https://edmonton.triathlon.org/news/article/new_covid-19_update
Add another one to the ever growing list…
Not surprised at all, but bummed. I was excited to get a team USA slot, but given the circumstances, this isn’t something we should be complaining about.
I wonder how team USA slots will be handled.
Not surprised at all, but bummed. I was excited to get a team USA slot, but given the circumstances, this isn’t something we should be complaining about.
I wonder how team USA slots will be handled.
I doubt the 2020 Milwaukee Nationals are going to happen, either, so a rollover of 2020 qualifiers to 2021 seems like a reasonable scenario. Age-ups add a not-inconsiderable complication, however. But we won’t be the only federation facing that issue. Maybe 2021 ITU Age Group Worlds can bump all the age group boundaries by a year (i.e. 36-40, 41-45, 46-50, etc, instead of 35-39,40-44,45-49, etc)?
I doubt the 2020 Milwaukee Nationals are going to happen, either, so a rollover of 2020 qualifiers to 2021 seems like a reasonable scenario. Age-ups add a not-inconsiderable complication, however. But we won’t be the only federation facing that issue. Maybe 2021 ITU Age Group Worlds can bump all the age group boundaries by a year (i.e. 36-40, 41-45, 46-50, etc, instead of 35-39,40-44,45-49, etc)?
Exactly my concern - I will be aging up next year to 30-35. We’ll see what USAT has to say.
I don’t think bumping age groups makes any sense, I assume the logical approach would be to roll over qualifications and relax a bit on AG quotas for each federation, this would deal with any categories where a country exceeds their cap by a few spots, when you factor in aging up…
The bigger question will be what happens with venues, do they just bump everything back by a year, and do Edmonton in 2021, Bermuda in 22, and Abu Dhabi in 23, or do they stick with the rotation and do Bermuda next year, Abu Dhabi in 22, and then possibly slot Edmonton in for 23.
The olympics are easier, in the sense that they’re every 4 years, so bumping by a year doesn’t change anything cycle wise…
Those are all questions that will keep the same rules for everyone. Not as much of an issue. The biggest problem is if the US and particularly the midwest actually get to phase three of “Opening up American Again?” This is a legitimate possibly. None of us really know how wide spread the virus was until we do legitimate antibody testing. 3 months away and we just need to meet 3 x 14 day gating criteria to get to the point that some sporting events can open up. So, if that happens and we have an entire new set of qualifiers… These are all first world problems and I’m really just hoping I don’t have to say good bye to a loved one over face time.
Sorry I’m a bit bummed, but definitely not surprised.
Agree with above. The decision to designate a new qualification process for championship races will be closely watched, but likely pretty arbitrary… and political! I am personally not a fan of virtual qualification. The areas seeing the most serious morbidity and mortality are densely populated, have mass transportation, and scheduled large events after the pathogen had reached critical spread in the community. Fortunately, all indications are for a seasonal pattern and new normal. By fall 2020, the medical community will be prepared to identify, isolate, and treat smaller epidemic disease. Fortunately for endurance sports, there is a huge business involving professional (and college) sports. In fact, in many areas of the country, Friday Night Lights (high school football) is an important regional way-of-life. There will be tremendous pressure to delivery those products… triathlons and road races will follow their lead. Large championship events will probably miss a year, but Ironman will be applying pressure to present their plan for minimizing risk, and with little or no disease locally, I believe we will see a good number of late summer and fall races. Some of these may be designated “Championships.†This season will also be affected by the November election. Politics will be involved in decisions, and communities may be resistant to the potential for bad press. In the end,whether you show up is your decision. Antibody tests will not assure total resistance. I’m a healthcare worker, and have developed excellent habits over the past couple of months. We’ve even isolated and shut-down a few cases in several nursing homes. I’m risk averse, but see the right late season race as an opportunity to get back to the sport that I have loved for 40 years and take home some hardware in what will likely be weak fields. I will be the one with a surgical mask and alcohol wipes in transition. No, I will not wear a mask while racing, but I will keep my hands away from my face, and try to maintain my distance while running. The no-drafting rule has been in effect since inception. Rolling starts with 6’ social distancing are a simple addition for small to medium races. If anyone can prove that an athlete was infected during a triathlon swim, I’ll write a medical case report. Please support your local races!
