Sad news. It's always in the swim. I'm sure there has been deaths on the bike and run but of all the deaths that I've heard of in Triathlon, 100% of them have been from the swim. I know Slowman was looking at this a while back and wrote at least one article on how to try to prevent problems in the swim.

I don't know why it happens in the swim but it's gotta make you think that even if you hate swimming, and don't care about getting any faster, you gotta put in some training to keep safe. I know quite a few people that do ZERO swim training leading up to 70.3's and IM races.

Slowman: Have we ever had a ST poll asking what is the least amount of swim training folks have done before an 1/2/Full IM?

Very sad indeed.

There was a study (will see if I can find it) showing that warming up in the water before the swim start decreasing the risk of a heart attack a LOT! T

EDIT: Here is the article. Thanks Dan.

http://www.slowtwitch.com/Opinion/Limiting_Deaths_in_Triathlon_2986.html

The swim happens first so its where many risk factors can collide. From Prevention Magazine "The peak hours for sudden cardiac death (SCD)—where the heart’s electrical system short circuits due to a rhythm abnormality, stopping the flow of blood to the brain, heart and the rest of the body, causing the person to collapse and die almost instantly—occur between 6 AM and 10 AM. ".

Plus there is the risk of unconsciousness leading to drowning. If you fall out on the bike course or run course you still have access to oxygen and the odds of somebody seeing you (and assisting) are much much greater

We've had this discussion several times, and USAT has taken a strange stance on the topic, to say the list, but:

1. there is no evidence that the several deaths in triathlon were due to heart attacks.
2. there is no evidence that the swimmers were inexperienced swimmers. As a matter of fact, many of the files we
looked at were of experienced swimmers, including former college swimmer.