On this day, there were no super-fast swims as Brandon Marsh's 50:51 led the men and Haley Chura's 53:55 led the women pros. A men's breakaway led by Andrew Starykowicz and joined by Luke McKenzie and Sebastian Kienle and, albeit briefly, by Frederik Van Lierde, helped decide the podium. By contrast, after a 58:50 swim women's winner Mirinda Carfrae was chasing the fleetest two-wheeled contenders all the way to T2 despite a personal best 4:58:20 Kona bike split.

All photographs © Timothy Carlson/Slowtwitch

Six-time Ironman winner Luke McKenzie of Australia had contended on the bike on 2011 but faded to 9th on the run. This year, he backed up his 2nd-best 4:22:26 bike split with a sub-3 hour run and placed 2nd overall.

Faris Al-Sultan shares a pre-race laugh with age grouper Sascha Holsten.

Dr. Tamsin Lewis, an accomplished pro triathlete from Great Britain and a licensed physician, served at the Ironman World Championship medical tent this day.

Six-time Ironman World Champion Dave Scott came to watch two pros he coaches - Eneko Llanos (11th) and Rachel Joyce (2nd).

Pro men are alert before the swim start.

Pro men take off at 6:30 AM.

Andrew Starykowicz, who holds the Ironman bike split record of 4:04 set in Florida last November, charged to a big lead by Mile 38 of the bike course. By the end of the ride, he posted a race-best 4:21:51 split.

Frederik Van Lierde, a fast Belgian wearing unique bike headgear that looks like an old football helmet without a face guard, rode a 4th-best 4:25:35 split on his way to victory.

Sebastian Kienle rode 3rd-best 4:22:33 and finished 3rd overall.

James Cunnama of South Africa rode a good 4:33:38 split but closed better with a 2:52:38 run to finish 4th overall.

Ivan Rana of Spain, the 2002 ITU Olympic distance World Champion and 5th place finisher at the 2008 Olympics, rode 4:40:34 then closed with an impressive 2nd-fastest 2:47:55 marathon to finish 6th.

Per Bittner of Germany rode 4:50:08 and finished 33rd overall.

The lead pack of women approaching Mile 38.

Meredith Kessler led much of the women's bike on her way to a 2nd-best women's split of 4:55:13 and a 7th overall finish.

Rachel Joyce rode a 3rd-best 4:55:26 bike split on her way to a 2nd place finish.

Liz Blatchford of Great Britain must have erased some of the disappointment at her exclusion from Great Britain's Olympic team by her fine podium finish at Kona.

Dr. Amanda Stevens was in the lead women's group at Mile 38 on her way to a 5:00:32 bike split and am 11th place women's finish.

Caroline Steffen has had better days at Kona, but she posted a quite respectable 4:57:51 bike split on her way to a 5th-place women's finish.

Leanda Cave gave no excuses and fought well to recover from early season leg woes. But after a 54:04 swim and a 4:58:54 tide, the wheels fell off and she soldiered to a 12th place pro women's finish.

Gina Crawford of New Zealand biked 5:04:18 and finished 9th pro woman - her 3rd top 10 at Kona in a career with many Ironman-distance victories.