https://forum.slowtwitch.com/...string=2024#p7587836

That’s funny! My impeccable memory apparently isn’t!

Which member of the MTR doesn't get a medal?

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That was my gut reaction too. It's too early to make a call from my perspective, but I still don't think the men will get there... I will call France to snag at least one medal in each race (Men's, Women's and MTR) on home soil.

Will be interesting to get a sneak peak with the e-sports world champ series with the 3 Arena Games races, before the proper season gets rolling (although some hot Conti Cup racing has already started). It might be a bit more progressive of a start to the season as well, since the Olympic Qualification would likely start mid-summer (two-years from race day), so people will want to be peaking during that period so that the races count towards OG points...

Well it just got a little more real.

Olympic Qualification period starts in....6 weeks. Whelp.

Looks like the first race for points will be the European Championships.

The first spots for the 2024 games (besides France's automatic spots) will be awarded to the winner of the mixed team relay in Montreal on June 26th. Is it me or does that seem a bit...early?

My early prediction is the US and France are 1/2 for the relay (The event in June). I think GB is short one man? Certainly GT-B can bring GB back into the race but unless she passes (okay maybe she does) Yee gets dropped on the swim and is biking alone.

Arzachena is on the same weekend.
Kind of weird to have the period start off with two races that conflict a bit.
Should be interesting to see who shows up where...and who focuses on Leeds/WTCS series. (the following weekend)

I think the format change benefits Brits, US, and probably Germany but hurts the French, the Belgies and all but assures the Norwegians will race Ironman as their other effort.

What about the qualifications makes you think the Norwegians will not want to race?
You can still do the individual race, and you can still put 3 athletes in the top 30 and qualify 3 athletes in each gender.
Is that not correct?

WTCS series resumes this weekend in Yokohama. Some solid names on the startlist, but pretty wide open looking races on both sides. On the men's side, I suspect that the french will be competitive, and at least one of them to make the podium, interested to see Mislawchuk, and how his form is coming back from injury at Tokyo... On the women's side, hard to bet against the Duffy/Knibb train...

Taylor Knibb is obviously the big new(ish) force. I am interested to see how the bike dynamic plays out in the next Olympic cycle. She has so many watts but she doesn’t always apply them well. I could see her winning a bunch of series races but then getting played in the big events by the ladies who can ride her wheel like Duffy, GTB, maybe some others. Or I could see half the field upping their game by the time Paris rolls around. Or she could just clean-up/change the game like GJ or AB did at their peaks.
Others to keep a look out for are Beaugrand who has shown flashes of absolute brilliance interspersed with plenty of meh. Spivey: can she make the final step up on the bike and run to be a real contender? Is the swim-bike going to be a liability for Potter or can she consistently get to the front of these races? And who is the next emerging talent?

I'd look out for Emma Lombardi of France in this next Olympic cycle.

Leeds start list is up:

https://triathlon.org/..._series_leeds/545473

I forecast Jessica Learmonth, GTB and Taylor Knibb absolutely wreaking havoc on the bike.

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Genetics load the gun, lifestyle pulls the trigger.

Is Jess still racing after her hip injury at Superleague?

She's still on the Leed's start list so there's hope.

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Genetics load the gun, lifestyle pulls the trigger.

I think Beth is gonna have a great season with her improved swim and bike, just from what we've seen recently in Superleague, World Cups and Arena games. However I think Yokohama will be tricky with the humidity. Seemed to struggle a bit with it in Singapore.

Potter is an interesting one, she's been killing the world cups, but has largely been pack fodder at the WTCS level and than running to the top 15.

There's a lot of interesting young prospects in the ladies field (Lombardi, Rainsley, Mathias, etc.). We'll see how the racing starts to shake out... With the start to this season pretty fast and furious (Yokohama, and then a month later in quick succession Leeds, Montreal & Hamburg, before a break for the Commonwealth Games), we'll have a sense who are the contenders vs. pretenders in the next month or so... It'll be interesting to see how it pans out with those playing around with 70.3 and IM. Given that the Olympic qualifying cycle is kicking off, those serious about OG qualification will want to make sure that they are at least getting a handful of races scored in the next 12 months, so that they aren't leaving block 1 points on the table... With how tight some of the federation slots were last year, a bunch of people were regretting not racing more two years out. It's crappy in a sense, that because of the delay to Tokyo by a year, the usual gap year that athletes had to play around post olympics, pre-qualifying for the next OG was gone, so those who fancy Kona/70.3 Worlds may have limited opportunities to score....

Either way, some exciting racing to come...

Max Studer recently did a 13.58 5k road race (not track). He's not at Yokohama though.

I think GB Tri are sweating on the mens side. Yee is top notch but no one close behind. Hopefully, Ben is going to be doing some WCs and getting some top tier starts again.

Learmonth is injured, Caldwell is probably injured, Holland is probably retiring, Stanford might retire after the Commonwealths at the end of the season. Some good women coming through. Potter has seriously improved her swim over the winter, she was only 4 seconds behind Learmonth at Super League. GTB had a very long break after Olympics but is starting to show some good fitness for a long season.

Well they still have Jonny Brownlee for this Olympic cycle. And other young guys coming through too (Dan Dixon). Whatever happened to Ben Dijkstra?

It's a lot cooler in Yokohama than it was in Singapore.
If anything, people may get cold if it rains as much as forecasted.

Ha ha it rains alot in Scotland too! 25 degrees is balmy!

Ben is back from a serious injury. He will be doing some WCs to get a WTS start.

Not sure JB has got another Olympic cycle in him. Dixon is an excellent prospect, fantastic swimmer ride isn’t quite there but run def isn’t there. He is young and has a brilliant future but will Paris be too soon?

LOL

By the way, first time I came to ST I was surprised that an "ITU thread" existed. Isn't it like opening a "long course thread" and expecting people to discuss all matters long course tri in that thread? I mean we have "Lionel ate blueberries for breakfast" and "Kristian has a fugly bike" type threads for long course. What gives?

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