With 2024 in the rearview mirror, we celebrate another remarkable year of triathlon racing, one that showcased the resilience and passion of the global Ironman community. With 34 Ironman races held worldwide and over 48,000 athletes crossing the finish line, this year marked a slight increase in participation despite the ongoing trend of race consolidation.
Looking at the way these races are distributed we can spot a few general trends. More so even than last year, we can say that European races are big and fast (i.e., shorter average finishing times); North American races are big and (relatively) slow; and “Rest of World” races are small, across the board – though if we look closely, we can see that it is the Asian races that are slowest, and the rest tend to be faster.
A key difference compared to last year is in the size of European races. Whereas North American races are consistently large events, European has dropped its smaller events (such as Gdynia and Vichy) and grown its numbers in the other races – more consolidation. Last year the largest race was Ironman California with 2,086 finishers. This year there were seven races with more finishers than that, and six of them were in Europe – the largest was Barcelona with nearly 2,700.
Fastest Ironman races of 2024
As for this year’s fastest five races, Hamburg, Brazil, Vitoria, and Denmark made the list once again. Only Italy was replaced by Frankfurt. In 2023 we noted the average finishing time of the fastest five was slower than in 2022. In 2024 we see the opposite trend, especially since all of them clock in below 11:40.
| # of racers | Mean Time | Swim | Bike | Run | Region | |
| Ironman Frankfurt | 2202 | 11:24:16 | 1:21:18 | 5:31:45 | 4:16:11 | Europe |
| Ironman Hamburg | 2318 | 11:25:34 | 1:18:31 | 5:33:57 | 4:15:09 | Europe |
| Ironman Copenhagen | 2370 | 11:26:47 | 1:16:19 | 5:35:46 | 4:20:05 | Europe |
| Ironman Vitoria-Gasteiz | 1400 | 11:36:54 | 1:14:08 | 5:48:31 | 4:20:46 | Europe |
| Ironman Brazil | 1251 | 11:38:00 | 1:11:56 | 5:50:49 | 4:17:09 | ROW |
Slowest Ironman races of 2024
At the slower end of Ironman, Malaysia once again claims “slowest race” worldwide, and we once again welcome Wales and Wisconsin to the list. Japan’s return to Ironman shows that it is no walk in the park either.
| # of racers | Mean Time | Swim | Bike | Run | Region | |
| Ironman Malaysia | 449 | 13:58:43 | 1:27:22 | 6:51:17 | 5:23:45 | ROW |
| Ironman Wales | 1634 | 13:55:25 | 1:29:16 | 7:09:19 | 4:51:57 | Europe |
| Ironman Japan | 1300 | 13:47:27 | 1:29:09 | 6:48:20 | 5:09:39 | ROW |
| Ironman Wisconsin | 1190 | 13:45:48 | 1:22:13 | 6:52:15 | 5:09:50 | N. America |
| Ironman Lake Placid | 2133 | 13:38:06 | 1:20:01 | 6:53:03 | 5:05:46 | N. America |
Read more at: https://www.triathlete.com/culture/news/the-fastest-and-slowest-ironman-races-of-2024/