Sub 8 Hours In Kona - Is It Impossible? | The Ironman World Championships

In professional Ironman racing, sub-8 hours is the gold standard time for male triathletes. The Ironman World Championships in Kona attracts the world's best athletes, however, this 8-hour barrier has never been broken. So, why is it almost impossible to go sub-8 hours on this course?

Before we begin, here is a little history of the Kona records! Both the 11-hour and 10-hour barriers were smashed in 1980 in one go by Dave Scott with a time of 9:24. Then Scott got close to going sub-9 just three years later with 9:05 and convincingly broke the barrier in 1984 with a fast time of 8:54.

The times continued to fall at a rapid rate over the next few years as a result of the Dave Scott & Mark Allen battle. So much so that by 1989 the record dropped to 8:09. It was then the turn of a new generation of athletes with Luc Van Lierd taking it down to 8:04 on his first attempt at the course in 1996. It then wasn’t until 2011 that we saw a new record by Craig Alexander clocking 8:03. This stood as the record until 2017 when Germany’s Patrick Lange lowered it to 8:01:40 in near perfect Kona conditions.

So, why is it almost impossible to go sub-8 hours in Kona?

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Do you think the 8-hour barrier will be broken this year? Let us know in the comments below 👇

[williamdowling]

Great video. Audio is good, editing is good, content was very informative... just need to work on lighting if you're going to use those natural backdrops. Bright background with no fill lighting on the speaker makes for a dark silhouette of a person.

Keep it up. This was a fun watch!

[Poundcakebowler]

People: sub 8 is impossible in Kona

Patrick Lange: Hold my beer 😂

[phillwhitlam]

Interesting video guys, some great detail explains simply why it is so hard on Kona

[MichaelRWright]

A perfect opinion of Ryan Cooper! He nailed it.

[fernandog.aguirre]

Yes...P Lange is from other world!!! As long as Patric L is able to compete in Kona theres NO other athlete to challenge him. He must have some genetic thermo regulation advantage that makes him to keep the core temperature lower than the rest so he can produce such amazing pace on the marathon!

[konradvp]

Amazing also the Belgium Bart Aernouts did a sub-8!!!

[anonn]

Heather, your arms are ridiculous! You look like Wonder Woman. 💪👌

[xGshikamaru]

Well, if you think about it this way: Mark Allen and Luc Van Lierde broke the record more than 20 years ago, pretty close to that 8h barrier. So either they were much better athletes than those that compete right now or there hasn't been that much improvement in equipment compared to what they had back in the day. Carbon fiber, wind tunnels, power meters, aerodynamics, is it all just marketing stuff? Of course weather conditions do come into play, but still I find it amazing that it doesn't make a greater difference.

[evanmacdougall]

With less than 2 minutes needed to break 8 hours, I'm confident it WILL be broken. Maybe not this year, but some year. It's close enough that it will be motivation enough for the pros to make those incremental improvements needed to break it. The heat, humidity, and wind in Kona are tough. But with the right training and the right weather conditions, it will happen, sooner or later. Just maybe later than sooner.

[stevesuetoms]

What do you think will be broken first - a sub 8-hour ironman @ Kona or a sub 2-hour marathon? both approx 100 seconds away.?

[covboy]

Be good to see a video with the BBS guy on his advice for AG pacing versus their own limits etc

[johnnyb]

Well in case you haven't heard...Sub 8hrs got slammed yesterday by 2 people at Kona. 10min this year and maybe 20min next year??? 🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦

[hualani]

As. Soon as we saw the weather here in Kona we knew it would happen today!

[deanb]

Modern equipment and nutrition (and some luck with the weather), Dave Scott and Mark Allen could probably have done in it 89

[rjrcimafranca]

It happened... On the book by Patrick Lange

[Itseme]

If it wasn't for Jan's stress fracture I think he would've gone below 8

[RobertLHargraveIII]

Lionel Sanders can do it! Hopefully he can use 2nd place syndrome as a motivator!

[barefootdogwalker]

the picture was of mark allen and greg welch

[RaffaelMarx]

The fact that a few years ago the time actually went up again is prolly coz the doping control was better. Also there is a lot of doping related to that. C'mon, the technique and the tech got much better and the times got worse since 2011 so it is like cycling from years ago X cycling now. No one is going to climb as they used to climb back in the 90s and early 2000s