I believe they spoke about this in the athletes briefing yesterday. They wanted to pick trainers that produced power and metrics that were consistent and similar so that the race results were comparable. They weren’t trying to exclude any to exclude people.

Ill bite. The entire idea of a WC event is exclusionary. How much to get on a plane to fly to Kona, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand on top of all the ‘stuff’ on might need (debatable) to qualify. Only a select few can really take part in that when you get down to it.

My Neo cost me a grand two years ago and I have a $700 trainer hooked up to it. That and some running shoes and your good to go. One could easily argue this format (even with a costly trainer) is much more accessible. You’re likely not going to find many 1700 bikes on the pier at Kona.

Now is it Fair.... different argument.

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Taylor Rogers

2024: IM Hamburg

yes on this note... cost of entry, travel, stay will equal out to price of a trainer.

given how most of those trainers produce generally higher watts, why don't they just ask for an approved third party power device most of which are much more consistent and most people have?

Because it's very easy to adjust the calibration on almost all powermeters.

I have found that my Tacx Neo 2 produces almost identical NP and AP as my crank based quarq.

I'm hoping IM sends out a survey asking, "why didn't you enter the VR championship series?" I didn't, because I don't own a trainer that Rouvy AR supports. I'd have signed up otherwise.

It seems like they're not filtering out those trainers yet. My time was 2 hours even and I'm 96th out of 335 in the Male 40 to 44 group. I'm almost always top 10% at an Ironman race so this is definitely tougher competition.

Regarding cost to get into Triathlon- I rode for several years on a $ 500 used bike, I already owned running shoes, and I got a very good wetsuit online for $ 100. My Kinetic Road Machine trainer cost me $ 150, and is a great trainer that will last forever. Yes, race entries are expensive, as is travel, which is exactly why I don’t like to “throw away” money on things that will not have any tangible benefit to me. A direct drive trainer is more than my race entries typically for a year and has no benefit over my current trainer. In my Triathlon club of typically 80-100, only 2 or 3 own direct drive trainers. Obviously many people have them, but I think it is a relatively small percent, less than 25% ??? My point was, if they are giving out WC slots, it should not be so narrowly restricted to a specific piece of equipment. How would you feel if qualifying races were restricted to 4 or 5 bike brands, and only high end models?
I completely understand that this is probably the only way to make it a “fair” competition, I just don’t think it is fair to award WC slots to a race that is limited to narrowly specific equipment.

Fairness what the cost is concerned: VR is fairer than races outside.
As a poster mentioned: a suitable trainer costs 1000, and you can put a bike of 700 on it and you're set.
But you do not have to care about aerodynamics.
And that is more expensive: a couple of wheels cost you 3000. A suitable racesuit 500. A suitable helmet 500.
And you can go on with things which all add up and without caring about it is very difficult to qualify for a WC:
aero pedals, socks, frame (The most expensive part), cockpit, aero bottles. And I'll leave out windtunneltests here. I also leave out the actual costs of qualifying races (for which alone you can buy a smart trainer).

So to answer the question of the title of the thread: no, on the contrary, virtual qualifying races are "poor man's" qualifying races.

Who cares about WC slots of a WC that is not going to happen. It is just for fun. If you don't have the right trainer, enter the race that doesn't have the requirement.
Life is not fair. If the trainer requirement is really a concern for you than it seems that you don't have a lot to worry about ;-)
Sam

Bingo.

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Taylor Rogers

2024: IM Hamburg

For those of us who don't have an approved trainer, I have to go and buy another trainer, so thats 1000 dollars to do the races.

It is never either or, yes I own all the good aero stuff as well.

Selection of trainers I assume by their tested accuracy, though Wahoo has always been god for + 20 watts compared to proper power meter. But it all gets wacky when someone decides to reduce their weight by 5 Kg

How can you know if you do not own one?
Difference between my Kickr and all my powermeters is +1% so if my Kickr is set at 300W, my PM's (4iiii and SRM) show around 303W.
Do you really think serious athletes will use a trainer that reads 20W too high? It would mess up your training (as you would train at too low intensity) or make you blow up at races (because you can't hold the extra 20W).
There have been a lot of issues with Wahoo but accuracy is not one of the issues of the 6 Kickrs I have owned.
Sam