Decent win that, I'd have thought that would put him in the conversation at least.

Yes, the one drawback though, may be his lack of experience in the relay. Not sure how many he has done. Was in that distasteris one in Hamburg. Think it was during that, that he got injured, so he had a very poor leg as a result

Think that assessment is a bit unkind. Spivey, with that result, (#4) may not have AQ'd but she's surely stamped her selection ticket.

Jorgensen has tried super hard; some cards have fallen her way to get to 5th USA and a start in a WTCS race by right (care with which rankings you use). But the interview was immediately after the denouement of her comeback campaign and it'd be amazing if she were not disappointed (not "arrogance": she deserved a Cagliari start but Zaferes, for USA national reasons, deserved it more. When you saw Rappaport just hanging around at/off the back of the main chase group (with Jorgensen maybe 3 wheels ahead) I still think USAT made a decision error by not subbing Rappaport out for Zaferes (to allow both mums to race Cagliari given there's no AQ opportunity there): but hey, it's done now.


Kasper seemed chirpy and after her excellent race I'm not surprised. If Zaferes stumbles in 4 days time, it's conceivable Kasper might get selected. Kasper matched Spivey within a few seconds SBR and same at Pontevedra (NB Spivey managing injury). Kasper (on the evidence/results available) is super close to Zaferes. It may come down to who does best in Sardinia.

General question to the group - do you put your strongest relay man 1st or 3rd?

In my mind a weaker swim/ bike is better “hidden” in 1st because of the draft, especially if they have a strong run. Things are blown open by 3rd.

Thinking about this hearing PTO saying Morgan should go 1st. I only think you do that if 3rd is a stronger swim/ biker than him.

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Aaron Bales
Lansing Triathlon Team

There's more than one factor, but you definitely want a strong 1st relay, especially in the swim. I would definitely put Morgan 1st for the US. For the 3rd relay, you want someone who is strong on the bike as there may be more gaps, smaller groups, sometimes needing to jump onto a small group just in front at the start, etc.

it really depends on how you view the other 3 and how you think they can do against those you think will be on their legs. other than france, every other country has issues with at least 1 leg (and most with the slower female). i don't think it is catastrophic to fall behind on the first leg because who is going to be ahead of you other than france? probably belgium, norway, australia, portugal and brasil and then maybe germany, new zealand (if wilde leads off) and hungary. what do all of those countries other than germany have in common? they all have weak 2nd legs that a GTB and spivey will be gobbling up and erasing the deficit.

If you have a good swimmer, put in first. Same with the first woman...better to assure to be at the front in the T1s. I am interested to see the 2nd american man (so it is between Smith, Rider, Mc Elroy, Mc Queen, right?). You have a strong team, but the only team that can threat France will be UK if they find a good 2nd man (brownlee or Dickinson)

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Spaniard. Sorry for my english for the sensitive ones :P

both france and germany have the most secure teams to medal
you can use all 6 qualifier and you would not be worried to use any of them. especially since schonburg is a transition beast and can run the first k fast
lindeman can sprint so i would consider them as a thread as well.

the other bonus is 5 of the 6 germans can prepare for paris since the grand final ,they can peak for paris and dont have to waste mental energy on the qualification process.
usa and uk are not really a team or can you see potter and gtb being best friends for 3 hours and no american is really willing to do something for their team mates or train together. . its not awlays the best individuals but the best team see the dutch 2021 or last weekend. its still a individual race but still its better to have a good vibe than a neutral or bad vibe.

if you look which courtries produces the best males and females
its france germany uk and usa in that order and i hope nobody is going to argue that a nation that gets 5 people to the games is better than a nation that gets 6 atheltes to the games the depth in france and germany is high in both genderes not just one.
i would say likely uk will get the most medals from tri but they are not the best nation as they need to get 2 or 3 males into world series races via the waiting list. and you cant be the best nation like that.

at the end of the day all 4 nations could win the relay.

if the dutch speaker could send a joint relay that would be a good team van riel, kingma , geens and klamer
if kingma could get in a breakaway on the bike with 2 other teams you would have a medal potential team