The 2011 Ironman World Championship was held on October 8, 2011, in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii and won by Craig Alexander of Australia and Chrissie Wellington of England. It was the 35th such Ironman Triathlon World Championships, which has been held annually in Hawaii since 1978, with an additional race in 1982. The championship is organised by the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC).

Championship results Men Pos. Time(h:mm:ss) Name Country Split times (h:mm:ss / m:ss)Swim     T1     Bike     T2     Run 8:03:56 Craig Alexander 0:51:56 1:56 4:24:05 1:58 2:44:03 8:09:11 Pete Jacobs 0:51:38 1:57 4:31:01 2:07 2:42:29 8:11:07 Andreas Raelert 0:51:58 2:04 4:26:52 2:27 2:47:484 8:12:58 Dirk Bockel 0:51:44 2:00 4:24:17 1:54 2:53:035 8:20:12 Timo Bracht 0:53:37 1:42 4:35:07 2:21 2:47:256 8:21:07 Mike Aigroz 0:52:31 1:42 4:30:42 2:05 2:54:07 7 8:22:15 Raynard Tissink 0:52:08 1:51 4:28:38 3:02 2:56:36 8 8:23:19 Andreas Böcherer 0:51:49 1:53 4:25:45 2:09 3:01:43 9 8:25:42 Luke McKenzie 0:51:47 1:45 4:24:15 2:01 3:05:54 10 8:27:18 Faris Al-Sultan 0:51:55 1:54 4:29:30 2:19 3:01:40 Source:

Alexander's overall time broke the previous course record by 12 seconds, which was set by Luc Van Lierde in 1996.

Women Pos. Time(h:mm:ss) Name Country Split times (h:mm:ss / m:ss)Swim     T1     Bike     T2     Run 8:55:08 Chrissie Wellington 1:01:03 2:05 4:56:53 2:26 2:52:41 8:57:57 Mirinda Carfrae 0:57:17 1:54 5:04:16 2:21 2:52:09 9:03:29 Leanda Cave 0:53:54 2:03 4:58:41 2:15 3:06:364 9:06:57 Rachel Joyce 0:53:56 2:00 4:58:56 2:11 3:09:54 5 9:07:32 Caroline Steffen 0:57:15 1:54 4:50:26 2:40 3:15:17 6 9:15:00 Karin Thürig 1:12:19 2:13 4:44:19 2:38 3:13:317 9:15:17 Sonja Tajsich 1:06:57 1:57 4:58:55 2:42 3:04:46 8 9:17:56 Heather Wurtele 0:58:43 2:13 4:59:10 2:21 3:15:299 9:18:11 Caitlin Snow 0:58:47 2:13 5:20:57 2:24 2:53:5010 9:19:52 Virginia Berasategui 0:58:44 2:25 5:03:30 2:23 3:12:50 Source:

Both Carfrae and Wellington broke the championship course record for the marathon, set last year by Carfrae.

Qualification To enter for the 2011 World Championship race, age-group athletes are required to qualify through a performance at an Ironman or selected Ironman 70.3 race. Entry into the race can also be obtained through a random allocation lottery or through the Ironman's charitable eBay auction.

For professional triathletes, the 2011 Championship season marks the first year of a point system that determines which professional triathletes will qualify for the championship race. To qualify, points are earned by competing in WTC sanctioned Ironman and selected Ironman 70.3 events throughout the qualifying year. For the 2011 race that period was September 12, 2010 to August 31, 2011. The top 50 male and top 30 female pros in points at the end of each qualifying year qualify to race in Kona. Prior champions receive an automatic entry for the Championship race for a period of five years after their last championship performance provided that they compete in at least one full-distance Ironman race during the qualifying year.

The Ironman 2011 Series consisted of 22 Ironman races plus the Ironman World Championship 2010 which was itself a qualifier for the 2011 Ironman World Championship. The series started with Ironman Wisconsin 2010 held on September 12, 2010.

