Lisa Norden is the commentator on the international feed.
You get in on the Olympic Channel since NBC is too cheap to have their own commentators.
In other countries you will have local commentators.

I know in Norway with 5 million people they use the picture feed, but have own local commentators. BBC does the same.

Personally I like Norden;s commentator style. But then I usually hate the typical NBC style commentating when it comes to endurance sports.

During the Olympics I know that one commentator was directed to pronounce a name incorrectly since the NBC thought the US audience would like a more American sound name.

Back to the issue with Norden, NBC is too cheap to have American commentators so you just have to live with some Scandinavian flair.

I can’t help but be a little bummed about the US guys. Not sure what happened to Hemming on the bike. Pearson and McElroy both swam well enough and I was hoping they’d be more competitive in the run. I don’t know much about Pearson, but it seems like a dream scenario for McElroy. Top-20 points are awesome, but still...

Maybe the heat hurt them more than most, whatever. I doubt either one has peaked yet in their development.

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Aaron Bales
Lansing Triathlon Team

Lets hope NBC stay too cheap to get their own commentators as i really like getting the international feed. Lisa brings knowledge and enthusiasm that really comes across. No issues at all with her accent, never gave it a second thought, understood every word and she is clearly someone thinking in english and who has a vocabulary as good as those who speak it as a first language. i dread to think who we would get instead of Lisa and the British guy if NBC pick someone to relate to the disinterested masses.

I was super surprised by Pearson. That is something like his sixth triathlon EVER. That is impressive stuff.
I'd imagine he will be the US's number one guy at this point. He can only get better.

McElroy is not a strong rider. So he's dependent on who gets out around him in the water to ensure he can get to the front of the race. He can run well, but I don't think he has the depth of strength to be top 10 at a WTS just yet. He might get there in the next few years.

If you're bummed about the US men, just look at the US women. 4 ranked in the top 11 and the reigning Jr. and U-23 world champ....And there are another 4-5 girls coming up strong.

Oh - Pearson is the dude that won Sprint Nationals on a lark! You’re right, top 20 at a WTS this early is very impressive. I’m a reasonably knowledgeable ITU fan and his name wasn’t ringing any bells. Good for him.

I know the women’s program is very strong, and the mixed team is strong, and I shouldn’t get greedy. The men have seen a major shift since London. I’d just love to have an American guy who was a threat. Bermuda seemed possible for Kanute to get away, but he didn’t.

McElroy seems like a hard worker, and he’s had some good World Cup results.

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Aaron Bales
Lansing Triathlon Team

USA need to target younger men, before they get swallowed into the college run programmes. These guys we are discussing are good runners but not great, otherwise they would have been on USA national athletics teams by now. Other countries which do not have the college programme have guys at similar and even better level running who become full time triathletes at 18, not their mid 20's. There would be a few who were offered US athletics scholarships but chose not to move to US but focus on triathlon in their home countries instead. These guys therefore have similar/better natural run ability but also a 4 or 5 year head start in the tri world than the USA college graduates that then transition across. I know the targeting of college women works well, but the allround depth in the men is just too great.

I totally understand and agree with all of those points, it's more that athletes aren't even trying to break. On that "S curve" in Yokohama, there would usually be a 15+ second gap from when the first place went through the turns and the back of the pack. If you know you're not a fast runner and even if you can drop the last third of the pack which included the likes of decent runners like a Morgan Pearson, wouldn't you still take that risk? And if you have ambitions to win the race, again why not at least *try* to put some space on Mola and make him work. I still think that a smart group of 4-5 really good riders can stay ahead of a disorganized large ITU pack, regardless of the course.
Like that Lussi guy at the CAMTRI race, sure he is a god awful runner, but you have to respect that he recognized that and went for it on the bike, even if he only came into T2 with 25 seconds up on the pack. Who knows what could have happened, big crash, they slow down due to disorganization, etc. But if you don't go for it, you have a 0% chance of winning.

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The Gram: @agyenis
My latest story on Swimswam: More than a title

Yeah, I'll have to ask Eli what exactly happened, but he said he got out of the swim and was having serious issues breathing and he pulled off early in the bike. Unfortunate as that was the best swim of his career thus far.

I'm interested to see what performances from Yokohama will be "acceptable" to enter them in the two European WTS stops. I know that there are guys like Kanute standing on the sidelines saying that Mcdowell and Hemming's performances don't justify taking up a slot in Leeds, but I don't know what their criteria will be. I saw that the USAT president tweeted good luck to Morgan Pearson before Yokohama but no one else....hmm.....

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The Gram: @agyenis
My latest story on Swimswam: More than a title

I still think that a smart group of 4-5 really good riders can stay ahead of a disorganized large ITU pack, regardless of the course.

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Not on a course like Yokohoma, there is a reason why even when it's a select less than 8 man front swim pack it ALWAYS gets caught in Yokohoma. There just isnt the terrain/course to allow a break to stay away.


