hey gang -
i was honestly thinking of this question before the raft of lessing postings started. honest.
so: let’s say he gets things dialed and manages to race for another few years, winning a few more classics, a few more qualifiers, and then takes Kona. . .say twice. possibly chuck in going sub-8 somewhere in europe, if you want.
would that make him the best triathlete ever, in your books?
-mike
yes
4 world champ short course (both draft legal and not draft legal)
1 world champ long course
one IM win
a whole bunch of races pretty much everywhere…Alcatraz etc…
Add Kona to that and you have the best triathlete ever.
Not sure, my gut still says Mark Allen. IF Lessing gets Kona dialed and wins 3, then maybe he sneaks ahead of Allen, but it would be a toss up.
Let’s point it this way. No other triathlete that has moved up to the IM distance in the last few years has his credentials. He has been a key player and competitor for close to 20 years. He was duking it out short-course and long course with Mark Allan, back in the 80’s.
There is no other athlete who the current crop of top IM triathletes are more concerned about. His credentials are scary. The IMLP performance from last year was frightening. I suspect that he really did have some physical problems in Hawaii that held him up. Clearly, that was a wake-up call for him and he has made some changes. My feeling is that he will be a formidable force this year. He’s racing ALL the key 1/2 IM races, so we should get some indication of where he is at again as the season unfolds. Problem is, it’s a long way to IMH and part of the challenge for these guys is balancing the racing and training to find just the right mix and then keeping it all together all the way through the season. I say this, because, like clock-work there ALWAYS is a few of the key contenders for the IMH crown who never make it to the starting line or in sub-maximal condition, for one reason or another
Fleck
It is Paula Newby-Fraser for me. 8-Time Ironman Triathlon World Champion.
This is what I found in multisport.com
Paula Newby-Fraser is the only triathlete to transcend the sport . Certainly, she is the greatest triathlete of all time: Her 24 Ironman Championships are more than twice that won by triathlon legends Mark Allen & Erin Baker (8 each) and Dave Scott (7). Her 1988 Ironman finish (11th overall) has been called the “greatest performance in endurance sports his-tory”. The Los Angeles Times, e-xtra and ABC’s Wide World of Sports have acclaimed Paula “The Greatest All-Around Female Athlete in the World”.
I don’t know about fighting a Gorilla… I mean a chimp seems like a pretty bad ass
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/03/04/chimp.attack.ap/index.html
He could lose his face, a foot and both testicles…
Best ever? Maybe. More than one Kona win for that though. Best that wasn’t? For me - Van Leirde
“Lessing versus God in GOLF”
(with thanks to “Bill Swerski’s Superfans”)
.
what if lessign fights a Quadzilla?
My money’s on the latter
He’s already the best triathlete ever.
Come on, he’s not that good. After Kona last fall I’m 1-0 against him in head to head matchups 
If he wins Kona then he will be the undisputed best ever male triathlete since he has won everything else in every format permitted in the sport. No one else can lay claim to that.
I believe Greg Welch has also won a world championship in Short, Long Course, IMH and even duathlon worlds, IIRC.
Joel
Like Joel said, Welch did that and I don’t see him in anybody’s short list for best ever… and he should!
not to mention his career was shortened because of his heart condition but there was a big chance for his to make the olympic team as well.
Mark Allen was the most dominant triathlete ever. He was pretty much unbeatable in the sport regardless of distance. The only exception was his first few experiences at Hawaii but he eventually figured that out.
Best is a little harder to define, would still have to give it too Mark again on his consistent domination of both short and long.
Short Course:
Mark again simple dominant, give Scott Molina a very close second. Scott probably won more races than any man alive and had something like a 20 race win streak which would be impossible today. Mark raced much less than Scott in the 80’s but was able to beat him most of the time when they did meet so give a slight edge to Mark.
Simon Lessing was the next generation, the last really of the none drafting pro’s. If you look at his swimming and 10 km running ability he was probably the best ever.
Overall, Simon has a lot to do at Ironman to be mentioned with Mark as an all rounder.
Women
Paula for Ironman
Erin Baker All Round
Lessing vs. a Gorilla.
Lessing.
Lessing vs. Ditka?
ditka versus a hurricane?
what if the hurricane’s called “hurricane ditka?”
i say lessing’s in for a definite 8-peat at hawaii.
-mike
true that, joel - he also used to rip up those outrageously fast ITGP races in australia back in the '90s, with 3 back-to-back mini tris or 10minute-staggered eliminators or whatever. tinley did one and said it was by far the most he’d hurt in any race, ever. crazy, crazy stuff.
bummer for welchy about the ventricular tachycardia, which - no two ways - takes the wind right out of a guy’s sails. i liked him for gold at sydney.
-mike
p.s - i finally sold those spinergies you sold me back in guelph around '97 or something. i made no profit.
I know that Welch won everything in sight too. I guess the fact that he had moved on to long course before the draft-legal triathlons started up meant that he didn’t have a chance to prove himself at that distance. I should definitely not have overlooked him especially since I’m 1-0 against Lessing and have never managed to beat Welch (although I almost outsplit him on the run at the Niagra tri back in 1990 when I was doing my second ever race … missed him by 10 seconds)
Depends on your criteria. As an all rounder I supposed its possible. Newby Fraser is predominently long course so it would be unfair to compare directly. Allen was an all rounder but in a slightly different era (this smacks of comparing the age old argument of Armstrong to Mercxx). I was always hoping that Spencer Smith would go the same way but he seems to have dropped off radar these days.