Just saw that on a Facebook page, very sad

Not sure where it happened but that pic looks like it’s at the starting dock. Sorta makes me wonder. No in water warm up for AGers. And very few people doing any sort of jogging or other warmup Total speculation.

Yes, mild current for about 4 buoys, then a slight current against for one buoy, then a ripper right to the finish. The sea grass was laid down flat below us. It was fun! Swam a :54 and barely cracked top 10 AG

For those who compete full IM or Challenge....does the organitazion ask for medical tests to approve the registration? If not, no racing...short and clear. This is too much. I would even ban full IM for age groupers, but sounds too much.... medical tests must be given and the staff have to make sure that anyone entering in IM is healthy, otherwise the publicity of this deaths is killing IM or Challenge or whatever...

Call me whatever you want, but too many deaths. This is out of control

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

I'm not a medical professional, but I think the issue is that many of these deaths (like yesterday's) happen in young men with no medical history. And congenital heart defects wouldn't necessarily show up on a medical clearance test. They'd have to do Echo, which they don't do routinely. I agree with you that it is unacceptable, just not sure how you effectively prevent it. As Chris said, at least have warm up available to reduce the risk.

I read this happened 150m into the swim so I don't think that limiting participation by length of race is going to help.

The highest stress part of any triathlon is usually the first few minutes.

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Ed O'Malley
www.VeloVetta.com
Founder of VeloVetta Cycling Shoes
Instagram • Facebook

Wow, very sad to hear about this. Wish the best for the family and friends.

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- Jordan

My Strava

I also race cars. We are required to have a full medical physical including an ecg submitted to the race doctor. Guess what?

People still die of medical events while racing.

Its a simple fact that people will die doing whatever they do---including sleeping in their bed. You can't screen it out.

The issue with an Echo is doing it under conditions that mimic the actual scenario; doing it under low stress environments still wouldn't prevent this. And the cost to do an echo while under appropriate conditions would be astronomical.

My deepest condolences go out to the friends and family of this poor competitor.

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Instagram

totally agree. If IM was some sort of forced event, then yeah. I would say we should do everything within our power to screen people out.

But it's a voluntary sporting even. Presumably, people do train for them. They already advise on just about every little thing that you should check with your doctor before starting any sort of exercise.

People should have *gasp* personal responsibility.

So that is the starting dock there. The water was warm and people were jumping in pretty spread out, so it wouldn’t seem to be a SIPE issue or other condition that occurs in colder water AG starts. The pic looked like the athlete was fairly young and in decent shape, so may have just been one of those things.

People experience things different ways and I’ve got a lot of OW experience so may not translate but this was not a particularly stressful swim start

Can't believe that such an event does not have the facility to do this: you can't force people to jump in for a warm up but they should at least have the option.

Logistically it would be tough. It is a narrow opening in jungle at the marina opening to the ocean. They build a purpose built ramp to get in. In this location there is not room to allow access for 2000 athletes with the need for guards etc (most of whom wouldn’t anyway)

There are ways to do dry land warmup. I can count on two hands the folks I saw doing that, including me. I swim with T26 and they stress the importance of getting the HR up pre swim.

I am not sure there are too many deaths in endurance sport. I'd bet if we took all triathletes worldwide as a random global "city" the number of deaths we would have per million per day would not be that different from general population (whether we die in bed, by lightening, at the office or while exercising). We just "see" the ones that happen while exercising in races, but they could equally happen to general population people exercising in the gym or triathletes training on their own.

I do agree that the swim is hazardous when there is distress. If you are biking or running, maybe the chance of slowing down and stopping when you have heart stress and maybe avoiding going to the heart attack stage is possible...rest, get air, relax and no avoid heart attack (or optional DNF and go to hospital). In the swim, you're being swum over and not getting oxygen when you need it MOST and instead of reducing your workload like you could stopping on the bike or run, your workload has to go up because you may have someone on top of you so you are kicking and flailing to get back to air further driving up the cardio load.

So really, I think its the margin for error in the swim. When an aircraft engine goes on fire in a single engine airplane you crash and die. When a car engine goes on fire you stop. The bike or run is like a car engine going on fire....there is bail out. On the swim, you're a single engine airplane with no oxygen going into the engine which means there will soon be no power and the crash and death happens. This is simply the risk of the swim. Its a kind of high stakes game that we all play in.

