Seems it will be Neumann. Ditlev was within touching distance but lost 15 seconds and that seems it.
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Side note, Matt Mcelroy fastest run by a country mile. Shame he was 20+ mins down after the bike.
All the comments on Greg but come on! Danielle’s commentary leaves a lot to be desired.
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Hats off to Szuch for making the podium. Looked like he might fade but ended up closing strong.
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On the other hand, Lionel’s interview incredible!
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So not a great day for the ITU guys, guess the old guard that always did distance gave them all a good spanking today. Lionel is just in a different league right now, hitting on all cylinders and doing his best ever racing.
And both showed a good swim improvement, their off season focus really starting to pay off…
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Half way to go and Lewis is fading while Hering is still looking strong. Any chance for a sprint for 2nd?
The days for the ITU guys are with the flat courses like Jesolo usually, as they can hide in the bike pack and just run it out.
A course like this keeps them all honest.
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2.35 in 8k feels a tall order…
At least Ryf is keen on facts whereas Welch errs, and doesn’t seem to care, hoping terribly voluble enthusiasm will trump everything.
Must be difficult to commentate as a two up from different locations. Surprised Ironman don’t use one of their cameras with someone with some idea actually at T1 and T2 covering both transition phases.
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What we really need is Greg’s enthusiasm and Ryf’s knowledge. I just have a hard time listening to her, just a real monotone voice and cadence. I really wish they would tap someone like Allistar, makes Jack Kelly look really good(which he isn’t bad)… He knows the players, the race, and has a great cadence and announcer inflection…
And how about the Ironman series now, Lionel is spanking the 70.3’s and pushing other places points way down. Same with Paula… So do they find a way to wiggle into the conversation? I mean probably a podium chance even with 3 70.3’s and just 2 Ironmans?
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That Roka deal paid off.
Alistair has done one of the best (if not the best) commentary I’ve seen. He was awesome in Super League.
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Him yes her no. She seems pretty adamant she is only doing 1 full. Though she could just be giving herself breathing room to prevent pressure. But I tend to believe it. She’s playing the right career move to not push to hard to fast into longer racing.
For sure, it is the best they could have hoped for. Fast swim for Lionel, small gap to leaders, and a crushing overall win breaking some records. I really now have to wonder what would have happened in Texas barring his illness. Blu still wins of course, but huge points Lionel would have gotten with the form he has showed in his 1st two races this year.
Think missing that race is what has him downplaying any series run, but who knows??
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Have reached the point where just anyone as a replacement would be an improvement. This is supposed to be a professional world class broadcast and all the lead commentator offers is enthusiasm….
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Lionel made a statement today that needs to be unpacked. Wow
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What did he say?
I think he means with how he raced, because I just rewatched the interview and there’s nothing that needs to be unpacked unless we’re talking about him swimming well and seeing Jackson Laundry’s cap.
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No chance. I’ve just looked for any women here that might be top 15 in the IM Pro Series and came up with just two: Hering and Wilms. The former is racing Hamburg (NB Matthews, Haug and Philipp making ‘every second counting’): not sure about the latter: I guess Cairns and IMLP would work.
A 70.3 weapon (eg Findlay) might be up there with 3 plus 2 IMs but that would mean a good result at IMLP (at the Pro Tri News live show I detected some wavering there), and then she’d have to race Kona ‘as well’.
As for Sanders or Long “wiggl[ing] into the [IM Pro Series] conversation” neither has a full distance palmares which suggests they can manage 3 x IM (including beastly forin Nice) and Long has T100s to race. Sanders seems all in on IMWC Nice (NB already Q). Whether he races IMLP as a ‘tester’ is a strategy he’ll have to discuss with his coach. IMLP is only 7 weeks before Nice, though.
Good results for Sanders at IMLP, IMWC and Marbella would net him (estimate) 17,700 points. That would’ve got him #6 last year, but there are several others in the mix this year, so maybe just into top 10 (on 2 IMs plus 3 x 70.3s). His sickness after Oceanside and thus inability to include Texas in the California-Utah sandwich has cost him big time, unless he travels to Cairns (echoes of Long’s 2024 flip-flop). I can’t see him losing focus on Nice for that, but quite possibly worth $50k.