What are you talking about 7 years??!

Jan continued in ITU for the 2012 Olympics where he got 6th. His two years after Beijing were very good actually, and he nearly won the world title in 2010. He switched to long course in 2014, with a silver at 70.3 worlds Mont Tremblant (Gomez first) and a third at Kona (Kienle first) with a flat and penalty. It took him only one year to win his first LC titles (both coming in 2015) but he came right out of the gate at the top.

Alistair has definitely not been as dominant in long course as he and others would have expected. You can see this on his face as he crosses the line in second at the last two 70.3 worlds. Someone of his caliber and career should be gold in what is deemed a "long olympic distance", especially given that two guys he has beaten numerous times over have won it both twice themselves. His one complete Ironman was very good, but not anything special, certainly not a crushing victory that would indicate ultimate greatness by the otherwise GOAT of short course. Other "lesser" athletes have matched or exceeded that performance. It certainly doesn't mean he can't get there with true long course focus, but looking at his LC results so far, they are shaky. He does not seem as at home in longer-than-olympic - see St George (1:16 run), DNF at Samorin, DNF at Daytona...

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Group Eleven – Websites for Athletes / mikael.racing / @mstaer

Yeah, they mentioned a few times earlier on in the broadcast that the limited coverage of Lionel was due to technical issues. For my part I think Lionel attracts perhaps a different crowd to Jan, and in some ways I think he has a broader appeal outside of the sport. Plus watching a guy crush it on his own course is cool but doesn't necessarily get the audience super invested in the outcome, and for better or worse nobody does a suffer montage better than Lionel.
Amazing job by both guys in either case, and I can only imagine it was mentally pretty tough for both of them in their own ways.

As an aside, I don't generally watch racing but this happened to be starting as I got on the trainer and I ended up getting pretty into it. I wonder if events like this might have the potential to attract audiences outside of the usual?

I'm also a fan of replacing all future race merchandise with penthouse cocaine party robes a la Frodeno.

Yes, Paul Kaye mentioned this during the bike portion when they were "focused" on Jan, which I didn't hear during the run because that's when I woke up. So we got the split screen when the signal came through and when it didn't we got Jan. So when Paul mentioned that while I was watching the replay, it all clicked for me at least.

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Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

So yes, Frodeno race ITU up until the Olympics 2012. One interesting factoid that I heard was that he stuck with it another year in 2013 to help his team mates win the first mixed team relay at worlds in Hamburg.

The internet tends to muddy and exaggerate history, but if true he sort of took a down year in 2013...while having a specific focus on his dept to his federation and team mates.

Maurice

Correct.
He did one 70.3 in 2013 - Europeans, where got 2nd (to Ritchie Nicholls) due to going off course on the bike. Run time was 1:08 by both of them btw, though unsure of accuracy in Weisbaden.

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Group Eleven – Websites for Athletes / mikael.racing / @mstaer

Will Lionel ever learn to ride without thrashing around in the saddle so much? If he could keep his head and upper body more quiet, he’d pick up a lot of time. He’s constantly going side to side. He’s lighter and put out similar power, but ended up 5min slower than Jan.

It takes one day for every time zone crossed to recover from jet lag. I would have liked to see a well rested Lionel do this race. Jan is the GOAT without a doubt, but I think a well rested Lionel would have been a few minutes closer.

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https://trigeek1969.blogspot.ca

So what about the Berlin marathon course? It has produced 11 world records - was it manufactured to be fast, or is it just a coincidence? If it was created to be fast, but the records result during "mass events" do they "count" or not?

Where do pacers fit in? Typical weather? Prize purse to attract top competition. I am not sure your concern about this race is justified given all the other similar events that have certain advantages.

Don't forget, all rules were followed 100% to ensure this was legit.

Since this was kind of a TT approach to triathlon, imagine if they had been able to set it up where neither Jan nor LS knew how far ahead or behind they were? Imagine a course set up where each guy starts at opposite ends of the swim, with transitions at opposite ends. They pass by each other on the swim. On the bike they pass by each other at least twice (assuming an out and back) and same with the run and end up eventually on the run course together for the final portion of the run. Just another weird twist on the concept of a 1 v 1 race.