Qualifying Ironmans Date Event Location Ironman Wisconsin Madison, Wisconsin Ironman World Championship Kailua-Kona, Hawaii Ironman Florida Panama City Beach, Florida Ironman Arizona Tempe, Arizona Ironman Cozumel Cozumel, Quintana Roo, Mexico Ironman Western Australia Busselton, Western Australia Ironman New Zealand Taupō, New Zealand Ironman South Africa Port Elizabeth, South Africa Ironman Australia Port Macquarie, New South Wales, Australia Ironman St.George St. George, Utah Ironman Lanzarote Puerto del Carmen, Lanzarote, Spain Ironman Texas The Woodlands Township, Texas Ironman Brazil Florianópolis Island, Brazil Ironman France Nice, France Ironman Coeur d'Alene Coeur d'Alene, Idaho Ironman Austria Klagenfurt, Austria Ironman Switzerland Zürich, Switzerland Ironman Germany Frankfurt, Germany Ironman Lake Placid Lake Placid, New York Ironman UK Bolton, Greater Manchester, United Kingdom Ironman Regensburg Regensburg, Bavaria, Germany Ironman Louisville Louisville, Kentucky Ironman Canada Penticton, British Columbia, Canada

China cancellation On May 12, 2011, the WTC announced that the 2011 Ironman China and Ironman 70.3 China races, scheduled for May 29 in Jixian, Tianjin Province, China, were canceled. The Tianjin Sports Bureau (TSB) was unable to obtain the required sanctions from the China Triathlon Sports Association (CTSA) to conduct the event. Murphy Reinschreiber, managing director of the Asia Pacific region for WTC stated that "TSB simply failed to provide all of the documentation necessary for CTSA to process the sanction." WTC is offering a full refund of entry fees to all athletes who were scheduled to compete at Ironman China and Ironman 70.3 China. Additionally, all athletes were offered a complimentary race entry into any of the 2011 Ironman and Ironman 70.3 races. WTC is allocating the age group qualifying slots from Ironman China and Ironman 70.3 China to other races in the region to ensure that athletes from the Asia-Pacific region are represented at the 2011 World Championship events.

2011 Ironman Series results Men Event Gold Time Silver Time Bronze Time ReferenceWisconsin 8:38:32 8:49:42 8:51:36 World Champs 2010 8:10:37 8:12:17 8:13:14Florida 8:15:59 8:19:26 8:21:23Arizona 8:07:16 8:10:58 8:11:44Cozumel 8:16:14 8:22:17 8:24:14Western Australia 8:14:01 8:18:06 8:21:16New Zealand 8:31:07 8:41:51 8:45:36South Africa 8:05:36 8:08:36 8:13:18Australia 8:29:28 8:35:50 8:46:07St. George 8:32:03 8:33:46 8:40:20Lanzarote 8:30:34 8:44:30 8:54:37Texas 8:08:20 8:09:50 8:12:22Brazil 8:15:03 8:17:20 8:21:40France 8:28:30 8:37:18 8:40:55Coeur d'Alene 8:19:48 8:24:59 8:49:54Austria 7:45:59 7:57:39 8:08:17Switzerland 8:19:51 8:27:56 8:30:26Germany 8:13:50 8:19:31 8:20:26Lake Placid 8:25:15 8:33:29 8:47:18UK 8:24:33 8:41:25 8:51:31Regensburg 8:29:16 8:36:54 8:37:11Louisville 8:27:36 8:30:35 8:34:35Canada 8:28:09 8:41:09 8:42:34

Women

Event Gold Time Silver Time Bronze Time ReferenceWisconsin World Champs 2010 Florida Arizona Cozumel Western Australia New Zealand South Africa Australia St. George Lanzarote Texas Brazil France Coeur d'Alene Austria Switzerland Germany Lake Placid UK Regensburg Louisville Canada

References

External links Ironman website Professional Triathlete Qualifying Rules