2009 Ironman World Championship

The 2009 Ford Ironman World Championship was held on October 10, 2009, in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. It was the 33rd such Ironman Triathlon World Championship, which has been held annually in Hawaii since 1978. The champions were Craig Alexander and Chrissie Wellington. The championship was organised by the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC).

Race highlights

A total of 1,778 athletes from more than 48 countries started the race and 1,653 (1,200 men and 453 women) finished, 3 were disqualified. Hot and humid weather conditions prevailed with temperatures well above 90 °F (32.2 °C) during the bike and run portions.

Both Chrissie Wellington (3rd consecutive win) and Craig Alexander (2nd consecutive win) continue their current reigns as Ironman World Champions.

Chrissie Wellington set a new women's course record of 8:54:02, breaking Paula Newby-Fraser's 17-year-old women's course record. She finished 22nd overall among the pro men and women.

Mirinda Carfrae set a new women's course run record of 2:56:51 in her very first Ironman World Championship, breaking the women's course run record that Chrissie Wellington set one year ago.

Medallists

Men

Pos. Time
(h:mm:ss)
Name Country Split times (h:mm:ss)
Swim T1 Bike T2 Run
8:20:21 Craig Alexander Australia 50:57 1:44 4:37:33 2:04 2:48:05
8:22:56 Chris Lieto United States 51:07 1:44 4:25:11 2:21 3:02:35
8:24:32 Andreas Raelert Germany 51:00 2:05 4:38:01 2:25 2:51:05
4 8:25:20 Chris McCormack Australia 52:51 1:55 4:32:45 1:53 2:55:59
5 8:28:17 Rasmus Henning Denmark 51:06 2:03 4:37:07 2:30 2:55:33
6 8:28:52 Timo Bracht Germany 54:30 1:49 4:33:49 2:19 2:56:27
7 8:29:55 Dirk Bockel Luxembourg 50:50 1:56 4:37:29 2:00 2:57:42
8 8:30:15 Pete Jacobs Australia 50:03 1:43 4:38:41 2:35 2:57:14
9 8:30:30 Andy Potts United States 47:45 1:56 4:46:07 2:29 2:52:15
10 8:31:44 Faris Al-Sultan Germany 50:53 1:49 4:33:40 2:13 3:03:11
Source:

Women

Pos. Time
(h:mm:ss)
Name Country Split times (h:mm:ss)
Swim T1 Bike T2 Run
8:54:02 Chrissie Wellington Great Britain 54:31 2:15 4:52:07 2:05 3:03:06
9:13:59 Mirinda Carfrae Australia 58:45 1:54 5:14:18 2:14 2:56:51
9:15:28 Virginia Berasategui Spain 58:52 2:04 5:01:42 2:08 3:10:43
4 9:23:43 Tereza Macel Czech Republic 53:29 2:13 5:04:17 2:35 3:21:12
5 9:30:28 Samantha McGlone Canada 58:47 2:03 5:16:17 1:57 3:11:27
6 9:32:27 Rachel Joyce Great Britain 53:31 2:21 5:10:03 2:51 3:23:43
7 9:34:45 Joanna Lawn New Zealand 57:16 2:10 5:19:10 2:36 3:13:35
8 9:38:28 Sandra Wallenhorst Germany 1:03:07 2:30 5:20:43 2:46 3:09:24
9 9:40:59 Dede Griesbauer United States 55:05 2:13 5:10:22 2:29 3:30:53
10 9:42:41 Tyler Stewart United States 1:08:31 2:20 5:06:20 2:31 3:22:59
Source:

Qualification

To enter for the 2009 World Championship race, athletes were required to qualify through performance at an Ironman or selected Ironman 70.3 race, through Hawaii residency, through a random allocation lottery, or by invitation from the WTC.

The Ironman 2009 Series consisted of 21 Ironman qualifying races plus the Ironman World Championship 2008 which was itself a qualifier for the 2010 Ironman World Championship. The series started with Ironman Wisconsin 2008 held on September 7, 2008, and in total 1,800 athletes qualified for the World Championship race.

