gonna be hard giving it to reid on the run, but GL anyways.

---

------------------------------------------------------------------
"The aspect of sport that you learn is that you have your good times and your bad times, but you share it with great people." - George Gregan

Lessing hammered both LVL and Reid at Nice 1995. If he could do it a decade ago over the long course, he can do it again.

All the naysayers are going to be crawling under a rock with Lessing buries everyone on the kona lavafields during the run. The guy grew up in South Africa and raced for years on a pro triathlon team in Provence in the south of France. Something tells me that he will do fine in the heat.

Despite, his spotty record of late, my guess is that Lessing is going to un-cork a great IM race at some point( He already has - the performnace at IMUSA last year was unbelieveable) . Severeal of the top IM distance specialists in the world have told me that he is the man they fear the most. He has one of, if not the absolute best palmeres of any active triathlete. He has won at all distances, on all types of courses, in all formats often, against very deep competition. I am not certain absolutly how he will do next Saturday, but I strongly suspect that if he is physically ready to go, he will be a factor in the outcome of the race. He is definately one of the 10 men who have a shot of winning.

Fleck

---

---

Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

Hmmm...

"Hmmm... "

Is that a good, "Hmmmm. ." or a no so good, "Hmmmm. . ."?

Fleck

---

---

Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

Fleck, all the pieces are there. He went toe to toe with Allen for 28K at Nice when he was 22, he's raced a lot and well in the summer heat of France, he's dominated at all the other distances below Ironman, he dominated Ironman LP. He's had three "non optimal Ironmans" since then at Hawaii, CDA and IMC, but he has all the pieces to put it together. If anything the 3:18 shuffle took less out of his legs than a sub 2:50 would have. It also helps to have Dave Scott, hammering in the mental game, so he'll be back for Kona, if not this year, then in the next few.

Just wondering who would consider him a threat

After seeing Simon Implod at IMCDA and wither at IMC I am not to confident to boost his game to the top tier just yet.

Steve Larson uncorked a great race at LP...and is now in real estate. Whole different animal between LP and Kona. Simon will be a noted also ran....at best. Sorry!

---

Push your Passion!

Peter Reid calls him 'King Simon' so i'd guess he's a believer.

Though it always amazes me how the usual suspects who have proved themselves in Hawaii are often overlooked by prognosticators for people with a lot of 'potential.'

Well I can tell you this came up during a Q&A at Half Vineman this summer with Reid and DeBoom and neither indicated they were that concerned with Lessing. Tim said something to the effect that you have to prove you can do the race before you become a threat. He wasn't really denegrated Lessing but I think it was a reflection that some great triathletes just don't do well there.

Is it just me or is this race getting deeper every year...? Maybe not the epic stars like Dave or Mark but I might argue the talent is much deeper down 10 or so spots.

I guess reaching the 'top tear' must hurt a lot as it makes you cry.

Tier! Does that help.....He still isn't there.

---

Push your Passion!

it does help.

and yes. Simon sucks. he never won an important race.

...Ok then maybe Mr. Lessing should pack it in as a pro, qualify for Kona as and age grouper next year and then clean up :-)

All kidding aside, I think that Lessing has a far deeper and broader triathlon palmares than Larsen. Lessing has been World Champion over Olympic Distance and Long Course (Nice) and won pretty well every half Ironman that counts and has run sub 2:50 at the Ironman distance.

Agreed though, that it is hard to get over the mental hump of a few non optimal ironman races. That's where Dave Scott comes handy :-)

True, I think that seasoning will improve his finishes. I think that there is something missing, from what I have seen. Is he a great athlete? No Doubt!

I think it is frustrating for him to SLAM up against a wall when your traveling at the speed of light. Only to come apart on reentry. Look how Cameron Brown was an also ran UNTIL, he got together with the right coach. I hope to see Simon on the Podium. But he is not in my top 5.

---

Push your Passion!

Tim said something to the effect that you have to prove you can do the race before you become a threat.

Wow. whoever heard of such an idea.

Let's let Simon have one strong Kona performance before we go passing the crown. Too many "shoulda beens" or "coulda hads" in sports. Let's respect him for what he has accomplished and not give him credit for those that he hasn't.

As of now, mentioning Lessing in the same breath with guys that have won the Kona race 2 or 3 times, as well as those that have finished in the top 5 multiple times, is not fair to the guys that have earned their positions.

He may, one day, win the Kona race, perhaps even multiple times .... but let's let him prove himself against the world's best at the biggest race before the parade starts.

