1. Potter went to the best environment, with one of the best coaches and surrounded herself by world class triathletes who beat her day in and day out. She learnt from the best.

2. Not sure there is one world class triathlete in Nottingham never mind a squad of them. Who is his coach?

3. The trajectory I quoted above for Milner is exactly what Potter has achieved!

Potter was a good swimmer as a child, not sure what Milner’s background in swimming is but his bike power just isn’t there at the moment.

https://www.britishtriathlon.org/...-talent/support-team
Steve Lloyd

its funny how people tell other people what they have to do without even knowing the very basics.

That is hilarious. Do you understand the regional academies and how it works.

Steve Lloyd is an excellent coach he 1st won coach of the year many years ago before they were even called Regional Academies. He has a brilliant reputation for development of young talent. But Milner is about 26 and too old by about at least 8 years for the regional academies.

The exam question was comparison to Potter and what she had achieved! She achieved that by going to the Leeds Triathlon Centre which has the best and probably most experienced squad at all levels in the Country (not just a home county).

Well apparently British Triathlon didn't find it hilarious, because there is an article on TRI247 in which Hugo states that when he contacted BT, they put him in contact with Steve Lloyd.

Hugo did his first winter training camp in Australia with a lot of the Brits.
By the way Jack Maitland, who was instrumental in the coaching of Beth Potter, is no longer at the Leeds facility

Beth is also not part of the BTF Leeds center and has not been for years.

There are 2 training groups at Leeds but both are part of the Leeds BTF funded training centre. She has the same coach as Jonny.

Is this the same British Triathlon that said they weren’t interested in Lucy Charles or had no faith in Beth Potter. Or have no funding for Max Stapley.

I know nothing about Hugo and I hope he achieves his potential but GB Tri doesn’t always get its funding right! Some athletes seem to never get the discretionary approval.

It isn’t just GB Tri either. AUS Tri kicked Willian off funding recently and he qualified for Paris this past weekend.

Two factors at play here:

On the relay side: Matt unfortunately just can't swim at the level required. You can't lose the kind of time he loses in the swim and expect success in the MR...the race is too short to expect to leverage superior bike/run skills especially if you cannot make the front pack. And Rider has outperformed McElroy across the board at the PanAm MR and Hamburg MR - he's clearly the better swimmer regardless of distance and the better triathlete at the super sprint distance. When deciding who to lead out the relay the only question to ask is "who can make the front bike pack?"

On the individual side: The US doesn't have a second male athlete who is a true podium threat. Which means that run ability is less of a factor for the second selection. At this point you essentially want the best swim/bike (Aquabike) athlete possible -- someone who can outswim Pearson, domestique for him on the bike to save his legs and see if he can have the run of their life for a top 10. Rider and Darr Smith have those credentials. McElroy has a strong bike/run, but as we've seen with Gwen it just doesn't matter if your swim puts you in the chase pack.

That’s not quite correct. Alistair and Jonny set up a training group that is separate from the BTF centre. There is some crossover of coaches and funding but their group is managed distinctly from the BTF one. Jonny and Beth have the same swim coach - Coz Tantrum - but different triathlon coaches.

First: Potter's pathway was long and hard and she has excelled.
Second: That doesn't mean that 'go north to Leeds, young man' is the only pathway, especially as it's in decline (from a very high point, discuss) and the ascendent is Loughborough/Nottingham (no idea what you mean by "home county" btw).
Third: Potter was an excellent swimmer all through school so after her Rio 10000m she had a sound foundation for transitioning into tri. Milner stopped proper swimming before he was 10 so he's had further to go, but really is getting there in the water but then at the highest (WTCS) level with the front pack really pushing, he's found out. Bear in mind Yokohama was about the 6th standard distance race of his life!
Immediate future: Will be interesting to see if he briefly pivots to the 10000m/5000m on the track this summer to see if he can get sub 13:20/27:20, which he sounds confident about (World Tri podcast after Miyazaki, back in November. The UK 10000m trials are next weekend! The 5000s are in late June.
As for LCB and Stapley neither have the potential to run fast enough for short course success (GBR top flight). You might reasonably consider BriTri did Charles a favour by saying thanks but no thanks: get back to long course. After the Leeds cameo she immediately dominated the 70.3 worlds (St George) and the rest is history.
As for Stapley, he could enhance his chance with a performance in Cagliari but that loss of time on the run will be an unattractive proposition on Leg 1 in August, however you cut it. As soon as selections are made (in 17 days), he needs to go long straight away and stop faffing around. He has his Taupo start. Use his form to show those middle distance European chaps what's what.

So you do you reckon is a better pick than Stapley in 2024 for the MTR? I'm interested in your response.

Once again (I bought this up months ago but was laughed at), by the rule book, Max cannot compete in Paris as he has competed for Aus in this cycle.

Brownlee is really the only option for leg 1. Unless Barclay shows something very soon, but I think he has been injured. Jonny will swim and bike with everyone and then has to produce a run where he only loses 10 seconds to the front. Ideally he runs with/ahead of the US so GTB (if fit) and Taylor Spivey can work together on the second leg. My prediction is GB will handover in the lead after leg 2 - assuming it is GTB and Lombardi on that leg.

Then it is one hell of a race between Yee/Potter and {Bergere, Conix}/Beaugrand.