Yes he's in a training squad in South Bend coached by Greg Mueller, Innovative Endurance (Team IE).

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

There's a few folks of interest for me this weekend...

• Paula Findlay (CAN) always eager to see a reboot
• Daniel Hoy (NZL) he's still 19, it'll be his first WTS. I was there when he got 2nd at the Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing in 2014 and he races ALOT 10+ DL events a year
• Taylor Spivey because she's from Los Angeles and I've loved watching her progression over the years. A big jump recently.
• Smorag because of all the things mentioned in this thread
• Knibb watching the youth and junior arc and it speaks to the foundation of the US Olympic pipeline.
• Frintova (CZE) she's the oldest in the field at 34 and her triathlon career just started 5 years ago (swimmer previous).
• All the Spanish men: Javi, Alarza, Mola such a powerful mix right now, it's like US women.
• Rodrigo Gonzales (MEX) he was in a Junior Select camp I coached out of Chula 10 years ago. So hot and cold: 4th at Chengdu, 6th at Hautulco but lapped out at Rio and Yokohama.
• Eli Hemming (see Knibb)

Ian

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Ian Murray
http://www.TriathlonTrainingSeries.com
I like the pursuit of mastery
Twitter - @TriCoachIan

So, what is the assessment? Held onto the pack on the swim, missed the pack on the bike but chased back on eventually only to get dropped again on the last lap, then ran pretty well to finish with some other Americans. Not bad for WTS debut, but obviously has work to do. By the way, I was impressed with the behavior of the whole field at the swim turn buoys. That course has some tighter turns than we have become accustom to seeing on WTS level but I thought the violence was much reduced compared to prior years.

It's a great step in analyzing the progress. Smorg finished right behind Eli (same time) and Eli's a great example of "the other path", the one where high school ends and a full-time commitment to multisport continues. Of course we can't get a resolution to this big question (in subject line) by comparing just two athletes but I agree - a nice WTS debut.

The disparity in the times continues to shock: two guys ran 19+ for 5k while 4 guys race in the 14:xx range. Varga was out of the water in 8:37 and Smorg was 9:12. As his swim improves I think we can expect to see faster run times just because the chasing bike group often creates more stress.

It's still very early for him and the curve in this first year is already steep. Excited to revisit this thread as the years roll on.

Ian

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Ian Murray
http://www.TriathlonTrainingSeries.com
I like the pursuit of mastery
Twitter - @TriCoachIan

Austin Hindman is out when it comes to seeing what comes of a 4 year running commitment! https://mutigers.com/...-project-podium.aspx

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Tony
http://www.triathleteguru.com

the part i didn't see in that article is whether austin is going to continue his education while training as a pro triathlete or, if not, what his plans are for his 50 post-pro-triathlon years.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

yes he is. eta: You just have to think of it differently now in that it's athlete 1st, education 2nd...IE-online classes and maybe/maybe not "full time" student.

When you are D1 scholarship athlete, you have to take a full time workload to stay eligible...for most of college it's 12 hours (4 ish classes).

Podium project they may take 3 classes, may take 2 classes, may take 1 online class because they are traveling to XYZ countries for a semester. I can totally see them having a lighter course load in spring than fall simply because of them likely traveling much more then to races in Australia etc.

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

Isn’t the project podium tied in with ASU? The press release made it sound an awful lot like that experiment a few years back in Colorado. That didn’t really pan out.

yes it's tied to ASU.

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

I think a university partner makes a ton of sense. They didn’t get it quite right the first time, but I bet (hope) they learned from it.

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Aaron Bales
Lansing Triathlon Team

i'd like to know more about this. the first go-round they were going to the colorado school of mining and nursing, or some such place. this has been a point of contention of mine going back to the mid-90s, where USAT wants medals. justifies its existence thru medals. and is quite happy to bribe young talent out of a paid education in order to get those medals.

unless i'm mistaken there's one thing tony is that austin isn't (yet). anyone? anyone? an engineer. so, if USAT has got this right, and is providing for a first class education, then fine. i'm very happy if that's the case.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

Just found this: https://www.teamusa.org/...ona-State-University

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Tony
http://www.triathleteguru.com

So, move to Tempe, go to ASU part time and get coached by Cliff English full time...is that the deal you get?

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Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

Cliff is the manager of the program, Parker Spencer is going to be the head coach.

