Sub Nine the New Normal in Kona

For a third consecutive year, a Sub Nine performance has been needed by a woman to win the Ford Ironman World Championship title.

Chrissie Wellington crossed the finish line on Ali’i Drive in Kailua-Kona on Saturday in 8:55:08. It marked her fourth victory in as many attempts on the legendary Big Island race course. And it was the ninth time she has finished an Iron distance race in less than nine hours; the third time this season.

The British athlete, still recovering from a hard bike crash about two weeks ago, also finished close to the 8:54:02 record she set at the world championships in 2009. Wellington didn’t race in 2010, pulling out the morning of the race due to illness.

On Saturday, Wellington struggled through the swim, reflecting her injuries. She then caught and passed her main rival, Mirinda Carfrae, on the bike before running to the front of the pro women’s field.

Wellington remains the dominant athlete of the current generation. She deflects talk of finishing times. Yet it is mostly speed that divides the elite from the rest of the field in a sport that is determined by who crosses the finish line first. Wellington has five of the top 10 fastest Iron distance times, including the world record that she set in Roth, Germany in July: 8:18:13.

Wellington is the standard by which all her peer’s are measured. How fast could she have been if she hadn’t been injured? It’s a moot point now.

As for Carfrae, she had her second Sub Nine finish, and her second consecutive one in Hawaii. In the process, the fleet-footed Aussie reset the run split record she’d set a year ago with a 2:52:09 clocking. She crossed the finish in 8:57:57. In her victory a year ago, Carfrae finished in 8:58:36.

While the qualifying process for the 2012 Ford Ironman World Championships has already begun, the race this past weekend generally marks the end of the 2011 season as most professionals take a short break.

This season was highlighted by 10 Sub Nine performances, with Wellington recording three and Australia’s Bek Keat recording two. Wellington’s first Sub Nine performance of the year came in South Africa.

Keat, who is the second fastest Iron Woman on the planet, clocked 8:59 in Roth in July and then 8:52 in Copenhagen in August. She decided not to race in Kona this year.

Another repeat Sub Nine performance came from Hungary’s Erika Csomor, who also chose not to race in Kona this year.

New to the Sub Nine list this year are American Mary Beth Ellis, Germans Diana Riesler and Julia Wagner and Heleen bij de Vaate from the Netherlands. Both Ellis and Bij de Vaate competed in Kona but had sub-par days; Ellis finished in 9:34 and Bij de Vaate in 10:35.

There now are just 26 women who have accomplished this feat. The first woman to do so was Thea Sybesma of the Netherlands. She went Sub Nine in Roth in July 1991.