That's quite impressive espec consid the WR for 1500 scm is 14:08, and it sounds like Gomez swam this at the end of a hard training week so he wasn't even rested. 15:56/14:08 = 1.124 so only about 12.4% over the WR.

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

Unlikely a triathlete goes 15:56 in the middle of the season LCM. Talk about a diesel, his 500 splits were 5:15, 5:20, 5:20

You can find the results if you google the team that is referenced on the tweet.

Mark Hendseron made the US Olympic swim team coming off a shoulder injury. He didn't take a stroke for months just a couple of months prior to trials. A guy I know really well went from 45.5 to 44.2 in the 100 free the season he missed 2 months due to an elbow injury. Massive kick sets, I am talking about 20 x 100s on 1:15, vertical kicking and (assuming he doesn't have a cast) and kicking on your side can do wonders. I am not saying he is in the ideal position, but this doesn't have to kill RM's Olympic dreams.

i think that's a fair assessment except that i don't think billington and shoemaker would have had any shot at being in the lead bike pack.

I found the results, it's a 25m pool
http://secretaria.natacionferrol.com/...al_clubs_ascenso.pdf

Right, I realize it would be highly unlikely for a tri-guy to go 15:56 LCM but i was just trying to give him the benefit of the doubt:) Regarding massive kick sets, i think these will only help if he's a decent kicker with good flexibility since, if he doesn't have the "kicking genes" then he'll just improve slightly and not enough to really help. He could be like a number of swimmers who are able to swim pretty fast with almost zero kick, or he could be able to kick well but only when kicking breaststroke:)

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

Thanks Tom, interesting to see the results of a Spanish swim meet:)

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

Never heard of the Endurance Sports on Fire podcast - Billington is the guy I know the least about, so it'll be good to hear his story.

He almost made London at Dan Diego, right? Just behind Huerta (aka the WOAT)?

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Aaron Bales
Lansing Triathlon Team

btw, the yoko start lists are up. gomez and AB are in for the men. old man hunter is not so i assume his dream for 5 is over. spirig is in for the women but the UK women all are skipping it. gwen also is in.

Ryan Riell's new podcast, he's done pretty much all the Americans except i think True and GJ. Billington busts out his Winston Churchill impression. Talks about the dedication he's had over last 2 years especially with his injury. Personality comes out for sure with that one.

I think he was officially the "alternate" in 2012. US pretty much missed the 3 team spots when Brazil's Cocculuci (spelling) beat out Huerta in the sprint finish for the continental spot with Fretta and Charbot playing domestiques.

At the WTS San Diego he missed it by just a few spots, after one of the most unheard of finishes by Huerta. Still to this day one of the most amazing celebrations ever. The guy gets to the finish line having no clue he was in, but knew it was close. You can see him counting bodies and "6....7...8...points to himself...9". You can even hear it through the ITU broadcast. Pretty good moment.

I

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

Why do you think Murray, or anyone for that matter, is going to be able to bridge the 2nd pack back up to the 1st? It's not a flat course where you can do that.

Rio's hills will make everyone honest, they'll all have to work and nobody will be able to just sit in.

Murray and Mola were in good form for the Rio test event but didn't get anywhere close to bridging up to the first pack. They took over a minute longer on the bike than the like of AB and Gomez (and of course they were an additional 30 seconds down on the swim too). Throw in JB who wasn't in Rio last year and you'll have 3 guys absolutely nailing the bike from the front.

http://www.triathlon.org/results/result/2015_rio_de_janeiro_itu_world_olympic_qualification_event/271857

I don't think they'll bridge up completely. What I've said was I think RM is going to be hugely important for Mola to get a reasonable gap to t2. Unless of course Mola has a great front packish swim. i think on the most important day he'll have the goods to be a factor in this race.

No I don't think he is there in the end. I Just think he'll have the goods to allow others (Mola) to play important factor in deciding podium versus the front group. That's it. You disagree, so can we move on from this dead horse now?

Eta: you and mag think this injury is going to cause RM to be so far back. I contend with the time remaining to rio that he and his coach/team will be able to prepare him enough that he will swim with same pack he normal does. Add in the fact that he's going to be bike focused currently because that's about all he can do, it'll lead to some fun drama. So based on that I predict he'll play big role if Mola is off back and thus will be a "can chase group cover enough ground to let Mola run them down". That's it, and i could be completely wrong. We have what 4 months to hash out every plan that we think will or won't work.

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

What is the story with Gomez? Is he just having a late start to the season or run injured? It's not like him to race every race but maybe this is part of the master plan to be more selective this year.

stress fracture.

Assuming no US women podium in Yokohama, is there any scenario where Katie Zaferes, who has a significant lead in the USA Objective Ranking System, does not qualify for Rio, even if she DNFs in Japan?

Or, put differently, have recent race results (Kirsten Kasper's 5th in Cape Town and Zaferes' 6th in Gold Coast) made any change to the Ranking points? You take the best two scores, so if Kasper's 5th were to improve on her 510 points from Rio last August then that could make a difference, but looks like it won't based on the layout of the table.

GC and CT are irrelevant for qualifying. it's only the races listed in the table you posted. KZ has 1563 points and kasper has 645 with 510 coming from rio. i think what you are asking is if she comes in 4th and KZ dnfs, will 4th be worth 1054 points? i'm almost positive that it won't be. i think KZ is more concerned about tomlin, kasper or cook being able to run their way to the podium off a slow bike. not having any of UK women there helps in that endeavor. having gwen there hurts because that's basically 1 of the 3 podium spots spoken for.

Thanks - makes sense.

As you say, with no Brits and no Duffy at that race, the podium is wide open. A sprint finish among US athletes for the highest podium spot would be something!

i'm not predicting it but cook has the running ability to vulture the 3rd spot. with a flat and easy bike, this is a terrible race to use as the de facto olympic trials because the skills needed for rio are very different than the skills needed to do well in yoko.

it also will be interesting to see how spiring and norden look.

I'll predict top three:

1. Hewitt
2. Ueda
3. Zaferes

followed by Kasper, Norden, Spirig...

you forgot gwen...

ha. oops. although you never know...

I'm guessing that Gwen and Groffy are not listed in this table b/c they've already made the team based on their finishing 1st and 4th at the Rio test event???

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

that is correct. has hunter officially retired?

mag900 wrote:

that is correct. has hunter officially retired?

According to his website, he is not retired but rather still trying to make his 5th Oly team. However, if he does not race at Yoko, then he can not qualify, correct???

http://www.hunterkemper.com/#!about-hunter/c14p0

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

that is correct. only the people racing in yoko can receive the 4 remaining slots. i guess someone could get hurt and withdraw in the next 2 weeks and hunter theoretically could then get a spot on the end of the pontoon as a replacement but i have to figure that everyone entered already will be racing unless he/she has some catastrophic injury.

Well, if he doesn't get into Yoko, he's certainly had an excellent career all things considered.

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