Gwen Jorgensen Gears Up for Miami - Pre-Race Chat and a Look at Her Canyon Aeroad CFR

Triathlon Forum
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Originally published at: Gwen Jorgensen Gears Up for Miami – Pre-Race Chat and a Look at Her Canyon Aeroad CFR - Slowtwitch News

The 2016 Olympic champion doesn’t have a chance to race on American soil too often, so a chance to compete at the Americas Triathlon Cup Miami was a welcome opportunity. Jorgensen arrives in Miami wearing race #1 as the top-ranked woman in the field, and looks to build on her steady improvement since coming back to triathlon in 2023.

“It’s pretty cool to have a race in the US,” she said in an interview after checking out the Miami course. “When I saw that this was. on the calendar and there was no other races, I was like ‘I have to come to this.’ My whole family’s here – my kids are here, my parents are here, so it’s just really fun to have a race here in the United States and see all the next generation here is really exciting as well.”

While Jorgensen didn’t the original goal of her comeback – making it to the Paris Games – she’s not ready to call it a career quite yet.

“I think that, for me, I felt like I was still improving, still getting better every race,” she said. “And, for me, it’s been a whole new challenge, which is one of the reasons I’ve enjoyed making this comeback. I feel like I just haven’t reached my potential in this second go around.”

Jorgensen also seems to be enjoying the challenge of returning to the highest levels of triathlon racing.

“One of the reasons I’ve enjoyed this comeback is it is this big challenge for me, and I’m constantly having to improve and learn,” she said.

Since making that comeback, Jorgensen has enjoyed a lot of success on the World Cup level – she’s won five World Cup races – but hasn’t been able to turn that into top finishes at World Triathlon Championship Series (WTCS) events, with her 12th at last year’s Grand Final being her top finish at that level since her return.

“There’s no easy button, no easy solution (to getting closer to the front at WTCS events),” she said. “I had some good progress in the WTCS races at the end of last season off a broken collarbone – I didn’t have great training.”

One of the big differences for Jorgensen in 2025 will be that as one of the higher ranked American athletes she shouldn’t have any issues getting into the top races.

“I know I can prepare for these races at the WTCS level, and looking to hopefully build upon the end of last season’s momentum,” she said.

While Friday’s race in Miami doesn’t have the same competition Jorgensen will face later this year, she is looking forward to both race on home soil and see where her current level of fitness is.

“It’s super nice to have a race in the US,” she said. “And there’s a big break in the WTCS schedule right now and, for me, I like to have little tune-ups to test myself. It’s just really exciting to hope on one airplane and fly over here, go through the motions of what a race is, and be able to see where I’m at. I’ve had a bit of a rough go since Abu Dhabi – I got sick and missed some training, so this race will be a good indicator of where I need to continue to improve.”

Gwen Jorgensen’s Canyon Aeroad CFR

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She is riding one of the deepest sets of wheels in the field , I am always intrigued by her choice.
And would be interested in her reasoning.
if I was the athlete that tends to get spat spat out of the pack in a world series race I would go more risk than a conti 5000.

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I was surprised at the Crank Length…

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i am pretty sure she won rio on170 mm. i guess thats 165 ?

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She is on 170’s. Which clearly works for her. I was just surprised is all.

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Every time I see Gwen I just have the sad sense of “what if”.

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Do you think they should be longer or shorter?? My eyeball fit for her would put here right about where she is at. Keep in mind her body measurements are not normal, out on the bell curve I would presume…

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Yes what if she didnt hate the sport and continued on after that great olympic run and win. Do we think she would now be racing in the T100 and ironman series if that impediment wasn’t there?

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IDK… hard to tell as I cant really see her leg exstention. She is all the way forward on that seat and has what looks like a super long stem. She will never compromise her run so im sure that all plays into it. You’re a better bike fitter than I ever will be. I was just surprised is all. I may be that she is a little limited and doesnt want to raise her seat anymore. ( Generally speaking when you go up you go forward)

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I honestly dont really know this is a honest question. Does she usually ride out front in any of the packs she is in? It might be a simple drafted as much as possible thing.

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If the pregancy policy were in place for athletes at that time ,GJ never would have left the sport. Tokyo and Paris were very “soft” courses and we may have been seeing an athlete go for a 3rd gold something even the great AB couldn’t accomplish.

