Ironman World Championship Preview

The biggest day in Ironman racing will soon be upon us with the Ironman World Championship set to take place this coming Saturday October 13.

Australian Craig Alexander is back to defend and is after his fourth Ironman World title. The obvious favourite, Alexander will surely not have a clear road to the top of the podium with a start list packed with dangerous men.

Two-time Ironman World champion Chris McCormack is back and will be packing some extra speed thanks to his venture into ITU racing for the majority of this past year. Many seem to be taking McCormack lightly and this is when he is most dangerous. Last year K-Swiss offered the Raelert brothers (Andreas and Michael) a one million dollar payday if they could finish first and second. Michael was injured last year and that prize was supposed to be pushed to this year. Regardless, Andreas will be itching to finally top the podium and Michael will want to add to his two Ironman 70.3 World titles.

American Jordan Rapp is making his Kona debut on the back of two Ironman wins in Texas and New York where he ran well, and we can look forward to German Sebastian Kienle, the 2012 Ironman 70.3 World Champion, making things happen during the bike. But the names don’t stop there, there’s Andy Potts, Marino Vanhoenacker (owner of the fastest ever official Ironman time of 7:45:59), Faris Al-Sultan, Pete Jacobs, Cameron Brown, Tim O’Donnell, Greg Bennett, Rasmus Henning (retirement race), and Canadian Trevor Wurtele just to name a few more. Check out the rest below.

Pro Men

BIB	FIRST	LAST	DIVISION	AGE
1	Craig	Alexander	MPRO	39
2	Andreas	Raelert	MPRO	36
3	Pete	Jacobs	MPRO	31
4	Cameron	Brown	MPRO	40
5	Marino	Vanhoenacker	MPRO	36
6	Sebastian	Kienle	MPRO	28
7	Jordan	Rapp	MPRO	32
8	Timo	Bracht	MPRO	37
9	Jozsef	Major	MPRO	33
10	Maxim	Kriat	MPRO	28
11	Chris	McCormack	MPRO	39
12	Marko	Albert	MPRO	33
14	Luke	Bell	MPRO	33
15	Faris	Al-Sultan	MPRO	34
16	Frederik	Van Lierde	MPRO	33
17	Daniel	Fontana	MPRO	37
18	Dirk	Bockel	MPRO	36
19	Mike	Aigroz	MPRO	34
20	Mike	Schifferle	MPRO	39
21	Petr	Vabrousek	MPRO	39
22	Andrey	Lyatskiy	MPRO	25
23	Clemente	Alonso-McKernan	MPRO	34
24	Ronnie	Schildknecht	MPRO	33
25	Romain	Guillaume	MPRO	27
26	Trevor	Wurtele	MPRO	33
27	David	Dellow	MPRO	33
28	Matthew	Russell	MPRO	29
29	Joe	Gambles	MPRO	30
30	Viktor	Zyemtsev	MPRO	39
31	Eneko	Llanos	MPRO	36
32	Andi	Boecherer	MPRO	29
33	Paul	Matthews	MPRO	29
34	Sergio	Marques	MPRO	32
35	Jeremy	Jurkiewicz	MPRO	24
36	Pedro	Gomes	MPRO	28
37	Paul	Amey	MPRO	39
38	Alejandro	Santamaria	MPRO	35
39	Michael	Lovato	MPRO	39
40	Timothy	O’Donnell	MPRO	32
41	Michael	Raelert	MPRO	32
42	Markus	Thomschke	MPRO	28
43	Luke	McKenzie	MPRO	31
44	Trevor	Delsaut	MPRO	28
45	Rasmus	Henning	MPRO	37
46	Bart	Aernouts	MPRO	28
47	Cyril	Viennot	MPRO	30
48	Josh	Rix	MPRO	34
49	Thomas	Lowe	MPRO	34
50	Bruno	Clerbout	MPRO	36
51	Andy	Potts	MPRO	36
52	Christian	Brader	MPRO	32
53	Axel	Zeebroek	MPRO	34
54	Greg	Bennett	MPRO	40

With defending champion Chrissie Wellington taking the year off, you can take one look at the pro women’s start list (below) and make a case for any number of women to claim the 2012 World title.

You can never count out a former champion and Australian Mirinda Carfrae has not been lighting things up this season but the fast running Carfrae performs well in Hawaii and can certainly salvage her year with a win.

