Phil Graves commented in an Instagram post that the front bike pack (which he was in) had a lot of media around them - and emphasised the “a lot” - I guess this will have the impact of reducing the CDA?

Yes

the calculated Cda (< 0.19) include any kind of drafting (moto, other cyclists, cars, wind ...).

His real Cda is probably higher (0.2 ?), and the drafting reduces it. "Legal" drafting, or some additional lucky one.

even if Farrah was not really giving it his all.//

Come on Ed, do you really have to ask this question? Of course it was not giving his all, it was probably a tempo run for him, just to show up for the sponsors and look respectable. Either that, or he has been off on break for a month, and just did a workout.

I will tell you one thing, you will never find me denigrating triathletes against single sport athletes, in fact my history is quite the opposite. But to be fair to the super relay, there was nothing on the line, this was most likely a paid vacation, for all of them. What Blu does out there is super impressive to me, and I suspect to his other competitors. I just dont like when people fudge results, for any reason, or any person. Isn't it impressive enough that he swam sub 23, rode about a 1;58 effort or so(not sure about the whole drafting thing up front), and then ran a 1;07 on what seems to be the correct distance?? I sure think so, and claiming some world half ironman record being crushed is just nonsense. When someone eventually really rides a 1;52 off the front of a race, with no motos pulling them along, I can guarantee you that there will not be 4 other non top 10 pros(like from worlds) tagging along for the ride.


Let the sheik put up a million dollar relay purse, and then we will see some real action from the single sporters... (-;


Just looking at the women's times, was something wrong with Lucy today? I mean she never usually lets anyone sit on in the swim, and her time was well off the mens in this race..Then kind of a ho hum run, or blow up one, anyone know her story?

From the pictures on Blu’s strava it looks like there was two moto’s and a car in front of the leaders.

I sorta shoulder shrug at the whole “drafting advantage” that happens at the front of the race. Not to say it’s not a huge advantage, or that they aren’t getting an advantage. Now I watched it and I didn’t see a whole lot of that front group zig zagging all over the course to gain an advantage. Those pros who do that and it happened last year in the women’s race here. That to me is BS. But today they rode their line and if they got an “advantage” because media so be it. I’ll take that unfair part as just a part of doing business. Is it fair that Ohio state gets 8 home games a year but Ohio only gets 6? Meh it’s just the game now.

I thought it was a really good race, it seemed they rode it exactly how they should have. Each seemed to contribute to the effort, it was as I said this AM after watching....the swim and bike was very itu-ish.

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

I don’t follow ITU closely but Blummenfelt seems to be regarded as a top 3 pro this year. Clearly his 70.3 times are WR territory. Why is that the case despite his results for the year being 32, 5, DNF, 32, 5, DNF, DNF, 1?

He just had poor form or illness at the start of the season, the ITU race he did win happened to be yhe biggest of the season.

I was excited about his run and mistyped. You are absolutely right that 1.12 isn't a proper way to write it. But that is about the only thing you got right. 4.45 is almost 15 % more than 4.08. Had you liked math that would have meant something to you.

3:25. What the fuck

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the world's still turning? >>>>>>> the world's still turning

Hahaha.. ah Slowtwitch..

But it was also his first win ever. Check his ITU profile https://www.triathlon.org/...kristian_blummenfelt

He’s had heaps of podiums though, he’s definitely one of the top ITU guys now that Ali and Gomez are no longer top dogs.

I know folks will correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe his swim let him down this year. He also is less consistent with his run. Obviously he’s ridiculously fast, but is more hit or miss than a Mola.

There were also a lot of sprint races this year. WAG is he is better suited to Olympic than sprint.

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Aaron Bales
Lansing Triathlon Team

If the moto wanted to get out of the way, it could. Then the cameraman just zooms in on the athlete. They're clearly choosing not to do so, for whatever reason.

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Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

Graves is a good swimmer, but not pointy end ITU swimmer good. He must have had a phenomenal swim in order to stay with lead group and enable him to be amongst the lead 5 on the bike.

The speed at which these guys can race all 3 disciplines just blows me away. 29mph and 5 minute miles. Cannot relate.

But it’s standard practice it’s not like this race is covered differently. That’s how they cover LC w media/officials for whatever reason.

Wanna some major advantages watch the front of the Tour. They get a damn convoy of officials/police/neutral support. They have a whole handbook on where each vehicle is to be located etc etc.

As I said it’s just “standard practice” but it’s when you ride swerving all over the road trying to hitch onto it when the Moto is moving to less impact that’s my issue. I liked that they had a race in Bahrain that I got to see. I like that part of our sport.

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

It is 3.6k @ 1:20min/k. Seems pretty okay to me...

The reason is so Bahrain can claim to be the faster 70.3 in the world. Then people will travel there chasing their fastest times too.

It's extremely clever by Bahrain organizers.

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I would be interested to hear about the wave of folks that are traveling to Bahrain for a 70.3. How many on this thread did it?

Different fast swimming Lucy from the UK.
This was Lucy Hall.
She's one of the better ITU swimmers, but not quite on Lucy Charles's level. She's out of the ITU pathway and we'll see her racing more 70.3's. So we might get a Lucy vs. Lucy swim.

Ah ha, that makes sense, just saw the name Lucy and assumed, thanks..

To be fair, in the tour you will see how far in front the bikes/cars actually are. You will see that camera bikes during TT's stay to side/behind. Yes on breakaways/fast descents it is sometimes impossible for camera bikes to get away. You want to see blatant 'drafting' go and watch early footage of Kona!

I agree/like everything you wrote in this post. Coming from a swimming background where 400M freestyle is the same in Federal Way Washington or Perth Australia I cannot grasp why people would even care about these records. The delta on the run split was notable in that he was 5% better than the other pros. I'd leave it at that.

If there was going to be something like that with the single-sport relays I insist you have to have a woman competing on each relay (swim would be the logical choice).

Lucy vs. Lucy swim would be cool to see... Lucy Hall was famously included as a domestique for the Olympics for her swim ability back in London if memory serves, when she was still young and relatively unknown, but a swim stud... Her talents were wasted in ITU, she was a great swimmer, but not quite strong enough of a bike handler to not get dropped by Flora Duffy on the bike, and not strong enough of a runner to hold for the top 10 most of the time. The non-drafting racing suits her more, her swim-bike can play to her advantage, and she can hold her own on the run...

That was a hell of a debut 70.3 for Jodie Stimpson, she's another one on the outside looking in of the GB Olympic picture after a couple of injury plagued seasons, and seems happy to take that out on the 70.3 fields... When she's healthy and fit, she's still one of the top ITU ladies on the circuit, so I suspect that if she switches focus to 70.3 she'll be putting the hurt on a lot of folks on the circuit (and if she stays healthy, she's got a hell of the run after a hard bike, given that on the ITU circuit, she was often one of the 2-3 engnes doing the lion's share in chase packs...).

For the men, Blummenfelt has had one of those years where he was consistently on the cusp of that performance, and a combination of some injury/illness and bad luck, led to a lot of DNF's and subpar results, until the Grand Final... Those types of results are not unheard of for athletes there or thereabouts a year out from the olympic games... Either way, I suspect that come the OG, I'd fear the vikings... Their coach nailed the late season pretty well for their guys (Stornes 2nd at the Olympic Test event/70.3 Bahrain; Iden 70.3 World Champion, Blummenfelt 1st ITU Grand Final/1st 70.3 Bahrain)... That's as good as you could hope for out of your squad late in the season...