IRONMAN Hamburg 2021: Preview, start time and WATCH LIVE

This is a preview of IRONMAN Hamburg 2021 – you can click here for a full report and results after Laura Zimmermann claimed victory in a new course-record time.

The fourth edition of the Supersapiens IRONMAN Hamburg race takes place this (Sunday August 29) and is the final opportunity for the Elite Women to secure place at the 2021 IRONMAN World Championship, which takes place in February 2022.

Two slots are available for the 17-strong Elite Women’s field – with names such as Germany’s Carolin Lehrieder, Australia’s Renee Kiley and Manon Genet (France) among the leading contenders.

Start time and how to watch live

Taking place on Sunday (29th August), full Facebook Watch coverage from IRONMAN via their IRONMAN Now Facebook page with the event set to be streamed in two parts due to time length restrictions on Facebook.

Part 1

Part 2

There will also be the IRONMAN Tracker app available on mobile devices to provide additional data alongside the online stream.

The PRO Women’s race is set to state at 6:30 local time, 5:30 UK Time and 0:30 on the east coast of the United States.

Pro Prize Money

With a Women’s Pro only race, the $50,000 prize purse will be split between the top ten finishers – the winner taking home a $15,000 cheque for their work.

The prize money is only part of the story, however, as this is final chance to secure a qualification slot for the 2021 IRONMAN World Championship.

Carolin Lehrieder is the only Pro in the field who has already qualified for the World Championships, so should she earn a spot in the top two on Sunday, the place in KONA will be offered to the third-placed athlete.

1. $15,000
2. $9,000
3. $7,000
4. $5,000
5. $4,000
6. $3,000
7. $2.500
8. $2,000
9. $1.500
10. $1,000

The Course

The swim begins with a single loop 3.8km starting on the shore of Binnenalster before swimming under the Lombardsbrücke and Kennedybrücke (bridges) and into the relatively open water of Außenalster. After 1.5km triathletes will head around three buoys before heading back under the bridges and back to the shore.

Transition One sits on the shore of Binnenalster before the athletes set off on the cycle course. The bike course consists of three equally distance loops to the South West of the city and is relatively flat and very susceptible to winds. The course follows the path of the River Elbe, turning back towards the city just before the Zollenspieker Nature Reserve. The three loops cover a distance of 180km.

The run course returns the race to the banks of the Binnenalster and Außenalster with four loops totalling 42.2km with very little elevation change.

Who is racing in IM Hamburg?

As mentioned earlier, Germany’s Carolin Lehrieder is the only Pro starter who has booked their qualification for the IRONMAN World Championship already. She took victory at IRONMAN Emilia-Romagna in 2019, but has yet to complete an IRONMAN event since so it will be interesting to see how she performs at Hamburg.

Expect to see Lauren Brandon (USA) break clear early in the swim. She is one of the few athletes in the sport to have ever arrived at T1 next to Lucy Charles-Barclay, and was an IRONMAN Champion herself at Boulder in 2019.

Australia’s Renee Kiley is one of the biggest names yet to secure a berth in Kona. She’ll be confident of securing that goal after three top ten results already in 2021. A fifth place finish at IRONMAN Cairns was followed by seventh-placed finishes at IRONMAN Coeur D’Alene and IRONMAN Lake Placid.

Unfortunately there will be no start for Great Britain’s Susie Cheetham, the Hamburg champion from 2019. “I’ve had slight pelvic injury that has been mending nicely, but with Kona delayed we decided to do what’s best for the long term and not the short term love of racing. Tough call when all you want to do is race, but thankfully I’m surrounded by people that are able to make less emotional decisions than I am!”