Hah, I just meant my opinion for nominations matter.
But the vote count I can’t tamper with.
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Winning a world title, Olympic Gold and Bronze to become the most decorated Olympic triathlete in history, isn’t worth being nominated for?
Prety mental of ST!
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You have your criteria, other people have theirs. Such is debate. 
Conversely I find the dismissal of Olympic champions in an “of the Year” thread quite humourous.
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The olympic champion being “dismissed” only really happen in a sport like triathlon where for the most part, the Olympic format is the most foreign side of the sport. I honestly can’t think of another sport that has such drastic differences in the olympic format vs the majority of the sport.
It literally would be like if basketball removed 5 on 5 and only went to the 3 person pick up style it now has just added to the olympics. Every organized game on the planet is always 5 on 5. DL is such a weird almost over the top exclusivity part of the sport, that I think for the most part, the Olympics for triathlon within the sport itself always plays second fiddle to IM. Yet within non-sports people or even non-triathlon fans Olympics obviously takes a way bigger precendence (obviously).
This is basically it. Alex Yee and Cassandre Baugrand were 100% DL triathletes of the year. But it is different. Neither would stand any chance at IM distance. Truly should be two awards - there’s zero way to compare them fairly SC and LC…
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For the record I voted CB, I wouldn’t argue against Knibb, Yee actually achieved more than CB though by winning an Olympic bronze medal, so for the admin of ST to overlook this by saying no male athlete came close to these three, is again a bit mad.
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Why cut the other half of the sentence Monty???
It has to be Beaugrand. Gold at Olympics, World Champion and undefeated all season.
Agree that Yee was overlooked for consideration, but to say that he achieved more is a bit of a stretch.
Beaugrand got 4th in the mixed team relay in Paris after her teammate was crashed into. A medal looks a lot better than a non-medal, but I wouldn’t call 4th after a crash easier to pull off than 3rd without a crash.
She also won all three WTCS she competed in. Yee started in three and indeed won two but “only” finished 3rd in the grand final.
Not really going to argue with CB performing better than Yee, she definitely did (to my surprise certainly) id also argue womens Oly distance was far more competitive than the mens.
But again, an Olympic Gold, Bronze and World title AND becoming the most decorated Olympic triathlete, over the Gold and world title.
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Actually thought about this, and taking my women’s Oly distance womens, being far more competitive take back.
This isn’t doing Wilde the justice he deserves, who I reckon is as a good/fast as any triathlete theres been not named Brownlee and Gomez.
So for Yee to consistently beat him is probably another thing going under appreciated.
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I can see the argument for both - but someone else said it - draft legal isn’t really the triathlon to the rest of the triathlon world. It’s incredibly hard to find age group DL racing. So therefore, in the triathlon that “we” do - has to be Knibb. But also, Taylor didn’t hold a candle to CB at DL. But hard to argue CB could be close to Taylor in T100 or 70.3 but we just don’t know because she hasn’t stepped up.
Agree with the Yee thing - much better year than Kat.
Kat figured out a way to come away with a Queen’s ransom though, and well done for that!!
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You are welcome to your opinion, the non-US world is welcome to theirs.
No one in their right mind would swap an Olympic gold medal for an IMWC medal. It’s literally the pinnacle of sporting humanity.
IMHO of course.
Basketball and other team/US centric sports are irrelevant to this discussion, as is format. The people who could compete for Olympic gold did, those who couldn’t, didn’t and some of those decided to look at long course instead.
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The format is actually not irrelevant to the discussion. It’s the whole reason why our sport on an entirity is “IM” focused. I didn’t say that an gold medal would swap for an IM WC. I simply said that on a whole DL takes a second fiddle to IM and again we are one of the few sports in the entire sporting humanity that does a complete different format than the “normal” sport of triathlon is at the highest event of it’s sport the Olympics. You bet your ass that makes a difference and is an issue within our sport.
