The Brownlees and their training partner Rhys Davey have set up a stationary pool and underwater treadmill facility (http://www.aquatread.co.uk) and at the launch, they got Richard Varga to see how long he could swim into the flume at maximum setting. The general consensus was that he would not be able to swim for more than a couple of minutes. He was wearing a wetsuit and managed over 10 minutes! This equates to 14 minute 1500 pace (the wetsuit being the crucial factor of course). So no idea of his times in a conventional setting but he is a class apart. There is a mini documentary podcast on the website where you can hear him doing it!

Richard Varga is clearly very suited to IM racing :)

If you are interested in how Richard Varga has acclimatised to Yorkshire traditions, see if you can spot him here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dEaer2tzuc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtuAQw5kA6E

Ah, thanks for that info Will. That puts him in pretty elite swimming company. Andy Potts went 3:58 at the '96 oly trials, and 15:38 for the 1500 lcm, back when he was a pure swimmer. I always like to hear pool times since they are really the only truly standardized way of comparing swimmers.

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

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You have some athletes with slow swim time able to find their way in open water.
Right now, the importance of your place on the pontoon is major. Swim times don't show your abilities to change the tempo.

but yes, Varga is in his own league with athletes like Aurelien Raphael.

Thanks Alex. Speaking of swimming, if ITU were to make triathlon a truly equal sport, and made the swim 3000 m instead of 1500, do you think Varga and Raphael would dominate??? Just out of sheer genuine curiosity...:)

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

Sprint distance is already showing that a gap can be done. It's not only about the distance but also about the swim course configuration.

Good point:)

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

My opinion is no one can swim :56 / 100m without the benefit of the wall, even with a wetsuit, for more than 2-3 minutes. By no one I mean "on the planet," much less a triathlete. Keep in mind guys who go 3:4X in the 400 are killing it off the walls twice per 100.

But I think he is clearly better than everyone he competes against (in the water!) and I think *maybe* he should consider changing sports to OW swimming.

 
Thanks Alex. Speaking of swimming, if ITU were to make triathlon a truly equal sport, and made the swim 3000 m instead of 1500, do you think Varga and Raphael would dominate??? Just out of sheer genuine curiosity...:)[/quote]
And making the Sprint 1500 - 20 - 5 would be good too for setting up swim break aways.

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And making the Sprint 1500 - 20 - 5 would be good too for setting up swim break aways.[/quote]
Absolutely!!! Basing the races on a 1.5K sw/5K rn template would make for a much more balanced race wherein it would not always be won on the run, as seems to be the case about 99% of the time now. Ideally, ITU would extend this even to the longer races, e.g. 6K sw/80K bk/20K rn and 9K sw/120K bk/30K rn. Of course, i realize these ideas are pure fantasy:)

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

If Varga (and the Russians) were thinking rationally they should of waited for the Gomez group to catch up and then for this larger pack to work against the Mola pack. This would of worked well and they would have put time into the Mola pack without sheeling themselves. This however wouldn't of been in JB's interests as he would love a buffer against Gomez and Mola, so he 'encourages' those with him to work for him, as Varga is his mate he would be more inclined to go along with this and help his buddy out, if he had thought rationally and not worked for Jonny he probably would of got a top 10 as he did in Auckland with a larger lead pack putting time into the chase pack. Overall does Varga get more out of his triathlon career being the Brownlees' bitch... sorry mate ;-) than he does doing his own thing, probably the former??

Which is preferable: to come 15th having at least put yourself in a position to do very much better. Or to come 15th having raced conservatively and rationally but never created the possibility for you to do better?

The Brownlees espouse the former attitude (remember Beijing when Alistair came 12th but heroically tried to win). Most of the women at the moment prefer the second option. Which is the more exciting to watch? Which is the better mindest to have?

For me, the most impressive aspect of Varga's race was that he could still run himself into 15th despite flogging himself on the bike. That has surely given him more confidence in his abiltiies and I'm not sure you could learn that just from training.

Well said, FB. I'm all for the heroic efforts.

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