70-74
1
12:38:13
12:38:13
12:38:13
F18-24
1
10:47:52
10:47:52
10:47:52
F25-29
2
09:51:51
09:52:58
09:54:05
F30-34
2
10:14:55
10:16:41
10:18:27
F35-39
2
10:25:13
10:39:40
10:54:07
F40-44
2
10:01:38
10:21:19
10:41:00
F45-49
2
10:14:32
10:22:57
10:31:22
F50-54
2
11:28:22
11:28:48
11:29:15
F55-59
1
12:23:43
12:23:43
12:23:43
F60-64
1
13:09:58
13:09:58
13:09:58

Based on start numbers I’ve estimated the slot allocation and from that the automatic qualification times at this year’s race. Exact numbers may vary and roll down will impact on final qualifying times. You can find out more and compare with other race on my Kona qualification page.

Top Twenty Male Performances and Kona Qualification by Age Group at Ironman Frankfurt 2018
Top Twenty Female Performances and Kona Qualification by Age Group at Ironman Frankfurt 2018

For most of the large age groups this was a slow yearn the top twenty age groupers, well behind the averages for the course. In some of the smaller age groups – older men, some of the women’s categories though times are closer or better than usual. It wasn’t an even hit to performance among the top twenty in each group. The major trend though is towards slower than average times though.

You can access a spreadsheet of the full results from Ironman Frankfurt 2018 on my Google Drive.

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