Again the rules and setup of ITU (swim requirements + lap out rules) is so setup to create such exclusivity in the athlete requirements that it’s basically closed off process for 90% of the world. Just look at how few federations can actually compete in the olympics. It’s a format of racing that so few people can even wrap their head around, so our sport will always be non-draft focused. Again that’s not to say the olympics isn’t the best and it’s the biggest goal. It’s just that our sport is beyond weird in that our olympic format and the format that every triathlon is, is not the same. That’s not the case for basically any other sport.
Your welcome to your opinion as well, but you thinking our sport “as a whole” isn’t IM focused or non-draft focused tells me you havent’ been around this sport long. I just don’t think you can then say the format doesn’t matter in our sport’s particular case, with how drastic a difference DL vs non-draft is within our sport. For the most part, itu likely gets the least amount of coverage and “respect” and again it’s only a big deal with the big races. How often has interviews been with non-draft athletes vs DL athletes, etc across the media?
In track terms - the Olympic triathlon is like the steeplechase while all the other distance running events are non draft tri lol…
Olympic triathletes aren’t necessarily the best triathletes, they are the best at DL tri. They do not always translate, as you well know.
I respect your opinion on lots of tri related things, but I do need to call out that when the non-drafting sport you describe requires a special bike, probably $10,000, and a trip to Kona, also probably $10,000 for “90% of the world”, that calling out exclusivity of Olympic triathlon is a flawed argument.
And with that, I will step down from my soap box and patiently await the short course triathlete of the year award. Which Yee will win. 
Rest assured he has my vote, if nominated. Who knows, maybe I’ll sleep better if I register a few more accounts to shore up Alex’s result 
I promise to stop beating on a dead horse soon…
I think you have missed the point of what actual exclusivity is. No where in the sport of non-draft are you required to spend that much on bikes nor are you required to go to Kona when you become a triathlete. If it’s been added to the rule book, please let me know. ITU has very specific “demands of competition” along with the specific multi loop format they have on the bike that creates a very specific fitness level that is needed in order to race and finish. That’s not debatable, that’s not my opinion, that’s the requirements of ITU. Now yes non-draft as “time cut offs” as well, but those are very very generous that for the most part any low fitness athlete can generally finish them. Yes things happen where people are cut etc but that level of exclusivity and the level that ITU has are not even in the same zip code, and to think they are makes that argument look silly and not even worthy of discussion.
But ITU at the basic level has race standards and course formats that make it impossible for anyone without real fitness levels to race in ITU. And that’s at the basic level of continental cup races that have no fancy broadcasts or blue carpets.
Now I get why they created 5km bike loops that takes 8 mins a lap, etc for the entertainment of it, but that course specific formatting means your sport is stuck with growing on an international level. Non-draft’s “course cutoffs” are very very very genrous for most people, that if you are at a very basic level of fitness, you can get close to not getting cut off. ITU’s “course cutoffs” are unachieable for anyone not at a strong level of fitness in the swim and then bike.
You may think you need a $10k bike, and that’s fine. That’s your opinion and viewpoint on the sport from your POV, but I’ve seen people do this sport on beach cruisers and make the finish line. There is 100% a required fitness level in order to race and finish in ITU. That’s not an opinion, that’s fact. That’s the issue and it’s made worse by the specific format they have chosen for our sport (multi lap bike courses). It creates great broadcasting but has severely limited the development of many athletes because of the format only. They don’t have to make multi lap course but that’s the format they went with. The big downfall is that it makes it so exclusive and really cuts off from “growing” the sport internationally outside about 8-12 countries.
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The world is s larger place than the US. I would bet that there are more draft legal races world wide than non draft legal. In Europe most certainly.
I would certainly vote this for dumbest triathlon comment of the year. No other men or woman or whatever other dozens of genders comment could ever come close.
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I would bet there are more non drafting than drafting races in Europe.
The super series in GB, French Div league races and German Div league races are the only ones I know off the top of my head as draft legal (outside of ITU races). Most AGer races are non drafting.