IRONMAN Kona records: Detailing the best ever World Championship times on the Big Island

Steeped in history, the IRONMAN World Championship in Kona has long been regarded as one of the toughest days of racing in endurance sports, as the best of the best battle it out on the Big Island of Hawaii for the right to be crowned world champion.

Up against not only some of the fittest competitors in the world, athletes in Kona also battle sweltering heat and humid conditions, with average highs of over 30 degrees celsius in October making the race a true test of attrition.

To shed some light on just how incredible the best in the world are on the biggest stage, listed below are the course records for Kona and the fastest times for each respective discipline. With the women’s world championship on Saturday, will any of these be broken?

IRONMAN Kona course records

For the full course in Kona, the records are held by Norwegian superstar Gustav Iden and British great Lucy-Charles Barclay.

Iden won and set the course record on his debut in Kona in 2022, recording an incredible 7:40:24 to beat 2023 World Champion Sam Laidlow and 2021 World Champion Kristian Blummenfelt. During his record-breaking win, Iden went 48:23 for the 3.8km swim, 4:11:06 for the 180km bike and 2:36:15 for the marathon.

On the women’s side, Charles-Barclay set her record time of 8:24:31, lowering the mark of 8:26:16 which had been set by the great Daniela Ryf in 2018. Lucy produced a brilliant performance across all three disciplines, starting by blasting out with her trademark rapid swim – this time a 49:36. The bike was also superb as Charles-Barclay clocked 4:32:29, before she finished off with a 2:57:38 marathon to claim her first pro victory in Kona.

The swim, bike and run record splits

For each discipline at the IRONMAN World Championship in Kona, there is also a respective course record holder. In the swim, Germany’s Jan Sibbersen set the men’s course record in 2018 with a time of 46:29. Also in 2018, the aforementioned Charles-Barclay set the women’s record with a time of 48:14.

On the bike, newly-crowned IRONMAN World Champion Sam Laidlow has the course record in Kona thanks to a spectacular 4:04:36 in 2022. On the women’s side Swiss star Ryf set the all-time bike best in 2018, when she produced a blistering 4:26:07 split.

Finally, on the run, Iden holds the fastest marathon time thanks to a staggering 2:36:15 split en route to victory last year. The women’s run course record is now the 2:48:23 set by brilliant German Anne Haug in 2023 – breaking the nine-year-old mark of 2:50:26 set by Mirinda Carfrae back in 2014.

So to recap, these are all the current Kona records – some of which could be under threat on Saturday: