Ironman 70.3 Wiesbaden European Championship Results Analysis

Ironman Mid-August 2012 70.3 Races: How Did Yeppoon, Steelhead, Timberman and Wiesbaden Compare?

Between the 11th and the 19th of August 2012, more than 4,500 athletes finished one of four global Ironman 70.3 events (click links for more detailed analysis by race):

• Ironman 70.3 Wiesbaden: 1,390 finishers, 15% DNS, 3% DNF, 5:56 average finish time
• Ironman 70.3 Yeppoon: 612 finishers, 14% DNS, 2% DNF, 5:23 average finish time
• Ironman 70.3 Steelhead: 1,261 finishers, 14% DNS, 2% DNF, 6:01 average finish time
• Ironman 70.3 Timberman: 1,299 finishers, 20% DNS, 3% DNF, 6:01 average finish time

To see how these races compare with others on the Ironman 70.3 calendar, see our ranking of Toughest/Easiest Ironman 70.3 Events, and for more detail by race, see our Stats/Results/Analysis page.

Each race had its own unique characteristics, as shown below in our analysis of overall splits by race, followed by detailed splits by age group for swim, bike and run. 

New Ironman Races: Sweden, Mont-Tremblant and US Championship: How Do They Compare?

Three new Ironman events made their debut in mid-August, 2012: Ironman Sweden, Ironman Mont-Tremblant and Ironman US Championship in New York City.  While the standard distances were,  of course, identical, there were distinct differences between results of these races.

• Ironman Sweden: a 5:34 bike average bike split is unprecedented, nothing short of miraculously fast; the overall finish time of 11:23 is also extremely fast, though there was a 16-hour finish cut-off. We estimate that with a 17 hour cutoff, the average time would have been 11:35, still incredibly fast, and among the easier Ironman races we rank
• Ironman US Championship in New York City: aided by a fast-flowing current, this race's miracle was an average 51-minute swim time; whatever benefit IM US Championship competitors enjoyed in the water, they paid for on the marathon, a rough course that dashed many athletes' hopes for achieving a PR in the end. Overall, at 12:56, and with a 6% DNF rate, Ironman NYC ranks among the tougher Ironman races we analyze.
• Ironman Mont-Tremblant: Race results, at 12:31, almost perfectly match the average finish time for more than 30 ironman events we've analyzed. If you're looking for a challenging, but fair, Ironman event for 2013, Mont-Tremblant should be considered.

We've taken the analysis of each race to the age group level, comparing average swim, bike, run and finish times by age group. If you choose to compete in one of these races next year, these are the split times you might expect.