Ironman has named its overall 2014 All World Athlete Champions for each age-group category, with the US being top-ranked nation with 12 champs, followed by Australia and Canada with four apiece.
The 28 AWA champions come from nine different countries: Germany and Brazil have two AWA champions each, while Britain has just one, along with New Zealand, the Netherlands and Japan.
Caroline Livesey from North Yorkshire is the British athlete who earned top overall spot in the 35-39 category, after coming first in her division at Ironman Texas and Ironman Austria, and third in Kona.
Livesey also won silver at the British Middle Distance Championships in Aberfeldy last summer, and started strongly at Challenge Weymouth before being forced to drop out on the run:
Dropped out at 30k on run @challengetriuk gutted but it was the right decision. Kona too important. Thanks for all support @Huubdesign
— Caroline Livesey (@tri_c_livesey) September 14, 2014
In more good news for British long-distance athletes, the UK came fifth in the Ironman AWA country standings: over 20,000 athletes worldwide accrued enough points last year to earn the designation All World Athlete, with the US again leading the rankings (7,129 athletes), followed by Australia (1,971), Canada (1,196), Germany (1,044) and the UK (946).
For full results and more info on the Ironman Age Group Ranking Program head to www.ironman.com/ranking.
Were you one of Ironman's 2014 All World Athletes? Let us know in the comments!