Qualifying Ironmans

Date Event Location
Sep 7, 2008 Ironman Wisconsin Madison, Wisconsin, United States
Oct 11, 2008 Ironman World Championship Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, United States
Nov 1, 2008 Ironman Florida Panama City Beach, Florida, United States
Nov 23, 2008 Ironman Arizona Tempe, Arizona, United States
Dec 7, 2008 Ironman Western Australia Busselton, Western Australia, Australia
Feb 28, 2009 Ironman Malaysia Langkawi, Malaysia
Mar 7, 2009 Ironman New Zealand Taupō, New Zealand
Apr 5, 2009 Ironman Australia Port Macquarie, New South Wales, Australia
Apr 5, 2009 Ironman South Africa Port Elizabeth, South Africa
Apr 19, 2009 Ironman China Haikou, Hainan Island, China
May 23, 2009 Ironman Lanzarote Puerto del Carmen, Lanzarote, Spain
May 31, 2009 Ironman Brazil Florianópolis Island, Brazil
Jun 21, 2009 Ironman Japan Goto, Nagasaki, Japan
Jun 21, 2009 Ironman Coeur d'Alene Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, United States
Jun 28, 2009 Ironman France Nice, France
Jul 5, 2009 Ironman Germany Frankfurt, Germany
Jul 5, 2009 Ironman Austria Klagenfurt, Austria
Jul 12, 2009 Ironman Switzerland Zürich, Switzerland
Jul 26, 2009 Ironman Lake Placid Lake Placid, New York, United States
Aug 2, 2009 Ironman UK Bolton, Greater Manchester, United Kingdom
Aug 30, 2009 Ironman Canada Penticton, British Columbia, Canada
Aug 30, 2009 Ironman Louisville Louisville, Kentucky, United States

The fastest time of 7:59:16 was set by Timo Bracht during the Ironman European Championship 2009 at Frankfurt, Germany.

2009 Ironman Series results

Men

Event Gold Time Silver Time Bronze Time Reference
Wisconsin Raynard Tissink (RSA) 8:43:29 Serge Meyer (SUI) 8:55:00 Jason Shortis (AUS) 8:59:14
World Champs 08 Craig Alexander (AUS) 8:17.45 Eneko Llanos Burguera (ESP) 8:20:50 Rutger Beke (BEL) 8:21:23
Florida Tom Evans (CAN) 8:07:59 Torbjørn Sindballe (DEN) 8:17:51 Petr Vabrousek (CZE) 8:23:00
Arizona Andreas Raelert (GER) 8:14:16 Chris Lieto (USA) 8:19:25 Jordan Rapp (USA) 8:19:45
Western Australia Tim Berkel (AUS) 8:07:06 Jason Shortis (AUS) 8:10:57 Luke Mckenzie (AUS) 8:12:45
Malaysia Luke McKenzie (AUS) 8:27:48 Bryan Rhodes (NZL) 8:32:52 Brian Fuller (AUS) 8:38:06
New Zealand Cameron Brown (NZL) 8:18:04 Terenzo Bozzone (NZL) 8:25:36 Dirk Bockel (LUX) 8:27:11
Australia Patrick Vernay (NCL) 8:24:53 Pete Jacobs (AUS) 8:29:03 Tim Berkel (AUS) 8:31:43
South Africa Marino Vanhoenacker (BEL) 8:17:33 Michael Göhner (GER) 8:32:02 Petr Vabrousek (CZE) 8:36:08
China Rasmus Henning (DEN) 8:53:20 Patrick Walliman (SUI) 9:22:46 Mike Schifferle (SUI) 9:28:49
Lanzarote Bert Jammaer (BEL) 8:54:03 Stephan Vuckovic (GER) 8:57:17 Olaf Sabatschus (GER) 8:59:03
Brazil Eduardo Sturla (ARG) 8:13:39 Reinaldo Colucci (BRA) 8::28:08 Petr Vabrousek (CZE) 8:37:18
Japan Luke McKenzie (AUS) 8:28:31 Courtney Ogden (AUS) 8:42:54 Petr Vabrousek (CZE) 8:45:59
Coeur d'Alene Francisco Pontano (ESP) 8:32:12 T. J. Tollakson (USA) 8:42:03 Maximilian Longree (GER) 8:50:19
France Marcel Zamora Perez (ESP) 8:30:06 Hervé Faure (FRA) 8:40:55 Simon Billeau (FRA) 8:46:30
Germany Timo Bracht (GER) 7:59:15 Eneko Llanos (ESP) 8:00:05 Chris McCormack (AUS) 8:02:49
Austria Marino Vanhoenacker (BEL) 8:01:38 James Cunnama (RSA) 8:14:18 Stephen Bayliss (GBR) 8:17:06
Switzerland Ronnie Schildknecht (SUI) 8:20:00 Stefan Riesen (SUI) 8:31:10 Torsten Abel (GER) 8:36:38
Lake Placid Maik Twelsiek (GER) 8:36:37 Christian Brader (GER) 8:56:35 Jason Shortis (AUS) 8:58:09
UK Philip Graves (GBR) 8:45:51 Stephen Bayliss (GBR) 8:48:29 Jarmo Hast (FIN) 8:57:58
Canada Jordan Rapp (USA) 8:25:13 Mike Aigroz (SUI) 8:40:17 Courtney Ogden (AUS) 8:44:37
Louisville Viktor Zyemtsev (UKR) 8:25:27 Luke McKenzie (AUS) 8:26:01 Raynard Tissink (RSA) 8:39:09

