Prediction..

1. Yee
2. Wilde
3. Vilaca

1. Potter
2. Waugh
3. Coldwell

Start list (@Tuesday 2230CET:
https://wtcs.triathlon.org/...ies_abu_dhabi/627943
From the top 30 WTCS rankings, Hidalgo Geens Studer and Izzard (#30) also absent.
No love for GTB @jackets?

I can see this. Perhaps I’d swap Vilaca with Coninx, but can easily see it the other way.

ProTriNews pod (with Blummenfelt as guest) covers these races @27:45
https://podcasts.apple.com/...ri-news/id1559781865

The racing in Abu Dhabi will commence on Friday March 8 at the Yas Marina Circuit, with the athlete village centred around the famous pit lanes of the venue for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
The women’s race will begin at 16:00 local time. This corresponds to 12:00 in the UK, 13:00 in Central Europe and 04:00 for viewers on the West Coast. Two hours later, at 18:00 local time, the men’s race will begin. This corresponds to 14:00 in the UK, 15:00 in Central Europe and 06:00 on the West Coast.
On Saturday March 9, there will be a mixed team relay event, as nation’s battle it out for a chance to race for Olympic glory in Paris this summer. The mixed team relay will begin at 15:00 local time on Saturday, which is 11:00 in the UK, 12:00 in Central Europe and 03:00 on the West Coast.
All the action will be available to watch live via https://www.triathlonlive.tv/

Would not be surprised to see her podium or even win, just with her injury lay off and her slow start to last year, gives me doubts that other girls aren't.

Just the usual coverage in the USA via triathlonlive no other coverage right (i.e., Peacock, Max etc)?

Believe so and note individual events are FRIDAY.

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

Both are Friday. Women’s at 12:00 UK time and mens at 14:00 UK time.

Not a reply to Doughtie but GTB is clearly in a good place and training has been going well but it is only a couple of weeks ago that she was running with the Alter-G treadmill.

I would never bet against her but on this occasion I probably wouldn’t bet on her either.

I'm glad you made this point as I thought it was Saturday, massive pain in the arse for me, no chance for me to watch this live and no chance for me to avoid spoilers for 24 hours.

Agree entirely, I'll watch it because I will watch any and all triathlon BUT this circuit and others like it are the reason this form of the sport is way less interesting than say SL, T100 or even full distance.

not saying that you are wrong but i would like to point out that miami t100 course this weekend is pretty much the same course than abu dhabi

T100 is non drafting though….makes for a more interesting race IMHO.

Dark horses, male: Thorn, van Riel, Coninx
Dark horses, female: Jorgensen, Coldwell, Taylor-Brown

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"FTP is a bit 2015, don't you think?" - Gustav Iden

The AD course is imo sneakily punchy that I think it’s pretty good course, much better versions of a “road course” than the US track versions that race most on the oval and then use infield track as well. AD has some punchiness although the 1 section that goes into the paddock area I’ve always thought that seemed to be the weird section of course. It’s like they go into the one small fenced entrance to get back around.

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

Which is the basis of my blasphemous SC improvement idea. Get rid of the drafting. Abu Dhabi would be the perfect "test" event to see how this goes. Keep them all on their road bikes just force them to be separated.

I also watch all formats of racing too but it's disappointing to see our top athletes racing in empty race venues with very obscure race coverage.

You can't choose the current male world champion and runner up in this event last year, dark horses!

I'd also argue against Olympic gold and silver medalists being allowed to be dark horses!.

Agree about AD - there's some elevation and such in it. I would love to see a T100 style race at a place like the Circuit of the Americas (Austin - i think that's what it's called) as there's more features to it - but that would be difficult. Laguna Seca where they have Sea Otter might be a great place too for more of a road feel. But...I'm happy we have a great race coming to Miami - and potentially one of the Middle East races could incorporate an F1 track for sure. I have found AD a fun place to watch WTCS racing for sure.

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DFRU - Detta Family Racing Unit...the kids like it and we all get out and after it...gotta keep the fam involved!

