I'm sure it was mentioned elsewhere, but Ryf on a disc after Sutton's anti-disc blog post; ha!

As for Monty's dropping out post, I'll add that it's more than smart for the pros, it can be smart for competitive AG'rs too. Pride and finishing no matter what is probably highly correlated with short duration in the sport at a competitive level.

Monty, the women had a slow reported head current and were allowed to use wetsuits; were you hoping for that for the men or for challenging swim conditions?

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Monty, the women had a slow reported head current and were allowed to use wetsuits; were you hoping for that for the men or for challenging swim conditions? //

My first hope is just that the swim swims out to the proper distance(using time and not always distance). Next of course is a non wetsuit swim, not sure why the women pros were allowed to use them, was it cold? And lastly my hope is for challenging conditions, wind, surf, currents( not of the trailing kind) white caps, etc. Unfortunately with most of these conditions swims get cancelled a lot these days, so maybe not wishing for them so much anymore. Any swim is better than no swim.


So going into a current the entire way with wetsuits is really a benefit to the weaker swimmers that can draft, just like in a bike peloton. But good thing is that the good swimming women had a full 25 minutes to break the weaker ones and once that happens it is an advantage for them with that current hitting not just them, but their competitors behind.


So at a minimum I hope the men get at least this, maybe without wetsuits(although would be hard to explain after forcing women to wear them) and maybe a little bump on the water...Should be fun..

I was there for the race today. Ryf dominated the race. She came off the bike and was long gone before second place arrived. She smoked a very tough bike course averaging over 23. Her run looks effortless! I think I just witnessed the best female long course racer ever!

Agreed all around. Was really hoping for that swim and climb to break up the drafting, and to give us swimmers a little edge

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I used to live in Chatt and that climb up Lookout Mountain is no joke, circa 1200 ft gain in about 3.2 miles. I'm kind of surprised they even included this level of climb in the bike course; some AGers without proper gearing may be walking up part of it. I realize this the "World Championship" though so they want a tough, "honest" course.

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

That's right! I think that's what made me think the most that they were talking about Lionel. I really like the way Lionel wears his heart on his sleeve, he has been pretty vocal about drafting trains...

At least that's the first name that popped to my mind when they made those comments. Interesting that the commentators would go that far though if that was the case

I tend to agree, yes it is smart for pros to quit when they feel the need to but what confused me about this is Holly doesn't do any other distance, apparently she doesn't want to do fulls. So this race is the pinnacle for her, give it your all race, isn't it? Or is she also doing super league or island house?

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I mentioned before that this last August she posted in instagram that she had Achilles/calf issues. That would affect the swim and probably not the bike, so not sure. But no, I'd say this race is not like the Olympics, or maybe Kona, where you do finish at nearly all costs. There are too many other 70.3's to toss on the calendar and contend at that probably weigh more than this "WC"

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Hey Milesthedog, first of all good luck tomorrow in your own race. I joined the coverage late and was surprised to hear that Holly dropped out as I was cheering for her to give Daniela a fight. Too bad this did not materialize. In terms of Holly having calf/achilles issues, watching her run live, she appears to have the type of running style prone to that stuff (like Alistair). Her run gait is quit forefoot with the heel barely coming down for supporting the body weight. It's great when you want to swim fast, but seems like overkill from a biomechanics angle at slower 70.3 speeds....but it might just be visually deceptive. I hope for her, that she can get over that. Perhaps Daniela's mid foot cleat position might also help there!

Fully agree Dave. I especially found Matt Lieto made the most comments alluding to your post and I also immediately thought the comments were directed at Lionel.

Fully back Lionel on his decision to not race 70.3 Worlds and it makes a statement most pros agree that the draft zone should be moved to 20 meters.

*meant to say it should Not affect her swim

Agreed, she's WAY up on her toes and supernated. She doesn't have the hip drive AB has. Her landing is what Rupp does with his left foot (see injury history) but she does it with both feet. I almost injured my achilles just looking at her instagram photos.

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Do you have those for the whole field or is it that an included split in the tracker?

I'm taking a guess here based on the times of the women, but thinking there may not be to many pro men going under 2:10 on the bike. 2:08-2:09 would be a pretty good time if backed up by a run in the 1:12-1:13 range on those hills.

