Here’s the full race:
Scroll to 25 minutes: just before the turn onto the Kitzbüheler Horn
Luis, Gomez, Van Riel, Schoeman, McNamee, Kanute, Murray, Clarke, Toth, Le Corre, Heemeryck also feature, as does Shepley (legend).
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They’ve selected some great Ali performances on Triathlon Live, and ill get round to binge watching them next week, to have a moan though (this is slowtwitch!) Its a shame to not have anything from 2009 on there.
His most dominant year, before any of the injuries started, was winning races any way he wanted from memory?
Check out the run times for the grand final. The fastest wasn’t Yee or Wilde, it was Hugo Milner. Remains to be seen if he can ever get his bike up to the required level and still maintain that run. Will be potentially interesting though.
As far as Alistair and Alex Yee, I like them both but have a feeling that if Ali and Alex were going head to head in Ali’s prime, Ali would win . He would simply make sure that Yee never saw the front of the race.
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The mere fact that Yee’s name is on everyone’s lips as challenging Ali’s legacy is honour enough. His story is still being writ and I’m happy to see how it unfolds without judgement.
I think one day racing is where it’s at with triathlon, leave the leagues for team sports.
AB just inspirational and massively entertaining to watch, his book was inspirational too but I’d love to see him put a biography out.
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Agreed with Alistair, Jonny and Gomez racing he’d be racing for 4th, I don’t think he makes the front pack in the majority of races.
I just watched it on the trainer, awesome race.
Best point is when he stopped at the top of the run before the finish line, turned back and surveyed the carnage he left behind him. What a legend.
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But this would a little depend if prime yee races in Ali area
Or prime Ali races now .
Ie yee in the Vargas area likely no chance nowadays it would be tighter and the swim density is higher nowadays . Nobody swims as fast as Vargas did but the slower world series swimmers are better now
And in fairness Yee has become pretty good at swimming and cycling .
I would say he would beat Johnny and Javier more often then they beat him
And of course Yee is not even prime prime yet …
Depends, if you put prime Ali in this era I think he can get the French to work with him and the break has a much higher chance of sticking, Ali is going to make that bike much harder regardless, then it comes down to who has the better run of the two off a hard bike.
If prime Gomez and Jonny follow Ali into this era than again I think Yee is racing for 4th most races.
i would not underestimate the influence of the likes of vargas and learmouth
and of course the brits realiced how important vargas was and in a way had him on the payroll.
And of course Yee is not even prime prime yet …
That to me is what is most impressive about AB’s career. The dude was in his “prime” starting at almost age 20-21 years old. At 20 years old the guy was pushing the pace at the Olympics what w/ 2km to go (fell off at the end). He basically didn’t need much “development” that we see with most athletes.
To this day I use the Rio Olympics 1st 5 mins after T1 as one of the biggest teaching moments to young athletes to make them understand what “demands of competition” really means in itu. Very few people realize Mario Mola was the last person in the “front group” at T1, only to be miss the break cus of the hill. Revisionist history would have been a fun drag race to see Mola vs BB’s (of course Gomez would have been there too since he wouldn’t have missed if we are doing revisiionist history)
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i agree
on the other hand one could argue had A B played his cards smarter he would have had a longer career and the very least would have won a few 70.3 world titles . and one could argue last weekend he did is first smart race above the oly distance , and suddenly he did well by not starting the run like a lunatic.
at the end of the day it does not happen too often that athletes win junior under 23 and senior world titles and long course. so iam not sure if this was actually better to so good so early or . at the same time his character was like this all out all the time
and of course he was one of the first that really developed as a triathlete while you was nore a runner getting into triathlon
i guess there is no definite pathway but overall i do prefer it when athletes are not maxed out too early . and from an financial standpoint junior and under 23 titles are a bit of a waste and there is a possibility had it been posible to built up ali slower he could have been a bit more resilient and less injury prone . total speculation of course
at the same time we have somebody on this forum that has the inside and it would be bloody interesting to get his perspective on this one day .
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Your pathway is going to be defined by your ability. It’s just insane that AB came into the sport from day 1 with basically top 3 swim / top 3 bike / top 3 run. Again the dude was basically 20 years old racing at the front of the senior level of our sport. It’s almost stupid to think about, it makes no sense, especially in a sport that has such specific diverse demands of competition for 3 different sports. How many strong swimmers do we know that can’t run for shit at itu level. Yee’s “development” is classic- strong asf runner who can’t swim and has to take years to develop that…that is basically the prototype that most coach’s look for (swim just enough to make chase group and then develop that swim over years). AB basically never had to “develop” in the sport at the senior level, it’s almost unthinkable. And so I don’t think they did his career wrong. I think they did exactly what your suppose to do, take the reins off a prodigy and ride that stalllion til the wheels fall off. Hell he had over a decade at the front of the highest racing in the world; so be it his long course career “suffered” because of that.