Switzerland’s Caroline Steffen was fifth last year in Hawaii but has made vast improvements since then. She stunned the triathlon world with a near world record performance (8:34:51) at Ironman Melbourne in March, dominating many of the women on this start list like Carfrae, Rachel Joyce, Joana Lawn, Gina Crawford, Rebekah Keat, and Jessica Jacobs. Also a favourite is Leanda Cave (GBR) who is looking primed for the win after taking the Ironman 70.3 Championship in September, and American Mary Beth Ellis who’s pretty much won every Ironman race she has done outside of Hawaii.

There are quite a few others to watch for as well including Canadians Heather Wurtele and Sara Gross. Wurtele will look to improve upon her eighth place finish last year. Athletes like Kelly Williamson, Caitlin Snow, Sonja Tajsich, Sofie Goos, and Tine Deckers, Amanda Stevens, and Amy Marsh are all capable of some race day surprises.

Pro Women

101	Caroline	Steffen	FPRO	34
102	Mirinda	Carfrae	FPRO	31
103	Leanda	Cave	FPRO	34
104	Rachel	Joyce	FPRO	34
105	Mary Beth	Ellis	FPRO	35
106	Meredith	Kessler	FPRO	34
107	Anja	Beranek	FPRO	27
108	Heather	Wurtele	FPRO	33
109	Linsey	Corbin	FPRO	31
110	Rebekah	Keat	FPRO	34
111	Amy	Marsh	FPRO	35
112	Joanna	Lawn	FPRO	39
113	Kelly	Williamson	FPRO	35
114	Gina	Crawford	FPRO	32
115	Caitlin	Snow	FPRO	30
116	Simone	Brändli	FPRO	32
117	Sarah	Piampiano	FPRO	32
118	Natascha	Badmann	FPRO	46
119	Jessica	Jacobs	FPRO	36
120	Sonja	Tajsich	FPRO	37
121	Sofie	Goos	FPRO	32
122	Tine	Deckers	FPRO	34
123	Kristin	Möller	FPRO	28
124	Amanda	Stevens	FPRO	35
125	Michelle	Gailey	FPRO	30
126	Susan	Dietrich	FPRO	31
127	Erika	Csomor	FPRO	39
128	Emi	Sakai	FPRO	32
129	Michelle	Vesterby	FPRO	29
130	Sara	Gross	FPRO	36
131	Mareen	Hufe	FPRO	34

Race day coverage begins on ironman.com at 6 am local time (12 noon ET).

Find out more at ironman.com or ironmanworldchampionship.com

* Who are your picks for the win? Comment here or visit us on Facebook.

Last year’s results

Top 10 Pro Men

1 8:03:56 Alexander, Craig AUS 51:56 4:24:05 2:44:03

2 8:09:11 Jacobs, Pete AUS 51:38 4:31:03 2:42:29

3 8:11:07 Raelert, Andreas GER 51:58 4:26:52 2:47:48

4 8:12:58 Bockel, Dirk LUX 51:44 4:24:17 2:53:04

5 8:20:12 Bracht, Timo GER 53:37 4:35:07 2:47:26

6 8:21:07 Aigroz, Mike SWI 52:31 4:30:44 2:54:08

7 8:22:15 Tissink, Raynard RSA 52:08 4:28:40 2:56:37

8 8:23:19 Boecherer, Andi GER 51:49 4:25:46 3:01:44

9 8:25:42 McKenzie, Luke USA 51:47 4:24:16 3:05:54

10 8:27:18 Al-Sultan, Faris GER 51:55 4:29:32 3:01:41

Top 10 Pro Women

1 8:55:08 Wellington, Chrissie GBR 1:01:03 4:56:53 2:52:41

2 8:57:57 Carfrae, Mirinda AUS 57:17 5:04:17 2:52:09

3 9:03:29 Cave, Leanda GBR 53:54 4:58:41 3:06:36

4 9:06:57 Joyce, Rachel GBR 53:56 4:58:57 3:09:55

5 9:07:32 Steffen, Caroline SWI 57:15 4:50:26 3:15:17

6 9:15:00 Thuerig, Karin SWI 1:12:19 4:44:19 3:13:31

7 9:15:17 Tajsich, Sonja GER 1:06:57 4:58:55 3:04:46

8 9:17:56 Wurtele, Heather CAN 58:43 4:59:10 3:15:29

9 9:18:11 Snow, Caitlin USA 58:47 5:20:57 2:53:50

10 9:19:52 Berasategui, Virginia ESP 58:44 5:03:31 3:12:50

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLwzL9Ip5n0&feature=plcp https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7krRJcn2eo&feature=plcp