Updated 10/5: The 2022 Kona Ironman World Championship Pro Start List

With the final races of the 2022 Kona qualifying period completed at the August, we now have a good look at who will likely be on the start line in October. For both the men’s and the women’s events, it’s likely that some pros will decline their slots (as we’ve already seen with Jan Frodeno, due to injury, and Sam Long), so the actual Ironman world championship pro start list will likely continue to evolve as we get close to race weekend in Kona.

But aside from a couple of withdrawals to come, both races have an interesting mixture of former winners, longtime veterans, Kona rookies, and more. Keep reading for the full, updated qualification list for men and women, in order of PTO ranking up to top 50 as of  August 22, along with a quick analysis of who’s racing, and some stats to help develop the picture of what this fall’s Ironman World Championship event could look like on race day.

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Pro Men Kona Qualifiers: 2022

With a quick look of the list of men’s qualifiers (far below), we see all of the top 15 PTO ranked ranked pros, with only a few of the top 40 ranked pros not on the original list. The latest list includes former Ironman world champions like Patrick Lange, Kristian Blummenfelt, and Sebastian Kienle, as well as longtime IMWC veterans like Tim O’Donnell, Ben Hoffman, and Michael Weiss. There are also 14 Ironman world champion rookies on the original list, who will all be swimming away from the pier for the first time ever.

In terms of countries represented by the pro men, the breakdown of the original list is below, with the U.S. and Australia leading the way, and traditional tri powerhouses like Germany, France, and Denmark close behind.

U.S. – 7

Australia – 7

Germany – 6

France – 5

Denmark – 4

Brazil, South Africa, United Kingdom – 3

Belgium, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden – 2

Switzerland, Slovakia, Poland, Kazakhstan, Finland, Austria, Argentina – 1

PTO Rank	Name	Country
1	Kristian Blummenfelt	Norway
2	Gustav Iden	Norway
3	Patrick Lange	Germany
4	Magnus Ditlev	Denmark
5	Lionel Sanders	Canada
6	Braden Currie	New Zealand
7	Daniel Baekkegard	Denmark
8	Florian Angert	Germany
9	Matt Hanson	USA
10	Sam Long	USA
11	Sam Laidlow	France
12	Denis Chevrot	France
13	Max Neumann	Australia
14	Rudy von Berg	USA
15	Leon Chevalier	France
16	Joe Skipper	UK
17	Chris Leiferman	USA
20	Kristian Hogenhaug	Denmark
21	Ben Hoffman	USA
13	David McNamee	UK
24	Cam Wurf	Australia
25	Kyle Smith	New Zealand
26	Sam Appleton	Australia
27	Reinaldo Collucci	Brazil
29	Bradley Weiss	South Africa
31	Clément Mignon	France
32	Jasper Svensson	Sweden
33	Nicholas Kastelein	Australia
35	Pieter Heemeryck	Belgium
36	Matt Trautman	South Africa
37	Cody Beals	Canada
38	Sebastian Kienle	Germany
39	Paul Schuster	Germany
40	Collin Chartier	USA
41	Andre Lopes	Brazil
47	Kyle Buckingham	South Africa
48	Tim Van Berkel	Australia
	Josh Amberger	Australia
	Igor Amorelli	Brazil
	Alistair Brownlee	UK
	Matt Burton	Australia
	Maurice Clavel	Germany
	Jan Frodeno	Germany
	Henrik Goesch	Finland
	Arnaud Guilloux	France
	Robert Kallin	Sweden
	Mathais Lyngsø Petersen	Denmark
	Tim O'Donnell	USA
	David Plese	Slovenia
	Luciano Taccone	Argentina
	Ivan Tutukin	Kazakhstan
	Jan Van Berkel	Switzerland
	Kenneth Vandendriessche	Belgium
	Michael Weiss	Austria
	Robert Wilkowiecki	Poland
(WILD CARD INVITE)	Andreas Dreitz	Germany

Pro Women Kona Qualifiers: 2022

Unlike the men’s list, the women’s list (far below) is missing quite a few of the top PTO-ranked pros—only six of the top 10 and 11 of the top 20 have qualified. As a result of many of the top-ranked women focusing solely on the 70.3 (or PTO) events, the way it could play out is a little more of a question mark than the men’s. In fact, only 27 of the top 50 PTO-ranked women are on this qualifier list, while 37 of the top 50 men are on their list. With more unranked or low-ranked women than men, there’s more opportunities for surprises.

There are returning Ironman world champions, of course, like Daniela Ryf and Anne Haug—as well as longtime veterans like American Heather Jackson. The big note on the women’s side, however, is the amount of IMWC first timers (18) and pros who have raced IMWC only once (16) on the original start list. Meanwhile, the men had 14 on the original list who had started only one Ironman world championship.

On the women’s side, the country of origin was more concentrated than the men’s—with the U.S. leading the way with 11 female pros, followed by the U.K. (9), Germany (8), and Australia (7) in the original list. The full country breakdown of the original list, below:

United States – 11

United Kingdom – 9

Germany – 8

Australia – 7

Switzerland – 4

South Africa – 3

France, Sweden, Brazil – 2

Spain, Netherlands, Italy, Canada, Denmark, Finland, New Zealand – 1

PTO Ranking	Name	Country
1	Daniela Ryf	Switzerland
2	Anne Haug	Germany
3	Laura Philipp	Germany
4	Kat Matthews	UK
6	Skye Moench	USA
10	Fenella Langridge	UK
11	Chelsea Sodaro	USA
14	Lisa Norden	Sweden
15	Heather Jackson	USA
18	Jocelyn McCauley	USA
19	Ruth Astle	UK
24	Annah Watkinson	South Africa
27	Nikki Bartlett	UK
28	Nina Derron	Switzerland
29	Sarah Crowley	Australia
30	Daniela Bleymehl	Germany
32	Gurutze Frades Larra	Spain
33	Manon Genet	France
34	Laura Siddall	UK
39	Sara Svensk	Sweden
40	Svenja Thoes	Germany
42	Kylie Simpson	Australia
44	Pamella Oliveira	Brazil
46	Lucy Charles-Barclay	UK
47	Els Visser	Netherlands
48	Elisabetta Curridori	Italy
49	Joanna Ryter	Switzerland
50	Lauren Brandon	USA
	Haley Chura	United States
	Jen Annett	Canada
	Maja Stage-nielsen	Denmark
	Kate Bevilaqua	Australia
	Susie Cheetham	UK
	Rebecca Clarke	New Zealand
	Linsey Corbin	USA
	Kimity-Lee Duke	Australia
	Petra Eggenschwiler	Switzerland
	Kelly Fillnow	USA
	Heini Hartikainen	Finland
	Elena Illeditsch	Germany
	Beatriz Neres	Brazil
	Radka Kahlefeldt	Australia
	Jenny Schulz	Germany
	Laura Zimmerman	Germany
	Renee Kiley	Australia
	Magda Nieuwoudt	South Africa
	Jade Nicole Roberts	South Africa
	Penny Slater	Australia
	Kristin Liepold	Germany
	Justine Mathieux	France
	Simone Mitchell	UK
	Chantal Sainter	UK
	Jodie Robertson	USA
	Sarah True	USA
	Rachel Zilinskas	USA