If you're a beginner triathlete, or you're just considering doing your first triathlon, one of the first questions you might wonder is, "How long does a triathlon take?"
The answer to that is different for everyone and every race; ranging from less than an our for a sprint distance triathlon performed by pro triathletes, to seventeen hours for amateurs doing a full Ironman triathlon.
We worked with our friends at Sportstats, who do the race timing for most of the Ironman-branded events in North America, to create the calculator below that will tell you what the average triathlon finish times are for every age group and gender.
With the calculator below you'll also be able to find out how long the swim, bike, and run take triathletes, on average to complete.
Average Sprint Triathlon Finish Times
A Sprint triathlon consists of a 750 meter swim, a 20 kilometre (12.4 mile) bike, and a 5 kilometre (3.1 mile) run.
The average triathlete will complete a Sprint triathlon in 1:30-1:45hrs, requiring around 20 minutes to finish the swim, 45 minutes to finish the bike, and 30 minutes to finish the run.
The best professional triathletes in the world will take roughly 50 minutes to complete a Sprint triathlon, taking 8-9 minutes for the swim, around 25 minutes for the bike, and less than 15 minutes for the run. Crazy right? Check out some recent professional Sprint triathlon race results here.
Average Olympic Triathlon Finish Times
An Olympic triathlon consists of a 1500 meter swim, a 40 kilometre (24.8 mile) bike, and a 10 kilometre (6.2 mile) run.
The average triathlete will complete an Olympic triathlon in 2:45-3:10hrs, requiring around 32 minutes to finish the swim, 1:30hrs to finish the bike, and 50 minutes to finish the run.
The best professional triathletes in the world will take roughly 1:45hrs to complete an Olympic distance triathlon, taking 18 minutes for the swim, around 53 minutes for the bike, and less than 31 minutes for the run. Check out some recent professional sprint triathlon race results here.
Average Half-Ironman 70.3 Triathlon Finish Times
A half-IRONMAN triathlon consists of a 1900 meter (1.2 mile) swim, a 90 kilometre (56 mile) bike, and a half-marathon 21.1 kilometre (13.1 mile) run.
The average triathlete will complete a half-IRONMAN triathlon in 6:20-6:50hrs, requiring around 46 minutes to finish the swim, 3:30hrs to finish the bike, and 2:30hrs to finish the run.
The best professional triathletes in the world will take roughly less than 4 hours to complete a half-IRONMAN 70.3 triathlon, taking around 23 minutes for the swim, around 2 hours for the bike, and less than 1:10 hours for the run. Check out some recent professional sprint triathlon race results here.
Average Ironman Triathlon Finish Times
An IRONMAN triathlon consists of a 3.8 kilometre (2.4 mile) meter swim, a 180 kilometre (112 mile) bike, and a full marathon of 42.2 kilometres (26.2 mile) run.
The average triathlete will complete an IRONMAN triathlon in 13-13.5hrs, requiring around 1:20hrs to finish the swim, 6:30hrs to finish the bike, and 5:00hrs to finish the run.
The best professional triathletes in the world will take less than 8 hours to complete an IRONMAN triathlon, taking around 46 minutes for the swim, around 4 hours for the bike, and less than 2:50 hours for the run. Check out some recent professional sprint triathlon race results here.
What's Next?
Now that you know how long completing a triathlon might take you, how about taking a look at how much training will be required to prepare for your race? Take a look at the calculator we created here to see how many months and weekly hours of training is required to reach whatever race goal you have.
Or if you're ready to start training for a triathlon, check out our race training plan app here. Good luck MOTTIVator!
Sources/Links
Written on:
2022-03-11
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Taren Gesell is founder and CEO of MOTTIV, and one of the world's top experts on helping adults become endurance athletes later in life. Best known for his YouTube channel ("Triathlon Taren") and his long-running podcast, Taren is the author of the Triathlon Foundations series of books and has been published and featured in endurance publications around the world. He has also been a successful age-group triathlete, runner, and record-breaking swimmer.
