After finishing my first Half Ironman, I spent hours looking at the results and analyzing my performance per discipline. I know I should be training instead, but I’m just really competitive! If like me you want to compare yourself, you will love this article:

The average Half Ironman time is 6h05 min. The women cover the distance in 6h28 min and the men in 5h58 min. The swim portion lasts 11% of this time (or 40 min), the bike 50% (or 3h02), the run 36% (or 2h11 min), and finally, the transitions 3% (12min).

I found out that those times depend significantly on the Age Group and the specific course. So let’s check that in more detail.

METHODOLOGY

  • I checked all Half Ironman races that happened in 2021 in North America, Europe and Oceania.
  • I excluded the ones which were shortened. The final database consists of 74,871 times from age-groupers.
    A special thanks to obstri.com, which is gathering results of all Ironman and Half Ironman events. It made my life easier!

AVERAGE HALF IRONMAN TIME PER AGE GROUP

As you can see in the graph below, the men complete the Half Ironman distance only 25 min to 35 min faster than the women across all age groups.

Average half ironman time per age group and gender

The average Half Ironman time for women is 6h28 min. They spend 41 min on the swim, 3h15 min on the bike, 2h20 min on the run, and 12 min in transitions.

The average Half Ironman time for men is 5h58 min. They spend 40 min on the swim, 2h58 min on the bike, 2h08 min on the run, and 12 min in transitions.

AVERAGE HALF IRONMAN TIME PER SPORT

If you want to see more details, I wrote in-depth articles about each sport. Have a look here:

If you want to learn more about the records on this distance, check my article: Half Ironman Triathlon Records

AVERAGE HALF IRONMAN TIME IN NORTH AMERICA

You can find below the average time of all races. It can be useful to compare your time from one 70.3 to another. For example, if you see that the average time in Texas is 10 min faster than in Indian Wells and your time was also 10 min faster, the chances are pretty high that the course was a faster one, not you. I’m sorry to disappoint you 😀
Please note that a more competitive field from one race to another will also affect the average time.

In 2021, the triathletes needed on average 6h17 min to complete the Half Ironman distance In North America. As you can see below, Maine was the fastest course with an average of 5h45 min and Waco the slowest with an average time of 6h47 min.

Average Half Ironman Time in North America

AVERAGE HALF IRONMAN TIME IN EUROPE

The average time in Europe was 5h49 in 2021. Warsaw was the fastest course with a time of 5h20 min and Andorra the slowest one with 6h38 min.

Average Half Ironman Time In Europe

AVERAGE HALF IRONMAN TIME IN OCEANIA

For the five races in Oceania, the triathletes needed on average 5h47 min to complete the Half Ironman distance in 2021. As you can see below, Geelong was the fastest course with an average of 5h30 min and Cairns the slowest with an average time of 6h06 min.

Average Half Ironman Time in Oceania

If you are interested in learning more about the average times of other triathlon distances, have a look at this article: Triathlon Times Across Age Groups And Distances