How scoring works · Part 3 of 3
The small print
Everything here is settled from the official results table: place, status and the five times. Nobody rules by hand.
The game is free and runs on the honour system: one person, one account, and extra accounts get removed by hand, picks and all.
If two players tie
Same points as someone else? Three checks, in order, on every ranking: the overall picks ranking, each leg's sub-ranking and the dark horse ranking.
- Whose two winning-time guesses were closer. Seconds off for the men's guess plus seconds off for the women's guess. Fewer wins.
- Who had more picks in exactly the right place. In your overall picks for the overall picks ranking and the dark horse ranking; in your picks for that leg for a leg's sub-ranking. Both races, men and women.
- Who saved their picks first. A change we make for you after a withdrawal does not count as a save.
Still tied after all three: you share the place.
If a player somehow has no winning-time guess, it counts as 30 minutes off. The picks page will not save without one.
Where your points show up
Points move during the race as the official times come in, and the rankings update again when the official results are posted.
- Overall picks ranking (decides the game). Your overall picks and your winning-time guess, pro men and pro women together. Nothing else adds to it.
- One sub-ranking per leg: Swim, T1, Bike, T2, Run. Your picks for that leg and your fastest-time guess for it, both races. Each leg stands on its own and never adds to the overall picks ranking.
- Dark horse ranking. The separate game, ranked on dark horse points alone. Nothing from it appears anywhere else.
Everyone's picks stay hidden until that part is locked and nobody can change it. Then they show on the Everyone’s picks page.
Joined during the race?
You can still play after the start. Picks saved during the race are ranked on their own, never against picks made before the start. A leg locks the moment the leaders start it, so nobody can pick a leg they have already watched. Your picks are listed under “Picked during the race” and ranked only against those players, never against “Picked before the start”. Worked out afterwards from the official times. Anything you save for a leg after it locked scores zero for that leg and its time guess. Later legs stay open. The dark horse locks with the overall picks.
- Swimlocks at the start
- T1first athlete out of the water
- Bikefirst athlete leaves T1
- T2first athlete off the bike
- Run and overall picksfirst athlete leaves T2
Rare situations
Every one of them is decided by the official results table: place, status, and the five times.
An athlete withdraws before picks close.
They are removed from every list and everyone below them moves up one place. If you had them, we email you so you can look at your lists again. A withdrawn dark horse scores 0.
An athlete does not start, does not finish, or is disqualified.
That pick scores 0. No penalty. The rest of your list is unaffected.
Two athletes post the same time on a leg.
Both get the higher place and the next athlete is two places back. If that happens anywhere in the top 3 of a leg, the exact-order bonus for that leg cannot be earned. Place and list-place points still count.
A leg is missing timing data.
If fewer than 80% of a race's finishers have a time for a leg, that leg is cancelled for everyone. That list and its time guess score 0. Its right-place count does not help in a tie either. Transition times go missing most often.
The race is shortened or cancelled.
A leg that is removed from the race is cancelled for everyone. Your overall picks are still scored on IRONMAN's official places. If the race is cancelled, nothing is scored.
When scores become final.
Provisional scores appear as soon as ironman.com posts results. Final scores come no earlier than 24 hours after the last finisher and no later than Tuesday October 13, 2026. If a disqualification changes the official results, we rescore up to October 31, 2026. Every change is listed on the corrections page.
A leg that closed on you during the race.
That list and its time guess score 0, and its right-place count does not help in a tie. Your winning-time guess still counts in the tie-break.
Same athlete twice.
The site never stores the same athlete twice in one list.
Who decides.
Nobody, unless the official data cannot settle something. In that case the site owner rules once, and the ruling is published on the corrections page.
Want the written rules the scoring code is built from? Read the full rules text.
Picks close when the first pro race starts: Sat, Oct 10, 6:25 AM HST.
Back: Leg sub-rankings