One would assume the bold is true given the AWA swim cap.

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Pink? Maybe. Maybe not. You decide.

"There are ways to do dry land warmup. I can count on two hands the folks I saw doing that, including me. "
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I ALWAYS do this. People look at me like I am crazy when I briskly run in place before the swim start (at any distance). I think it really helps and is as good as a in water warm up. I rarely see anyone else doing this.

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David
* Ironman for Life! (Blog) * IM Everyday Hero Video * Daggett Shuler Law *
Disclaimer: I have personal and professional relationships with many athletes, vendors, and organizations in the triathlon world.

Risk of death per 100k people:
Marathon: .75
Triathlon: 1.5
Driving in a car: 11.4

Higher risk going to and from you sporting event.

ITU now requires all elites and juniors to have full medical and EKG work up. I’m guessing within 2 years it’ll be for all AG athletes racing worlds as well.



And yes they’ll still have medical issues but it’s smart to have your participants actually getting some basic medical screening before participating.

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

I'm a fellow car racer, mainly Spec Miata, in his upper 40's. The medical exam we have to do helps to find obvious things but it simply can't catch everything. When I started my heavy triathlon training, I did a bunch of cardiovascular medical tests, even paying out of pocket for some of them because they weren't medically necessary. Again, no guarantees but I wanted some comfort before significantly upping my training volume.

There was an athlete with the same name and AG who went 9:49 at IMBrazil this year.

Wow. If the same athlete...how in the world does a heart condition not manifest earlier? In training or intense racing.

I'll take that bet. Age groupers pay the way for the ITU Worlds and throwing up additional barriers and expense for events that already cost a lot is unlikely to fly; especially since those same AG athletes would have already raced to gain a spot in the first place.

Did you have a heart scan before getting behind the wheel of a car this year ?
As you could kill yourself. And your family. And MY family and me in a car coming the other way if you have a heart attack whilst driving.
No ? Why not ? Now THAT'S irrisponsible.
Racing Ironman doesn't jeopardise other people's lives.

  
Name the bet.


You’ll bitch about the costs and then guess what you’ll pay it if that’s what it takes to race. That’s how this works usually. So I do have to laugh though that your basically saying I’ll pay XYZ extra but THIS measure is too much lol.

This is a measure everyone should be applauding for race companies to work towards. It’s an smart safety move imo.

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

I really dont get some people here...I just think of the poor guy. If he were revived in time, I am sure he would have regreted of not having done the medical test (if he had not done it)
....nobody wants to die, right? So, in order to avoid it in sports, which is leisure, there must be prevention. Yes, we can die behind a wheel while driving...sudden deaths occur...but mostly we have to drive to go to any place everyday.
My physio, who is neurologist too, always tell me that people are not aware of the danger of pushing the body into the limits...if we are not really well trained, even a marathon, not even a IM, is really harmful for our hearts...the same as any other muscle which is not trained properly...So, whenI see people planning to do a marathon with a 6 months training plan, I just think, madness!!!

I am not giving my opinion to convince anyone. I take care of myself....just putting some perpective into these deaths in triathlon. I take the path of caring to enjoy the sport for years...
I dont do IM, but it is not a joke...

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

Gentlemen's bet that ITU will not impose a requirement for Age Groupers to obtain medical screening and provide signed proof of medical health before the end of 2021.

The fallacy of your argument is that it seems directed at me personally and is only focused solely on cost while missing the time burden (aka hassle). And contrary to your opinion, the demand for ITU WC participation is not infinitely price inelastic. I've been a member of the unofficial Team USA facebook page for several years and see more and more griping about the cost burden, and hard decisions by people to pass on these events due to cost. This past month USAT increased its "deposit" to lock athlete participation increased from $50 (after many years) to $75 for next year's WC at Almere (deadline to pay is Dec 8). That was just enough to lose a few people who would have otherwise attended. With Team USA frequently being a large percentage of total athlete participation, apart from the country hosting, ITU needs to watch U.S. numbers closely.

And personally, I am heading to Almere for 2020, but have already wrtitten off Townsville for 2021 as I would rather spend the time and money on a European cycling tour.