Joe Skipper sees top five as a stepping stone to Kona podium

Joe Skipper improved by one position from his last appearance in Hawaii with a fifth-place finish in 7:54:04 on 8 October – and says next time he’ll be eyeing a top three.

While 14mins behind new Ironman world champ Gustav Iden, it was still a 13min improvement on his time from 2019 as he picked up three places in the final miles – blasting by Magnus Ditlev, Leon Chevalier and Sebastian Kienle in a rampaging finish.

A second wind

“I’d have liked to have got top three, but I’ll take it as a stepping stone,” he said. “I really found it hot out there and I was done with Kona after 12 miles of the run.

“But I got a second wind with 6 miles to go and that was the highlight of my race!”

Skipper had been forced to miss the first Ironman World Championship of the year in Utah with Covid and won Ironman Wales under a month ago.

The 34-year-old has now finished seventh, sixth and fifth in successive Kona racers and became the only British male finisher after David McNamee dropped out on the run.

I smashed it on the last bit and was totally f***** crossing the line but I managed it

A 52:54 swim saw him exit the water in 38th place but only 4:30mins down on the lead. He then posted a 4:11hr bike split and backed it up with the day’s sixth fastest marathon of 2:45:25.

Pretty cooked

“The swim was okay. I got a really good start and was up the front for a while, but kept getting knocked back down,” he added. “It felt easy but it was just a shame we didn’t have anyone who was a bit faster setting the pace.

“I then rode pretty hard and was pretty cooked when I caught Cameron Wurf. Going up towards Hawi it was chaos as we overtook a massive group and it felt pretty much full pelt and then Chevalier put in a big dig and dropped me – I was going 420watts and got left behind.

“But it was a tailwind all the way back and I sat at my own pace and tried to feel comfortable.

“I had an okay run at the start, then got hot and couldn’t run fast. With six miles to go coming out of the energy lab I was in eighth and getting run down by Clement Mignon.

“Given the last bit is downhill, I went full gas to the top of Palani to see if I could get a top five. I smashed it on the last bit and was totally f***** crossing the line but I managed it.”

Top image credit: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images for Ironman