I was watching the Daily Tri youtube yesterday and they mentioned Jimmy Whelan is going to try to move from professional cycling to triathlon. I’ll admit that I don’t follow pro cycling closely and hadn’t heard of this guy, but a quick google search shows he came to cycling from running, similar to Mike Woods. It looks like he has an 8:19 3k to his name, which vdots to a 4:12 mile, or 66min half on the other end. So definitely not the best runner in triathlon, but better than the large majority of them in middle or long distance.
He started a youtube channel and posted a run workout doing km reps in the mid/low 2:50s, looks very smooth. It will be interesting to see how he goes, I’ll guess he has a better chance to be successful than other cyclists that have tried, but will also guess his swim is going to be a problem.
Anyone know how he’s done in time trials in the past? Seems he is a climber.
No major TT results according to his profile here: James Whelan
Got 1st in Stage 9 of the 2023 Volta a Portgual in front of a bunch of mostly no names, but still a solid result. 2nd in 2022 Australia National Champs RR is a good result with a field of some bigger names.
Either way, definitely has the engine to at least compete. It’s always about combining the three sports though, which professional cyclists and runners have struggled with in the past.
He looks to be a middle of the pack triathlete pro runner who may or may not be on par with the better cyclists. Of course big question is does any of it matter, does he swim sub 17 for a 1500m swim?? If not then he is riding and running with guys his speed for a possible top 10 at best…
That 3k time is what the top running triathletes would have been running in their early teens, nothing special as most of them already were swimming pretry well at that age also. Unless he is an x swimmer, i dont see him being anything too special too soon.
He really just needs to race and see, a 66 minute 1/2 run is an MOP pro time these days stand alone. We just saw a guy that regularly gets beats in triathlon runs go a 1;01 low for a 1/2, so there is your bar…
Just going by stats, Wurf’s pro cycling stats as a TTer or roadie don’t look much better either, a least Whelan scored a win. Pro Tour TT’s and road races are raced at paces that none of the triathletes can really compete for the win. Blu discovered this in maybe his second day of testing and pulled the plug before making a bigger PR mess.
So we will see, I think he has some potential. I do agree that combining all three is the ultimate test. At least he is switching young and not when he is burn out from pro cycling.
Long time reader, first time commenter… I ran against Jimmy as a junior and have been following his career for a while… some of the chat here is off!
He was known back in the day for being a having a professional mindset… e.g., would take s&c, loading seriously. Clearly a question mark over his swimming but if his results and early signs of running (post cycling-career) are anything to go by, I’d be confident he could still make up a 5 minute deficit out of the water to win a 70.3 in 2025.
Few leg-related specifics…
Running:
He ran 3k in 8:19 at 19, in the Zatopek (Australia’s u20 national championship for 3k), and finished 7th. i.e. 7th fastest junior in the country. James WHELAN | Profile | World Athletics
Aside from Alex Yee, (sure there are a bunch of others) I couldn’t find any other triathletes that ran faster than Jimmy over 3k as an u20…
To my understanding, had ~6 weeks of triathlon training post his last race this season for the 10k race he ran last week, in 30:10 (3:01km pace). In my eyes, that is wild given the short build-up.
Cycling:
Has consistently had strong results… but would also seem to have interrupted seasons with crashes.
Won junior Flanders (obviously a while ago but still a sign of world class talent), 2nd in Australian nationals road race (180ks) in '22, 9th in '23. Won tour down under in '22, tour of Portugal queen stage in '23.
TT: Finished mid 30s in both TTs when he cycled the Giro. Also had a bunch of days on the front in break-aways.
Clearly strong on the climbs but also very strong power numbers…
Swimming:
No idea lol but has been logging some swims ~4k on his strava so I guess that’s promising! Time will tell.
An all round nice guy in my experience so I really do wish him all the best!!
There actually are quite a few itu athletes that ran faster 3k as juniors. As you are saying you are an Aus runner, of similar era, I am surprised you don’t remember Birtwhistle winning that Zatopec race a couple of years earlier at 18 off his triathlon training with a faster time.
The swim is always going to be the big question mark, and putting all 3 legs together.
