Re: Beth Potter [mag900] [ In reply to ]

Jul 17, 23 7:20

Post #26 of 42 (2040 views)

She had a hamstring issue on the run in Abu Dhabi.
Think part of the problem for the swim comes in positioning, especially in the Olympic distance. Still she has shown she can be there. Just has to get consistent at it.
Think her bike has improved. Depends how strong that front pack is.
Is Duffy still returning?

Re: Beth Potter [sidelined] [ In reply to ]

Jul 17, 23 15:05

Post #27 of 42 (1925 views)

I think the usual front packs main tactic in Paris will be to get rid of Potter and CB by the time they're getting into T2 at all costs.

Re: Beth Potter [Jackets] [ In reply to ]

Jul 18, 23 8:37

Post #28 of 42 (1808 views)

I've not seen the same initiatives on the women's side that you had seen on the men's side to do this. In Rio the Brownlee brothers went to the front early on the bike, knowing there was a decent hill at about the 5km mark to start toe loop - first time up that hill it was FULL ON for the two of them at the front - eye's bugging out, tongues hanging out, full gas up that climb. The strategy obviously to get rid of as many hangers-on as possible. The double B's seemed to always take the attitude and strategy - either you blow up or I will blow up. They just went for it. I remember watching Jonny going out of T2 at the Edmonton WTS race a few years back onto the run. In the first 400m, he looked like he was running an 800m on the track - dropping almost instantly the 3 - 4 who were still with him at the end of the bike!

Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

Re: Beth Potter [Fleck] [ In reply to ]

Jul 18, 23 9:48

Post #29 of 42 (1773 views)

I've not seen the same initiatives on the women's side that you had seen on the men's side to do this.//

I think you and I must have been watching different races then, plenty of examples in the past year of the womens lead break sticking. And you have many top swimmers who are also top bikers, so their success rate is much better if those few get together. And sometimes even on flat courses if the swim gap is decent. And they all know it now too, so ladies like Kingma and Lopes, Knibb, Spivey, GTB, Duffy, Coldwell, and a few others are all about setting up those early breaks that can hang on to T2.

And as we have also seen when this tactic is applied, even great swimmers like Cassandra, or Beth Potter can be dropped and totally miss the group that gets to T2 first. The ladies know that is the way to beat those two, make them either work hard to chase and take some run matches away, or if they just sit on and rest, they lose too much time to be able to close to the podium.

And it seems like their has been a reversal lately, more mens racing coming together, while womens breaks are making it to the end. It was coming back with Luis back in the peloton, but since he left, it has been a more all come together style racing. Because you have guys like Blum and Wilde in that chase, you have to have a guy like Luis in the lead for it to hold. The womens dynamic at the moment is that the best swimmers are also the uber bikers, so really tough for that back group to bridge to a small, organized group off the front...

Re: Beth Potter [Fleck] [ In reply to ]

Jul 18, 23 11:11

Post #30 of 42 (1734 views)

To me being around ITU since 2010 it was basically the women were from an development/tactics standpoint about 1 olympics behind the men. Tactics, depth, just really limited what the racing could really become. I think the women have finally matched the intensity of the men around 2018 and beyond (imo they only lack overall depth but that's not really that big of an issue anymore). When it was more than just Duffy doing her thing. Now there's 6-8 gals in the front group who WANT to go as hard on the bike as they do on the swim. And oh by the way now they are also the fastest runners in the sport now.

Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

Re: Beth Potter [monty] [ In reply to ]

Jul 18, 23 11:52

Post #31 of 42 (1695 views)

I think you and I must have been watching different races then, plenty of examples in the past year of the womens lead break sticking.

Mark - To be honest, I don't watch a lot of higher level Triathlon racing much these days - way less than years ago - so yes, you are seeing more than I am.

I'm doing less and less Announcing work in triathlon and not paying that much attention to it, as the amount of Announcing and Commentary work for me in Running, Track & Field, and Cycling ramps up significantly! In the next month I will Commentate on the Canadian Track & Field Championships for RunnerSpace and the Vuelta Burgos for FloBikes and Announce at the the UCI Track Cycling World Championships, the U.S. Master's & Para Road Cycling Championships and the the UCI Maryland Cycling Classic!

Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

Re: Beth Potter [Fleck] [ In reply to ]

Jul 18, 23 12:02

Post #32 of 42 (1678 views)

One of the real joys of watching the women's races is that there really is very few front pack athletes who "sit in". The best runners aren't afraid to put their nose in the wind and keep the gap to the chase group.

See Tokyo- the front group of ~6 had 1 min on a rather "meh" (slightly technically) course over the hard charging chase group led by Spirig.

Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

Re: Beth Potter [B_Doughtie] [ In reply to ]

Jul 18, 23 12:41

Post #33 of 42 (1657 views)

Duffy changed the game really (bit like the Brownlees) along with Learmoth swim (the Varga of women) although to Learnmoth credit her bike was top 5 and she developed her run to podium.

