It is an explanation but think back on Hamburg and Vicky managed to hold on until really very near the end. And Gwen was not playing games then.

It is not that there are faster runners than Gwen, but it does show that there are people who can get a lot closer to her than we ever expected. Which is good for the sport. But the question now is, why didn't anyone try to attack on the hill and descent and gap her?

 
I just don't see it. Holland fell this week, one of the Germans slipped in Hamburg, Gwen distances her competitors early and then settles into her run, she doesn't chance fate and wait until 2km to go, too much at stake. Those girls pushed her hard today it's a reflection of where they're at, if Non can stay injury free this winter 2016 will be an exciting build up to Rio.

+1

This would be the first race that Gwen has done that in. ITU doesn't give bonus points for time gaps, so she's been in essentially the same situation in every race she's been in once she's taken the lead, but she's still kicked on and won by a decent margin.

If anything it would have been more important to lay the smack down in this race. Going in, it's all been about the only way to beat Gwen is to take it to her on the bike. They didn't do that, but it looks like the bike took a lot out of her anyway. So next year they're gonna attack her relentlessly on the bike. If she'd won big today, then yeah the bike wasn't as hard as it could have been, but she still coped well and all the plans for beating her next year would have been thrown out the window. Now it looks like game on.

I suspect Gwen has had another gear she could go to if needed, even in Hamburg, and I think this is why the others dont push the bike harder. They are basically racing for second place, as much as we, as fans, may not want to accept this.

Of course at the Olympics next year, it will be worth rolling the dice a bit more, so I would expect to see more aggressive riding then. But I agree, it's disappointing that the girls don't attack more on the bike.

Men's race coming up in 45 mins. It ought to be a cracker but there are a lot of imponderables. Gomez has inexplicably said he is not very interested in this race and suggests he is just going to go through the motions, which is puzzling and disappointing (and I don't think it is reverse psychology, he is too classy for that.) I knew for a fact that Vicky and Non were in good shape, but there are lot of indications that Alistair is carrying a running injury, to the point where he may not have run for a month. So we probably are not going to see an exciting Brownlee Gomez battle. Alistair may try to break solo, or perhaps he and Varga will have break together, but I can't see him winning. In fact, I suspect he may have to hop to the ocean at the start...

So possibly a largely French podium this time... although surely Gomez is going to pull himself together and win...

so gwen, sarah, non and vicky all booked rio tickets. who else qualified today as per their federation's rules?

the completely inane selection process created by USAT this year is on full display today with katie not qualifying despite coming in 6th while being ranked 2nd in the world and now not being able to qualify in chicago, but rather, has to wait to podium in some currently unknown race on some currently unknown date next spring.

I've also heard that AB pulling out of Hamburg was very much precautionary and he is OK. Also, I can't see him starting a race knowing he'll have to DNF, especially a race halfway around the world!

I guess we'll find out in the next hour or so.

What is the Spanish qualification criteria for Rio? Is it the case that he doesn't personally need to do well at this race to qualify, but he is there to help Spain get points towards qualifying three men? Or sponsor commitments? Aren't Specialized quite big in Brazil?

This race is named in qualification criteria for the Brits and a number of other countries, but if it's not named in the same way in the Spanish criteria, then literally the only other thing on the line would be points for the Federation towards getting 3 athletes to Rio - there is no money or ITU points up for grabs - in which case the smart play for Gomez is to go through the motions, not give anything away to competitors regarding how the course does or doesn't suit him, and just do the minimum which is needed for Spain.

 
Again - I don't agree (but its ok like you say we can agree to disagree)

I have had many talks over wine with my wife over her days racing against Vanessa and Emma, the two top girls in the sport at the time, some would argue (me included) just as dominant as Gwen. I've asked wifey so many times around how she approached races with those two in it, as invariably they were the only 2 who beat her when she was at her peak. She told me time and again - she went into every one of those races to win.

Now I accept that there are girls in there that are passengers, a lot of them are resigned to getting the blazer next year in Rio. But those English girls didn't look like it to me today, they turned up to race, and win. I'd go as far as to say they will have given Gwen and JT some focus for the next 12 months, as other will see now that the hill really does hold the key to dampening Gwen's run, but her progress this past 3 years doesn't suggest she's at any sort of ceiling either, she may well lift her riding to a whole new level and we see her being the instigator next year and still running 33's come the big dance.

But that's the fun of armchair commentary isn't it, we'll never know what they were actually hoping for today, was an exciting race non the less.

Roll on the mens.

The men are off!

One aspect of the women's race that surprised me was that the swim didn't really break them up. So far more athletes emerged together than I had expected (from my armchair!)

I was also surprised, but then thinking about it, due to Gwen's run, she has to be beaten on the bike. I imagine the other federations did not want to give away planned strategies for next year.

 
It's interesting, this seems to happen at the major events. In 2007 all the talk was of 'The Americans' on the swim, Groff, Bennett, McLarty, Haskins etc, they were going to SMASH the swim to pieces and it seemed all the coaches were planning accordingly. Come Beijing 2008 we sat there and couldn't believe it when they all came out as one big pack - haha.

Usual suspects came out in the front pack, although Gomez was a bit behind and Brownlee was only 11th. A group of 11 leading on the bike at the moment...

 
That last Persicope of the climb was the first one to really show the severity of it don't you think?

They took 7 seconds out of the chase pack on the 2nd lap...

How do you find the links? I installed the app, I've searched for triathlonlive, triathlon... various others. also Rio on the map. Nothing. Can you help :) ?

'WorldTriathlon'

I link from triathlon.org's twitter feed. Periscope just opens ...

Brilliant, thanks so much guys

Chase pack has merged with its own chase pack, but lost another 10 seconds that lap ... so not looking good for Mola and Murray.

Fabian and Varga's names suddenly missing, wonder if they crashed out? Irving Perez dropped. Then there were 8! Took another 8 seconds out of the chase pack though...

If all are fit, it would be a Gomez, Luis, Brownlee podium ...

Maybe dropped on hill? Sounds like a torrid pace. Keep the updates coming!

is it safe to assume that the lead pack of men are drilling the bike? the chase back keeps on getting further and further back and it looks like mola is doing a lot of work.

varga and fabian are out.

 
Hell of a race so far.

Varga and Fabian are out of the race, no idea why though.