Whitfield, Carter, and A. Brownlee are the only athletes of his caliber. Frodo was the only one that's done Kona.
My point wasn't that great ITU guys turn into great Kona competitors, but that some of the ordinary reasons an athlete would struggle in their first year in Kona clearly are not applicable to somebody who has demonstrated that he can overcome any sort of pre-race hype and stress. Frodo was quite obviously proven at major races by virtue of the fact that he won the biggest race that exists. He was special as a first time competitor in that regard.

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IG: idking90

Frodo is also an Olympic gold medalist. If part of the reason newcomers don't do well at Kona is because of the sheer hype around the big spectacle of the race, that wouldn't apply to a guy with Frodo's history.

Boom!

INSIDE the sport of triathlon Ironman Hawaii is a big deal. However, it's not even in the same league as the Olympic Games in terms of hype, media attention and profile.

From an athlete perspective - Going to Ironman Hawaii must feel like a vacation compared to the Olympic Games.

In terms of how to measure the media impact. In Canada, in the space of a year we had an Ironman World Champion in Peter Reid and an Olympic Triathlon Gold Medalist in Simon Whitfield. Both men are great athletes. What they both achieved was significant!

When Reid won Ironman Hawaii, there might have been a small story in the Victoria papers, and you might have found the results in the aggregate results of the news paper. When Whitfield won the gold medal in the triathlon it was not just the lead sports story, it was the lead news story in every type of media! I was a guest on the CBC Morning TV show ( Similar to the Today show on NBC) two days after the win, talking about the impact. The whole country was buzzing!

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

We have seen others of his caliber not handle the race well.

In the earlier years, the talk was that you had to "Do your time" on the Island before going on to real success at Ironman Hawaii. There were some/many spectacular blow-ups from world class triathletes in Kona, that seemed to perpetuate this thinking. Often this was attributed to tangible things such as the heat and humidity, and also to intangible things - Making Peace with Madam Pele!!

Then in the mid years onto the present, that whole thing has been fairly debunked, as a number of athletes have come to Kona and done great, right from the get-go - Alexander and Wellington, I would say are the best examples of this.

These days, I think with the mens' race in particular, what may catch athletes out who've not been before is the tactics and strategy. Unless you can swim close to the front and then be in the big group, or are prepared to drill it for the first 20 -30 K, to get back into it and then recover, it's going to be hard to make it in the top 10 - 15 at the end.

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

France not doing that bad.

last year's Kona's top 20:

DEU 5
AUS 4
FRA 3

USA 2
BEL 2

ESP 1
EST 1
AUT 1
CHE 1

Germany and Australia a cut above the rest at the moment. Why the hype about Canada/US ?

Speculatively, obviously large pool of talented triathletes from ESP and the UK at shorter distances.

no you won't win ;)

and an easy win for NZ!!!!!!

What a match! At least the country can now focus on IMSA next week....

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Then there is that Luc Van Lierde guy that did well his first time after never having done an Ironman AND getting a penalty. <pink>

Cunnama is South African.
If he, Kyle Buckingham and Matt Trautman are all on their game there could be three S. Afircans in the top-10 at Kona (assuming they all qualify first), even without claiming Frodo ;) They all have the talent.

Watch out for Matt in the years to come - he's Sutto's current favourite son... which says something.

Germany and Australia a cut above the rest at the moment. Why the hype about Canada/US ?


last year's Kona's top 20:

DEU 5
AUS 4
FRA 3

USA 2
BEL 2

ESP 1
EST 1
AUT 1
CHE 1
//

Well calculate the results of the top 5, then get back to me.. (-;

I really wish this would happen, but it won't. If one of those Canadians breaks the top 5 it will be impressive. They are lucky to have punched their tickets early with Victories which, I think we'll allow them to have ideal preps (baring injurues). Symonds is a vet at the distance and I give him an excellent chance of having a good day. McMahon has some experience under pressure and is fast, but I think he will need a couple of years on the island before reaching his potential. Sanders, who is unreal but relatively unproven is going to be in tough. Even with his improved swim he is going to have a ton of ground to make up. I fear he will burn to much on the bike catching up to be a real factor. . . Can't wait to see! It is going to be awesome having those the too watch. Been a while since we had some real possibilities towing the line.

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NCCP certified Comp coach