Green Barf wrote:
Get over it SeasonsChange. It's his own words. Unlike ST where only a couple of pros hop on to post (well, mostly just Jordan) dozens of current and former world class athletes and their coaches mix it up with the idiot high school or college punk, or troll. You might not like it, but their portrayal of triathletes is typically pretty close in my opinion. I read the posts here, and there, and in terms of acquiring knowledge about endurance sports ST is not even in the same league. Sorry, that's my opinion and you will have an impossible time convincing me otherwise.
As someone their pointed out, LV is apparently trading in a college career for a shot at the Olympics. That's fine, but in the end probably misguided, but it's his choice.
As you might not like it SeasonsChange, but an Olympic medal in triathlon is about as meaningful as a gold in the Modern Pentathlon. It in no way, shape, or form does it equate to a gold in the 5000, or 1500 or 10000 or marathon. But that's his choice. I doubt he ever makes the team actually. But, we'll see, won't we?
Triathlon's getting more competitive by the day. I'd say that the gold medal in triathlon has a lot of worth and requires a ton of hard work to get there. While you might say it doesn't equate to the longer distance running events in terms of worth, I disagree. Having run competitively for 6 years I met many very successful, top level(at least region-wide) runners. Of those runners several admit that the training required in triathlon is about equal if not harder than the professional running scene. To compare my collegiate training schedule as a d1 athlete to triathlon; I ran about 60 miles a week with about an hour of strength. Maybe 10 hours total for the week. For triathlon that number is nearly double, and I would say the dedication needed is also more than running.
Now will Lukas make it? I don't know. I'm confident he will give it his best shot. I also would like to point out the example of Ryan Sissons, whom recently was named to New Zealand's olympic team, whose a similar age to Lukas. Ryan narrowly beat Kevin McDowell at the 2010 YOG. In 2009 Kevin and Lukas almost raced head to head at junior elite nationals, and if the course had been longer I believe Lukas would have easily caught Kevin on the run and built quite the gap. I personally believe he will do better at the olympic distance, but not without the obvious work required.
I also think it's nearly impossible to compare one ITU course to another, or one triathlon to another. Thereby I guess only time will tell what he is capable of. I also don't know if his current decision is ireversible. So if he doesn't make it in 2012 he may move back to running.