Let me rephrase- Turner is now in Boulder to coach GJ (he was back home when she called him for a “in person chat”)
ETA: Turner and GJ had an awesome coach/athlete relationship. Whatever happened to him with the Aus federation, is what it is. But the relationship between GJ and Tuner was/is rock solid.
Let me rephrase- Turner is now in Boulder to coach GJ (he was back home when she called him for a “in person chat”)
ETA: Turner and GJ had an awesome coach/athlete relationship. Whatever happened to him with the Aus federation, is what it is. But the relationship between GJ and Tuner was/is rock solid.
Well, this will be interesting.
I wish her the best, but I have serious doubts about her ability to qualify for the MTR team because it requires a high top end. And the US girls are so fast. But I’ll be pulling for her.
Her lack of self-awareness has always been a strong suit. You’d think her team would do better, but as we’ve seen that hasn’t been the case. If she has a future in tri it is not MTR or short course.
Perhaps a penance is required for how much she put down triathlon?
A few people mentioned that she was disdainful toward triathlon when she made the switch to running. I don’t know much about the story. I went back and read a few interviews from around the time she left triathlon, but didn’t find anything. Can anyone explain what she said/ did?
Yawn. Cant think of anything less interesting.
She was burnt out. Wanted to start a family and triathlon was too time consuming. Now with a couple kids maybe she’s motivated by Chelsea Sodaro win and focused on strong moms? Maybe her YouTube started tanking and she sees a growth opportunity as Triathlon switches to “Moms that Tri”?
i’m stuck on this line of thinking. so what’s her play? i imagine that macca might be interested in letting her race superleague. that could be the best training for MTR.
doesn’t do anything for her ranking, though. . .
Personally I think this gives her another 2 years with sponsors and is just that.
Her lack of self awareness will likely be her downfall. She is returning to a sport that she treated with contempt when she left. The sport has moved on and she will have to rise to that.
I don’t think she will be on the start line. Taylor and Taylor, Ackerman, Katie Z and possibly Summer R will all be in the queue in front of her. Plus whoever else pops up through the development rankings. Your women are outrageously strong.
If she works with Jamie Turner after the scandal at Tri Aus she is extremely foolish.
There are worse things once greats can do to remain relevant, like say, go on Piers Morgan and burn bridges and fake cry at the World Cup, so… Good luck to her but based on the response here this is a dud move. It may provide some content and fodder for a future book and speaking engagements but the sport has moved on.
Has Specialized ditched 40 ‘ambassadors’ just to be able to fund a few bikes for GJ for 2 years?
Yawn. Cant think of anything less interesting.
I respect anyone that goes out and sets their sights on something they want to accomplish. Succeed or not athletes take gambles and strive for a new level.
For Gwen for whatever reason it seems she is chases fame, sponsors and just does not want to retire and go back to a career outside of sport. That’s the vibe I have had since 2017.
When she switched to running, pretty much every (frequently triathlon focused) podcast she went on she talked about how she didn’t chose triathlon, it chose her, how she hated swimming, etc., really always thought she was a runner, and was generally very negative about triathlon as a sport. I think she was likely just burnt out but with her aforementioned lack of self awareness it just came across as super negative and trashing the sport that had given her all her success and an audience in the first place. I know I found it kinda jarring and disappointing.
I know she certainly didn’t have the success she was hoping for in running -** still pretty close to 15 minutes in the 5k isn’t bad**! If she can bring that speed back into triathlon, where she seemed to be able to run close to her ‘open’ running when on form, good things could happen. Has she been swimming and riding regularly? I guess she has 4-5 months to get that fitness back before the WTCS season starts in the spring. I’m interested to see how she fares**. There have been lots of moms who have come back even stronger** - look at Chelsea Sodaro and Keira D’Amato as examples - so there is precedent. It will be fun to see, if she can make it back.
I’ve known about Gwen back to tri for a while but I personally want Lauren Goss to go back to tri. They both live in Boulder and have some good rivalry. They were both products of the 2010 USAT recruitment class. I know Lauren won’t, but she destroyed Gwen in running in 2021. Now in 2022 she just ran her first half and was sub 1:10 and set a course record, then she ran her first marathon and finish 2nd in national champs with a 2:27 in her first full. Lauren was always a good swimmer too. Supposedly Lauren is now going for an Olympic Marathon spot but it would be cool to see the two moms push each other in triathlon.
