Big Island Bees
One of the most unique and engaging farms you can experience on the Big Island, Big Island Bees offers tours and a great gift shop with their island-made goods.
The 2022 Ironman World Championship was held in Kailua Kona, Hawaii on October 6th and 8th, 2022.
The world’s best triathletes gather in Kona Hawaii each year to compete in this challenging and strenuous athletic competition. Qualification for the Ironman World Championship requires placement in other Ironman competitions or Ironman 70.3 races, of which there are around 50 such events worldwide.
Kristian Blummenfelt
Held each year in Kailua-Kona on Hawaii’s Big Island, the race includes a 2.4-mile ocean swim in Kailua Bay, 112-mile bicycle race along the Queen Ka’ahumanu Highway, and finishes up back in Kailua-Kona after a 26.2-mile run. This incredible endurance test is one of the most impressive and exciting triathlon races to watch. It’s inspiring to see lifelong dreams come true and cheer on the amazing athletes who dare to challenge this brutal Ironman course.
Anne Haug
The Ironman World Championship is considered the ultimate physical, mental, and emotional test of strength, resilience, and endurance in the world. This year’s two-day event had the professional women racing on Thursday, October 6, 2022 and the professional men racing on Saturday, October 8, 2022. The age groupers were distributed between the two days. Overall, athletes ranging in age from 18-85, 100 professional qualifiers, and over 5,000 competitors competed in the 2022 Kona event!
Sam Laidlow
With a return to Kailua-Kona, this year’s athletes had to work very hard to compete with 2018 and 2019’s, record breaking performances. The pro competitors always show up in Kona with ambitious goals. In 2018 they claimed 5 new course records, then broke some of those in 2019. Patrick Lange took the overall course record in 2018, with a time of 7:52:39, marking the first sub-8-hour finish in Kailua-Kona. Daniela Ryf set a new women’s course record of 8:26:16 and a new record for the women’s bike portion of the 2018 race. In 2018 Lucy Charles-Barclay claimed the women’s course record for the swim and Cameron Wurf set a new men’s course bike record. In 2019 Jan Frodeno broke the previous year’s overall course record with an incredible 7:51:13.
Lucy Charles-Barclay
Then things in Kona went on hiatus as the 2020 event was cancelled due to Covid and the 2021 event was moved to St. George Utah due to Covid related travel restrictions. The athletes must have spent that time well because the 2022 results were incredible with all three of the men’s top finishers beating the 2019 course record. More Kona records would be claimed, as Laidlow beat the bike course record by more than four minutes with a split of 4:04:36 and Iden beat the run course record by more than three minutes with a split of 2:36:15. Gustav Iden of Norway set the new overall course record with a lightning fast 7:40:24 time. The other truly impressive point is that both 2022 Ironman World Champions, Gustav Iden and Chelsea Sodaro were rookies to the Kona course, both conquering this incredible course for the ultimate win on their first try!
Gustav Iden
1. Gustav Iden (Norway) – 7:40:24
2. Sam Laidlow (France) – 7:42:24
3. Kristian Blummenfelt (Norway) – 7:43:23
1. Chelsea Sodaro (United States)– 8:33:46
2. Lucy Charles-Barclay (United Kingdom) – 8:41:37
3. Anne Haug (Germany) – 8:42:22
Ironman Finish Line Map
Get more information on Ironman’s Website.
One of the most unique and engaging farms you can experience on the Big Island, Big Island Bees offers tours and a great gift shop with their island-made goods.
Offering the best views available of the Big Island’s marine wildlife and oceanfront scenery, a tour with Kona Snorkel and Sail is an amazing opportunity to experience the best of the Big Island.
With extensive and beautiful vessels, Body Glove Cruises is one the favorite boat tour companies and a major attraction for adventure seekers visiting the Big Island.