I think the broken arm influenced his decision to go to the commonwealth games, if that's what you were referring to. Dunno what you expect from him there.

Of course Brownlee is a smart racer. Besides his effort to win at his debut at Kona, approached with all the confidence of a habitual winner, what other races demonstrate any lack of 'smartness'? I can think of none: here's a link:
https://stats.protriathletes.org/...te/alistair-brownlee
Injuries and illness happen, and by his account the illness experienced this year has been an aberration.
He certainly rode well on Sunday round the Gower - seen twice at Llanrhidian - on a 'white' Team BMC bike built up because his ride is languishing in some airport abroad. And then running strongly on each pass on the Swansea Bay beach path / coast road (for a 69).
Without the tummy trouble I reckon he'd have won Edmonton, with a 2 minute start on Iden.

100% agree on Edmonton.

It almost feels like AB is getting the same unfair treatment here as Lange couple of years ago.

What's not to love about the way AB races? He makes it interesting for people watching, he attacks, takes risks. As the Germans say, he likes to "race in the sun", at the front. But obviously sometimes it fails. Doesn't make him any less smart. I'll take that any day instead of the guys hiding in the pack to secure a top 10 spot.

The Brownlees fail for the same reason that the Brownlees win. Both, but Ali in particular have this innate ability to show no regards for boundaries and to push them on the big days. That is what allows them to get the big results, but also is what ends up with some of the injury/heat/illness issues by pushing those boundaries too far. The learning piece is to be more selective of how and when to push, and where you've got sufficient class to just let others tie their own noose, rather than to plunge the dagger with intense effort...

NOT SAM LONG, sam laidlow.

Biked IM texas - 4:17 bike split hanging with magnus and 8 days before the below.
IM WC utah- second fastest bike split only 20 sec behind Wurf but still ran well post bike effort. 8 th overall
EDMONTON- top 3 bike split and 4 th overall while cramping on the run.

guy is under 25 years of age, I DIDN'T say he is a top runner hence the overall placing .
BUT this year his bike has ever failed him on the big days.
just like magnus as he fine tunes the skills the run will get better but he can bike very well.

ALI is the greatest overall triathlete of all time i skills and ability. Thats what I am pointing out he should could have more wins then we have seen since Rio. 2018 WC 70.3, 2019 WC 70.3 Nice, Kona 2019. PTO Daytona 2021 I think he could have won those if he doesn't always try to be first off the bike.

Lets say he got Jan in 2018, Gustav in 2019, kona a top 3 at his first try. HE would be the overall goat of all time all ready. Yet instead the talk is about race DNF's ect. which will happen the way he races in long course vs short course.

Jan lets guys work for him at the front and it pays off. Ali tries to break them and it hurts him.

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Technique will always last longer then energy production. Improve biomechanics, improve performance.
http://Www.anthonytoth.ca, triathletetoth@twitter

My mistake, and it then makes much more sense :)

When fit and not sick he is (will be) right up there. After Iden ran away from him in Nice, I guess he feels he must make the effort to get into T2 with a gap ahead of Iden and Blummenfelt (half or full). He will expect Lange not to have caught him. He has the running measure of Frodeno (given the latter's injury travails) and might expect to run a few minutes into Ditlev. So the balancing act on the QK is going to be letting Ditlev go but still make time on the Norges.
At St George, if he'd not been too sick to start, we might have seen him ride with the swim FoP front 5. That additional firepower would have meant a larger gap to Wurf, Blummenfelt (and a 'not sick' Iden) and Sanders.
Then run the first quarter with Currie before pressing on to try to stay ahead of Blummenfelt.
Coulda/woulda.
Has to get a Kona start slot first (in Sweden in 11 days).
https://www.trirating.com/...-mpro-only-seedings/

When fit and not sick he is (will be) right up there.

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Still the greatest race I saw was I believe 2013 Kitz when Ali returned from a serious Achilles issue and he just ran around from that world class field.

I'll be curious the longest streak of injury/sick free training he's had in the last 5 years. That more than his race tactics are likely the biggest factor in his race results, of course when you go into a race lacking fitness, race decisions are even more important, etc.

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

His broken arm happened in the lead up to Comm games.

Someone will probably correct me, but 2009 might be the last year he never had a serious injury (the year he went unbeaten)

AB more than any athlete really lost out when ITU went away from the 1 day world championship to the world champion basically being the "series" winner.

I think it also was done that way to basically ensure most of the top talent races the majority of the WTS schedule that was becoming more and more races, and behind the scenes angering some athletes on how full that schedule was becoming.

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

Maybe in short course. In long course, Jan is spends a lot of time in the front and always puts in a ton of work when others are with him.

So few people remember or are aware of that race, but for me it was one of the best performances in any sport. Not even Javier Gomez could get anywhere near AB on that kind of terrain. He just simply biked and ran away from everyone and made it look easy. When you look at performances like that and how hard that must have been on his body its really not that surprising that he might be more vulnerable to injury these days. AB and JB took a 1 / 2 there in 2012 as well. Shame ITU don't do races like that anymore, but I don't think they work too well on the TV or for the commentators.

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He who understands the WHY, will understand the HOW.

For those who haven't seen it, here's a great short video of that 2013 race, the FoP swim, the ride away and mountain top run.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXAywu18bcY Enjoy!

Great video!

I had completely forgotten about Richard Varga. These would have been the days when Varga was training in Leeds and at Otley sailing club with AB and JB. That was a win win relationship for both Richard Varga and the Brownlees. No way Alistair would have been that good in open water without training with somebody better than he was like Varga.

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He who understands the WHY, will understand the HOW.

Wow Ali Brownlee didn't 'overbike' even though he completely decimated the field on the bike, it's almost like this dude knows how to measure his efforts!

Damn it I must of referenced the wrong race. The Kitz uphill finish was great there’s a classic pic of one of guys running on the trail and a bull cow is like 4 feet away.

I need to go back to the way back machine. It may have been 2012 year where Ali came back from an Achilles issue and just smoked the field. I still think that was the best single performance I’ve ever seen. Found it

https://triathlon.org/...hlon_kitzbuehel/7812

Ali won by 50 seconds. 50 seconds at that level was a huge ass whoopin. Still thr single greatest race I’ve ever seen. For reference AB won the uphill race *only* by 35s.

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

His last two world championships 2018 70.3 and 2019 kona.

He was in the front pack but is smart enough to stay there and not take many turns at the front.

on the run he doesn't start at his fastest so he definitely knows what he is doing #"to win not lead. "

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Technique will always last longer then energy production. Improve biomechanics, improve performance.
http://Www.anthonytoth.ca, triathletetoth@twitter

Analysis of the 2013 hill climb race:

And pretty sure at Nice (his penultimate 'world championships' btw, a year after SA) he rode the flat section after the sweeping descent with Iden and RvB, mostly letting others lead iirc. But Iden (in Vaporflys) then put >2 minutes into Brownlee (Adidas) up and down Promenade des Anglais.
Remember ride at Kona was complicated by a puncture near Hawi and he had to ride back to Frodeno at considerable expenditure of watts.

I was talking about Jan.

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Technique will always last longer then energy production. Improve biomechanics, improve performance.
http://Www.anthonytoth.ca, triathletetoth@twitter

https://www.tri247.com/...art-time-follow-live

I think he's gonna have to have a pretty good day to qualify for Kona. Probably a low 2:40s marathon. Alot of dangerous guys in the field who will take advantage of any slip ups.

A very decent day, at least. Has just run a full 13.1 mile half in 1:09. Thorsten's seedings take into account epic run-walk at Kona.
https://www.trirating.com/...-mpro-only-seedings/