I saw kemper walk right past me after he pulled out of the run. Only one or two people noticed who he was, or was like me an just didn't know what to say. He looked so defeated. I saw him go off to side by in the park. He came back after a few minutes to watch/hear the final ~1k from a distance. He was really struggling on the bike, just exhausted and looked like he had nothing left.

As a chicago native, I'm pissed about Gwen. She's sort of a local athlete being from Wisconsin.
One the weather didn't cooperate so I couldn't see her in time due to the race being moved earlier, but that's sudden weather change is expected from Chicago.
Two, I'm mad that the race got moved to Friday because of the Bears game (love my Bears, but not as much as I love tri's. Also I don't like our team this year). I was way more interested in the women's race then the men's. I only went to the men's because I couldn't see the women's.
Three, our local news did not mention her accomplishment at all (all they talked about was Patrick Kane and his scandal, Castro who played a great game [but another questionable character], and golf). The national sports news wasn't much better... the hot click of the day (aka babe of the day) was easier to find than Gwen on SI (at least I could find her vs ESPN).

Looking at the splits, both Kemper and Shoemaker were about a full minute back after the swim (17:25/17:29 vs the leaders at 16:25-16:30), so they were both more or less out of it at that point. Not a great sign given that it was a wetsuit swim plus, based on the fast times, it was prob around 100-125 m short of the full 1500. Oh well...

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"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."

Regarding Katie Z., I'm sure we can all relate to that feeling. And Gwen did have to work for her win, and she said in the post-race interview that she "wasn't feeling awesome out there today", but yet managed to come through:)

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"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."

(Quote) "I saw Kemper walk right past me after he pulled out of the run. Only one or two people noticed who he was, or were like me and just didn't know what to say. He looked so defeated. I saw him go off to side by in the park. He came back after a few minutes to watch/hear the final ~1k from a distance. He was really struggling on the bike, just exhausted and looked like he had nothing left." (Quote)

Hubcaps - Thanks for your "fresh from the front lines" report. Ya, what can you say to someone when they've just had a really bad day, espec someone as experienced as he is. Maybe he was over-trained, or perhaps under-trained, who knows really except Hunter himself. Others have commented that he ought to just retire but I think he may as well give the Oly's one more try. Hopefully he can put together a good winter of training and do well in whatever race USAT chooses as the final qualifier.

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"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."

Maybe that was the moment he realized his time as come and gone, can't imagine what that feeling would be like.

Hopefully he can give a Rio qualification a good shot, would be great to see.

Was wondering where Lagerstrom was today, then I saw he won Beijing, awesome.

Good day for Filliol and Sousa

Kemper flatted on lap 6. Not that it would have made a difference. At that point he was in the third pack mostly just sitting in. Sorry to see him go. He's not out the running for Rio, but at this point there's almost zero chance.

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"Good genes are not a requirement, just the obsession to beat ones brains out daily"...the Griz

Gwen smashed it per usual. Stanford raced a hell of a race and on her day is obviously a gold medal contender. But when Gwen decided it was time to go with 2500m left, she put ~30s into Stanford.

All 4 British women looked great though. I sure hate to see who gets left off that team if they are all healthy next year. Stimpson ran great and Jenkins looked like she was maybe just a month away from being her equal. (Also I assume that if Stanford or Holland has an injury that the British tri federation have left themselves some fine print to sub out)

Katie Zaferes is tired from a long season. She came out guns blazing in March. She's too new at tri to be able to sustain that all year.

I bet True put all her season's preparation on the Rio test event and accomplished that goal. I think overall she seems like the kind of athlete who can swim bike into a top 10-15 any time, but needs to be in really sharp run focus to get onto the podium. She should be ready to go for Rio.

Kanute raced great. Smart attacks on the bike. I think he took a huge step towards Rio today. I hope someone will publish some intermediate rankings for the US men in their odd little olympic ranking system, because I have no idea who sits where.

The Aussie men are slowly starting to look like contenders again after a few years of really substandard results (from a country with such high triathlon standards of course).

Gomez and Gwen have beautiful run form, that is unquestionable. But between the bow legged style of Grajales and Luis and the falling over backwards tip toe running of Brownlee et brownlee, who would you rather watch?

Ok I found the US objective rankings standings. http://www.usatriathlon.org/...4f3b19698ec0138.ashx

Based on a quick back of the napkin calculation:
I make 3 quick assumptions:
1) USAT uses an early season WTS race as the final qualifier (Barrie Shepley seemed to think they would use Gold Coast)
2) the men get 3 spots (this is not guaranteed but looks good right now)
3) neither gender uses a domestique spot (there is no US male worth working for and Katie Zaferes might just be the best available talent for that role anyway, Haskins would be the only other even remote possibility)

Any US female not named Zaferes needs a top three, period. Katie has this spot locked down (essentially).
Any US man could make the team with a top 6-7 (even old Hunter himself). Lagerstrom or Kanute are very likely on the team with a top 13-15. McDowell or Tommy Z more like top 10-12. Billington and Malloy are loving life this offseason because they go with a top 17-20 or if fewer than 2 other people listed above achieve their required results.

