It’s Ironman Cairns, anyone announcing they are doing it is breaking news:)
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Somewhat exciting new contender for the Pro Series with Jamie Riddle’s announcement on Instagram today
IMSA
IM Cairns
Both World Champs
70.3 Venice, Zell and Aix
He was 22nd in the Olympics and I believe second in Busso last year. He is a young, up and coming South African, will have a bigger impact than Pohl for sure on the entire series!!
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Oceanside just got spicier:
Blummenfelt, Iden and Stornes (close to end of 4 weeks training around Nice) have entered Oceanside. And presumably Texas three weeks later.
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That was always Blu and Iden’s plan. Not sure about Stornes.
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Stornes must still be funded by the Federation? He still has one foot in short course racing although he didn’t race much in 2024
Hope he has a good Oceanside and moves up to MD full time !
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Drawn from the Blummenfelt interview:
[Blummenfelt] said: “For the first time we are taking control of the training programme and making it all ourselves. Our first big race will be Oceanside. And we all managed to do the final registration yesterday.”
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I guess someone else (Bu?) was managing race signups for the Norwegians?
When they say focus, they must really mean focus.
Lange has shared his IM Pro Series races:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DGQH8hag3YP/
Oceanside
Texas
Frankfurt
IMWC
70.3WC
First 4 same as 2024. Frankfurt (in late June this year) pretty well excludes Roth.
He’ll have to find a 70.3 to get a Marbella start: it sure won’t be Oceanside (3 MPRO).
If he chooses an IM Pro Series 70.3 in May/June to do so, he’s likely to fail, but at least he will have a second 70.3 set of points in the bag.
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This one put a smile on my face. Saving this prediction for later. Don’t underestimate a German coming to race in North America, even if he shat the bed the year prior!
Well I guess Iden and Blummenfelt will both be validating rather than taking one of those 3 slots, so maybe I’m being too pessimistic.
However see also 2024 Mallorca.
Oceanside clashes directly with Singapore which is a ‘must attend’ so that takes 20 athletes out of the picture too. Ditlev not there as he’s IMSA-bound iirc.
Stornes = tick. Sanders? Not Hanson. RvB? Foley, Kanute and Laundry are already qualified.
Given the ridiculous hiatus in the short course WTCS programme, I can see some SC hot shots poling up to Oceanside (between Abu Dhabi just gone and Yokohama) to nab a 70.3WC slot. Because they finish at Wollongong in October which gives ample time to switch fire (TT bike) to Marbella. Le Corre? Coninx? Vilaca?
I need to start a spreadsheet to keep track of all these race schedules!
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I don’t understand why he keeps doing oceanside. Any other 70.3 with a softer field would be a huge help to his pro series total. He just isn’t in that top tier of 70.3 athletes.
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One could imagine that the best athletes in the world enjoy racing the other best athletes in the world and are not purely motivated by series points
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I guess it’s tempting (for Europeans), if one’s going to trek all the way to the W/SW quarter of the USA, to combine a 70.3 as the season’s starter a convenient 3 weeks before Texas (and some benign environment training in between). Racing Texas and then St George only a fortnight after Texas is the other combo but far less attractive.
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That makes sense, plus oceanside is a media boon for these athletes. Just surprised he wouldn’t sneak in a smaller 70.3. But last year he didn’t seem to care about the final standings, so it just may not be important to him this year.
Patrick likely knows that Oceanside is an uphill battle to get a 70.3 slot, but there’s no need or upside to announce a smaller 70.3 (pro series or not) at this point. Like other said Oceanside gets a ton of media attention and interviews so it’s more valuable just to show up, and he’s gonna do a training block in the woodlands leading into Texas anyways. He can get some pro series points and have a good shot at a 70.3 worlds slot at something like Swansea or Aix-en-Provence.
Separately though, how silly is it that the IM World Champion doesn’t have a slot to 70.3 worlds? Winning 70.3 worlds gives you a slot to Kona/Nice, so you would think the reverse would be true as well. I thought that during the whole pro series points scenarios leading into Taupo as well, there’s a million athlete at 70.3 worlds anyways, I’d much rather see the IM WORLD CHAMPION there than some pro who finished 5th at a regional 70.3 and got a rolldown.
I believe that in the past he has spent a lot of time at Texas training camps and he has a lot of friends and local coaches he likes there. Most likely a trip he was going to make anyway for an extended period, so why not race locally(as in a couple hour flight) and start out acclimating some series points. And who knows, with a weakened field due to T100 happenings, he just might do well if he can have his best day there. Not win of course, but perhaps be closer than he would otherwise be with a bad race…
And just wanted to add, he really is banking on what happened last year, has to have a big win in the WC to have any shot at the series. With the guys chasing it now, I give him even money for 5th this year…
- Yesbut. Qualification for Marbella ends on 30 June so Swansea is ‘out’. Kraichgau (a week after Aix), which he’s raced before (#2 in 2023) is a likely option: date is mid way between Texas and Frankfurt. Too close to T100 SF for contracted athletes to race it (so better chance to qualify). Or Tours in early June. Neither IM Pro Series though so not a ‘spare’ in case of no Marbella.
https://files.constantcontact.com/a202847d001/3eca956c-3919-4cc0-bf2e-018992f61b97.pdf - I guess IRONMAN want the top athletes to actually race a 70.3, however . . .
- “Winning 70.3 worlds” no longer gives you a slot in the IMWC: vice versa . . .
Ah that’s an early cutoff for 70.3 Worlds slots with Marbella in Nov, especially when the Kona cutoff is mid-August and that’s a month earlier! I was thinking as well he could cherry pick a non pro series 70.3 to get a slot. Though he may want to add in a Swansea if he doesn’t score many point at Oceanside, which he may not if Kristian comes in firing like he’s been looking in training. Patrick could be well over 10 mins down on the winner at Oceanside, potentially get a rolldown but that’s over 600 points lost. Some of his competitors for the pro series like Kristian, Magnus, Marquardt, Gustav if he’s back to form, Trevor Foley (if he can be consistent at 3 IMs) are going to get good 70.3 points in addition to presumably good IM points.
That you for reminding me that the 70.3 worlds winner no longer gets a slot. I agree with that though because it’s tougher to get a slot to Kona/Nice than 70.3 worlds. Wouldn’t hate that being an IM world champion gets you into any IM championship for the next 5 years though since that’s their most prestigious honor and that athlete is worth a TON to IM in marketing.
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In addition to what everyone else said, Frankfurt to LAX is a nonstop flight. If I’m in his shoes, I’m looking at making travel as simple as possible. It’s an early season test of fitness with an itinerary that works well. It’s California – who doesn’t want to head to the beach in CA after a winter of no sun? Obviously, in itself, that’s not reason to go, but since he’s already coming this way for Texas, it makes sense to make that as worthwhile as possible.
Plus, Jan Frodeno has won at Oceanside. Patrick hasn’t. The field seems deeper now, but still, maybe there’s something there.