Hoping they do a women's edition of the battle royale.

For sure, and Lange would not have been at a disadvantage by knowing the language. Think of all of the nervous energy wasted by Lionel neurotically thinking people were talking about him when they were speaking German and he and his crew only speak English. At least a few minutes. And think of it, if Sanders was more professional and had not delayed his trip to watch the great sportsman of our generation break his leg and continue to threaten the life of his opponent. But why prioritize when your cult of apologists have the ready-made excuses set to launch.

All those wondering if Jan is human might be pleased to hear that his new restaurant in Girona made it on to this seasons nightmare kitchens. Just kidding, he's not human.

By the way, how can we post a picture here now that tiny pic is no longer hosting?

imgbb.com

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Ed O'Malley
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In his hour record he was much more stable than Sunday. Notice his position is different.

The 'trendy' position isn't always the fastest

***WARNING***

Crazy tangent alert!

Maurice

Bike is slower and run is faster. That's been my experience. Wet surface slows you down. Definitely, cool air helps with the run.
Did you see Lionel's hands when he put running shoes on? They were frozen and he struggle a little. I know it because it happens to me all the time when I race in chilly weather.

Frodeno just posted on Instagram that the sky is blue and birds are singing in Allgau.... What a difference a day makes!

Allgau is at almost exactly the same elevation as Tucson.

Yes, this. It is only a couple hundred ft difference in elevation and Jan lives in Girona.

I don't think you know or follow Patrick Lange much. He did a race yesterday in the same conditions , biked solo off the front and set a course record. Pouring rain, dangerous downhills and still didn't freeze. Tulsa was no warm weather day either.

He is a two time world champion and 3 x top 3 finisher not for riding in packs but being smart. He is smarter.

That's why Jan did this. Jan needs a push after seeing IM Tulsa, test and get better. Jan is smart and smart enough to know Lange is a faster marathon runner then him.

Jan will try again to form a pack to work for him to drop Lange. But I guess that's ok versus legally just riding in one.

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Technique will always last longer then energy production. Improve biomechanics, improve performance.
http://Www.anthonytoth.ca, triathletetoth@twitter

I think this is a spine and hip thing. You can see it when he runs. You can see it when he swims. I don't think this is simply a question about "learning". There is something fundamentally mechanically limiting him that may need work before it can be resolved.

When he runs, you can see his right heal does not rise as high as his left heel. His right hamstring is not working appropriately so his right hip flexor has to do more work to swing a relatively "unfolded" get through and his left calf, quad and left glute has to do more work on pushoff. Probably what you are seeing is his left leg working harder on downstroke because this is built into his assymmetry from running that way.

This is my guess just watching videos when he is blown up on the run.

I was surprised neither wore aero socks or shoe covers especially since it was wet and cool.
I was considering for myself for an IM anyone have experience with either?

This. That's the biggest problem.

Further to that, he could shrug better. His cowboy stance is costing him. He needs to ditch his round bottles on the frame. His side profile is fine though. He needs to get into the tunnel, iterate it all and see how much power he could save for the run that way.

You look at Jan and only the legs are moving. He's got a tight triangle at the front and his knees are pretty much brushing the top tube. He only had one aero bottle of concentrate in the triangle and was getting water from the motorcycles. Gels were in a bta bento. He had it all nailed down.

I don't get it. Any world record has to be such that it can be replicated for others to attempt to break or it can hardly be a legitimate record. Look at cycling, the only recognized world record is the hour, and that is tightly governed so as to ensure it can be replicated for future attempts.

For example, this course did not have transitions of note, which are clearly never a standard size but are part of all triathlons. This was a very cool demonstration of the sport's potential speed, but I would not even consider a race, let alone a world record. Maybe a course record, but then again it was not an actual course per se...

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I think you are all overthinking this "world record" thing.

The official Tr-Battle Youtube video has 90k + views, whereas Lionel's version of this has 316k views, so Lionel obviously brought a lot of coverage to this event.