True! I do remember that. Birtwhistle ran ~10 seconds faster over 3k at the same age and was also one of the best junior runners in Australia in a very talented age group… competing with a bunch of now Olympians on the track (McSweyn, Rayner, Mathews).
I guess you’re agreeing with me that Jimmy is in world class company with his early running ability / potential… hard to argue otherwise!
Hmm… I am saying Birtwhistle was a year younger when won Zatopec 3k, and didnt come 7th to those boys whom became olympic runners, he beat them, multiple times, think his bio says 11x junior national champ. None the less I will be following with interest to see how Jimmy transitions. The swim could be his biggest downfall, especially with his statement about LA 2028. Just need to note how Cam Wurf fared when he tried his hand at a 2nd tier draft legal race…
Now the interesting thing for me within itu. I think the MTR is actually an pathway for athletes with this type of ability. Now obviously his swim would have to be at worse chase pack WTCS ability at worse before actually considering it with any real validity. But I think with how the dynamics of that race happen, you can “fake” a shorter swim in the MTR than you can at the individual event. IE- if there are only 15 athletes out on the course, and only say a small number of athletes actually in a group, this type of ability could actually pull back some time. But again that’s with what would be considered a McElroy type of swim or Birt type of swim (chase pack at best). I wonder what would have happened to Alan Webb if he had MTR to also target. Funny enough in the pool he was doing swim workouts and touching the wall on the same splits as his teammate who was generally a front pack swimmer in itu (Hemming). Webb just couldn’t connect that when he was in the scrum. But if he had had to only hold out for 300m, would it have been different? Again I saw his training in the pool, I was really shocked when he was swimming the times he did, and of course he was basically a hired gun. He either was going to do 1-2 WTCS races and do really well and continue the journey to Rio or USAT was going to say “thanks but not thanks go retire and enjoy life”.
And of course an athlete who’s 28 years old, their itu career window is basically over before it starts, even moreso with his likely swim ability. But from just an conversation point, I think the MTR does allow for some pathways. Seth Rider to me is one of them. I don’t know that he’l ever get the run to be truly olympic competitive over the 10km, but have him run 1.5k and he can “fake” his way through that.
Sub 29 the next goal . . . . for a 1900m swim.
There is zero point in this guy aiming for short course: elite sport at that distance filters out so many who haven’t got the swim, which is a shame given it’s a three sport combo. @BDoughtie 's whatabout MTR is a red herring. Without being competitive (ie good enough for a WTCS start ranking) he will never race an MTR, even for Australia.
With that standard of bike&run he can get his swim up to Sanders standard and have an impact in a 70.3 in the following three hours.
Yes and no, there is nothing against the rules for any federation putting an athlete in a MTR of any ability. So my point was more a conversational, if an athlete gets chase pack WTCS ability, they can do the MTR pathway much likely easier than they could the individual WTCS pathway.
(and I think I said if he can’t get a chase pack WTCS swim his itu career won’t even be worth doing 1 race cus that’s what it would take to go down the mtr style pathway)
So it’s not a red herring, it’s actually understanding the dynamics of the sport. MTR is not just the best individuals in your federation (it can be, especially if they are FOP result athletes- duh). It’s an actual skillset that can be different than the “individual” results. And if you don’t have 100% podium individual talent, you as a federation 100% better recognize that pathway as well.
IE- no duh this particular athlete has no shot at ITU. His age alone almost automatically disqualifies any development time period…
I think Ajax understands the dynamics just fine. this guy never sees the inside of anything ITU, and the swim is as important as any other ever in the MTR, sometimes the most important. And we must keep in mind that his bike and run are just on par with the other top men, so there is no catch up in his race and never really will be. He has the makings of perhaps a non draft long distance guy, much like wurf as the ultimate type of athlete he could become.
there is a reason that recruits for ITU from a young age are measured in their swim and run, with the bike being basically irrelevant. But you know this as much as or more than anyone…
Then I question both his and your reading comprehension skills, cus I pretty much said his itu career is over before it’s even a thought and this is more a converastion piece on what the different itu pathways now allow.
IE you can have another pathway in the MTR if you can get enough of a talent to “fake” your way through an event and be strong in other events. For the most part an athlete who can get a chase pack swim can potentially hold your own in a 300m swim and then potentially pull back time if your other 2 are “stronger”.