I think age is less important and development pathway is more important. Luis has been racing well in itu since a junior. Potter was late to the game due to her track background (what she is doing is basically no where close to the norm) and I would say West was semi late to the itu game being he came along basically post college. So his athlete arc sorta makes sense in that he didn’t ever really have the swim background and thus was sorta always playing catch up in fields.

So it’s less about age and more about specific development which I don’t see West having the swim strength nor likely bike strength in Wtcs quality fields to be strong enough to then “run through the field”.

What many people fail to realize is just how hard even “pack” riding can be at the top level. Just sitting in for many can compromise your run even by a small bit, and more importantly at this level a small percentage off and you’re getting beat by numbers of athletes.

Success or failure for a West type or athlete is so marginally thin. Like fractions of percentage can be the difference and this is just an athlete at MOP itu level.

But again this is a low risk high reward. It’s his off season time period and going stronger on swim training will only help his pto career. The real question would be will he give up pto season to train up “properly” for the mtr especially if your a discretion pick. He’s not going to be allowed to race pto and just show up in Praia ready to go. But that’s way down the road, and very unlikely.

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II