Yeah, she didn’t say anything really terrible on the surface, at least that I heard. But as a triathlon fan, hearing the person you’ve been cheering for for the past few years say they don’t like your sport was a little off-putting.
Is the US guaranteed 3 spots for women? Or is that still to be determined?
It sounds like a tall feat for gwen with some other fast americans she will have to beat out. I’m going to go ahead and predict she doesn’t make the team and isn’t even in the final running for a spot.
i’m stuck on this line of thinking. so what’s her play? i imagine that macca might be interested in letting her race superleague. that could be the best training for MTR.
doesn’t do anything for her ranking, though. . .
Personally I think this gives her another 2 years with sponsors and is just that.
Her lack of self awareness will likely be her downfall. She is returning to a sport that she treated with contempt when she left. The sport has moved on and she will have to rise to that.
I don’t think she will be on the start line. Taylor and Taylor, Ackerman, Katie Z and possibly Summer R will all be in the queue in front of her. Plus whoever else pops up through the development rankings. Your women are outrageously strong.
If she works with Jamie Turner after the scandal at Tri Aus she is extremely foolish.
There are worse things once greats can do to remain relevant, like say, go on Piers Morgan and burn bridges and fake cry at the World Cup, so… Good luck to her but based on the response here this is a dud move. It may provide some content and fodder for a future book and speaking engagements but the sport has moved on.
I don’t think it’s a dud as much as she maintains this social media presence of she can do anything. Which I understand at that level that is the mental piece you have to have, but the verbalization of that mentality is off putting at this point after she completely blew up in the I’m going to win Gold in the Marathon messaging.
If I was any of the top 4 women right now who have been kicking ass since Gwen left, I’d be saying go F yourself if you think you’re taking my spot. Gwen used to also have a mental presence in the bike pack of shit if she’s still with us I’m screwed. That is gone too now. None of the women care what she did five years ago from a competition standpoint. She’s gonna have to reprove she deserves to be there. That’s a hard sell.
This is all coming from someone who has always been a big fan of hers. These announcements are just moronic.
Yawn. Cant think of anything less interesting.
yet it was interesting enough that you commented
I love Gwen and some of her races were the most remarkable individual performances we have see in ITU.
Coming back and saying she’s going to make MTR is as much of a slap in the face to other athletes as saying she was going to make the Olympic Marathon team and win.
She’s trying to recreate what she did in the sport in a sport that has gotten deeper than when she races while being 5+ years out of prime short course ability.
She should race long course and I think she would be great. But we’re going to miss out on how great she could be by doing something that is likely to fail again. It’s beyond confusing why she keeps trying to hammer a square peg in a round hole while having the ability to be an awesome square peg in a square hole.
I don’t think she would be great at long course but she could be relevant enough to make some decent money. She’s not going beat Lucy, Knibb, Daniela, Paula, etc… but she could be competitive enough to win or podium some regional races. The biking in long course has evolved just as much as WTS if not more. Especially on the women’s side. Gwen would struggle on the bike in long course and it would take some significant time spent on the saddle and working on her position, equipment, and nutrition to get anywhere close where she would need to be.
Is the US guaranteed 3 spots for women? Or is that still to be determined?
It sounds like a tall feat for gwen with some other fast americans she will have to beat out. I’m going to go ahead and predict she doesn’t make the team and isn’t even in the final running for a spot.
It would be a massive success to be in the 10 American women given the current quality and depth.
Pro Tri News podcast with Gwen: https://podcasts.apple.com/nz/podcast/episode-101-gwen-jorgensen-is-back/id1559781865?i=1000590038765
.
My take:
-She has a chance because imo there’s only really 2 athletes who I think are the favorites to make the team- Spivey and Knibb
-Rappaport will have to likely. “earn” her way onto the team by an auto qualification (she did that in Tokyo so it’s possible). She’s also changed coaches to work with Knibb’s squad and coach. If she gets the bike figured out, Rapp imo is an individual medal favorite. She just sucks at the bike that much that she’s always shelled off and then her runs have been no longer great.
I believe Kirsten Kasper should be included along with Rappaport. Kasper has been the better biker of the two and the swim and run have been a wash for the most part. Kasper has had better results in the recent future…outside of her DNF is Bermuda.