The problem now is, without Duffy and Learmonth that gap isn't as big, they're still winning races from that front pack though without.

Re: Beth Potter [Jackets] [ In reply to ]

Jul 18, 23 12:57

Post #34 of 42 (1635 views)

The gap doesn't really need to be that big when all the best runners are basically front pack swimmers and bikers. And that's what is really fun to see. The best runners in our sport aren't afraid to put their nose in the wind and work hard. Very infrequently is anyone "sitting in" in the front group.

Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

Re: Beth Potter [Jackets] [ In reply to ]

Sep 28, 23 15:57

Post #35 of 42 (1288 views)

Jackets wrote:

Really intrigued to see how good she can be in Triathlon, Olympic and Commonwealth 10 and 5km distance runner with a decent swim background.

Sounds like she's not ready to ditch the Athletics though, article about her here....

Beth Potter: Double Team Scotland selection for runner and triathlete

Beth Potter will follow her Rio 2016 Olympics appearance by going to the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games

Runner Beth Potter has made Team Scotland history by being selected in two different sports at the same Commonwealth Games.

A year ago, the 26-year-old joined the triathlon training squad of Olympic gold and silver medallists Alistair and Jonathan Brownlee in Leeds.

And Potter, a talented swimmer in her youth, has been selected for the Gold Coast Games in triathlon and athletics.

"It was a very ambitious goal when I moved to Leeds," she told BBC Scotland.

"I hadn't done a triathlon and I said that I wanted to qualify for Gold Coast. Quite a few people thought I was a bit mad.

"It was touch and go and it was difficult to find a race. In triathlon, it's difficult to get into races if you don't have previous points and obviously being a newcomer to the sport, I didn't have those points.

"But I got into a race at the end of season and secured qualification with a first, a podium place."

Potter competed in the 5,000m and 10,000m at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games and then the 10,000m at the 2016 Olympics in Rio.

In the past year she has re-embraced swimming and added cycling to her repertoire in a bid to make it to Australia's Gold Coast as a triathlete, with the Games taking place from 4-15 April.

"I used to swim with Milngavie and Bearsden and it was through swimming that I got into running and then, obviously, the running started to take over; got more successful at that and I sort of put swimming on the back burner," Potter explained.

"I hadn't really done any proper swimming for about eight years, just the occasional two-to-three weeks when I'd been injured.

"I started riding my bike on 10 January last year so it's been tough. It was just difficult getting used to some technical things on the bike and just little things like clipping in and out and riding in a group.

"Being here in Leeds and training with the squad it's really brought my confidence along this year."

World champion and possibly now favourite for Olympic gold!

Re: Beth Potter [Adman] [ In reply to ]

Sep 29, 23 6:26

Post #36 of 42 (1056 views)

Adman wrote:

Jackets wrote:

Really intrigued to see how good she can be in Triathlon, Olympic and Commonwealth 10 and 5km distance runner with a decent swim background.

Sounds like she's not ready to ditch the Athletics though, article about her here....

Beth Potter: Double Team Scotland selection for runner and triathlete

Beth Potter will follow her Rio 2016 Olympics appearance by going to the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games

Runner Beth Potter has made Team Scotland history by being selected in two different sports at the same Commonwealth Games.

A year ago, the 26-year-old joined the triathlon training squad of Olympic gold and silver medallists Alistair and Jonathan Brownlee in Leeds.

And Potter, a talented swimmer in her youth, has been selected for the Gold Coast Games in triathlon and athletics.

"It was a very ambitious goal when I moved to Leeds," she told BBC Scotland.

"I hadn't done a triathlon and I said that I wanted to qualify for Gold Coast. Quite a few people thought I was a bit mad.

"It was touch and go and it was difficult to find a race. In triathlon, it's difficult to get into races if you don't have previous points and obviously being a newcomer to the sport, I didn't have those points.

"But I got into a race at the end of season and secured qualification with a first, a podium place."

Potter competed in the 5,000m and 10,000m at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games and then the 10,000m at the 2016 Olympics in Rio.

In the past year she has re-embraced swimming and added cycling to her repertoire in a bid to make it to Australia's Gold Coast as a triathlete, with the Games taking place from 4-15 April.

"I used to swim with Milngavie and Bearsden and it was through swimming that I got into running and then, obviously, the running started to take over; got more successful at that and I sort of put swimming on the back burner," Potter explained.

"I hadn't really done any proper swimming for about eight years, just the occasional two-to-three weeks when I'd been injured.

"I started riding my bike on 10 January last year so it's been tough. It was just difficult getting used to some technical things on the bike and just little things like clipping in and out and riding in a group.

"Being here in Leeds and training with the squad it's really brought my confidence along this year."

I'm from Beth's home city so know quite a bit about her background and her potential as a Triathlete.

She was National level in both swimming and athletics until she was about 16/17 before she concentrated fully on running. To give you an insight into how good a swimmer she was/is, she went low 18 mins for 1500m Free aged 16.

