Legends of Triathlon – Mark Allen – ‘Reigning King of Triathlon’
The ‘Reigning King of Triathlon‘ is not a title given without merit!
That title is bestowed upon Mark Allen (born January 12, 1958 in Glendale, California) an American triathlete having been inducted into the Ironman Triathlon Hall of Fame, the USAT Hall of Fame and the ITU Hall of Fame. And having been voted “The Greatest American Triathlete of All Time” in a poll conducted by the IRONMAN organisation, as well as “The Greatest Endurance Athlete of All Time” in a poll conducted by ESPN.
But why such an accolade?
Mark Allen won the Nice Triathlon, at that time one of the biggest in the world, 10 times and won the sports first ever inaugural ITU World Championships in 1989 in Avignon, France. Allen’s short course credentials were outstanding and he was a dominant force on the triathlon scene from the early 1980’s.
Mark Allen had won every major triathlon on the planet, except the Ironman World Championship. However, that was all to change and it was Ironman where Allen left his mark on the sport.
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On October 14, 1989, after six attempts in Kona (the famous Hawaiian Ironman World Championships course), Allen finally broke through on his seventh try against his biggest rival, Dave Scott, the six time champion. This was a ‘Battle of the Titans’. After swimming and cycling within meters of each other, Allen broke away 23.5 miles into the marathon on the last uphill on the course and destroyed Scott’s existing course record time of 8:28:37 with a winning time of 8:09:15. Scott finished that day one minute behind with a time of 8:09:15, a time that would have won every previous Ironman World Championship.
That 1989, Ironman head-to-head would be the first of six Ironman victories for Mark Allen, the last coming in 1995 at age 37. He ended up winning his sixth and final Ironman World Championship in dramatic fashion by coming from more than 12 minutes down off the bike to run down Germany’s Thomas Hellriegel in the final miles of the marathon. After he won his last title, Allen walked away from the sport still at the very top of his game.
Over the course of his racing career, which ended in 1996, he maintained a 90% average in top-three finishes. He was named ‘Triathlete of the Year’ six times by Triathlete magazine, and in 1997 ‘Outside’ magazine tabbed him The World’s Fittest Man.
In 2014, Mark Allen was inducted into the ITU Hall of Fame. A fitting tribute to the ‘Reigning King of Triathlon’
Mark Allen now owns and operates Mark Allen Coaching, a global online triathlon coaching concern.
