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Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
Pacing during cycling and running in an IRONMAN triathlon has been investigated in only one study
with elite IRONMAN triathletes. We have, however, no knowledge of how professional triathletes pace
during an IRONMAN World Championship. To investigate the split-by-split speed, pacing strategies
and pacing variability in professional female and male IRONMAN World Championship participants
in the fastest IRONMAN World Championship ever in IRONMAN Hawaii 2022. For both cycling and
running, 25 specific split times were recorded in each discipline. The best 30 men and 30 women overall
were chosen from the official IRONMAN website database for further analysis. They were divided
into three performance groups: Top 10, 11–20th place, and 21st–30th place. Mean speed, individual
linear regressions with the corresponding correlation coefficients, and coefficient of variation were
calculated to assess split-by-split speed, pacing strategies, and pacing variability, respectively. In
both men’s and women’s cycling and running segments, the top ten participants exhibited faster
split times compared to the slower performance groups. Notably, no discernible differences existed
between the 11–20th and 21st–30th place in men’s cycling and women’s running times. Conversely,
in men’s running and women’s cycling segments, those in the 11–20th place displayed quicker times
than those in the 21st–30th place. In the cycling segment across all groups, men demonstrated a more
negative pacing pattern (indicating an increase in speed), whereas women exhibited more consistent
pacing. In the running segment, the top 10 men and all women’s groups showcased relatively similar
slightly positive pacing profiles. However, men ranking 11–20th and 21st–30th displayed more
pronounced positive pacing strategies, implying a more significant decline in speed over time. In
terms of cycling, the variability in pacing remained relatively consistent across the three performance
groups. Conversely, during the running segment, the top ten male triathletes and those in the 11–20th
place displayed lower pacing variability than their counterparts in the 21st–30th position place and
all women’s groups. In summary, performance and pacing were examined in professional male and
female IRONMAN World Championship participants during IRONMAN Hawaii 2022. Top performers
showed faster cycling and running split times, with differences in pacing strategies between sexes.
The pacing was more consistent in cycling, while running pacing varied more, particularly among male
triathletes in different performance groups.
Description
Keywords
Bicycling Correlation of data Databases Factual Female Hawaii Humans Male Women
Pedagogical Context
Citation
Knechtle, Beat; Cuk, Ivan; Villiger, Elias; Forte, Pedro; Thuany, Mabliny; Andrade, Marilia Santos; Nikolaidis, Pantelis Theo; Weiss, Katja (2023). Performance and pacing of professional IRONMAN triathletes: the fastest IRONMAN World Championship ever - IRONMAN Hawaii 2022. Scientific Reports. ISSN 2045-2322. 13:1, p. 1-10
Publisher
Springer Nature