Summary: Women's team is all but locked down. Men's team is still very much open but now a handicapped race in this order: Billington, Malloy, Lagerstrom, Kanute, boy Zaferes, McDowell, and the field.

haskins hardly is a remote possibility. she's the domestique if USAT decides to go that route and screw katie. she performed that role to perfection last year in edmonton.

i wouldn't completely rule out USAT using a domestique with mcdowell as it did at the pan am games. hopefully, he has not shot at the podium as of right now so it seems unlikely USAT would go that route. if USAT were to use a discretionary spot for kemper, it would be a massive insult to the other guys who have raced the past year much better than he. did kemper even have 1 mediocre race this year? it seems that father time finally has caught him along with several extraordinary newer athletes who have taken the sport to a new level.

Jonny B has only done 4 weeks run training since recovering from his stress fracture, he said in a post race video that he hadn't run 10 strides on tarmac since his injury let alone 10km!

Agree, the women's race is going to get a bit boring unless Jorgensen has some genuine challengers next year, Non and Vicky at least keep her honest and if they both get a good injury free winter of training things could be a bit different next year. No one else looks to be anywhere near the level required to be a genuine threat.

Hunter used to be a front pack swimmer, right? Must be frustrating to lose that.

Watching the race just gives you such an appreciation for how fast everything is. Both the men and women hit those turns hard! And when they exit the swim, they ran so fast I had trouble telling who was who.

I'm very interested to see the broadcast. Gwen must have just dropped the hammer on that last lap, as she was free and clear at the finish!

I thought it was smart for Kanute to break away. Can't imagine those 35 seconds cost him that much on the run.

Too bad Tommy Z didn't race. It was perfect running weather - cool, sun setting so no direct sun. Definitely unlike our run Thursday.

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Aaron Bales
Lansing Triathlon Team

Mola makes the front pack! That will cause some triathletes some sleepless nights over the winter. I think that race would of been a lot different with a fit Jonny/Ali in it. Surely they would of tired more on the bike to break it up. However, it's not the best course for a break away.

I saw a senior member of the british coaching team at a social event recently and I tried to chat with him about selection policy / who was going to win Rio etc. He was unfortunately too distracted to have a proper conversion. My parting words were that Richard Murray is an outside beat for the podium in Rio. He said "No he will not" as he chased after one of his kids.

Not sure what your definition of "work for that win" is, but she had a typically strong swim, actually led the bike many times (basically telling everyone, "don't even think of trying to break away from me", as well as sensibly staying out of trouble), and then cruised for 3 laps on the run before changing up a gear or two. She was never troubled in the slightest. She is also super-gracious in post-race interviews and will always commend her opponents with how hard they pushed her. She's just being polite...

I can't argue that she didn't have another gear but her first test at the end of the 1st lap did break the Brits. However, when she went for real she opened a big gap pretty quickly.

This.^^^^^

It was a perfectly executed race on her part. As we watched the three of them run past us during the first three laps, I swear i saw a "i got this" smirk on her face.....maybe it was just a fart ;-)

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"Good genes are not a requirement, just the obsession to beat ones brains out daily"...the Griz

Not sure what your definition of "work for that win" is, but she had a typically strong swim, actually led the bike many times (basically telling everyone, "don't even think of trying to break away from me", as well as sensibly staying out of trouble), and then cruised for 3 laps on the run before changing up a gear or two.//

I tend to agree with you, she is basically racing defensively now. SHe had here races where she drilled the entire runs, and has probably figured out now that there is no benefit to that type of racing, even a gamble of sorts. When you drill it the entire time you run the risk of cramps, injury, or just plain blowing up. By sitting at the front until the end, you minimize all those risks, and you still get the same exact win. I think she was very comfortable once on the bike, and remained that way till the very end, and even then it was probably not uncomfortable. If she would have had to chase those women at the start of the run, she easily could have gone 30 seconds faster, perhaps even more..

"did kemper even have 1 mediocre race this year?"


Hunter was in a 3 up sprint for the win at the CAMTRI Champs in Mexico in early May. The quality of field was okay. It's funny that we're not talking Joe Maloy as a possible recipient for a discretionary spot. Just last year in Chicago Joe was top American in 17th (BTW, Hunter was 2nd US in 24th). If we take Katie Z in Chicago as an example it's a reminder that athletes have peaks/valleys in a year and while Kevin McD looked great last weekend.

If it all went down to discretionary selection I think Katie Zaferes is and easy and obvious choice. And the discussion on domestique duties wouldn't be all that critical since it's not out of the question to have 3 US women in the top 5 at Rio. Still, you'd want some insurance for Gwen in case of a mechanical.

The men is a whole other discussion. My argument for including Hunter would just be the pure publicity for the sport:5th Games, 40 years old, there's a story there. If our best possible result next year is 12th or 17th or whatever then clearly we can look to other factors. One other factor is to give a future hope the chance to experience the Olympic hype so they can go back steely and calm for a better chance at hardware in Tokyo. It's a difficult call and one could make an argument for lots of our guys for all sorts of reasons. I would mind hear views on this thread on who our ST ITU followers would pick and why.