If you're saying a race favorite can't be a dark horse, I'd agree with the theory... but the 5 people I picked for the top 5 in each gender are more likely to be top 5 than my "dark horses". So that's how I label people I don't want to ignore but am not ready to pick for top 5. That's all there is to it :)

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"FTP is a bit 2015, don't you think?" - Gustav Iden

Is Beaugrand not racing? Surprised that she and Lombardi are being so overlooked.

They're both racing, would not be a surprise to see either of them or both on the podium, this is such a stacked field that someone had to be left out.

Jonny Brownlee interview in the Metro said he's racing Abu Dhabi, what happened?

https://metro.co.uk/...JhUH1II5c91jK2pzFL2k

MTR

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

I guess it's the best strategy for GB to somehow guarantee Jonny's slot for him to focus exclusively on the MTR. When healthy, he's still their best bet for the MTR next to Alex.

It’s the only strategy especially as they aren’t really all that close to gaining 3 spots. So at this point if your JB less is more. And more importantly if your GB if JB is your mtr guy, you don’t burn him up racing an individual race at this point in his career. His the poster child for vet athlete who’s lost his fastball but can be called upon for 1 key moment. But you don’t want to burn him out before that moment.

He may actually do in Paris what I’ve theorized will eventually happen when mtr + individual rosters are together.. dNs the individual race, especially if your a front pack athlete swimmer your basically only racing against Yee at that point. So unless he’s racing for Yee there is little gain from having him race both events in Paris.

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

And there’s nothing in the rules against that?

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Aaron Bales
Lansing Triathlon Team

The only rule is that the race roster the federations select must take the spots in both the individual and MTR (IE- be on the start list), and that the roster for the MTR must come from the roster within the individual race. You therefore can DNS, DNF after diving off the ponton, DNF after pulling Yee around at T2 or race the full race and still be eligible for the MTR.

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

I agree with everything you say except JB would have a swim/bike role for Alex and not run in the individual race. As I keep saying there is a very long way to go yet and GB could have a miracle with one of the young guns auto qualifying by ranking. Unlikely but not impossible.

The issue though is that Izzard and JB are basically attached together in the fight for top 30 ranking. They both have to get top 30, so even if Izzard gets inside top 30 (or if JB did it but not Izzard), that really doesnt matter because GB already has 2 male spots by default. So it's a lot like that for the US. If Pearson skips races, there's no point in Seth Rider "chasing points" because they both need to chase points to get inside top 30. Pearson obviously can nail a T7 at a WTCS spot and move up a ton of points. Rider/Izzard and to a degree JB don't really have that ability at the biggest points races (WTCS), so they sorta have to "grind" the schedule and for Rider in particular, he's going to run into offset points issues (which so will Izzard if he races 2 more races).

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

I can’t find the full rules for Olympics. Each federation can only have 3 athletes, but if you look at France they have 5 in the top 30. Do the last 2 get removed from the final rankings and athletes in 31st and 32nd place automatically become top 30?

Edit: should have been clearer, 5 men in top 30 mens rankings.

Top 3 have to be in top 30 and there are no roll downs in the rankings.

Olympic rankings is used to fill federation rosters for Olympics and the WT ranking is used to fill any races (including Wtcs). Wtcs ranking is basically used to determine “world champion” + money bonuses.

That’s the gist of why so many different rankings and what each ranking is used for.

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

I don't think Wilde is in game shape yet. Not worried that he won't be soon.

And on that note, I really don't know who will be ready for this race. If your plan is to peak around August 1st, you might not want to be race ready on March 8th.

I'm taking Vilaca to win with Blum and Bergere filling out to podium

I'm taking Spivey, Coldwell, Waugh for the women's podium.

Everyone is trying to peak for the Olympics, I know Wilde had a shocker in NZ, but he'll have much better company on the bike to compensate for a poor swim.

Well no kidding. But if you haven’t qualified yet your early season races have a different importance. So all things being equal, I’d be surprised if Knibb beat Spivey, just as an example.

And I’ve been terrible at picking winners so don’t listen to me at all.

Race in doubt due to 'severe weather' in Abu Dhabi: https://www.thenationalnews.com/...dhabi-storm-weather/

It’s been canceled

https://www.instagram.com/...0pSSOI4/?img_index=1

Wait… Canceled!?!?

