On the subject on young talent to watch out for. He will not be really for Rio watch out for Ben Dijkstra. He is 16 and ran 14 mins for 3 mins. This is a good course record in a race previously won by AB and Mo.

He can swim/bike too.

http://www.athleticsweekly.com/...athon-winners-21524/

 
That young french lad is the next one. Talent with a capital T.

ITU "distances" and "times" are by necessity approximate, but for some reason almost always short. I've got a pretty sick ITU 10K PR.

It is what it is, from a fitting the course in I completely understand. However it's ridiculous that itu and the announcers don't acknowledge it. A couple years ago they were saying how fast the swimming has become. This was at San Diego when some of the guys ran a good 200m into the water, I mean give me a break.

Well said Sir. Sheila T is one of my favorite athletes b/c of her indomitable will. AFAIK, she is the shortest swimmer (5'3") ever to win Oly gold.

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

I love the picture of her and her team mate from that Olympics standing back to back. Really drives it home!

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"Just don’t abandon everything you’ve ever learned because of something someone said on the internet." - Eric McGinnis

Had to think for a minute but i recall seeing that picture in her book, i think. I met her briefly at the UGA triathlon way back in 1992. She had just finished her swim career at GA and swam on a relay in the race. She had the fastest swim split of anyone, male or female, by about 1:00 or better. I met her after the race when we both were doing a cool-down swim. I don't remember how i even found out she had had the fastest swim split but someone must have mentioned it. She just said her name was Sheila and that she swam for GA. I remember thinking it was incredible that someone that short could swim that fast. I did not really realize that i had met the Sheila T until years later:)

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

 


@HKoldtimer, I'm a little surprised by your assertion that Birtwhistle is the equal of the Brownlees and Gomez as a pure runner. His recent 29.23 on the track implies he has the potential to run 28.32 in a few year's time (which AB did in 2013 in his only every serious track 10K), he is clearly not there yet. He is an exciting prospect although I think Raphael Montoya of France is currently the one I'd vote "most likely to succeed" because he is a much better swimmer (and won the World Juniors last year)[/quote]


His 29.23 was at Aus road championships so not on a track, meaning he would already be running faster on track. As an Aus championship it would be assumed that the distance would have to be iaaf approved.
Adams the guy he was in a sprint finish with has a track 10k pb of 28.11. Jamie Turner squad ran this race as part of a normal training week, with normal training fatigue, Birtwhistle and Gwen are both members of Jamies group.
Birtwhistle was front pack swim at Mooloolaba and did outrun Hernandez and Lecorr.

Birthwhistle will be racing in Yokohama tomorrow, so most excited to see how he gets on.

ITU certainly needs some exciting new talent for the post-Rio period, because AB and JG will be effectively retiring from Olympic distance, so Jake is coming into the sport at the right time. And just what Australia needs.

Agreed.

Jonny Brownlee will need some guys to beat by non-embarassing margins ;)