If she can get back to that sort of pool speed coupled with some OW adaptation & skills, she is gonna be up there on the opening leg. Obviously as low 32min 10,000m runner and Olympian, I very much doubt any of the current ITU women can match that stand alone speed, which hasn't degraded since the move to Triathlon. This all leaves the bike, which I think is the big question mark. From what I hear she was fairly below par 12 months ago, getting dropped from packs in domestic races in the early season. However she made decent improvements through the summer, which led to her winning an ETU Continental Cup race in Portugal near the end of the season. This is basically what sealed her Commie Games selection.

I think it is too early to say if she can mix it with the best. Given her background she has huge potential and in the last 12 months she has come along way in getting her swimming back and improving on the bike. I think this will continue and you'll start to see her in WTS races in the next year or so. However I think she still needs to make significant improvements on the bike which will probably take another 2-3 years. That being said she is still young, so the 2024 Paris Olympics is a realistic goal. And if she makes it that far she'll no doubt be a contender.

We may now have reached Final Form Beth Potter.

Re: Beth Potter [Adman] [ In reply to ]

Sep 29, 23 8:28

Post #37 of 42 (987 views)

Still new to Triathlon, I think she can actually improve come Paris.

Re: Beth Potter [Jackets] [ In reply to ]

Sep 29, 23 8:51

Post #38 of 42 (978 views)

Jackets wrote:

Still new to Triathlon, I think she can actually improve come Paris.

I think it's marginal gains in each discipline from here, but this could manifest itself in even more consistent & dominant performances.

The big thing for her currently is just race execution. How many times do we hear she felt like rubbish on the swim/bike, which is the most crucial stage of the race for her (0-5km on the bike).

I think with time we will see more races where she is solidly front pack earlier in the race, rather than having to get herself out of trouble early in the bike or just being fortunate with chase pack dynamics.

It's a funny day when Triathlon is headline news in the Glasgow papers.

Re: Beth Potter [Adman] [ In reply to ]

Sep 29, 23 9:22

Post #39 of 42 (945 views)

Adman wrote:

Jackets wrote:

Still new to Triathlon, I think she can actually improve come Paris.

I think it's marginal gains in each discipline from here, but this could manifest itself in even more consistent & dominant performances.

The big thing for her currently is just race execution. How many times do we hear she felt like rubbish on the swim/bike, which is the most crucial stage of the race for her (0-5km on the bike).

I think with time we will see more races where she is solidly front pack earlier in the race, rather than having to get herself out of trouble early in the bike or just being fortunate with chase pack dynamics.

It's a funny day when Triathlon is headline news in the Glasgow papers.

She has to worry about race dynamics when Flora and GTB are back, the bike is going to get a LOT faster especially when Knibb gets thrown in (extreme outside chance Learnmoth gets selected for Paris also) making the swim faster.

It seems she's almost front pack at the moment, but this will change when GTB and Flora come back (unless them improvements kick in which I think shes capable of) they're not going to want to come off the bike with her.

Re: Beth Potter [Jackets] [ In reply to ]

Sep 29, 23 9:35

Post #40 of 42 (925 views)

Jackets wrote:

Adman wrote:

Jackets wrote:

Still new to Triathlon, I think she can actually improve come Paris.

I think it's marginal gains in each discipline from here, but this could manifest itself in even more consistent & dominant performances.

The big thing for her currently is just race execution. How many times do we hear she felt like rubbish on the swim/bike, which is the most crucial stage of the race for her (0-5km on the bike).

I think with time we will see more races where she is solidly front pack earlier in the race, rather than having to get herself out of trouble early in the bike or just being fortunate with chase pack dynamics.

It's a funny day when Triathlon is headline news in the Glasgow papers.

She has to worry about race dynamics when Flora and GTB are back, the bike is going to get a LOT faster especially when Knibb gets thrown in (extreme outside chance Learnmoth gets selected for Paris also) making the swim faster.

It seems she's almost front pack at the moment, but this will change when GTB and Flora come back (unless them improvements kick in which I think shes capable of) they're not going to want to come off the bike with her.

Yip that's the big question - have things moved on in their absence?

I would think that Beth wouldn't have gotten away with the T1-Early bike catch up, if Flora was at her best. But I'm not sure we will see that best again.

GTB and Learmouth I would fear less given the level that Beth is at now. Only 1 realistically is going to make Paris and if likely it is GTB, I don't see her as crucial to the split as Flora is.

Re: Beth Potter [Adman] [ In reply to ]

Sep 29, 23 14:25

Post #41 of 42 (836 views)

This is an interesting piece, didn't realise AB was so involved in the Potter camp

https://www.220triathlon.com/...r-breakthrough-year/

Re: Beth Potter [r0bh] [ In reply to ]

Sep 29, 23 14:51

Post #42 of 42 (815 views)

Thanks for that. An interesting read

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