I did laugh when Frodo rocked the commentary in what work out shorts and a t-shirt.
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Speaking of LCB, she is another cyclist like Knibb who was known for not having the best handling skills. So we can’t just simply blame the course. This win was super impressive. We obviously don’t know how Knibb approached this race in her training block, but I would not have expected LCB to be able to beat Knibb over this distance.
I did wonder with all three off the bike at the same time if Knibb would crack first.
Maybe Knibb has really planned out the season and it’s going for a win in the overall series, plus Kona, plus Marbella. Can’t expect to have all that plus clean up every single race unless your last name is Blumenfelt.
The odd thing for Knibb it wasn’t that she didn’t win. It was imo how she lost. She basically never did “knibb” things today, and if you thought Knibb would be the 1st to crack of those 3, you were in the minority. Maybe she’s just checking the boxes with T100 (as she preps for Kona and figuring out the IM game) and wants to win but if she finishes 2nd overall, so be it because her bigger goal(s) is Kona + 70.3 worlds? So she’s just doing the least amount of work for the best result, I mean by default she’s basically always going to be at the front by T2 so with any lead she can essentially control the bleeding so to speak, and very few people are going to outrun the gaps they are creating. So it’s almost like by default a “meh” Knibb is going to be at worse a podium spot? Even a muted Knibb is hard to beat, and probaly the biggest win of the day for her was when LCB passed Waugh.
As I said in the race thread, for 1 hour on the run Waugh was LCB’s biggest cheerleader hoping she’d hold on for 2nd over Knibb, and then on the last lap Knibb became LCB’s biggest cheerleader hoping she’d hold on toe beat Waugh, as she was suddenly becoming the pivotal points difference.
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Knibb things she didn’t do:
Dominate on the bike.
Crash
Use the Porta Potty (that we saw?)
Knibb things she did do:
Give away free time fumbling in transition.
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What more stories do you need? Maybe it’s an American thing with short attention spans needing all the distractions you are accustomed to with NFL/NBA but omg the racing in both the men’s and the women’s was absolutely epic.
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Short attention span and watching triathlon for 4 hours on the bike don’t go hand in hand. But perhaps reading comprehension is a skill they didn’t teach in Xenophobia 101.
So close racing, come from behind wins, a guy coming back only 90 days from a major accident isn’t enough for you… Maybe try something more inline with your needs…
Bigger issue Knibb didn’t do today. She didn’t reach her 4th min race. Derron has and now has a great chance to offset a 12th place with a podium or win in FR. Waugh also will have her 4th race by FR. That leaves Knibb either racing 1 week after Kona or 1 week after 70.3 worlds, and then she’s going to need likely a podium to “hold serve” to the Wuagh and Derron as well (on tired legs). Assume she won’t want to race 1 week after Kona, so she’s going to race the last T100 as 3rd race in 5 weeks.
But if Derron/Waugh and others skip the last T100 race, I guess that can make it easier for Knibb. Waugh though isn’t racing the IM’s that the other 2 are, her last race will be the WTCS/T100 Wollogong weekend, so she’d have a month to rest/decide to do it and force Knibb to race harder, etc.
Felt the same, but didn’t blame production. I thought the women’s race was just a lot more interesting than the men’s, as is often the case. Lead changes on the bike, how far off the front Knibb is, etc. The only story I saw in the men’s was [puts on a Jess Learmonth accent] “Hairden Wayled” and his chase on the run.
Ya, it’s bizarre I was actually questioning it myself if you read the post instead of jumping to get a dig in.
But something about the broadcast, as great as it was didn’t leave me excited to stick around for the men. That’s the point I was making. It felt anticlimactic after the women… err finished 
One of these days you all will respect Knibb’s swim. If you want to bag on her though still, those transitions are abysmal. Spend all that effort to hang with Lucy and then give it away in the blink of an eye mucking around the two transitions. You would think someone from ITU would know better, but suppose she has always been bad, just usually can make up for them.
But not on her bad days(or tired ones), so those few seconds cost a lot of matches and angst to close them down. Heard her interview on she felt shit, be interesting to hear her power numbers that probably go with it. Really stocked for Lucy. I had made the comment that when she could find the power to ride with the leaders, she was going to be dangerous. Guess she got there sooner rather than later…
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I’m guessing it’s was the 4.5 hours on the bike more than anything. You could have a new flash that aliens had landed and it would hardly get my attention after long bouts on the trainer…
Is there a specific reason which gender goes first or second within T100’s procedures? (does it flip flop each round of races? Vanc the men went 1st, can’t remember Singapore) I know after the '24 SF sprint finish, that sorta led to a “oh yeah there’s a women’s race…but oh yeah it’s a solo knibb all day”. But atleast this race had Wilde’s epic comeback story.
I was there, where we could find areas to spectate out on the course it was absolutely rammed. Shame those areas were limited in number and hard to locate.
True the Frodeno+Vicki+real announcer/commetator guy is such a good combo.
The comms guy narrates so well and Vicki is very knowledgeable about the scene and Jan represents the pro athlete part very well.
I liked the banter of vicki saying “huub” when him and jan was not in full agreement on the wetsuits 
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These two are hilarious…English subtitles needed for English girls speaking English.
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I’ll not disrespect Knibb’s swim again. Do you think she’ll hold onto LCB’s feet in Kailua Bay? Will they then ride togther?
If LCB can run like that (for 26 miles) in October, after a hard ride where she’s extended the swim gap from Philipp, Derron, Loevseth and Matthews. she’s heading for a Kona repeat and nowt anyone else can do anything about it: scary - shades of St George 70.3WC 2021. Even if Knibb gaps her on the bike, I guess LCB will be confident of pulling back the almost rookie (full distance; Knibb) and staying away from the chasers-in-vain (Matthews and Philipp, in that order).
I don’t think there is any chance Knibb stsys on LCB’s feet for the IM non-wetsuit distance. Although a week ago I was wondering would a 45s gap matter. Now I’m wondering just what has happened to both Knibb and LCB yesturday. I don’t know which athlete’s performance I’m more “shocked” by at London actually. It always feels like LCB is coming back from a “niggle” even though I guess this whole year she’s been sorta racing well (sorta B level races + T100 results). Knibb seemed flat all day, but could it be for various training reasons, so hard to know what it was, but it just for the 1st time seemed like a muted Knibb.
Watching the swim it looked like Knibb and Waugh were sorta 1 strong stroke from the elastic breaking and a 10s gap form on the 2nd lap. Which I guess wouldn’t have mattered much, Knibb would have easily closed that type of gap, maybe Waugh couldn’t, but it never materialized.
Have we been fed ‘niggle’ excuses this season, so far? The T100 skip of SF was to facilitate her IMWC validation in Lanza.
LCB ‘had’ to race Eagleman, quite hard by choice, to almost last gasp validate for Marbella. A week later that will have adversely affected her ride/run in Vancouver (she lost 5 minutes to Knibb on the bike and then ran same speed as her).
See my more general comment in the ‘full year T100’ thread.
What a man Frodeno. There at 6.30 to shake every single person’s hand at the start, high-fiving in T1 and hanging around.
Rico Bogen giving medals. Pretty special stuff you don’t really get at Ironman races.
Very very sleek organization. This race used to be a total mess when organized under different banners.
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