Ultra ironman distances

As swimming is by far my weakest discipline, I always like to know where I would have been in a triathlon race if I were a better swimmer. Since I am now getting into longer triathlon distances, it is a perfect time for me to analyze the swim times of Ironman races.

The average swim time across Ironman races is 1h19 min (pace of 2:04 min/100m). The women are covering the 3,8 km in 1h22 min (or 2:10 min/100m) and the men in 1h18 min (or 2:03 min/100m).

Where pros are regularly swimming under the 50 minutes mark (or 1:19 min/100m), 25% of age-group triathletes are swimming under 1h09 min (or 1:49 min/100m) and 75% under 1h27 min (or 2:17 min/100m).

Those times are highly dependant on the course (lake vs.

ocean vs.

Ironman cut-off times

river) and on the allowance of wetsuits. Let’s check that in more detail.

METHODOLOGY

• I checked all Ironman races from 2019, and I excluded the ones which were shortened. The final database is consisting of 58,720 swim times from age-groupers and 759 swim times from pro tria
  how long is ironman swim in yards
  how long is ironman swim in meters