No...

No

What's the danger if the swim is at the end?

I've not a tri historian or anything but I think the order of the disciplines is based on descending likelihood of death if a catastrophic fatigue-related failure occurs:

- Swimming: you're probably dead
- Cycling: you might be dead
- Running: unlikely to be dead

So freshest during the most dangerous leg.

This past weekend two of us did moderate rides, ~50 miles. We both got in the pool after the riding. Within a minute or two I had 2 cramps, one big one in my hamstring - the other in my calf. My buddy also got a couple of bad ones. I don't know if it was because the water was much cooler than the air temp or what, but it was a big eye opener for me.

1: Logistics for the race director and the safety crews on the water.
2:Weather
3:Fatigue
4:Nutrition (Not relevant for Super-Sprint and Sprint)
5:Daylight (For Ironman)

The longer the race the more difficult to manage and more dangerous it becomes.

Have you ever swum off a significant run before? It's not fun!

No, but I like to jump into deep water after running for recovery, especially when the water is cold. It is much better for me than staying on land.

Would love to see people trying to get wetsuits on whilst they are all sweaty from the rest of the race.

I did Eagleman a couple of times. its hellishly hot. I would have been very happy to swim after the bike and again after the run.

and even though watching sweaty people put on wetsuits would be hilarious, its still not a good idea. too much dying in the swim already. and time cuts, which are somewhat safety related.

There are a few reverse triathlons around. I’ve never done one.

Personally if I swim after a 90 minute or longer run I almost always get a crippling cramp. So for me it would be awful.

Absolutely not.
To generalize, as most triathletes do not come from a swimming background, they struggle with the swim when "fresh." Having them do a fatigued swim is a recipe for a wide variety of problems...especially in open water. Drowning.

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#swimmingmatters
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The Doctor (#12)

I heard it put this way once:

If you get tired biking you can stop and rest.
If you get tired running you can walk.
If you get tired swimming you can drown.

You don't want to be exhausted when you start swimming.

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"...the street finds its own uses for things"

While it is tough, I see no reason why in an Olympic or Sprint tri, you could not do 10-40-1.5 with the swim on a small out and back loop that is barely 200m out and back (first loop you enter 50m into the loop by running the loop parallel to shore).

It's doable for the short races. There is probably less risk of dying putting a swim at the end of an olympic tri when everyone is warmed up and relaxed and spread out than at the start.

For a sprint tri, it should be possible. The main issue is keeping the water access open from as early as 1.5 hrs into the start of the race, to 3.5 hrs in. Cut that in half for a sprint tri. But if its a short loop, maybe manageable at some venues.

Not necessarily.

But swim-run-bike triathlons are pretty cool, l have done several of these and there was WAY LESS drafting, so they were probably safer as well.

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I only thought of the fatigue issue and subsequent danger, and I hadn't thought of this at all. Is it wrong that I want to see this now?

No... and that is why they invented rolling start.

Also, given the average bike handling skills of triathletes... A bike mass start will be deadly.

I believe this was one of the tradeoffs at the American Triple T stage race triathlon that has a variety of event ordering and you had to decide on some stages if you wanted a wetsuit and all the time to put it on, or not.

Swim - run events have all kinds of swims after runs. Its all doable. Its just a different challenge and out of standard order events don't need to be mass 2000 person events. A 200 person post covid 5K run + 750m swim + 20K bike all distanced could be really good.

no

....or maybe "with the deteriorating of already bad bike handing from all the Zwifting triathletes suddenly on a real road 4-5x per year...."

We used to have a sprint tri with a 5K run and a 30-40K bike (different routes on different years) at Holloman AFB (Alamogordo, NM) that was run/bike/swim. Luckily, it was a pool swim where you could stand and touch bottom in most of the pool. (Outdoor pool at first, then an indoor pool, fairly cool water, 800 yards for a couple of years, then 400 yards, finally 700 yards). Lots of people were cramping during the swim and/or as they were getting out of the pool. We mostly chuckled about it, but things would have been dicey if we'd have been in open water over our heads.

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"Human existence is based upon two pillars: Compassion and knowledge. Compassion without knowledge is ineffective; Knowledge without compassion is inhuman." Victor Weisskopf.

Nope, go watch Mario Mola at Island house tri a few years ago. and those are pros.

Years ago I did a reverse triathlon. It was in Cypress Gardens, Florida. Its now Legoland, I believe. It was Run, Bike, Swim. The run was beautiful through Cypress Gardens. I don't even remember the bike leg. The swim was 1/4 mile in open water. You ran down a hill from the bike transition, out onto a small dock and jumped into the lake. No diving was allowed off the dock. They actually had a rope strung to your right side along the entire route. Tons of people were hanging onto that rope. It was the worse swim I had done in 22 years of racing. Your entire blood supply is in your legs. You can swim all you want and you go no where really fast. I'm guessing that rope was there for a reason. I viewed it was quite dangerous doing the swim that tired and no blood supply to your arms.

Too many amateurs aren't good enough swimmers.

But, there are plenty of events where swimming isn't the first leg. I suggest you check out Super League and SwimRun.

Super League in particular has a great format called Triple Mix that does 3 mini-tris in different order. There is also the Enduro that is 3 mini-tris in traditional order with no break between. It's great and a better indicator of overall fitness and ability at all 3 disciplines (plus transitions are super important here). These formats really allow swimmers to do better. If anything they mask cycling ability since there is drafting and it's harder to break away.

SwimRun shows that you can have swims after runs (Otillo championship has a half marathon in the middle), but logistically you can't add in the bike unless you have a very specific, contained looping course.

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