Women

Event Gold Time Silver Time Bronze Time Reference
Wisconsin Hillary Biscay (USA) 9:47:25 Karin Gerber (SUI) 9:49:46 Jessica Jacobs (USA) 9:50:45
World Champs 08 Chrissie Wellington (GBR) 9:06:23 Yvonne van Vlerken (NLD) 9:21:20 Sandra Wallenhorst (GER) 9:22:52
Florida Bella Comerford (GBR) 9:07:49 Tamara Kozulina (UKR) 9:14:15 Jessica Jacobs (USA) 9:17:51
Arizona Heleen Bij De Vaate (NLD) 9:21:06 Leanda Cave (USA) 9:25:07 Edith Niederfriniger (ITA) 9:28:09
Western Australia Gina Ferguson (NZL) 8:59:24 Charlotte Paul (AUS) 9:06:34 Kat Baker (AUS) 9:37:24
Malaysia Belinda Granger (AUS) 9:21:10 Nicole Leder (GER) 9:36:40 Maki Nishiuchi (JPN) 9:57:13
New Zealand Gina Ferguson (NZL) 9:18:25 Joanna Lawn (NZL) 9:23:07 Charlotte Paul (AUS) 9:30:24
Australia Chrissie Wellington (GBR) 8:57:10 Rebekah Keat (AUS) 9:21:33 Caroline Steffen (SUI) 9:38:44
South Africa Lucie Zelenkova (CZE) 9:16:32 Sonja Tajsich (GER) 9:27:59 Rachel Joyce (GBR) 9:37:00
China Charlotte Paul (AUS) 9:48:14 Edith Niederfriniger (ITA) 10:01:39 Teresa Mazel (CZE) 10:13:43
Lanzarote Bella Bayliss (GBR) 9:54:58 Rachel Joyce (GBR) 10:15:05 Michaela Giger (SUI) 10:15:41
Brazil Dede Griesbauer (USA) 9:10:15 Charlotte Kolters (DEN) 9:18:49 Heather Gollnick (USA) 9:31:42
Japan Nicole Klingler (LIE) 9:52:52 Nicole Ward (AUS) 9:56:00 Megumi Shigaki (JPN) 10:01:07
Coeur d'Alene Tyler Stewart (USA) 9:23:21 Kate Major (AUS) 9:32:10 Heather Wuertele (CAN) 9:34:24
France Tina Deckers (BEL) 9:30:29 Christel Robin (FRA) 9:34:19 Martina Dogana (ITA) 9:37:35
Germany Sandra Wallenhorst (GER) 8:58:08 Yvonne van Vlerken (NLD) 9:02:17 Nicole Leder (GER) 9:05:15
Austria Bella Bayliss (GBR) 8:50:13 Sonja Tajsich (GER) 8:59:45 Lucie Zelenkova (CZE) 9:07:24
Switzerland Sibylle Matter (SUI) 9:14:35 Monika Lehmann (SUI) 9:25:05 Lisbeth Kristensen (DEN) 9:25:37
Lake Placid Tereza Macel (CZE) 9:29:36 Caitlin Snow (USA) 9:41:21 Samantha McGlone (USA) 9:44:24
UK Bella Bayliss (GBR) 9:33:59 Abigail Bayley (GBR) 9:46:15 Irene Kinnegim (NLD) 10:06:40
Canada Tereza Macel (CZE) 9:11:20 Belinda Granger (AUS) 9:40:48 Janelle Morrison (CAN) 9:48:54
Louisville Nina Kraft (GER) 9:20:21 Lisbeth Kristensen (DEN) 9:23:57 Kim Loeffler (USA) 9:38:23