How is the race prevented from taking part today when the weather is like this?? Race was taking place 16 and 18 local time...

The media say that hell is to be unleashed Friday evening, and they're expecting flooding, among other things. And these storms come in rapidly. So maybe it's about (1) the risk that the storm starts earlier than forecast, (2) the need for everyone to get home safely after the race and for the organizers to clean up the race site, remove all the barriers, and cones, etc.

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"FTP is a bit 2015, don't you think?" - Gustav Iden

Hopefully big Blu is on a private jet to Miami right now

That would be hilarious!!!

Yes that makes sense but considering that the race takes part entirely in a closed venue and that the thunderstorm is not scheduled until late night, taking the decision so many hours ahead seems a bit exaggerated. I'm sure it's been local authorities forcing WT to cancel it, but it's such a shame.

I can't speak specifically about Abu Dhabi but as someone living in the Middle East I can tell you that these cities don't have the infrastructure to handle even the smallest amount of rain. Not only that but the ground doesn't absorb water like soil does.

So pretty much rain = flooding and a bunch of standing water. The track itself might be better equipped but the surrounding areas probably not so much.

Reading more of the news on the weather, they've shut or are shutting lots of things down...crazy.

I know in Dubai the sewer system is intentionally underbuilt because it is not worth overbuilding it to handle a few times per year heavy rain. It just takes a bit of time for things to drain and everything is concrete and brick and marble so first floor cleanup if it is even that high is easy and then it is all done. It makes sense to not overbuild the infrastructure for rare days. Its just like London UK or Seattle don't have the same snow removal infrastructure as where I live in Ottawa Canada, Easier to have things shut down and let the snow melt for the rare days

This is what I meant. This was posted 20:30 local time.

https://twitter.com/...weetUser=ottowallace

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"FTP is a bit 2015, don't you think?" - Gustav Iden

This explains a lot. Was wondering why the race had been cancelled due to some rain.

This is the rain in Abu Dhabi this evening: https://x.com/...159903163384312?s=20

I don't know if Blu (not "big" - he is actually quite little) is joking or night but his IG says he found a flight.

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David
* Ironman for Life! (Blog) * IM Everyday Hero Video * Daggett Shuler Law *
Disclaimer: I have personal and professional relationships with many athletes, vendors, and organizations in the triathlon world.

Looks like the right call for all involved. Pretty insane.

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http://www.sfuelsgolonger.com

He did a hard run work out in place of the race according to his strava so doubt he going to Miami plus he’s all in for Olympics

except that it was sunny when the races were to be held. this is at night.

It sounded like they were limiting peoples movement to prepare for the storm. It looks like something that authorities felt was a safety issue. When it's sunny - yes, everyone thinks the show should go on. But there was supposed to be events Saturday as well, so you just let people be there longer, hoping the storm doesn't come sooner? I'm as disappointed as any fan, and I feel for all the athletes but it would have to be pretty serious for the government to cancel, I would suspect. The region has gone out of their way to attract world class events.

I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt. A triathlon isn't worth putting public safety people in harms way in my opinion.

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DFRU - Detta Family Racing Unit...the kids like it and we all get out and after it...gotta keep the fam involved!

He may be going but he sure as hell ain’t racing. Doesn’t matter if the PTO has found their discretionary gene - everything goes through the national fed.

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"FTP is a bit 2015, don't you think?" - Gustav Iden

So they did pre race meeting 2 days prior to the event (all athletes are on site). I'm really *shocked* that they didn't have an alternate schedule. I mean if this is the infrastructure of a city, cool, then you must have a plan to move it. Especially with the meeting 2 days prior, that has to be the backup plan, full stop. To basically allow weather to fully cancel your event, that's bad for business. And they cancelled it ahead of the weather, so ummm you can't see that Friday Is going to be weather and decide to move it up 1 day by Tuesday or Wed at the meeting? Moving it up vs full cancel, umm yeah all the athletes would have said "let's go".

