This winning strategy is smart, and in no way is it poor sportsmanship.
However, I’m not sure that drafting someone in the run is really going to work. If he is wanting to win he will run hard early to crack you
At a particular duathlon, I had these choices in two successive years. The first year, I got passed on the second run by a guy in my AG (I suspected). I was hurting. We passed a guy who encouraged me to go after him. At first I declined, but then with less than a mile I said to the guy “let’s get him!”. We worked to catch him, then I dropped him (he was a younger guy) and caught up to the first guy. I sat on his feet until about 200yds to go, then sprinted for all I was worth, and beat him by about :03. Got the AG win and some Waterford crystal.
Next year this race was the Regional championships, and I knew my main competitor was a drop-dead TTer from Virginia who would crush me on the bike, but I knew I was a faster runner. So, I did the first run as fast as I could, and pushed the bike all out to stay in front as long as possible. The deficit off the bike was small enough that I knew I had him, so once I passed him (and looked for anyone else), I ran it in at a pace that didn’t risk blowing up.
It’s a race. Races are meant to be won.
I see nothing lame or unsportsmanlike about it at all. That’s the kind of tactic that sport is supposed to be about in the first place, even if we AGers don’t get to experience it as much. At its best, triathlon uses brains as well as physiological talent.
Of course, if the tactic is to work, you would have to be pretty sure (perhaps based on past race results) that the competitor in question doesn’t happen to be an even better runner than you are.
If you have ever really been in a race (of any type), the premise of your question is fairly silly. For all the “racing” triathletes talk about, very very few have ever actually “raced” in the true winner takes all sense. If winning is the goal, anyting within the rules is ethical to achieve that goal.
Whether or not slowing down to keep your competition in sight on the run is a good tactic is subject to debate but using tactics at the expense of doing your “best time” is normal in any racing situation from running to racing cars. To the extent a racer goes as fast as they can and shoots for their best time, that is usually done because they have decided that that is their best tactic to place as high as they possibly can. Even in those instances where they go as fast as they can even when they don’t have to to win, that is done with an eye to future races and getting a guage on their conditioning so even that is a tactic.
Dang, just let the 13 year old girl finish ahead of you. She’s not in your age-group.
Chris
Uhhh. . . It’s a race. Winning it is not poor sportsmanship.
Now, if you’re asking me what style of racing I admire more, I like the races that are all out. That has nothing to do with sportsmanship, though. There’s nothing ethically questionable about tactical racing.
if it’s a sprint I would go all out as trained - you never know what might happen in a short distance. BTW, does this competitor know you exist and are obsessed with him/her?
I suppose I’m still stuck in the AG/marathoner mentality, where going all-out is the only satisfying and productive means of achievement. Racing anything but the clock is still somewhat of a foreign concept to me. I keep getting this image of the bird that follows other larger birds, tugs on their tail feathers mid-flight, causing them to drop their prey, then swoops in & flies off with the bounty.
BTW, does this competitor know you exist and are obsessed with him/her?
It’s an official smackdown challenge. Winner takes all.
Sit & kick only works if you have superior finishing speed. I have had guys sit on me in sprints for a whole 5k only to see me gap them and win by 10 seconds because they couldn’t run a fast 400m… 
Be sure of your abilities (and his) before employing this strategy or you may very well lose the kick even though you are “fresher” than your opponent.
I was thinking the same thing. If you’re tailing them they’re controlling in the race. they can slow down to a pace that is comfortable for them and have plenty left for a kick. Unless you’re 100% they’re redlining and trying to drop you you better KNOW you can out kick them and by a chunk too.
What I don’t get here is IF you can out swim them, out bike them and the OP’s best discipline is running, then the only way the other guy has a chance is if he’s a better runner, right? But if you’re planning on hanging on comfortably and breezing by him in the end this indicates the OP is a better runner also. If this is the case then go out do a hard effort and you should win, no strategy needed.
What am I missing here?
~Matt
sphere,
When I first read this thread I was thinking along the same lines as LorenzoP. I see no problem with these tactics so long as the other person is aware that there is a “full-blown smackdown” in progress. I suppose it changes something if it is one of those quiet, one-sided rivalries.
Bernie
Make sure you stare them down like Lance when you pass.
LOL! My wife tried that during a ride the other day. It kinda loses its effect coming from a button-nosed cutie flying by at 17mph. I almost fell off the bike, I was laughing so hard.