With a couple of Syrian men on the start list it's a good thing it's not in the US.

Last time I checked, UAE IMPRISONED an american triathlete for what?... Racing? Oh, and remember the time when they banned Israeli tennis players from playing professional tennis tournaments there...because they were... Israeli? And remember the time they imprisoned the American woman last April for "insulting the UAE" for not responding to mens' catcalls trying to pick her up? Yeah, good thing it's not in the US...

Oh, Vanessa Fernandes is on the start list!
I'm curious to see her performance after so many years without competing, I doubt she's as strong as she were in 2008, but maybe she can bounce back in a couple of months.

Will be interesting to see what Henri Schoeman does this season. I have a feeling he might be the one to beat.

Glad to see Gomez and Mola back....witnessed their incredible race in Chicago. Anyone surprised only two American men in the field?

I'm interested to see if Summer Cook on the women's side can continue her climb up the rankings. On the men's side I'm curious what the potential is of Matt Mcelory. He had a couple good World Cup races to close out the season.

Not trying to single out the genders, but it seems like the trend is for some women to have a child in the year after an Olympics and for the men to give longer races a shot.

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Yes!!!!!!! I can already hear the "heartbeat". Is this how normal people feel when football season begins?

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Can I ask why you think Henri will be the one to beat? Yes i understand he was 3rd at the Olympics and "won" the grand finale in Mexico. But would like to hear why you think what you do.

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Inside The Big Ring: Podcast & Coaching

I hope Blummenfelt will take one step up this year.
He has sure put in a lot of work this winter.
Abu Dhabi is early for everybody so the results can be a little volatile.


Also for those that has not been to UAE/Dubai or Abu Dhabi. It is such a nice place.

I would guess that Cook will make at least a couple of podiums this season. The year after Olympics is usually a good opportunity year for younger athletes. She may even grab a couple of wins if races play out correctly for her. But I bet her biking is still a good 2-3 years away from being able to consistently content for the top step.

So. You don't see the difference between banning individuals from entry, vs banning an entire nation or seven? No? Maybe that's the problem. (USA does plenty of former by the way. Border guards have a wide latitude to ban anyone they don't like, with a costly and lengthy legal process to reverse that decision.)

Also exciting to see Gustav Iden stepping up to Elite Men - I think he can surprise quite a few people. I should also do good in Abu-Dhabi environment. Was really impressive when he beat guys like Ospaly and Froomhold in 70.3 Norway last year. 1:11 run of a 2:09 bike (a bike that is far from pancake-flat) is pretty good.

His bike and run are excellent - will be exiting to see how he hangs on in the swim.

It'll be interesting to see how Schoeman goes this season. Will he be able to step his run up a level after experiencing success and benefitting from the confidence that brings?

I'd still say his best bet of podiuming will be at races where there's at least 2 of AB, JB and Gomez.

Abu Dhabi should be a good race with Gomez, Schoeman, Mola, Murray and Luis there. No surprise that neither Brownlees are there, they've been taking it pretty easy and are only recently back into full training. Think they're down for Gold Coast.

The women's race looks like it will be pretty open. Vanessa Fernandes is down which is pretty interesting.

You are right. Gustav's race in Haugesund showed everybody that ITU athletes have endurance.
It is fun to see the Norwegian team getting better. Lots of good work and a willingness to train :-)

did he not win in cozumel or was i watching a different race...? was he not third at the hardest race of the year with everyone except javi firing on all cylinders...? that being said, i don't think he's going to be the ''one to beat'' in 2017.

Henri is a guy who needs a lot of things to go right for him to even win. Would never pick him to win any WTS race

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Inside The Big Ring: Podcast & Coaching

there are quite a few better runners than henri. but not all of them are guaranteed to be first pack out of t2. further, not all of them have shown they can withstand hot conditions as well as he can. in any given race i'd probably pick either of the brownlees, javi, and potentially vincent luis (still unsure of his oly-distance prowess vs. sprint) over henri. richard murray and mola are too chancy to bet on unless the bike course doesn't promote separation.

Yep. To place he needs a smallish pack to exit the water in front and go off the front of the bike.

He is tiny too. Saw him in person at Auckland WTS and I thought he looked like he was 13/14 years old. Just really small build, but can obviously swim amazingly well for his size.