Ian

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Ian Murray
http://www.TriathlonTrainingSeries.com
I like the pursuit of mastery
Twitter - @TriCoachIan

USAT doesn't care about 3 in the top 5. it really don't even care about maximizing the medal count. the only thing it cares about is getting a gold. if katie z didn't have the amazing year she did, then it would be a fait accompli that the 3rd spot would go to gwen's domestique. however, with katie being ranked #2 nearly all year long and finishing at #5, USAT will have a PR mess if it leaves her off. the criteria are ridiculous and they know it.

i think on the men's side the list has been whittled down to:

kanute
maloy
zafares
billington
zafares
shoemaker
mcdowell
lagerstrom
hunter

hopefully it's 3 (not 2) because, other than hunter who has no business being on the list, there are strong arguments to be made for each of them.

Not much of a whittle, eh? Kinda funny that we're a year out and the only regular not on that list is Sean Jefferson (what is his deal, btw? I see his name here and there. Is he a possible Manny Huerta-type?)

I sure don't have a crystal ball, but a good S/B team would be Tommy z, Kanute and Lagerstrom. Maybe one has a really good run on the day.

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Aaron Bales
Lansing Triathlon Team

I think it's important that USAT uses the word domestique specifically and enumerates that this role would be in support of a gold medal capable or gold medal potential athlete. They have defined the role in such a way that it can not be used to simply select an athlete to bring publicity to the team or to reward an athlete for a career of excellence. Hunter Kemper has clearly not demonsntrated consistent front pack swimming abilities or a record of superior cycling ability.

So while this might apply to Tommy Z, Kanute, or Lagerstrom, it would be a stretch and a half for Hunter.

Hunter still controls his own destiny though. Top 3 gives him auto selection and a top 5 most likely gets him on the team.

I whole heartily agree, Hunter is not a domestique. You named some good ones for sure.

I guess what I'm suggesting is this. If we were to brainstorm and decide that our best guy currently could finish 8th or 12th or 17th or 22nd in Rio then clearly we're not picking for medal contention. So then we're picking for another reason. One great reason might be something like...send a guy who's still developing and let him have a race with low expectations, less stress, getting comfy on a big stage in hopes that in the future he can go back with the potential of gold/silver/bronze after experiencing "the show". Another possible reason one might send someone would be to further grow the sport, bring attention, expand interest in our nation to draw out future talent. I'm sure there are other good reasons. I'm saying an argument can be made and will be made in a room sometime soon. I'm not at all put out by arguments for sending Hunter - in fact, I'm excited by his possible inclusion.

Ian

SInce at this moment in time we really have no one to be competitive overall, I would send the best swim bikers, guys that will be able to drill the lead group and possibly help it get and stay away. It is a tough bike there and you know that the killer b's and gomez will be drilling it(assuming Mola does not make that group once again, don't imagine he will). And there will also be the token uber swimmers who ride well too, some who train with the b's, and know their only hope at a top placing is to have some meaningful gap on the bike from the 2nd group.

So if we have 2 or 3 guys that swim well enough and can drill the bike, I would send them all. At the very least we get some good coverage at the front for 2/3 of the race, and it will probably be guys like this that eventually learn to run fast and become our contenders. It appears to me we have at least 2 guys like that, probably 3. I was impressed with our guy in chicago and his aggressiveness and swim/bike ability. A total bust type of course for him, but even then he made the most of it. A tough bike with a blistering swim would get him 10 more spots in a field like that. Of course Rio will not be a field like that, but perhaps top 15 is possible if everything lined up tactically for a really strong swim/bike dude.

I would not just send Hunter, he has to earn this last spot. He is a bust since he cannot swim within sniffing distance of the lead anymore. If we did not have 3 really good swimmer bikers, perhaps, but we seem to be loaded with that type of athlete at the moment. Give them their shot and some experience, might pay off later one..

In regards to the US women, I found this story interesting:
http://olympics.nbcsports.com/...lon-track-and-field/


Good to hear Sarah True mentioning that there's some behind the scenes strategy going on to beat Gwen. Seems like all the women haven't just conceded to race for the silver. In a few recent interviews with her, it seems to me she views Zafares as a teammate and Gwen as a rival. Also interesting note from this story is that she's leaving Joel Filliol? Seems like she had one hell of a season working with him, and surprised she'd opt for trying something new going into the olympic year. Sound strange to anyone else?

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http://trainingwheelsrequired.wordpress.com
@KellyNCollier

Maybe she is going back to Darren Smith's group? She certainly had success then too. I don't know why she left that group but I thought it was mostly because she wanted to spend some more time stateside. So not necessarily a departure on poor terms. Of course it could be completely opposite; she might want to train all alone in new hamster with her husband. Or maybe she is looking to leave New England and head to old England to train with Holland, Stanford et al. That would be a solid conspiracy storyline.

with abu dhabi on tap this weekend, it's time to bump this. it looks like gwen, holland, stanford and the brownlees always were DNSs and gomez is a late scratch. i'm curious to see what kind of shape spirig and stimpson are in.