What is a ‘good’ IRONMAN 70.3 time? Fastest PROs and average age group half Ironman times

The IRONMAN 70.3 has rapidly become one of the most popular triathlon distances. Long enough to be a tough endurance challenge, but short enough to be accessible to first-timers, or to go full gas if you’ve got a few years of racing under your belt. But what constitutes a ‘good’ IRONMAN 70.3 time?

Whether you’re reflecting on this year’s results, gearing up for the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship or looking to set yourself some targets for next year’s race season, we take a look at how fast the PROs race a 70.3, and dive into the data to see what an average, good and exceptional time over the half Ironman distance might be for age-groupers.

How far is an IRONMAN 70.3? A whistle-stop tour of half Ironman history

An IRONMAN 70.3 is half the distance of a full Ironman, comprising a 1.9km (1.2 mile) swim, a 90km (56 mile) bike ride and a 21.1km (13.1 mile) half marathon run to finish.

Also known as the half Ironman or simply a ‘middle distance’ triathlon, the first official IRONMAN branded 70.3 event took place in the UK in 2005, with the first IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship taking place in Clearwater, Florida near IRONMAN HQ in 2006. The championship race stayed in Florida until 2011, when the race moved to Nevada. Since 2014, the 70.3 Worlds have moved location each year. The exception being two years on the trot in St George, Utah in 2020 and 2021 thanks to the pandemic. In 2024, the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship will take place in Taupō, New Zealand.

You can get the lowdown on all the various triathlon distances here.

How fast do the PROs race an IRONMAN 70.3?

As ever, we have to slap a big caveat on ‘record’ times in triathlon. Variations in courses and conditions mean there aren’t any official triathlon world records. However, it’s still good fun to look at the fastest times set by the professionals. With more short-course specialists choosing to try their hand at the longer half Ironman/middle distance racing, the splits are getting faster and faster as athletes have to go to new depths to stay in touch with the podium. The result is finish times which are nothing short of astounding to us mere mortals!

There are hundreds of non-IRONMAN branded half Ironman distance events around the world – from the major events put on by Challenge Family, to the likes of Outlaw and other smaller event organisers. To keep things simple, and given we’ve got the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship right around the corner, we’ve just looked at official IRONMAN 70.3 PRO race results to find our fastest times.

Fastest PRO women’s IRONMAN 70.3 times

For the PRO women, short-course star turned middle-distance tour de force Taylor Knibb (USA) holds the crown for the fastest 70.3 time. Knibb’s finish time of 3:53:02 in Lahti, Finland saw her take the 2023 IRONMAN 70.3 World Champion title.

Laura Phillipp – now the 2024 IRONMAN World Champion – has set the second fastest time over the half distance, with a 3:53:03 at IRONMAN 70.3 Dubai in 2022. Triathlon GOAT Daniela Ryf was third on the metaphorical fastest 70.3 time women’s podium with a 3:56:55 at 70.3 Dubai in 2022. But Taylor Knibb beat that time at IRONMAN 70.3 Boulder in 2023.

What’s interesting is that in relative terms, Knibb is only just getting started over the longer distances. You only have to go back to IRONMAN 70.3 Boulder in 2021 and she was making her half Ironman debut – racing over the long distance for the first ever time, on a road bike with clip-on aero bars (she still finished 2^nd). That debut was a last-minute decision amid a busy Tokyo Olympics and WTCS schedule. And ironically, given that she is now the PTO’s inaugural T100 World Champion, back in 2021 she told TRI247 she was ‘surprised and honoured’ to be invited to compete in the PTO’s Collins Cup race. With Knibb seemingly focusing more on the longer distance racing post-Paris 2024 Olympics, we can surely expect even faster times over the 70.3 distance from the US star in years to come.

Fastest PRO men’s IRONMAN 70.3 times

The fastest male PRO time in an IRONMAN 70.3 is held by Marten Van Riel of Belgium – who, like Taylor Knibb, is also an inaugural T100 World Champion in 2024.

The ‘Riel Deal’ set a lightning fast time over the distance at IRONMAN 70.3 Dubai in 2022, finishing in 3:26:06. Daniel Baekeggard is a close 2^nd with a 3:27:54 posted at the same race. And in 3^rd is Kristian Blummenfelt who dipped under the 3.5 hour mark with his 3:29:04 finish time at IRONMAN 70.3 Bahrain in 2018.

