With the July 28, 2013 deadline now behind us we can look at the Pros who managed to capture their early Kona slots. 40 men and 28 women will have the monkey of their back, but for some an even bigger monkey is on. We can't say for sure which of these Pros will actually take the slot but we would imagine that most who got in will actually follow up and claim these coveted slots.
The men
Sebastian Kienle leads the Pro men with 9260 points and Eneko Llanos, Andreas Raelert, Craig Alexander and Frederik Van Lierde fill out the top 5 and there really are no surprises here. Most athletes in the top 20 had a good race in Kona in 2012 and thus were able to start the chase for 2013 points with a nice padding. Dutch Bas Diederen is among the exceptions and he accumulated 6440 points in 3 Ironman starts. Per Bittner (19), Ivan Raña (21) and Christian Ritter (25) also followed that model and raced a bunch. Bevan Docherty who sits in 12th position did the needed Ironman qualifying event and raced well in three 70.3 events to reach 5900 points. Marathon man Petr Vabrousek accumulated 5840 points by competing in 5 Ironman events and only Balazs Csoke in 34th position came close to that with 4 full distance events and one half. James Cunnama got nudged out by some of the athletes who had clutch performances this past weekend and he is now 41st, but because 70.3 Word Champion Sebastian Kienle is an automatic qualifier that gives him a slot.
Outside the top 40 both Thomas Gerlach and Mike Schifferle followed the Vabrousek model but it was only successful for Gerlach who got rolled-up because 3-time recent champion Craig Alexander is an automatic qualifier. Ben Cotter in 42nd place also moved up because defending champion Pete Jacobs is automatically qualified and has done his required long course race.
Among the men we we would have expected to be in the top 40 and get an early pass to Kona, as we had suspected, 2011 podium finisher Marino Vanhoenacker dropped to 45th place and he is followed in 46th place by 2010 70.3 World Champion Michael Raelert. But in another month on August 25th, 10 more male Pros will have the opportunity to move on to Kona.
2013 KPR Men
1. Sebastian Kienle (GER) 9260 * Auto qualifier
2. Eneko Llanos (ESP) 9085
3. Andreas Raelert (GER) 8290
4. Craig Alexander (AUS) 8220 * Auto qualifer
5. Frederik Van Lierde (BEL) 7260
6. Timothy O'Donnell (USA) 6985
7. Andy Potts (USA) 6850
8. Pete Jacobs (AUS) 6690 * Auto qualifier
9. Bart Aernouts (BEL) 6460
10. Bas Diederen (NED) 6440
11. Jimmy Johnsen (DEN) 5910
12. Bevan Docherty (NZL) 5900
13. Petr Vabrousek (CZE) 5840
14. Ronnie Schildknecht (SUI) 5785
15. Faris Al-Sultan (GER) 5688
16. Jan Raphael (GER) 5520
17. Axel Zeebroek (BEL) 5330
18. Timo Bracht (GER) 5300
19. Per Bittner (GER) 5290
20. Jordan Rapp (USA) 5085
21. Ivan Raña (ESP) 4900
22. Horst Reichel (GER) 4845
23. Andi Boecherer (GER) 4795
24. David Dellow (AUS) 4600
25. Christian Ritter (GER) 4570
26. Maxim Kriat (RUS) 4530
27. Cyril Viennot (FRA) 4500
28. TJ Tollakson (USA) 4320
29. Ben Hoffman (USA) 4285
30. Tyler Butterfield (BER) 4220
31. Matthew Russell (USA) 4180
32. Marko Albert (EST) 4175
33. Dirk Bockel (LUX) 4090
34. Balazs Csoke (HUN) 4060
35. Luke McKenzie (AUS) 4045
36. Ian Mikelson (USA) 4000
37. Igor Amorell (BRA) 3970
38. Christopher Legh (AUS) 3960
39. Clayton Fettell (AUS) 3950
40. Andrew Starykowicz (USA) 3950
41. James Cunnama (RSA) 3905
42. Thomas Gerlach (USA) 3800
43. Ben Cotter (CAN) 3790
The women
While for the men 4000 points is the magical barrier, for women it is actually 5000. The field is less deep so the points are not spread out as far.
Leanda Cave leads the women with a massive 11290 points and she is followed by Caroline Steffen, Gina Crawford, Mary Beth Ellis and Meredith Kessler. In the top 10 most women only did the mandatory full distance event, but Gina Crawford and Meredith Kessler did 3, and Mary Beth Ellis added 2 more Ironman events to her 2012 Kona number. Rachel Joyce and Amy Marsh barely got in but with Leanda Cave and Mirinda Carfrae as auto qualifiers high up and with Kelly Williamson who currently sitting in 27th position and not having a current full distance credit, that should allow Ashley Clifford (29), Sara Gross (30) and Rebecca Hosckke (31) to slide up.
Charisa Wernick (32), Kathleen Calkins (35), Stephanie Jones (37) and Beth Walsh (41) all raced a ton of full distance events and all likely tried very hard to get to Kona, but they are all currently on the outside looking in. But when August 25th comes around the 7 highest ranked female Pros in the KPR not already qualified will also get an entry to Kona.
2013 KPR Women
1. Leanda Cave (GBR) 11290 * Auto qualifier
2. Caroline Steffen (SUI) 9720
3. Gina Crawford (NZL) 9020
4. Mary Beth Ellis (USA) 9000
5. Meredith Kessler (USA) 7540
6. Jodie Swallow (GBR) 7170
7. Heather Wurtele (CAN) 7100
8. Sonja Tajsich (GER) 7065
9. Mirinda Carfrae (AUS) 6980 * Auto qualifier
10. Natascha Badmann (SUI) 6460
11. Linsey Corbin (USA) 6375
12. Erika Csomor (HUN) 6310
13. Camilla Pedersen (DEN) 6205
14. Yvonne Van Vlerken (NED) 6165
15. Corinne Abraham (GBR) 6010
16. Michelle Vesterby (DEN) 6000
17. Sofie Goos (BEL) 5940
18. Mirjam Weerd (NED) 5840
19. Amanda Stevens (USA) 5745
20. Kristin Moeller (GER) 5505
21. Jessie Donavan (USA) 5450
22. Elizabeth Lyles (USA) 5300
23. Mareen Hufe (GER) 5280
24. Caitlin Snow (USA) 5240
25. Anna Ross (NZL) 5230
26. Rachel Joyce (GBR) 5190
27. Kelly Williamson (USA) 5100 ** no qualifying Ironman
28. Amy Marsh (USA) 5095
29. Ashley Clifford (USA) 4985
30. Sara Gross (CAN) 4910
31. Rebecca Hoschke (AUS) 4740