There are 6 or 7 of these a year- this is the gold standard of your sport. You have athletes/federations spending good money to get there; you have cities spending upwards of $2mi (I know I know this is nothing for oil countries), but to just plow ahead with an schedule and "oops we are cancelling cus the infrastructure can't handle".....then you fucked up with poor planning. To not have an alternate just seems stupid, there's too much invested in this series to have a full cancel. Again this wasn't some emergency weather system that just popped up in the middle of the race or 15 mins prior. They cancelled it prior to the weather even hitting if I'm reading this correctly? So just makes no sense why there was not an alternate plan, for a host city who can't handle weather; that sorta makes no sense.

Explaining that the city can’t handle weather is an even worse look for not having foresight/ability to do a schedule change.

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

In the times I've been to Dubai, I noticed that the city is poorly suited for drainage. A little rain causes flooding in many of the streets.

I think this video from yesterday was after 1.5" of rain. The average annual rainfall is 5.25" so basically 20 percent of the rain fell yesterday and another 20 percent today. However, I do wish they could have had the events this week!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVAoRgkD-y8

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Fast-Finishes.com
Triathlon and Running Race Timing
Athletic Event Management

The event is on Yas Island. There aren’t any easy and convenient options for moving it somewhere else across the city. As someone entered in the AG race, I’m as disappointed as anyone not to have been able to race this morning. Unfortunately, the weather was quite severe for the region, and the government felt it was prudent to cancel.

I'm not saying move the location (that will never happen), I'm saying the schedule allowed it to be moved to Thursday. From 12:30-15:00 there was already familization scheduled, so move the race to that time frame. Again if you look at hte weather and severe weather is coming in 3 days, move the fucking event if you can. You can't tell me you can have a familization after the athlete meeting and then tell me you couldn't move the race to that day. That makes no logical sense. Everyone is on site at that point (refs + athletes + race infrastructure is setup). Again if this was a pop up weather system fine, last min cancellation I can understand. But for you to forecast an cancellation and not have the ability to move it 1 day prior- that's piss poor mangement.

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

Isn’t Thursday their religious day in Abu Dhabi?

But they had scheduled course fam events on Thursday. Friday is the "holy day" in Islamic cultures according to many websites.

THURSDAY 7 MARCH
TimeAthlete GroupActivity06.45ALLSunrise12.00-19.00AGE GROUPAthlete Village and Expo Opens12.00-19.00AGE GROUPAge Group race pack collection12.10-13.15PARAAthletes’ Lounge Open for familiarizations12:30-13:15PARAPT Swim familiarization13:30-14:00PARA Hand cycle and race wheelchair check (storage at the venue)13.45-14.45ELITEAthletes’ Lounge Open for familiarizations14:00-14:15PARACoaches/Personal handlers briefing on FOP access14:00-14:45ELITE Elite swim familiarization18.00-1900PARAPara Race Briefing & Pack Collection

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

I would have been absolutely gutted if I was going to watch this live, not really lost out on much, I'm sure there's fume around the federations with now one less race to get selection done with their athletes for the Olympics.

Haven't looked where the next world Cup race is? Wonder if athletes will now load themselves into this to compensate.

Next event is Hong Kong WC in 2 weeks . Athletes can’t really go to that event unless they already were on start list. They’ll get stuck on wait list now if they entered.

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

That's too far to travel for anyone not planning to anyway.

Kris Gemmell joined the PTN pod to talk about the AD cancellation.

Basically was goverment mandated shut down. I guess my question is, what's the point of a contigency plan, if you can't use the contigency plan. And if you know on Monday (he said everyone knew Monday, race day was going to have storms) the storm was going to be that bad, again I don't know why they couldn't have moved it up. It's on a private. island race course, they weren't in some urban area where they couldn't. They simply didn't have that as a contingency plan, which again makes no sense. The calendar was built in for it to get moved to Thur with that being course fam day and the race meeting was on Wed.

He did if I heard him correctly say, they even tried to do sora a "secret" race with athletes only (no media) very quickly that race morning but realized too many things to make that happen and/or realized it would be a bad idea.

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

Have a read of this account of the floods in Dubai today. And then consider whether the Abu Dhabi authorities over-reacted when they decided that the WTCS race had to be cancelled.
https://edition.cnn.com/...g-climate/index.html
Now let's think forward to the T100 in Dubai in November, and the Grand Final.
And here's their report of floods in Oman:
https://edition.cnn.com/...ntl-latam/index.html