Does anyone remember Yokohoma 4 years ago when US put I believe 2 Americans in the top 20 and it was because the entire group rode together into T2 even after guys were 45s down after the swim that the 2nd male got a top 20 (unfortunately he was never able to replicate that result). This is what Yokohoma is. The swim and bike are pretty much completely relegated...but such is life. When they want to spend however much money to host a race and support the sport, and they've been one of the longest tenured events in WTS, we all just kinda accept it. Everyone knows going in, it will be a large group and the "runners" will win out.



Now I'm not saying your wrong in atleast "trying". I'm just telling you on a course like Yokohoma, even with that S turn, it would have been most easily shut down because even if they get a gap, once the top 20 from the chase group start attacking to latch back on, the long line of athletes would string out and allow for the "hangers on" to still catch back up at the end.


T

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

You don't know they weren't trying to break, if someone has a big surge but pretty much the others at the front surge too, trying to go with, it closes it down before a break can happen. There are a heck of a lot of strong guys, see those out with crashes, maybe they tried too hard for a break.

Heming at least had a good result this year. I’m glad McDowell is healthy and he seems like a nice balanced athlete, but there’s no way you’d pick him over Kanute for Leeds. Kanute needs to be up front out of the water and get on that Ali/ Johnny train.

C’mon USAT, this isn’t rocket science. Horses for courses.

Especially with the Nottingham mixed relay. Kanute needs to bat lead off like Rickey Henderson or Inspectah Deck (with Pearson or McElroy batting cleanup).

Bad analogy, as it’ll be a woman leading off. I really just wanted to use that Rebel INS simile.

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Aaron Bales
Lansing Triathlon Team

RE: the relay.

I don't know that this means anything but as of now Kanute isn't on the Leeds start list. I mean if he is there he should race.

I see two problems forming:

1) I bet it irritates some decision makers that Kanute does the 70.3s. No one would say it publicly, but I bet there are those who argue he isn't committed to draft legal racing.
2) The US men need to have 3 spots for the Olympics if Kanute hopes to be on the relay. Will they get it...more on that over the coming 12 months. But we could have a repeat of 2012 when athletes did the Lifetime events (to get paid) instead of getting Olympic Qualifying points.

Norden is pretty good, I think it is funny that she says mild swear words "damb, ass" etc. I think I prefer Barry, though.

I like Norden as a commentator.
That she is saying things that Americans think is not broadcast words is something I totally understand.
What you can say in different languages is cultural dependent, not just translation.
When I moved to the USA I said a lot of wrong things based on culture, not on direct translation.

The process for getting starting positions for WTS races is very well enumerated. There is one substitute allowed but basically the rest of the places are allocated based on rankings. Kanute’s ranking has fallen to 110th with 5 American men above him.
I am not aware if USAT has released internal Olympic nomination criteria yet. I suspect that they will exercise much more discretion with the relay spots than the have in past Olympic cycles.
I highly doubt there is anything nefarious going on at USAT as it pertains to Kanute. As of today I bet he has a high chance of being selected for a relay spot, but he needs to race and accrue more points if he wants to be able to race when and where he wants.

I love Lisa as a commentator too. And she beats Michael Lovato by a mile! Maybe Ironman should replace him with someone of her caliber with Long course pedigree.

Says who?

there won't be many countries to have 3 athletes on the start list as relay countries will need to have a minimum of 2. Do you expect USA to have 3 in the top 30? because as I read it, that is what it would take to get 3 spots.
Maybe Kanute is racing Nottingham relays, just not Leeds. they do need to be careful to not let his points slip too far as there is still a minimum qualifying mark that needs to be reached to be eligible for Olympic qualification, unless this doesn't pertain to relayers.

no, but i also don't know why you think the US needs 3 for kanute to make it. there is that scenario of him making it with just 2 slots...

Fair enough.

I don't, I was just saying that USA having 3 spots won't be easy. Also if they want to use him they still need to ensure he has had enough races to have his points inside the minimum allowed to be on any team. As long as an athlete has the required minimum points they can put them in one of their qualified slots. I am surprised he isn't racing Leeds, A course designed by the Brownlees, for the Brownlees, is a big advantage to any swim biker. He may be racing the relay, I haven't seen any team members list anywhere to show otherwise.

Only just caught up with the race after being on holiday...

I've been wondering for a while what would happen if Duffy came out of T2 without her usual 1min + advantage with everyone else, really surprised she's now become the fastest runner as well as the fastest swimmer in ITU.

Good to see Non Stanford back on the podium and really surprised to here in her interview she was considering packing it all in and getting a normal job. Hopefully she can put the last couple of years behind her now and put herself back into the top 5.

Nothing much to get excited about in the men's Alarza seems to be back after me losing quite a bit of money on him last year, Mola did a very good Ali.Brownlee impression (don't think I've ever seen him attack like that at the start of the run) bring on Leeds!

What are some good Gwen Jorgensen races to watch? I love it when people are a bit back and they have to run people down.

Leeds pre London Olympics.... she ran down Flora from a ways back... amazing run!

Thanks, going to watch that during my lunch break.