The website says they are looking for a future date and USAT has been silent on this and still showing Nationals on schedule.
Anyone have any inside scoop on Worlds or Nats for this year? I’m not expecting much, but hoping to at least get to one of these two.
This would do nothing to sort out qualification clusterf**ks (If USAT was making sensible decisions, if any states were not opening up to running events, they would just roll over qualifications from this year to next year, and then start anew… starting a new qualification cycle, when only some states could compete would cause a plethora of issues), but the other potential option to avoid bumping back the cycle is to split up Sprint and Oly distance worlds, and run Sprint worlds in Edmonton summer 2021 (june/july), and then keep Oly distance Worlds in Bermuda. It’s sub-optimal, but I could easily see that option materializing… Unfortunately Edmonton’s climate doesn’t allow for an Ironman type option of a double Kona Feb and October, given that realistically their runway for the swim happening is probably late May-end of August (Sept is dicey, and success has been mixed)…
Given that the ITU is already heading in that direction starting 2022 (Sprint/MTR worlds in Montreal; Oly/Super sprint Worlds at the Grand Final in Abu Dhabi previously announced), it may be the easiest way to give Edmonton their championship, and not mess with the cycle…
We’ll have to wait and see how things evolve, but the more I think about it, the more I suspect it will play out this way (who knows on the qualification side though…)
The website says they are looking for a future date and USAT has been silent on this and still showing Nationals on schedule.
Anyone have any inside scoop on Worlds or Nats for this year? I’m not expecting much, but hoping to at least get to one of these two.
USAT has moved Athena/Clydesdale Nationals from Chattanooga, Tennessee, on 28 JUN to Pelham, Alabama, on 15 August. I wouldn’t be surprised if USAT is working on moving the entire race for Nats.
IMO it’s the Olympic distance qualifiers that are problematic. USAT could (I say could) bail on the sprint distance tri in Milwaukee and just make everyone show up in Tempe in mid-November for the DL National Championships. Top 18 in each age group go to Bermuda. Perhaps the Oly qualifying race could just get lumped into another October of November race someplace.
Rolling over the Edmonton qualifiers to Bermuda becomes more than a bit messy. How do you factor in ageing up? Are they going to have to resort to creating a selection committee? The US has, for the most part, embraced the trials system. Selection committees (having served on Tri New Zealand’s for a few years while living there, is time consuming and challenging). Not impossible, just less than ideal.
Athena/Clydesdale Nationals
Weight categories for national champs? YHGTBFKM.
IMO it’s the Olympic distance qualifiers that are problematic. USAT could (I say could) bail on the sprint distance tri in Milwaukee and just make everyone show up in Tempe in mid-November for the DL National Championships. Top 18 in each age group go to Bermuda. Perhaps the Oly qualifying race could just get lumped into another October of November race someplace.
Rolling over the Edmonton qualifiers to Bermuda becomes more than a bit messy. How do you factor in ageing up? Are they going to have to resort to creating a selection committee? The US has, for the most part, embraced the trials system. Selection committees (having served on Tri New Zealand’s for a few years while living there, is time consuming and challenging). Not impossible, just less than ideal.
I don’t know if I agree with you that the age up issue ***has ***to be a big deal rolling over Edmonton qualifiers to next year. It ***would ***take ITU acknowledging that this year is an anomaly and allow an uneven distribution in some of the age groups assuming, most age groups will only be off by a few since some will move in and others move out. We’ll have to see how this plays out.
Of course I am looking at it as someone who qualified for the first time and also would age up next year.
Athena/Clydesdale Nationals
Weight categories for national champs? YHGTBFKM.
Did it ever occur to anyone to try to get, like, kids into the sport?
