Ironman Les Sables 2025: Age Group Stats and Qualification Times
Ironman Les Sables d’Olonne-Vendee is a brand new race on the calendar. As such there’s no race history to compare these results to and we won’t be able to say if this year’s times are typical for the course. We can still take a look at the race and compare it with some of its European counterparts to get some sense of the event.
For comparisons I’ve used data from 2024 European Ironman races which includes Wales and Lanzarote. This gives a broad range of results from some of the fastest Ironman courses to two of the slowest.
Result Distributions
Comparing the results from one race with those from a range of races can give us some indication of where an event lies in that range. We can see in the distributions above that Les Sables leans towards the fast end of European Ironman races. Its swim is faster at the median although no faster at the front of the race. Its bike has a clear leftward shift indicating a course that’s more comparable with the faster races. The run trends very close to the amalgamated European results. Overall finishers appear to be at the faster end of European races, with the difference being biggest at the median
DNF Rates
As we don’t have race history I’ve compared the DNF rates from Ironman Les Sables with those of other European Ironman races. The standout statistic here is a lower DNF rate than any other European Ironman of 2024. Clearly course and conditions made for a very favourable race experience overall. A major contrast with Wales last year.
Median Splits
Medians follow the distributions pattern. Medians at Ironman Les Sables are faster than those from all European races. Putting it towards the faster end of European events.
Competitor Origins
Perhaps being a new race there’s less pull for athletes outside of France as European races tend to bring in a much broader range of competitors. Most qualification slots will have stayed in France.
Qualification
Based on start numbers and the slot allocation for this race I’ve calculated the expected slot numbers for each age group and from that the final qualifying times for each age group. This doesn’t take into account any roll down. You can adjust the slot allocation numbers on the Ironman Les Sables Qualification page.
Age Group Top 20
To add context and comparison I’ve plotted the top 20 in each age group alongside the top 20 from last year’s European Ironman races. Along with that we have an average line from last year’s races. This makes it abundantly clear that Les Sables is fast with every well in advance of the course averages. In many cases it’s one of the fastest 3 or 4 races. If you’re a man under 40 you’ll need to break 9 hours to be confident of qualifying.Once we have fewer slots for Kona next season that looks lie the case for even mroe age groups.
Conclusion
Our first year of racing at Ironman Les Sables was fast. It would suggest this is a course that’s likely to be up there with some of the fastest courses in Europe. The top 20 times suggest show a tight finish at the front, so potentially quite competitive with this. Maybe somewhere to chase PB times. We’ll need a few more years of results to really be certain of course.