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One more thing on the calf/achilles injury related to the swim. At the pro level, it could be easy to make it worse exiting the swim (almost always some kind of incline to get out of the water to transition level), having spent 30ish minutes (warmup + race) in the plantarflexed position and then going into a full sprint to T1. At least in a pool swim, you go dorsiflex every 25m and stretech the calf...at an age group level, if any of the guys have calf/achilles issues, I advise them to stand and remove their wetsuit on dry land immediately after swimming and thus spend 10-15 seconds dorsiflexed before starting to run to T1. I have seen a few guys make injuries worse or getting calf tears especially after cold water swims and longer transition runs on hard pavement after a steep uphill exit. Not sure if any of that played into the calf getting worse today.

She also fell really hard coming out of the swim...

Ouch that sucks. Was the exit really slippery from water? I do agree with Monty that it is better for her to fight another day. Would have still liked to see a battle. Someone remarked that Daniela's position is better than all the other pro women, but Holly's bullet position is protour cyclist worthy.

That is what confused me watching her quit on live footage. Her left knee was bloody so we thought she crashed but she said she just didn't have it today and her legs were dead. Figured she must have fallen at some point.

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Not sure if this is what happened to Holly but I was told the red tape that is holding down all the red carpeting, was extremely slippery and many people were wiping out.

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*If* the comments were directed at Lionel, at least it means that Ironman is paying attention to him not attending 70.3 WC. Doesn't make his argument any less legitimate and shows his concerns are being heard.

It might be "smart" for a pro to DNF if they "aren't feeling it," but it doesn't win fans, doesn't show character, and doesn't please sponsors.

Contrast her sitting on the side of the road smiling and sticking her tongue out because she "didn't have it" (after successfully biking to the front of the chase pack?), but contrast this with the video of 2015 Jeff Symonds biking 20k one-legged due to a broken crank at Kona, only to then unleash a wicked marathon.

What is the rule regarding assistance during the run i.e. coaches, boyfriends, friends running/biking with age group athletes on the course? Saw A LOT of that today. One thing is providing feedback, giving splits, pace info, etc. Its something else to provide company.

Keinle gave a great interview a while ago about not DNFing at Tremblant when he came in with high expectations and basically laid an egg (by the standards he and everyone was holding him to). He said he couldn't stand the idea of surrendering the race to escape defeat just because on a bad day, others were better.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1gU7j7M1sB4

For those saying the pros are different, watch the video. He is the definition of a class act.

It might be "smart" for a pro to DNF if they "aren't feeling it," but it doesn't win fans, doesn't show character, and doesn't please sponsors. //

Just because you feel some way or make stuff up doesn't make it true. Pros that gut it out or even ones than crush fields more than they should, well they lose me as a fan. You have your ideals, I have mine. As for character, is it character to finish a race you are feeling bad in and then lost a couple feet of colon, or now have a heart issue? If stupidity is the same as character, then I guess your are right.


And as for sponsors, you are completely off base there. How many sponsors have you seen brag about their athletes finishing an hour behind the winner, any ads touting finishing at all costs? They absolutely want their athletes to finish as high as possible and have the best result as possible. They would be quite pissed off if their athlete gutted out some run for 15th place and then was injured the rest of the season. Or put themselves in a hole and had a bad race the next week, or ruined the season. Gutting out races where it is obvious you are hurting yourself, or potentially damaging a future race, is not going to be lauded by sponsors, just doesn't happen. So don't overlay your ideals on them, they are 180 degrees apart.


And it is fine for Keinle to finish some race he is out of or other pros, just as long as they are not damaging their bodies or mindset. He chose to finish a race purely to satisfy his mindset of winning something that day, he beat the race. But that is his on that day, other days it is just not in the cards to slog it out for what amounts to nothing gained, and most likely something lost.

it doesn't win fans, doesn't show character, and doesn't please sponsors.
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I really want to agree with you. I do. However, this isn't the nature of triathlon. In this stupid sport I love so much, there is no incentive to just finish for the pros. Fans want a winner and most couldn't name anyone in this race who finished 6th place or higher. Same deal with sponsors. You're either in the money or completely ignored. When Holly comes back and wins (and she will come back and she will win), no one is going to look back and say, "But, but she dropped out at Chattanooga last year. She sucks." Whereas a few fans might appreciate the dedication to just finish, a majority won't care. The sponsors want a podium spot + eyes. Holly's DNF is likely getting more hype than if she gutted it out and finished crappily.

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Completely disagree, most sponsors would prefer an athlete who is fit and can win than someone who batters themself for a rubbish result. They will probably prefer the fact that she did manage to get up to the front of the race and get some coverage than sitting in and being an also ran.

If she was injured as some have stated I would not be surprised if doing what she did wasn't her plan all along. Look how many people are talking about it - she is getting her sponsors far more coverage than if she had rolled round and finished mid-pack.