ReviewOpen access journal of sports medicine2015
Variables that influence Ironman triathlon performance - what changed in the last 35 years?
Review in Open access journal of sports medicine, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Performance, physiology, and determinants of success in IRONMAN® 70.3: A systematic review.PloS one · 2026Pooled it
- Effects of Training on Cardiorespiratory Fitness in Triathletes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Pooled it
- HRV-Based Training for Improving VOInternational journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Pooled it
- Running Performance Decline in IRONMAN-Distance Triathlon: A Scoping Review of Existing Evidence and Research Gaps.Sports (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- The association of origin and environmental conditions with performance in professional IRONMAN triathletes.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Women in the triathlon-the differences between female and male triathletes: a narrative review.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2025Review
- Europe has the fastest Ironman race courses and the fastest Ironman age group triathletes.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Origin and age group of the fastest amateur triathletes competing in 'Ironman Hawaii' between 2003 and 2019.Sports medicine and health science · 2024Article
- Cycling is the most important predictive split discipline in professional Ironman® 70.3 triathletes.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2024Article
- Performance and pacing of professional IRONMAN triathletes: the fastest IRONMAN World Championship ever-IRONMAN Hawaii 2022.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- A Machine Learning Approach to Finding the Fastest Race Course for Professional Athletes Competing in IronmanInternational journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- Article
- What Is the Best Discipline to Predict Overall Triathlon Performance? An Analysis of Sprint, Olympic, IronmanFrontiers in physiology · 2021Article
- Cut-Off Values in the Prediction of Success in Olympic Distance Triathlon.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Article
- The Age-Related Performance Decline in Ironman 70.3.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Article
- Ultra-endurance triathlon performance and markers of whole-body and gut-specific inflammation.European journal of applied physiology · 2020Article
- Cycling as the Best Sub-8-Hour Performance Predictor in Full Distance Triathlon.Sports (Basel, Switzerland) · 2019Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveThis narrative review summarizes findings for Ironman triathlon performance and intends to determine potential predictor variables for Ironman race performance in female and male triathletes.
methodsA literature search was performed in PubMed using the terms "Ironman", "triathlon", and "performance". All resulting articles were searched for related citations.
resultsAge, previous experience, sex, training, origin, anthropometric and physiological characteristics, pacing, and performance in split disciplines were predictive. Differences exist between the sexes for anthropometric characteristics. The most important predictive variables for a fast Ironman race time were age of 30-35 years (women and men), a fast personal best time in Olympic distance triathlon (women and men), a fast personal best time in marathon (women and men), high volume and high speed in training where high volume was more important than high speed (women and men), low body fat, low skin-fold thicknesses and low circumference of upper arm (only men), and origin from the United States of America (women and men).
conclusionThese findings may help athletes and coaches to plan an Ironman triathlon career. Age and previous experience are important to find the right point in the life of a triathlete to switch from the shorter triathlon distances to the Ironman distance. Future studies need to correlate physiological characteristics such as maximum oxygen uptake with Ironman race time to investigate their potential predictive value and to investigate socio-economic aspects in Ironman triathlon.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.