---

=======================
-- Every morning brings opportunity;
Each evening offers judgement. --

Trimike, while I'm inclined to believe that the race is "deeper", the results really don't bare this out. Check out how "deep" the race was in 1993:

TOP MALE ATHLETES PL NAME NAT SWIM BIKE RUN TOTAL DIFF. 1 MARK ALLEN USA 00:51:27 04:35:23 02:42:18 08:09:08 - 2 CRISTIAN BUSTOS 00:52:35 04:34:16 02:49:38 08:16:29 0:07:21 3 PAULI KIURU 00:51:18 04:36:26 02:49:45 08:17:29 0:08:21 4 WOLFGANG DITTRICH 00:48:35 04:38:17 02:56:27 08:23:19 0:14:11 5 JÜRGEN ZÄCK 00:53:34 04:32:28 02:59:02 08:25:04 0:15:56 6 GREG WELCH 00:49:32 04:37:20 03:00:01 08:26:53 0:17:45 7 N. PAUL HUDDLE 00:51:37 04:41:19 02:54:30 08:27:26 0:18:18 8 JEFF DEVLIN 00:54:35 04:39:06 02:56:47 08:30:28 0:21:20 9 TEEMU VESALA 00:57:30 04:43:51 02:56:08 08:37:29 0:28:21 10 RAY BROWNING 00:51:26 04:41:31 03:07:37 08:40:34 0:31:26 11 BEN VAN ZELST 00:56:03 04:43:38 03:01:10 08:40:51 0:31:43 12 HIDEYA MIYAZUKA 00:59:10 04:43:46 02:58:35 08:41:31 0:32:23 13 SCOTT TINLEY 00:54:41 04:45:16 03:02:42 08:42:39 0:33:31 14 KEN GLAH USA 00:51:35 04:40:25 03:11:45 08:43:45 0:34:37 15 HENRY KIENS 00:51:36 04:46:36 03:06:08 08:44:20 0:35:12

Dev,

1. 1993 was a dream year conditions -wise. Almost zero wind on the bike( an extreme rarity for Kona), a light rain shower out near Hawi and then the clouds rolled in for the run so it was overcast and realtivly speaking "cooler" in the afternoon. Bike times that day were smoking fast. I rode 5:00 flat and was not even in the top 100 splits for the day! Look at the bike splits of the top 10 men - most were south of 4:40 on equipment that would get a good, you're-kidding-me-laugh here on ST!!!

2. If you are tring to say that the race more competitive in years gone, by I would say "Yes" and "No" to that. Yes in that going in, there are I would say 10 men with the ability to finish in the top 3, where as 10 years ago realistically there were only a few. Now, from 5 - 15th place, I would say the field is weaker, because as I have stated and we have seen there are guys who can finish in this range who will not be starting - they raced in IMWisco or will be at IMFL.

Fleck

---

---

Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

not 1993...in 93 Olaf was 10th

Sorry Francois, I copied over 1992. Here is the real 1993. In any event, both years were very competitive:

1 MARK ALLEN USA 00:50:40 04:29:00 02:48:05 08:07:45 - 2 PAULI KIURU 00:51:05 04:28:06 02:55:16 08:14:27 0:06:42 3 WOLFGANG DITTRICH 00:48:30 04:30:29 03:01:14 08:20:13 0:12:28 4 KEN GLAH USA 00:50:41 04:33:54 02:59:26 08:24:01 0:16:16 5 JÜRGEN ZÄCK 00:51:52 04:27:42 03:06:44 08:26:18 0:18:33 6 PAUL HUDDLE 00:53:32 04:39:39 02:54:36 08:27:47 0:20:02 7 BRUCE THOMAS 00:50:29 04:38:15 03:00:05 08:28:49 0:21:04 8 HOLGER LORENZ 00:51:47 04:35:29 03:05:35 08:32:51 0:25:06 9 JEFF DEVLIN 00:53:40 04:44:20 02:55:18 08:33:18 0:25:33 10 OLAF SABATSCHUS 00:57:05 04:40:08 02:56:55 08:34:08 0:26:23 11 BEN VAN ZELST 00:55:03 04:37:59 03:02:21 08:35:23 0:27:38 12 SHINGO TANI 00:58:45 04:47:12 02:49:30 08:35:27 0:27:42 13 ALEC RUKOSUEV USA 00:48:31 04:48:49 02:59:13 08:36:33 0:28:48 14 LOTHAR LEDER 00:53:50 04:43:05 03:00:30 08:37:25 0:29:40 15 PETER KROPKO HUN 00:50:50 04:48:25 02:58:10 08:37:25 0:29:40

Check it out...Shingo Tani has been going on forwever. That day, he had the second fastest run split after Allen :-)