Here's a very sobering account of the concerns regarding the aquatic events planned for Rio. As the article mentions, this isn't a new problem for the area, and shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. Thinking that decades of pollution can be remedied in just a few years when half of the nation doesn't have sewage collection is basically a pipe dream. You can't blame the ITU or even the IOC for that. I personally think the WTS would have made a grave error including the RTE in their calendar this year, no matter how important it is. There's just too much risk.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/...51bbdf93e_story.html

triathlon is in a different localisation.

BTW, No webcast of the race. End of story... another event to follow on twitter...

I'm just going to put this our there.

"Three of five Olympic racing lanes are inside the mouth of Guanabara Bay. The other two are in open sea. Debris streaming from the bay regularly streaks the waters of Copacabana Beach, just outside the opening of the bay. Flamengo Beach has been judged safe to swim only four times this year. Critics say successive governments have repeatedly failed for decades to clean up the bay."

I suggest you take a look at the map included in the article to see just how close Copacabana Beach is to the other beaches which have been deemed unsafe for swimming.

So do we know the status of the British women? Are the big four all healthy? Why is Lucy Hall not racing? What exactly do they need to do to qualify anyway? And who is this India Lee who doesn't appear to have a single start in a WTS race? So many questions!

I think you make a lot of sense on this - locking up early seems advantageous to the athlete. Don't have to chase points, peak twice, etc. I can also see how USAT wants an ace in their pocket in case something happens to Gwen and something crazy like Tomlin taking 3rd happens.

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Aaron Bales
Lansing Triathlon Team

Vicky Holland is in top form, Non Stanford catching up fast... Helen Jenkins has managed to get herself to the start line although how race fit is another matter. Jodie Stimpson is in a similar situation although says everything is fine. India Lee is in the race because there was a selection race in Turkey where the weather caused mountainous seas and against all expectation, India coped best with the conditions and won the qualification place. In absolute terms, she may well be out of her depth and in the future, the selectors may tweak their selection process as a result but she did what was asked. Lucy Hall doesn't want to be used as a domestique and is concentrating on improving her run. She recently came 5th in the European championship and won the ETU under 23 championship outright, so she is having some good successes in her own right.

As for the men, it seems that Alistair Brownlee (despite three weeks of social media silence) is now in Brazil, Aaron Harris is down to race but hasn't entered anything this year and not been heard of since May. Presumably he will line up...

Vicky Holland has the best chance for a podium if she swims well, Non would be a pick but not sure how she will cope with the rough sea... But Helen Jenkins can never be ruled out and is bound to be in the top five out of the water which give the bike course, is the place to be.

On Twitter, I saw Courtney Atkinson has uploaded a picture of the waves crashing in, apparently it will be a beach start: I feel a little sorry for the likes of Mola and Murray and other weaker swimmers because this will be a tough swimmers' swim and there could be huge gaps even before the bike begins.

Yeah it looks like surfs up today, but forecast for much slacker seas by the weekend. But certainly could be a bit more of a factor/challenge than Hyde park with wetsuits.

Some answers from Sutto....http://trisutto.com/...-olympic-test-event/

Todd

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Seen on ST: NOTSOSWUYD: None of the secrets of success work unless you do.

I'm not normally a fan of Sutton's outpourings but in this case, it is hard to argue with him. Basically, no money for the athletes, no guarantee they will be safe, and no coverage for the fans...

From a sporting perspective, this sentence caught my eye: "We already know the details and nuances of the course right down to gearings on a particular hill that is going to give some favoured athletes nightmares for the rest of their lives".

Well said. The whole thing is categorically a shambles.

I fully expect some hilarious comments from AB if anything goes wrong.

Not the most subtle of digs, eh? While Gwen may not be perfectly suited for the course, he must understand that she'll be preparing for the course as well. Whatever happens at the test event, I assume she'll be as ready as possible for the course next year.

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Aaron Bales
Lansing Triathlon Team

It's easy to critic from the outside.

He is avoiding the fact that Spirig refuse to race against Jorgensen and she did only one WTS in 3 years.
If Alistair was doing this...

Is it helping the sport to grow? Nope, he is just marginalizing all the races outside the olympics.

It is one of those great statements that is just subtle enough. Since one favorite is bound to have a bad race in Rio, it is very safe statement to make and he can claim to be right. It is a big assumption, especially based on her performance in Auckland and every other race this year.

I would love to know Sutton's thoughts on gearing. Knowing his thoughts on women using disk wheel and aero helmets, it could be funny.

Although she has improved, remember the only time Gwen has been outrun was Madrid 2013 when she had problems with its climb. And Rio has a harder climb...

I have no idea how the women will respond to this course...

(In partial defence of Spirig, she had a baby in 2013, so can forgive her for not racing GJ then. But shame they haven't met this year)

 
He does it every year - veiled comments about his athletes main competition. Whilst I respect him greatly, I think he should leave the athletes to sort it out between themselves.

Re the hill that has everyones attention, I think it will be a factor in the mens, the women don't ride aggresive enough therefore I think the descent will be more important to their race & they better get out there & practice it at speed before the weekend.

Totally agree. His athletes should talk, not him.

He has nothing to lose since he is not welcome at an ITU race...

Also, Switzerland situation is special. If Spirig was american, australian, she wouldn't have this luxury.

.

Well, the Rio test event is barely 24 hours away. I just came across this slightly shocking entry from Javier Gomez's instagram account:

"I came to Rio to ride on the Olympic course, basically. And that is what I did this morning. I'll do it again on Sunday, this time closed on traffic and with more triathletes but this is not an interesting race for me."

Whether this is because of the lack of money, lack of organisation, or something else, I don't know. But I'm surprised. But there are an awful lot of unknowns. We don't know if Alistair Brownlee is even fit, my suspicion is that he isn't, although he was very "Yorkshire" about the water yesterday, saying he's swum in worse and so long as he's only ill after the event, it isn't an issue...

The hill really does appear it is as tough as rumoured.

To add:

I thought it interesting that Sarah True says that she thinks the fast technical descent might actually be even more selective than the hill. However, no one has mentioned the second climb much, which appears not to be as hard as google maps indicated (according to their measurements, it is a 10 to 15% kicker of about 350 yards but this does not appear to be the case.)

 
As I said a few posts above, I don't see the climb being AS important for the girls, but the descent I've always felt will test them. They have come on the past few years with the faster/shorter racing, but their skill sets on the bike are still not at the level I would expect at world level, some of the girls can throw the bike around (Nicola et al) but the majority are just passengers still.

Looking forward to the ParaTri event kicking it all off, not alot of mention on that on here, we have our girl Lauren in the PT4 and she's going to have a new challenge in American Grace Norman, looking forward to seeing her give Lauren a good challenge.

Shame there's no coverage but Diamond League and the telly and I can keep refreshing twitter, not all lost :)

Steve, how different is the ParaTri bike course?

Flat and fast. The odd slight uphill but nothing like the able-bodied course. 3 x 6.8km.

This Periscope App is quite good, are you watching it? Just had the roll call of the Para athletes.

I talk to some athletes, yep, they fear the downhill and particularly one turn. For the uphills, you are talking about two effort of one minute. It's more the accumulation that is going to hurt.

Whats the weather like over there at the mo? Whats temps and humidity like?

no one is complaining about it... so it's manageable and not a big factor. One interesting fact, it's the current for the swim. It should be a factor at the olympics. Harder to draft...

Yes I'd heard a few talks about the current from athletes, will give some a focus for the next 12 months for sure!

Interesting re weather.