And Lucy.
Thanks has likely been updated as time passes…of course at this point being a “federation” member coach is probaly for the most part, pointless for said coach and many other “successful” coaches.
Perhaps she was sick because she had to work to hard to try and catch up ?
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Yep, “stomach problems” are often code for went harder than their fitness and form on the day allowed.
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I guess the only thing to take away from that is that Elsinore the bike was also not at the level required and at Texas she had been dropped on the bike and losing ground too quickly , as well, before the puncture .
Otherwise not too much to see unless we fall into kB patterns who is the goat when he wins and yesterday apparently was useless as he did not win. and for kona it was good she was not able to obliterate herself on the run y day ,if she tackles the bike a bit more , for once she will not have had a mega season before the ironman worlds.
I guess she was best on bike when she trained a good bit with India lee ( dangerous half backed assumptions)
and maybe also a good wake up call for some of her team that might get a bit to cocky, with statements like , 12 min she can easily run down. Lucy was clearly not in top shape either yesterday swim bike and run but while she might not have shown a really fast marathon yet it’s clear that she has it. and same swim bike effort there is No way anybody runs 12 min into Lucy.
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The thing is,that is an Iron Distance personal best time for Lucy and something like 15 minutes faster than her Roth best and 1-2 minutes faster than Laura’s win last year. It was also a marathon run PR.
Even with the dodgy distances in Roth that isn’t a bad result for an “out of form” athlete who decided to race the week before. She will be a huge favourite in Kona
As for Kat,it will be intetesting to see the debrief.
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Almost. Went sub-2:50 in Ironman Nice 2024, though there had been no threats on the bike whatsoever (aside from two women who had lost 15+ minutes on the swim), as noted by @Ajax_Bay, so you could argue that “counts less” on fresher legs, speculatively.
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publicly, Kona is all that matters 2026.
Or Kat may have been experimenting with a greater carbohydrate consumption than ever before seeking to see if she can intake as much as the Norwegians. That could certainly bite you in the butt if combined with going a bit too hard.
YMMV
Hugh
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Good point. Fits the experimentation-in-Roth pattern that we saw with Lucy Charles and, in respect of bike position, Blummenfelt.
Didn’t Lucy run the London marathon off zero to minimal specific training a few years ago, possibly a week after the SuperTri event in Malibu. Pretty sure she ran a 2:3X so she definitely has room on the run.
Nearly sure it was a 2:47
You’re right, it was 2:47:53… my bad. But off zero preparation as she was racing SuperTri in LA a couple of weeks beforehand as the London race was held in the fall in 2021.
I guess the only out of character in her development is that having been a swimmer for many years the only swim time seems to be a 4.59 for 400 m when she was around 15.
otherwise her trajectory makes a lot of sense
long term swimmer with well developed engine
starts to cycle and run around 2021 ish very low run volume from start but while not a good swimmer according to her did like 22 hour swim weeks so a well developed engine with a strong work ethic.
to add she did almere 2024 pretty much in the same time than David daisy 2025. (2.57 marathon).
and the one thing I rember siffert for is she beat aisleigh gentle in geradmar xl tri ( surely not a key race for gentle) but still to win this race is not insignificant.
obviously, somebody with not a very high vo2 max but an very high lt1 and lt2 compared to vo2 max and in terms of suffering ability at a level with Lucy and Kat .
and to add despite that fact people make fun off her has a natural strenght and does well at the toughest courses.
interesting interview before the race
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlpFv9Klhlo
( my 2 cents she is not a self sabotager)
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Am I detecting an undercurrent of suspicion in this comment?
30+ min improvement has to be one of the biggest improvements from 1 year to the next for an athlete in the top 50 in the world yes (she’s ranked 15th in the world on PTO, I don’t know if that was with this result or before)? I’m not talking about an athlete who walks it in for 20 miles and then next year “races” the entire race; no duh that person will have a much better time. She finished 3rd last year, so she was solid last year and this year just spectacular. I specify that to remove AG level to pro level- you can have “improvements” much easier in those circumstances *generally. She finished 3rd here last year, she basically was shocked at how “unbelievable” her race effort was based on the IG vid I saw earlier posted.
but its not really a 30 min improvemten in one year, its a 20 min improvement over 2 years.
and for sure her run is surprising her bike not.
Your expertise is clearly over my head. 8:41 to 8:09 so what math are you talking about?
You arent surprised she had the fastest bike split over the defending 70.3 World Champion by nearly 2 and a half minutes without using a rear disc wheel?
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she did 8.30, 2024 in her first full