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

Sounds like the emphasis will be on online classes per the link. Probably a great option for the right students. Get a college degree from a decent and well recognized institution while pursuing your passion. The difference between this and the caliber of education Tony got (or Rapp, Ben Collins, etc) will be night and day though I'd imagine. All depends on what you wanted to start with. Not everyone can or wants to get an engineering degree from Princeton.

Everyone's path is different obviously, but I wonder if the bigger risk a lot of these developing athletes make is in staying 100% committed to the sport for too long. The universe of athletes who make a decent living doing this is very small. Probably better to hang it up at 28 when you aren't getting the results you hoped and start a new career, vs. starting over at 38. Recognize moving on after you've put your blood sweat and tears into the sport is easier said than done though! Different sport, but I know a guy who was a starter in the NFL his rookie year. He was worried about concussions and retired to take a seemingly great job on Wall St. 2 years later he's going back on the free agency market to try his hand again! Sometimes the heart wants what the heart wants I guess.

Well, I didn't look at the program specifically as I went to look at the ASU Tri staff and remembered whom Cliff was when he was hired here two years ago.

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Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

I'm sitting with the perspective of "last in"...."first out".

Four or Five years ago one of my HPT (High Performance Team) Juniors, Dillon Nobbs was selected into the Elite Triathlon Academy. This was the previous offer for U23/Collegiate triathletes. USAT (and others) did a nice job with instate tuition at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, some facilities/services at the OTC, and housing. During Dillon's second year there was a dramatic shift in the coaching staff, and that seemed to be the last straw for the program - it fizzled. Dillon is a great guy, he's going to walk a fantastic life path. I wish his athletic talents could have been nurtured a bit more but he's happy and the Earth is lucky to have him on it.

Today one of my HPT Juniors, Duncan Reid who is 20 now, earned his elite card at the beginning of the year, has race some ITU Conti Cups, and the recent MLT in Vail. He's currently only 340 spots behind Mario Mola in the ITU World Ranking ;). Duncan is part of this introductory class at Project Podium along with Austin Hindman, Luis Ortiz (just finished 2nd at Junior Elite Nationals last weekend), and several players to be named later (maybe later today).

I have great confidence in Project Podium in terms of it's longevity. Rocky Harris (USAT's new CEO) is a very likable, no-nonsense, get-shit-done kinda guy. You feel it when you meet him. He's got a rich history at ASU. Cliff English is there to manage. Parker Spencer is the Head Coach - he's committed and was deeply motivated to grow his previous program at Liberty University.

At the beginning of the year we knew that Project Podium was gonna happen but there was some delay in the process - USAT's Director of High Performance, Andy Schmitz was leaving after doing a phenomenal job. The chronological order required a new Director of HP and I think we've got a great one in John Farra. Then he could lead the hiring process of a head coach in Project Podium. I have had numerous conversations with Parker - starting back when he was still at Liberty, and then many recently while Duncan and I were trying to decide if he should return to Oberlin College for another year of swimming or commit to Project Podium. One of our final concerns was what would be the quality of the team. This announcement of Austin's move alleviates so much of that. Duncan's got a big brain, his family values education, he's been thinking logically about his life after sport. He'll be joining Barrett, the Honors College at ASU.

I'm excited about Project Podium. It can serve as a bridge between a strong youth and junior development system that Steve Kelley has created and our senior elites. This gives many of our best high school males a chance that our high school females now have with NCAA triathlon programs. I think we'll see the trajectory of our male athletes get steeper and the talent pool get deeper.

If I were a coach in Oceania I might say I was chuffed. I hope I don't feel gutted any time soon.

Ian

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Ian Murray
http://www.TriathlonTrainingSeries.com
I like the pursuit of mastery
Twitter - @TriCoachIan

That sounds like a great situation, especially in lieu of D1 tri. Wasn’t Rocky Harris the AD at ASU? I would imagine this would really nurture athletic and academic talents for these guys.