Athena/Clydesdale Nationals
Weight categories for national champs? YHGTBFKM.
Did it ever occur to anyone to try to get, like, kids into the sport?
Big problem in triathlon is that most coaches are ‘professional’ (in it to make money) rather than volunteers (more the case in some places in Europe like France, Switzerland, Germany with triathlon clubs for kids based on volunteering). They make their money off of age-groupers. Not much money to make off coaching kids.
I’m originally from Switzerland and had founded the most successful triathlon youth development club in the country with friends, all of us functioning as volunteers. I’ve since moved to Australia, and here (at least where I am) there’s no willingness to build something around youth development. Most coaches are in it for the money (it’s their job), and therefore very few kids can train in a triathlon structure. My son is in a swim club, and runs once a week with structured training with a running coach. But lacks the atmosphere of being with lots of other kids doing the sport together and bonding, etc…
The age up issue is such a non-issue… The way it works from the ITU lens is that each country has a max quota of spots per age group (20, host nation 25). Given the displacement by a year, all they need to do is put a waiver on quotas for next year, or put in a exemption by request process to deal with the age ups… No need for selection committees on behalf of the National Federations, they could roll over their qualifiers by a year, and then start selections for the following season… Some countries under their caps, might do some limited qualifiers to fill empty slots if desired, since there will be natural attrition (as a canadian, many people wanted to race Edmonton, but there will be a drop off if their qualification rolls over to Bermuda…)…
I’m more interested in what happens with the multisport side… I’m qualified for Almere, but had no plans to go to Townsville… I’m not sure if they cancel Almere (last we heard it’s still a go, but we will get final verdict at the end of the month apprently), and decide to keep Townsville next year whether I would still want to go (since the costs will more than double from a travel/accommodations perspective).
I don’t think age up would be a huge issue. I’d guess would have minimal net impact which could be resolved by allowing a few extra spots per country at worlds.
This might be unpopular, but I think athletes should have to re-qualify for the next Worlds, whenever that ends up being. If you had qualified for Edmonton and paid your team fee, that fee carries over. If you don’t successfully re-qualify, I think a refund (or putting it toward a ‘charity qualification’ if your country does that) would be reasonable. Otherwise you could have athletes who have sat on the couch, been injured, or whatever for 2 years after having qualified for Worlds, doing nothing, showing up for the next one. As it is, our qualification races are over a year ahead of the championship event. Maybe in (at least) the year post-covid they go to more of a Kona model, where you qualify and race Worlds in the same year?
Got an email from USAT couple weeks ago on the new Team USA races for 2021. Looks like if you took a spot in 2020 you will have the option to take a spot in 2021. Otherwise they are still working on the best method to allow new participants in the race.
Team USA Qualifying Information
If you claimed a Team USA spot for the canceled 2020 World Championships in Edmonton in the standard distance, you are eligible to transfer to the 2021 Edmonton standard-distance event. If you claimed a Team USA spot for the canceled 2020 World Championships in Edmonton in the sprint distance, you are eligible to transfer to the 2021 Bermuda sprint-distance event. All athletes who claimed a Team USA spot for the canceled 2020 World Championships in Edmonton (either distance) will receive an email with transfer instructions later this week. We are still working on several other details regarding the qualification process for 2021 — including if there will be any changes to the qualification process for new athletes (not 2020 rollovers) based on team size/availability, and what the qualifying process will be for the NEW Super-Sprint World Championships, Mixed Relay World Championships and Standard-Distance Aquabike World Championships. We will communicate these details as soon as they are finalized.
This might be unpopular, but I think athletes should have to re-qualify for the next Worlds
It’s not unpopular. It’s logistically stupid. How would you suggest they re-qualify if there aren’t any races happening to re-qualify at? Age group nationals was cancelled. So, there is no way to qualify. I don’t think you thought this out. The qualification for worlds is done at Nationals. There is no way USA can fill a field of athletes for worlds when 2021 nationals is only 2 weeks before worlds.