Ironman World Championship Qualification since 2014
Have Ironman qualification times got easier (or harder) over the last decade? That’s the question this interactive chart hopes to answer. I built the chart to look into how slot allocations and qualifying times have changed over a 10 year period.
When you first open the page you’re presented with a mess! Every data point is plotted which renders the chart unreadable. To really make use of it you’ll need to use the filtering options provided above the chart. There are four controls available above this chart:
- The first dropdown determines the data on display. By default finishing times are shown, but you can switch to display slot allocations instead.
- The second dropdown allows you to filter on Age Group, selecting a single age group to display on the chart.
- The third dropdown filters on race, showing only times/allocations from the selected race.
- Finally there is a reset button to return the chart ot it’s original, messy state.
You can use the controls to focus in on a specific age group and/or race to see how times have changed over the decade. You can also see how slot allocations have changed. Be aware that slot allocations (and from that times) have been impacted by covid delays and the Nice/Kona championship split since 2020.
Filtering the data gives a much clearer picture. In the above screen capture I’m looking at M40-44 qualification times in Lanzarote. It’s very variable, probably worth checking the number of slots. You can either change the view to slot numbers or mouse over/touch points on the graph to see details on the data. In this case, other than a large bump in 2021 slot allocation has been very consistent.
What you’ll likely realise playing with this is it’s not easy to identify clear patterns in qualification times. Slot number changes aren’t particularly significant for male age groups, but definitely are for women. This means if there’s any impact in qualification times it’s more notable for female age groups.
Explore the chart and draw your own conclusions.
