I have announced and lived through both the One Day World Triathlon Championship and the Series leading to a World Championship that the ITU have used for the last decade. I appreciate the value of head to head racing numerous times in a year. I have no issue of someone being called the Series Champion etc. But think about how exciting the Olympics are, the Super Bowl is, the Athletics One Day World Track Champs and the sudden death World Cup Soccer. Win and our the champ. Lose and you are looking at someone else on top of the podium.
I know I sound like an old geezer but I have seen both strategies and there is something missing when 98% of the racers in the elite field cannot be the world champion. What makes the Olympics so exciting is that you have to produce, on the day and a flat tire, a bad burrito or a missed swim will lose you the title.
Aussie Peter Robertson had numerous average seasons but three different times, he raced out of his skin to win three different world titles and kept his competitors in fear on World Championship day.
I loved watching the juniors and under 23 and the age groupers who all had to produce on a one day, one race outcome. They proved they can produce when they have to. Alex Yee was the best man during the Olympics and is the Olympic Champion. This weekend, Hayden Wilde was the best man in the world and deserved (in my mind) to be the world champion. Instead he is the bronze medalist.
Kudos to Cassandre Beaugrand as she can stand tall as the Olympic Champion the world champ and being first across the line this weekend (the Grand Final Champ) as well.
Disagree really, im not sure what the answer is, but the previous two winners Bergere and Connix im sure everyone can agree were not the best in the world that season, but mainly due to strong team tactics at the GF, walked away as world champions.
Wilde was the best in the world over that course on that day, but Yee was the best in the World over the entire season.
If we get an âITU series winnerâ and a world champion it waters down the ITU title, which doesnt get enough kudos as it is for whatever reason.
EditâŚI didnât realise I was replying to coach Barry! Please come back to commentary
Totally agree just like ironman. Have a world champ 1 day race for world title but have a lot of prize money to win the series . One more prestige strong the other money strong so both are seen equally important .
Heâll have his chance to be the world champion in middle distance in a âone offâ race on home territory soon enough.
And far more lucrative for the race win.
And likely more competitive (as opposed to his winning by a minute (>1%) on Sunday).
[Edit: Though I learn Van Riel does not plan to race]
Should make for great watching enhanced by excellent commentary.
First off thanks for the kind words on my past commentary life. It was some of the most enjoyable minutes of work I have ever been lucky enough to be involved with.
There is a Ironman Series, but everyone will really care who wins Kona, not the series. Itâs the man or woman who can get it done on the day when theoretically everyone is at their A Game.
In a series, many things occur (including injuries and people simply not showing up because they have other events or series or federation commitments etc. When the Olympics or Ironman rolls around you are there. I know the feeling in the hotel the night before an Olympics or the OLD one day world championships and there were 15-20 men and women who beleived they could win or be on the podium. Now, itâs mathematically impossible for virtually anyone to win the title with the exception of perhaps the 2nd or 3rd place person in the standings. So there is no mass high energy amongst the athletes because they canât win. I just personally love the energy and the all on the line of a one day - come up big and you are the champ. Vs get 4-5 to 6 top fives and win a title. Obviously this year, Alex and Cassandra were both consistent in the series and awesome on Grand Final day. It a personal thing, but I feel the difference in the energy when most know they canât be world champ the day before the race even begins.
I wouldnât call it uninteresting. But there is something much more intense, about 2hrs of one day being all the cards for a world title. It means you needed fitness, perseverance, luck, courage and a near flawless day to be world champ.
When I said, âuninterestingâ it is for the reasons you said. In the one day format, 20 people thinK they have a chance to win or podium, 10 probably do. In the series format, almost everyone is out before the the finale starts. As a fan it becomes uninteresting just because the outcome is larely already narrowed down.
Donât disagree with you. I like both to be honest. And we could have both. Other sports have a cup and a championship. World Triathlon could do the same. You get two types of champions every year: the winner of the World Triathlon Cup has managed to race well all year, and the World Triathlon Champion has managed to peak and produce on the most important day of the year (in a non-Olympic year at least).
When you have a series championship, people will complain about too much being decided before the final has even started. When you have a one-day championship, people will complain that no other race matters, that there is no season long narrative and that results are too random.
I think a big part of the sense that Torremolinos didnât matter is simply that we are in an Olympic year and the true championship took place in Paris. In non-Olympic years, all top short course PROs prioritize WTCS and no other commitments matter to them enough to ignore WTCS racs.
