Yes, now that she's Olympic qualified that makes doing Pontevdra much less important. I'm excited to see how her day goes tomorrow against a nicely stacked field.

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Genetics load the gun, lifestyle pulls the trigger.

Just from an “qualification” criteria. 70.3 champ gets her the spot but that champ doesn’t have to “validate” an actual IM distance event that every other athlete who’s qualified (5 year window for past champions) has to do?

Am I reading that correctly because she’s obviously not done an IM yet.

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

I really really doubt this. But I've been wrong before.

I think that if Knibb does Kona, with her foor injury earlier this year and without a great volume of run, is a recipe for disaster.

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Sorry if my english is pretty bad, I am not english native

You cannot lengthen your endurance without costing yourself speed.

The thing with Knibb is she is a little like Blu, in that she just loves the sport, loves to race, and wants to do it all before she is done. I dont really think Kona is in the cards for her this year, except as a trial race to just see what it is all about. For sure a win there is on her bingo card, and she is smart enough to realize that not too many first timers get it first time out.

So since she punched her olympic ticket really early already, I could see a kind of race of the swim/bike, which wouldn't hurt her at all, and she does have 70.3 training under her belt at the moment. Then just do some leisurely 3;10 run that wouldn't be much harder than some long training runs. But that is a huge ask of her ego, and I'm not sure many athletes would accept that. I mean you are 5 to 10 minutes ahead of everyone into T2 and you are just going to think, why not win it now, consequences be dammed. It would be more discipline than I have ever seen before, but maybe she would be the one to do it, I dont know?

But the risk of course is getting hurt, losing a huge amount of time in training, and probably not being 100% for the Olympic Games. And I think for now, that is her #1 priority, as she has a great chance on paper to medal, twice even..But would be fun for us fans to have her there doing 2/3rd's all out and stamping her name on the future of the race. Like what we see out of Marchand in the final qualifying races before the final, world record pace for 3/4's and then just shut it down for later. Only very special athletes can do that these days, she is one of them..

This is what I think is much more likely than Kona:
-She wants to have a good, strong build into the Paris Games.
-Ideally that will start in perhaps October or November
-She's currently 11th in the WTCS rankings and stands to gain very little from racing Pontevedra
-She wants to do a break after 70.3 worlds given the above

Guess we'll see who's right.

Well I certainly HOPE you are!

She's very smart and has a good team around her. I can't see how Kona 2023 is a good decision for her with Paris 2024 as a goal.

I can't understand Blu and Knibb wanting to do anything outside Oly distance at the moment, they're not podiuming and need to take themselves a few levels up to put themselves with the favorites.

Blu particularly has fallen way behind Yee and Wilde on the run, Knibbs run is also way behind GTB, Duffy and Potter also come to think of it,I'd be throwing all my eggs in that basket at the moment.

Kona/Nice is not going to help either make up that difference, maybe they're just chasing the money.

Kristian is leaving long/middle distance racing after Lahti until the olympics are done. He was very open with that in the interview after PTO Asia.

The only thing I'll push back on is that for an athlete who's come back from the injuries she's had over the last year....there's going to be nothing "leisurely" about the pounding that will happen for a 3 + hour marathon. Like I can totally understand this may be a "free race" to just go LSD for her (look, search, discover), but there's going to be at a cost imo. To do this inside of a year of Paris going for a medal, I'm still a bit shocked if this is truly going to be the adventure they go down. It doesn't make much sense from an outside prospective, and makes little sense from a "high performance" standpoint- in both the leadup to Paris and also Kona itself. So yeah maybe they are doing it as simply a "one long training day" mindset, but I just am shocked really. When she wants to go race Kona, she will, and she'll win it the most times likely in the history of the sport. I just don't see the need to do it in 2 months with all that she has going on and had previously just this year.

Eta: I guess the Kona wins may not be the record with the split races only every other year, but you know what I mean. When she moves to LC full time, she’s auto favorite(s) any race she does.

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

Taylor was 24 seconds away from winning the Paris Test Event (and lost :15 in Transition)...wouldn't exactly call that "way behind" or "a few levels down". Blu?....yeah, he's further behind on the run (along with everyone except Wilde!)

-Scott

That’s why the rumors about Knibb doing Kona sound as silly as the idea of riding Alpe d’Huez on a one-by.

Except the Kona thing is not happening.

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"FTP is a bit 2015, don't you think?" - Gustav Iden

Potters run split was 15secs faster, she also has to make time up on the run on Lindemann and Lombardi who are likely to come off the bike with her.

GTB and Duffy coming back fit and back to were they was a year ago are very likely to come off the bike with her and comfortably outrun her in the run form she's in now.

That’s why the rumors about Knibb doing Kona sound as silly as the idea of riding Alpe d’Huez on a one-by. //

I think you are misunderstanding our banter about Knibb and kona here, no one is saying she is doing it or should race it this year. It really is just a thought experiment we are discussing and fantasying, "If" she were to do kona. I dont really believe she would do it as a hard workout day, but a big part of me wishes she would. With the split WC's now, she will not get a chance to see the course under race conditions, and has to wait two years before she gets her crack at it. do believe had Blu not done it last year, he would pitch up if it were Kona this time around, but he has learned his lesson and already has that one in the bank for next time it comes around for him...

The bigger paydays are a factor. A triathlete with a chance to cash in has to think hard before passing that up. Is it hurting their short course performance? Perhaps. Knibb accomplished what she wanted. Why is she adding road cycling though? Paris is a goal but listening to her, it seems that LA 2028 is the main target. KB is paying a price for switching back and forth. Which brings up another factor, arrogance. Does Olav have all the answers? Let’s not forget he was not handling everything for Tokyo. And what else can we call it for Knibb’s coach, walking around in public in a Youth M.

Can you elaborate??? What exactly is a "Youth M"???

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"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."