Not an excuse, but I did hear he was sick before the race, which might have contributed towards a drop off in the back half of the run. Fingers crossed he'll be fully fit & healthy for St George; if so, he'll certainly be in the mix.

I am not a fan of Alistair but I do believe this was a blip and he will be a strong contented at St Georges.

He is probably suffering the effects of over training while trying to get ready for his sub-7 attempt. He has been killing it. I know he has been working with Nigel Mitchell and a few other specialists who know what it takes to do the endurance feats through and through. I can only imagine his next training block at altitude is part of the plan and when he comes back down from that he will either be untouchable, or completely burned out. Who knows - only Alistair probably! I hope he turns up at St. George in the shape of his life and gives Blumenfelt a run for his money. By the end of this year he could have 2 world championship trophies and the first sub-7 under his belt. That takes some planning and training for - who knows if his body is up for it.

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He who understands the WHY, will understand the HOW.

Thing is everyone who's followed Ali's career knows even a 80% fit returning from injury Ali still wins races.

There are at least signs now for me that he's not going to be as dominant as he was, all those injuries were bound to take their toll eventually.

I feel like he was running with a substantial asymmetry between his left and right foot plant. One more up on his toes as he always use to run and the other more flat footed. Perhaps it relates to the recent operation. Anyone else notice that?

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Genetics load the gun, lifestyle pulls the trigger.

Is there a picture of his ankle xray in public?

I think 70.3 has moved on since his last attempt, and he could have been taken by surprise at what took place.

I wonder if he could have pushed the swim harder too, gone out with maybe just Kanute and tried to gain the extra 30-60seconds there.

If there were no physical problems with his ankle then Oceanside was probably a lesson learned. I think if there had have been a problem with his ankle then he'd have come straight out and more or less retired.

its just not in his character to let a win go that easy. unless it was simply a test run, part of the bigger plan or he simply doesnt have the speed. i lean towards Oceanside just being a warmer upper for him. He didnt look too upset at the finish.

I saw a stronger Alistair, when he was in ITU he was so skinny and I think that was his weakness point when he jumped to 70.3 and 140.6

He did a great race, I think he will be in the mix too for St George

He was beaten. Period. He did not let a win slip. He had no chance of beating Laundry on that day. Good effort coming back from an injury, but I'm in the camp of he had to prove something and hasn't. He deserves respect for his past, but can't be held to a lofty standard of praise when talking about current races. There are so many guys that can beat him any given day. I've been noticing the guys getting the least attention have made some noise such as Jackson Laundry (1st Oceanside) and Jason West (2nd Miami). I don't think he's going to be that dominant force coming back from injury. I don't think he's the same or ever will be. Too much time has passed in a sport where the window of success is so short.

It’s funny because I’ve never been a huge AB fan, and back in 2018-2019 my opinion was that his mentality would be his own worst enemy in LC.

In this case I actually think he was testing his injury under load…..ie….went 17-18 km with almost best in race splits….Laundry comes up and AB realizes how deep you would have to dig to contend and actually made a decision that it’s better to pull back and come fourth, and come out of this OK with 5 good weeks of training ahead.

Don’t get me wrong I don’t think anyone was beating Laundry on that day….but I am of the opinion that AB is now learning the finer elements of LC humility, if that’s a good word?

Maurice

I agree. FoP swim but don't murder it. Controlled bike; pushing but moderated. Run at planned pace, but body not willing for last few miles. Some sickness in last fortnight may have affected his ability to maintain 5:10 pace for the full 13.1 miles. Hope Flagstaff prep goes well.
Minimal "doubts about Alistair".

Hasn't raced for ages, serious ankle surgery recently and yet he comes back and leads a very stacked field for most of the race. Less than a minute back at the finish. I'd call that pretty decent. He isn't going to dominate like he did in ITU and he seems more fragile than ever but seriously I would not ever bet against him.

As he has said, early in the season and working up to his fitness to be fully fit for St George. Funnny, he loses a race and everyone doubts him… big mistake. He will be in Flagstaff for 4 weeks and will be ready.

I can't deny AB has an incredible resume and should be in the mix at SG. However, this thread notwithstanding, he is always mentioned as one of the big boys, or a top tier guy, or Frodo class. However, at LC and half distance, he is quite inconsistent. This is yet another example of it.

No doubt he is an incredible contender, but to me he is another one of the tier of athletes that if they can just put it together on race day they will dominate, but actually doing so isn't a given.

well yes when an athlete of his calibre does not podium then there is reason to ponder on why/what happened?
Lets just hope all these incredible athletes get to the start line peaked and ready to rumble. Its a fine line between peak performance and total disintegration. Alistair on about this sub 7 hours now.

He has two second places at 70.3 World's (its debatable whether he was even at 100% for them races)

That's not bad for someone who doesn't deserve to be mentioned with your Frodos etc!

Yeah that's what funny. You would think those kind of results would be sufficient to be considered top tier, but according to a number of threads earlier this year and late last year, some people are considered top tier with inconsistent performances and some second places, but others are considered second tier at best unless they win every race and couple of majors.

AB usually gets a pass because of his short course domination, but I'm not sure its warranted given his inconsistency.

Gómez has two wins and isn't even mentioned over here.

Someone mentioned Gomez as a dark horse pick for St George, it'll be weird if at least one from the Brownlees or Gomez do not pull off a win at Kona at some point given how far ahead of everyone else they was in SC!

His 2nd place at the 70.3 worlds in South Africa was after a long injury lay off with very little running. He's as good as Frodeno and will win Kona if he can stay injury free. And he's still relatively young at 33, a similar age to Mark Allen and Frodeno when they both first won Kona. And 2021 he hardly ran, doing random things like gravel races. Oceanside he was only 55s off the winners time and had the 2nd fastest bike and swim splits. He may never win Kona, but that will be down to injuries not lack of talent, determination or motivation.

You forgot about race day tactics........

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Pink? Maybe. Maybe not. You decide.

Yeah he surprised me with how he raced in his Kona debut. It's admirable he's so competitive, aggressive and has such a huge will to win. But perhaps with long course you need to race a bit smarter with a bit less aggression as a few peeps have found out e.g Chris McCormack.

Is AB racing St George and/or Kona? I think he qualified for one of them in 2019 in Busso.

His Daytona wasn't great either.

I'm not trying to bash the guy at all. My view is a few guys like frodeno or Iden or maybe Lange (2016-2018) are/were sure bets. AB should be a sure bet, but his tactics or whatever let him down sometimes at the longer stuff.

It's frustrating to see.