lovegoat wrote:
JayPeeWhy wrote:
So far we have had a DQ from Ironman Canada in 2015 and a stripping of results from the Vancouver Half Iron in 2014 There has been a lot of speculation regarding the performance of Julie Miller at the ITU Long Course World Championship in China in 2014.
A run that decimated all in her age group - 1hr 23m 43s (some 6 minutes faster than anyone else in her AG over just 20km) and a run that decimated most of the pro / elite female field (she had the 4th Fastest Female time compared to all Elite/ Pro Women - beating Andrea Hewett (NZ) and Laura Bennett (USA)
The lady who came 2nd in the 40-44 Age Group, thereby losing the right to call herself a World Champion, is Victoria Hill who was representing Great Britain. Victoria is a super consistent athlete and a great runner. Following the recent DQ's and after a year of uncertainly she has decided to come forward with her version of events at that World Championship race.
Here's what she had to say:
Quote:
At the time in Weihai, the result was always a mystery. Julie had clearly crossed the line in front of me..... I only clocked [saw] her on our last lap. I knew I was catching her, there was no way she is a faster runner than me. At the finish, the results said I had won which of course she challenged. She had crossed the line in front of me so I accepted I had come 2nd. The results were a debacle, it took ages for them to do our awards ceremony and then it transpired that her chip had been lost/something went wrong with it. I had no reason to think otherwise.
When the results finally came out on the website, it showed that she had come off the bike after me and then ran a faster time than me. I always knew this was wrong as I know for a fact no girl past me on the run. As this part is my strength, I normally do the passing on the run so would be well aware of another female passing me. The results only got published on line the next day and I never challenged it. In hindsight, of course I should have done but I just assumed she had come off the bike well in front of me and that I could not quite get her on the run. It was a 3 lap bike and a 4 lap run so somewhere she obviously ....
The third placed girl is also in contact with Victoria and they are looking to pursue the matter with ITU.
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I think the discussion needs to be turned more towards this (and no the credibility of JayPeeWhy, ref last 2 pages of this new thread). Thanks for posting the above. I also posted in the previous IMC-thread regarding JM's run in Weihai. 1:23 for 20K - running only slightly slower than most ELITE men - Craig Alexander had the by far fastest split that day with 1:09. This seems highly unlikley - as backed up by the post from JayPeeWhy above.
Just out of curiosity I found a map of what seems to be the 2014 Weihei Run-course. A 4-loop 5k: http://www.triathlon.org/...ts/LD_run_course.jpg
For me the run-split is evidence enough - pretty much in line with the bike-splits of lap 3+4 in Vancouver Half 2014. It is more than hard to believe that JM could run 1:23 for 20k on the back of a 4 hrs bike@just under 30 km/h. I am all for keeping the faith that I one day may truly perform to my potential and bust out a huge PR for a run-split in IM/HIM, but I think that this is just not realistic at the very pointy end of the field.
Sure: if your previous PR was - for instance - 1:30 for a HIM run split - achieving a 2min PR is actually quite a bit of an improvement. Going 5-6 sec faster every K may not sound that incredible, but IMO the difference of 4:15/k and 4:10k is pretty noticable.. Still - this is well within the realm of possibility. What is not within the realm of possibility is - as far as I'm concerned - going from a 4:45/pace to 4-4:15min/K for a HIM-run split. This just does not happen over night, no matter how good a day you had. One thing is going from 6:30min/K to 5:45 min/K - which in itself would be a huge improvement. However, gains will be more easily obtained the slower your starting-speed was. When approaching speeds at 4min/k and below for a HIM-split you are so close to the really pointy end of your own potential, I just dont believe it can happen from one month to another. I should note that I dont have any good grounds to establish JMs normal running ability (partly becaue all of her results are now being questioned), but for example se ran:
- 1:39 in Vancouver half where it seems she cut the bike. This is approx 4:40min/k.
- 3:01 for 2015 ITU Long Dist (30k run) - this is approx 6:00/k - allthough on the back of a longer bike than your normal HIM.
Based of this alone she would have to cook up one heck of an explanation for me to believe she ran 4:10/k on the back of a 120k bike in Weihai..
Sure - course-profiles would also affect this picture, but the unlikleyness of her run split in ITU 2014 is supported by comparing her run split to other racers in the various events - she chrushed it compered to everyone else in Weihai. Not so much the other events. Also - the run course in Weihai - where she has by far her fastes run-pace - seems to be quite hilly: http://www.triathlon.org/...un_Profile_Graph.jpg
JayPeeWhy's evernote links appear to no longer be working. [ETA: seems to be my problem. Ignore.]
But this earlier post summarises well what happened at the ITU Long Course Worlds in Weihai, China. I can't imagine how frustrating it must have been for Victoria Hill to have made that long trip to the Worlds only to be cheated out of her first place. JM allegedly ran a 6:43/mile pace off a 4+ hour bike. The run course was 4 laps of a 5km loop, each of which included 2 out and back sections. I assume there was a timing mat at each of these 2 turn-around points, but low and behold, there were some issues with JM's chip.
Last edited by:
Kay Serrar: Sep 2, 15 5:32