Fastest PRO times in context – the splits you’d need to hit to keep up with Knibb and Van Riel

Let’s put those fastest female and male PRO 70.3 times into context. To match Taylor Knibb’s record time you’d have to:

• Swim 1900m in 24:45 (1:18/100m pace)
• Cycle 90km (56 miles) in 2:07:52 (that’s 42.2km/h or 26.2mph)
• And finish it off with a casual 1:18:05 half marathon (3:42/km or 5:57/mile).

To beat Marten Van Riel to the finish over the 70.3 distance, you’d need to:

• Swim 1900m in 22:49 (1:12/100m pace)
• Cycle 90km (56 miles) in 1:54:28 (47.6km/h or 29.6mph)
• Jump off the bike and run a 1:07:56 half marathon (3:13/km or 5:11/mile)

Safe to say, these athletes are pretty rapid!

IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship record times to date

2023 proved to be a record breaking year for the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championships, with both the longstanding male and female fastest 70.3 World Championship finish times broken. The fastest times had been held by Julie Dibens (3:59:33) and Michael Raelert (3:34:04) since 2009.

Taylor Knibb snatched that accolade from Dibens with her 3:53:02 finish at the race in Lahti in 2023. And Rico Bogen beat Raelert’s record by just under 2 minutes, finishing in 3:32:21. It was an incredible day for Bogen, who’d flown under the radar coming into the 2023 70.3 World Championship with only one previous win to his name. Along with his ultra-fast time, at just 22 he became the youngest IRONMAN 70.3 World Champion.

What about those ‘record’ times for 2019 IRONMAN 70.3 Bahrain?

Eagle-eyed triathlon fans might know that Holly Lawrence and Kristian Blummenfelt set incredibly fast times over the “70.3” distance at IRONMAN 70.3 Bahrain in 2019. Lawrence finished in 3:52:50 and Big Blu posted a 3:25:20. Those of course would have been fastest times that would still stand today. Were it not for the fact that the bike course was significantly short of the 56 mile distance that year.

Even with the poetic licence given to all ‘record’ triathlon results because of course variations, that particular distance discrepancy has been deemed a stretch too far (or too short in this case) for those not-quite-records to stand.

What is a good IRONMAN 70.3 time for an amateur? Average, good and excellent half Ironman times for age group triathletes

So we know the PROs are ridiculously fast. But how does your 70.3 PR stack up agains t other age-groupers? Getting an idea of a ‘good’ IRONMAN 70.3 time for amateurs is tricky, because it really depends on the course. A good time at a race like Lanzarote 70.3 with a hilly bike course, brutal headwinds and a potentially choppy sea swim, is going to be different to a race where you’ve got a down river swim and a pan-flat bike and run. In general, most first timers will aim to go under 7 hours for their first hit out over the 70.3 distance. A sub-6 finish is usually the next milestone. And for experienced age-group triathletes, breaking the 5hr barrier is often an ambitious but achievable target.

To get a slightly more specific idea of what might constitute an average, good and exceptional IRONMAN 70.3 time, we’ve crunched the numbers using the age group results from IRONMAN 70.3 Tallinn. A stop on the 2024 PRO series, the course at Tallinn is flat, but strong winds and a sea swim even that out. Making it a good race to use for building up a picture of average finish times.

Average, good and excellent IRONMAN 70.3 finish times for women

We compiled all the female age-group finish times from IRONMAN 70.3 Tallinn to get a picture of the overall average finish time across all age groups, plus the average times for those finishing towards the front of the field.

Average, good and excellent IRONMAN 70.3 finish times for men

Here’s the average finish time across all the male age groups from IRONMAN 70.3 Tallinn, plus the typical ‘good’ and ‘excellent’ times that saw competitors finishing further towards the front of the race.

How fast do you need to go to win your age group at the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championships?

If you’ve managed to punch your ticket to the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championships, you might be wondering what it takes to be in with a chance of coming home with an age-group title as a well as a finisher tee. Of course, it’s almost impossible to predict without a crystal ball – it’ll depend on the course, the weather conditions, and who shows up to the start line on the day. But to give you some idea, we’ve compiled the winning times from the 2023 race for each age group below.

A ‘good’ finish time is all relative

While it can be fun to get an idea of how competitive your current half Ironman PB would make you, it’s important to remember that a ‘good’ finish time is all relative. Different races bring different challenges, which can have a major impact on how fast you can go. And we’re all at different stages of our triathlon journey – so don’t be disheartened if that PR time you trained super hard for is slower than other people’s finish times. Getting to the start line of a triathlon at all is an accomplishment in itself, and crossing the finish line – however long it takes you to get there – is always something to be proud of!

Check out training section for tips and advice to help you nail your next triathlon event. And if you’ve got an appetite for more number crunching, take a look at our analysis of what an average, good and exceptional half marathon time might look like.