I also don’t think Frodo leaves ITU unless he was forced to by AB’s racing tactics. Like I think for the most part, Frodo really brought the “full career” and was one of the 1st since the Olympics became so important in the sport. There are so many top athletes who stayed through their prime in ITU- Reider / AB / Gomez / Murray etc. But again for the most part especially prior to T100, athletes didn’t leave ITU until they were basically “maxed” out. IE- it’s the old saying, you don’t leave ITU, ITU leaves you behind.
I think ITU for the front of race athletes is much better career decision than IM is (only issue is we are talking about it being good for truly about 10 athletes per gender; you finish 14th in ITU, you “suck” and don’t even make money that would have covered the travel…yes I know the travel is paid for by feds) , even though IM gives you more flexibility and freedom. But those front of pack athletes who max out ITU race salaries 5-8 times a year + get paid full time to train, it’s a no brainer you max that out (add in SL now for the top ITU athletes, Yee imo would be dumb to ever touch a TT bike seriously for years to come). Again there is no way Frodo leaves for IM unless he had to…he basically admits that all the time…That’s where T100 coming in is going to be really cool to see from an pro development side of the sport. (And yes I would tell Taylor Knibb to go LC and never look back…go win 5 Kona’s and 7 T100/70.3 titles and follow your “true calling” until she gets bored or starts a family).
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just wanted to put this up in this thread, besides his biggest wins, his Julie Moss/kathleen McCartney modern day moment was quite something.
And yes he is the greatest short course athlete of all time, including todays athletes. he could and did literally win races in any of the 3 sports, and would often just do something crazy because he could. there was no answer to his dominance and no one today would have had that answer in his day…
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Yes you are quite right, I don’t think anyone today is on Ali’s prime level.
Just rewatching Leeds 2016, in which Ali drops back to get his brother on the bike. Extreme confidence or brotherly love? Or a bit of both?
By the way, the crowds in Leeds that year were tremendous. Almost Olympic level. That’s was the Brownlee factor.
I watched this again while on the trainer this morning. I think the funniest part is Aaron Royle’s facial reaction when Al went back!
It’s incredible to think he could just play with the bike like that, when today’s WTCS crop can rarely even manage a breakaway. Yes, it probably does reflect an overall improvement in the field’s bike ability, but I had almost forgotten how entertaining it was to watch peak Brownlee.
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I watched the 2016 Cozumel race on the trainer today. What a dramatic finish.
Worth listening to the post race interview with Ali, “I would have done it for anyone” what a class act.
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There were more “technical” courses back in that era that allowed the best bikers to make you pay for not being able to keep up. Hell the early Leeds courses I believe the BB’s built the whole damn courses. There were some easy courses but the ratio was a little better “back in the day” to make the racing actually exciting. It also is a losing battle when the best are in a break and the rest are playing catch up. Fun note for about 2 years they actually had a bike prime award for anyone who could get a break and certain time ahead. I don’t think many got it cus there were like certain stipulations to actually winning it (had to have certain gap and I think it was only up for like “solo” breakaways….it wasn’t going to be awarded to the front break just because they were at front). But of course the London course was I believe a 30 man hand holding after a few bike laps, so it wasn’t all “grown ass men” racing even back then. Shit courses can destroy the fun in race tactics.
I also think those 3 athletes- Gomez + BB sorta ushered in the era of the bike mattering. So obviously that made everyone else play catch up and a new “demands of competition” was created. The front of the swim can only go so fast so it can only get bigger with people which then can create scenarios of too many passengers…and then add in the neutered courses they race on these days.
But of course look at the price tag WT demands on cities now. It’s over $2mi from the host city to host Wtcs race, no duh they are going to put it in the heart of the area they want to showcase. But god almighty the LA Games course is going to suck ass from all the intel I’m hearing (along with the venues they have used as CC’s the past few years to figure out the best location). Knibb already alluded to that when talking about going full time to LC or staying.
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I did say in a way paid didn’t I.
IAM sure it worked well for him to be with them for huub sponsorship that increased his value for instance…