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Aaron Bales
Lansing Triathlon Team

Not AD but close - COO of athletics

austin is the real deal. he ran 8:43 for 3200 in HS. as a triathlete. now, to place that in perspective, lucas ran 8:29 for 2mi, which was maybe 8:25 for 3200m. but he was a freak. he was arguably the 2nd best HS performer all time behind jim ryun, and far and away the fastest ever over 3200m. austin had the 2nd fastest time in the nation last year and it wasn't a fluke year; he'd have been the fastest had he run his time this year, and by a fair bit.

i would be surprised if anyone in the top 50 or so in the ITU right now ran as fast as an 18yo as austin did. so, he's got the capacity, in the run. if we took these athletes that run so fast in HS in the US as triathletes, lucas, tony, daniel vertiz, austin, and kept them healthy, and slotted them right into high performance tri, yes, we'd be the equal on the world stage of any country.

however, here's what we do that other countries don't, to my knowledge: our men and our women retire from triathlon with college degrees in their pockets. show me the pathway by which the kids who move to tempe end up with math and science degrees (and if it takes them 6 or 7 years, that's fine). not degrees in marketing or communications. thanks, but a kid's adult future is not worth a medal. to me.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

Just my two cents on the program as someone who was initially approached about doing the UCCS program at its inception.

-It seems like in all of their press releases USAT is not even recognizing the original UCCS program, as if this ASU program is the first of its kind. It seems to me like this is the exact same language/mindset that they used leading up to the launch of the UCCS program. Ian, have you heard at all about what USAT has said they have "learned" from the failures/successes of the UCCS program and what changes they are implementing with the ASU site? I think they also need to be a bit clearer in their language around how the academic relationship with ASU will go about; the fact that they were so vague about the relationship with UCCS was a big turn off for me.
-So is this going to have a 2024 focus? Surely this is too late to go after 2020 with the Olympic points cycle already underway.
-As good of a guy as he may be, I'm still struggling to wrap my head around hiring a high performance director without any background in the sport of triathlon. I have heard from multiple pros trying to talk to him about specifics with regards to swim/bike/run training metrics, strategies for racing, etc. with him having to refer to other people to answer the questions. With two years to go before the Olympics, I'm interested in hearing other people's take on that.

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The Gram: @agyenis
My latest story on Swimswam: More than a title

So the USAT press release just landed in my inbox. I see Erick Armes in on the list and that's cool. He's a great guy and talented. Nick Johnson and Chase McQueen as well. Nice!

To your points. USAT has had many changes since the ETA and there's not much talk about that program - nor do I think there needs to be. Because of our women's success: packing the top of the rankings with US women AND the NCAA push - there is a realization to the definitive need for a men's program - and, by the way, this isn't the only option for college level, draft legal men: Sonni Dyer at Queens has a program and the new NCAA team at Mesa College in Grand Junction, Colorado will have a DL men's team too. Also, speaking to why Project Podium should work is the seamless nature of it's launch: Rocky's history at ASU + ASU's NCAA women's team + USAT's support. It just feels like it's being built with great cohesiveness that the ETA.

This will not have a specific 2024 - this will have a development focus. Most of the names on team this fall are still Juniors (18 & 19 years old). Some of those kids will only be 24 come Paris and that's still pretty young - and, most importantly, the conversations I've had speak more towards making great athletes long term rather than..."let's see if we can get the whole squad WTS ready but next season".

I hear you about the HP Dir not have tri background - he does have Olympic endurance background (nordic ski), and he also has a solid brain trust around him: Barb Lindquist (College Recruitment Program), Steve Kelley (Junior Development), Bobby McGee (run and now triathlon guru), Jerrod Evans (Nat Development Head Coach), Courtney Kulick, and more. I think fresh eyes might be a nice benefit.

Ian

What makes you think that? I can't speak to triathlon specifically, but I know of a number of retired Dutch field hockey and speed skating stars with MD degrees. And those are two of Holland's most prestigious athletic pursuits. I can't imagine why somebody like Rachel Klamer or Maya Kingma (from my hometown!) wouldn't be able follow a similar trajectory.

(Now cycling on the other hand... :-)

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Citizen of the world, former drunkard. Resident Traumatic Brain Injury advocate.

Wow - this list appears to have a lot of firepower. American ITU fans should be excited, right? I assume Hindman is the “McDonalds All-American” 5-star prospect of the bunch, but all seem pretty accomplished.

https://www.teamusa.org/...-Development-Program

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Aaron Bales
Lansing Triathlon Team

Ortiz is the real deal.

I raced against him in a sprint in Florida earlier this year. He destroyed me by 10 mins and I did a 1:01.

He also destroyed Joe Umphenour who took third place behind another male pro. If you don't know who Joe is...he is the guy that just missed out on an Olympic spot to Joe Maloy.