Not replying to anyone in particular but was listening to Kristian on a podcast today where he suggests he will pivot to race IMLP and possibly forgo Nice Worlds to recoup lost points from the IMNZ results in the IM Pro Series.
With Roth that cuts out the Frankfurt option so if Blummenfelt is not to carry his Taupo losses (858) to the final total his options are IMLP or Sweden. If heâs prepared to drop Nice (and NB accept a 500 hit) then Sweden might take less out of him given he should be able to have a super-controlled 5000 point long training brick, still 8 weeks before Kona. This would compare with IMLP which may have a few hard nuts to force him to race hard for 5000, and even he will feel Roth in his legs at IMLP 13 days later.
I guess heâll know where he stands after IMLP and could race perfectly well at Nice and then a month till Kona.
Saying heâll duck Nice though, sounds a bit precious/or trolling for an athlete who races Geelong only two weeks after Taupo and against the two next best in the world.
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Maybe he is trolling Lionel? 
Thatâs like 5 Ironmans in one single yearâŚ.assuming he is still racing Roth
Just listened to that Talking Triathlon episode. Heâs kinda contradicting himself mentionijg earlier in the podcast that winning world championships is what matters after having the 2025 season he had. Skipping a shot at world title in Nice to focus on Kona seems to be overthinking it a bit. Doing 70.3 worlds four wees out of Kona has been the norm before. Iâm not sure if anyone has raced 4 fulls and won Kona.
My guess is no. Doing 3 IMs and winning Kona is always tough! Has anyone done that before in recent times? Itâs a lot more competitive these days!
Yep, and Roth is non-negotiable - more important than getting #1 v #2 in the IM Pro Series, and not just for $$ reasons.
Delving into the last decade, the gap between the 70.3 worlds and Kona has never been this tight. I think we can say that racing the â70.3 worlds . . . weeks [before success in] Konaâ has been confined to Ryf, though back in 2015 Frodeno had 6 weeks from Zell to Kona.
More recently, It was noticeable that both Frodeno and Haug skipped Nice in 2019 before success in Kona: NB LCB raced Nice (#4) in 2019 and fell short again 5 weeks later.
No lead man raced Lahti in 2023 and then Nice 2 weeks later. In the women, several (Matthews, Philipp, Knibb) raced Lahti 7 weeks before Kona (DNS, #3, #4) whereas Haug, LCB and Sodaro preferred $$ PTO 100 Singapore a week earlier before Kona (#2, #1, #6).
It will be interesting to see which top athletes heading for Kona this year choose to forego Nice, in part because of the short gap. If their overarching goal is to win Kona the burden of training for, tapering for, travelling to and racing a hard Alpes-Maritimes bike course only 4 weeks before Hawaii is trade-off (athletes like Knibb, LCB, Derron, Van Riel, Geens). Those chasing the IM Pro Series have less choice (Matthews, Loevseth, Berry, Norges, Schomburg, Foley).
| Year | Date of 70.3 WC | Venue | Weeks before | Kona |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 30-Aug | Zell am See-Kaprun, Austria | 6 | 10-Oct |
| 2016 | 06-Sep | Queensland, Australia | 5 | 08-Oct |
| 2017 | 09-Sep | Chattanooga, USA | 5 | 14-Oct |
| 2018 | 01-Sep | Nelson Mandela Bay, South Africa | 6 | 13-Oct |
| 2019 | 07-Sep | Nice, France | 5 | 12-Oct |
| 2021 | 18-Sep | St George, USA | N/A | none |
| 2022 | 28-Oct | St George, USA | N/A | 06-Oct |
| 2023 | 26-Aug | Lahti, Finland | 7 | 14-Oct |
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Winning the pro-series is a massive pay day
But I donât think itâs worth potentially âsacrificingâ Kona for it. Winning a WC augments your legacy in the sport, the monetary benefits far exceeds winning the pro series as well.
So whatâs your recommendation (âcoachâ) to Stornes, Iden, Matthews, Loevseth? Miss Nice (-$70k) because youâll increase your chances of winning Kona?
Nice is fine
I wouldnât recommend LP, he can create history by being the first person ever to complete 5 IMs including a Kona win!
Interview with Knibb, looking forward to Texas. âTexas matters.â âI want to race an Ironman well at least onceâ (and needs to achieve KQ). But Kona (and other stuff) is the 2026 goal.
Taylorâs goals this year:
Kona Champ
Nice 70.3 Champ
T100 Champ
Whatever TT race/event is happening this year
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Essentially a repeat of last year except adding in WTCS summer races in addition to whatever T100 she wants to race, once she KQâs at Texas (assuming). Much credit to the womenâs competitors who I think have raised the sport at that level; 5 years ago if you would have told me Knibb would be 0/2 in Kona and not have 1 IM win *yet, Iâd have thought you would be full of shit.
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Err, thatâs not the season I saw. Last year her focus was pretty much all in on Kona and try to check a few other boxes that fit on the way.
Right which is exactly this year lol. Check off the IM KQ box in the spring (IM TX) and then fill in with summer races of her likingâŚexactly what she did last year and then fall âkona focusâ. Only difference is the summer races will include potential wtcs/itu and not just t100 only like last summer (of which she did 3 last year in a âkona onlyâ focused year). So yeah very much a repeat of last year. This idea that she was only focused on Kona was probaly overblown. By racing the T100 schedule she did that was also a âfocusââŚ.whether she says so or not, at that point itâs semantics. And if Kona was her only focused and she has a coach like Lorang, that was imo a very crucial miss to not do another IM at some point, if Kona was this sole focus with what sheâs struggled with at the IM distance. But again last year in her Kona *focused year also included T100 contract demands that with both her missing races and T100 re-scheduling races meant a little bit of juggling act as well.
Didnât see a thread on Texas yet, perhaps it will be here? I just saw that Magnus is out, got a case of shingles and went home. Think that opens one of those slots in the pro mens that were certainly going to be hard fought to getâŚ
Shingles sucksâŚ.and I got it twice, which is apparently medically rare as hell.
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Thatâs an incredibly tough break. Sorry to hear.
Probably should have a Texas thread for this week. If one hasnât popped up Iâll make it tonight.
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Not really that uncommon.