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Sorry I was asking you if what you were saying was based on facts… or just your opinion.

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What is “factual”? Based on all the information I was told behind the scenes, this was an athlete asking for “time away”’ (after winning you a gold medal) and federation not granting that.

Make whatever you want with that.

Now is running probaly her “love” over triathlon. 100%, and that’s probaly the case for 90% of the CRP athletes (single sport athletes) who come to triathlon to “go for gold”. You think Pearson likes triathlon over running? Not a chance, but hey USAT got a gold medal from GJ and 2 MTR medals from those single sport athletes who may deep down “hate” the actual sport/grind that is itu.

I guess she could have gotten “bored” post Tokyo and then went after her “dream” and not raced Paris ITU, but behind the scenes she was staying in itu post Rio, until federation wouldn’t grant her a “break”. (IE she wanted to have a kid and then come back and race immediately after for the push to Tokyo). And no the “break” wasn’t so she could go turn into a runner, she basically just wanted to start a family and then come back to itu. That was always going to be the plan on her side, but federation had other ideas (IE weren’t going to “fund” her during that break- no medical insurance, no support, etc)

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Um
Think you are a bit delusional about 3 golds for GJ
There is a lot more competition since Rio.
For a start , the bike got tougher and GJ always struggled a bit on the bike. Also , the running has improved. Cassandra ran a very fast 15k recently, Beth potter just ran 30 min 15 secs for 10k , then there is Lombardi and Lindemann

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Well juat agree to disagree even though yes the bike was and has certainly improved. I was also being slightly factious at 3 gold medals I mean luck would have likely factored in before getting dropped and finishing 18th.

The point was if she would have stayed she easily would have been a factor on those types of courses with her ability and no real long term away from itu. Again her “break” was basically going to be no real different than what many athletes do these days post Olympics with the itu calendar.

So an athlete with her ability will always be a factor when she a) had mostly front pack swims b) can “sit in” as worst c) can run the way she does. There’s nothing delusional about that assessment. Post Rio would have been basically her prime itu years. I think you’re letting her ability now cloud just how good she was back then. But yes the bike was finally starting to matter post Rio, or which was her worst ability. Do I think she would have swam more to ensure front pack always swim and biked more- yes I do.

She proved her drive to win when she went to Cali for 2 months the winter of Rio riding on a moto going down mountains at 100 mph to learn how to descend better and see lines (and then doing it on a bike$ and put herself in a position before the 2nd hardest Olympic bike.

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But she was already getting beaten post Rio on the bike, by Duffy, Katie Zafares. Her bike was weak even back then and would not have held up against the improved biking which followed on immediately from Rio.Go look at the results
Helen Jenkins beat her by out biking her going into Rio. Good for her that she got one good medal. But that was always going to be it.
That is my opinion.
Her bike was just not good enough. Her ’ run" was over

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It may have been the only gold and it may have not been. To act like she was going to fall off a cliff is as delusional as you suggesting mine. Any athlete with that ability is always going to be a factor, even more so with ITU when they dumb down the courses more times than not. But it’s kinda an stupid ass argument as it’s all hypotethetical on what could of been. My point more was our sport (federation) basically pushed her out and lost any ability to become a female AB 2.0 (or attempt too). That’s not really delusional to think she was going to still be a major player in itu regardless of how good/bad her bike was thought to be when she came back from her child bearing “break” (that was going to be less than 2 years from Rio).

But this is slowtwitch, where we will argue (myself included) over the dumbest shit. I’m trying to do better with wheening myself off this site. So my bad on you taking exception to my hypothetical “may have been seeing” comment.

But the reasons she left are I’m going to say fairly accurate.

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When I fit our athletes, determining crank length is not something I use any visual indicators or measurements to make the final decision. We actually try to be blind to the crank length number and rather assess the athlete’s perception of their quad versus glute engagement and find the crank length that minimizes the overloading of the quads. Purely athlete perception.

I save crank length selection until the very last step, after first positioning their saddle fore/aft in relation to the bottom bracket based on where they naturally migrate during races/high efforts, then the height of the front end to open the hip angle to what they find most powerful and comfortable, and only then crank length.

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Still blows my mind USAT wouldn’t work with her on the maternity leave after she won Gold in Rio. Did they not want to set a precedent or was it more of a personal vendetta?

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Sounds like you need to become better at what you do :rofl:

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