Swim was shortened to 1000M, so at the start of the bike top 20+ men separated by only 90 seconds. Greg Harper and Mark Dubrick led the swim, Sam and Ari around 20 and 23rd.
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If it was 1000m the water must have been moving! Lopes swam 8:05!
Maybe 666m.
At mile 20 Seth Rider to the front, Sam in 5th only 30 seconds back. Ari in 10th 1:45 back.
Sam at the front and Seth staying with him.
You know it’s a world champs field when B Zorgnotti is fighting for the podium 
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Saw that this morning on the IM app. Props to IM for doing any type of swim, considering there was a rip tide warning in effect. Swim was canceled the year I raced due to a rip tide warning.
Ari 6:30 back in T2
yes ,it was initially shortened to 1000m and then again shortened.
Does anybody know the bike course distance? Clearly short, but by how much?
Bike wasn’t shortened. Course looks normal
Though 8.6 and Seth hanging tough :27 back from Sam
I didn’t mean shortened, just shorter than the nominal 90 km. Considering Long rode 1:49:32, Zorgnotti 1:50:38 and Rider 1:51:07. To compare to Long’s fastest previous 70.3 bike splits as far as I can see is 1:55:14 at a pan flat 70.3 Eagleman. 1:49:32 for a full 90 km would be 49.3 km/h, 2.5 km/h faster than his Eagleman split (this is assuming that Eagleman was 90 km, which I haven’t verified).
Rider keeping Long honest.
How did Klau suddenly lose 4 minutes (exactly) on the bike?
Lewis the clear beneficiary of a swim only 1/3 of the designated length. She was 'only 85 seconds down starting the bike. Averages 4:47 down in 70.3s, according to the PTN Danielle Lewis page.
Swam well but lost >11 minutes to Lewis on the bike.
Alexander has overtaken Lewis on the run, but Lewis normally a better runner, by minutes. Lewis caught Alexander 6 weeks ago in Oceanside and they had a tussle in the last mile.
Something’s wrong: even Lopes is gaining on Lewis, Three athlete race, like the men’s.
Mark the Shark 2:30 back in 3rd. Would have been interesting if they had the full swim. Now Sam can roll into a downriver swim at Chatty:
Fair thought. I know the elevation is huge compared to Eagleman, but it’s also pancake flat. I drive those roads regularly and it’s not bad. They might’ve had good wind (no wind?).
I guess we’ll hear what Lewis’ problem was on the run: many minutes below par.
Lopes very nearly chased Alexander down: 20 seconds in it at the end.
Ex-short course Kazakstani athlete Shabalina was fastest runner of the day (1:19) which earned her #4.
Sam Long put it on Strava. 89.31km, so not really short at all. Crazy fast ride.
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That’s very fast! I think it’s easily the fastest (by average speed) 70.3 split we’ve seen. I guess we’ll get confirmation soon enough.
Looks very much like a case of a wind shift / pick up on the way back. (Just speculation, obvs)