Jason West Resets for 2025

Triathlon Forum
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Originally published at: Jason West Resets for 2025 - Slowtwitch News

West finishes the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in Taupo, New Zealand. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

Jason West was a big enough name in the world of multisport at the beginning of 2023 – from 2019 to 2022 he’d won five IRONMAN 70.3 races. In 2023, though, West didn’t just add a another 70.3 win to his resume (along with a win at Clash Miami), he proved that he could compete with the world’s best thanks to a runner-up finish to Leo Bergere in Oceanside, a runner-up finish to Jan Frodeno (just 28 seconds down from the German) at the PTO US Open, and a third-place finish at the PTO Asian Open in Singapore.

Renowned as one of the sport’s premier runners – he sits atop the PTO run rankings – West appeared ready to continue his steady move towards the elite levels of long-distance racing at the beginning of 2024. The 2015 national collegiate champion (he did a kinesiology degree at Penn State) truly turned his sights from making it to the Olympics to focusing on long-course during the pandemic, and his 2023 season seemed to foreshadow his chance to achieve his dream of winning the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship. Unfortunately, he ended up getting sick in the days before the race in Lahti, Finland, one of the few disappointments in his otherwise successful year of racing.

He rolled into 2024 sitting third in the PTO World Rankings and armed with a T100 contract, but found himself struggling for much of the first half of the year as he dealt with tendon issues around his pelvis.

“The first six or seven months of the year, I was probably in pain everyday,” West said in an interview a few days before the worlds in Taupo. Heading into the T100 races while injured wasn’t exactly the best way to take on the world’s best triathletes.

“Racing the T100 series, every single race felt like a world championship field,” West continued. “These big races where everybody is there, you can have a good day and come 10th … I’ve had performances this year that would’ve won most of the races in my career … and I’d be back in like eighth or 10th place. I think at some of the lower level races, there’s lots of points throughout the race that just aren’t that hard. There are some parts that might be tough, but the swims are generally not as hard, and there’s times on the bike where you’re not pushing that hard. But these races, you’re just full gas the whole way and that’s the norm.”

After trying to hold things together for months, West was finally forced to take some time off of running to try and get over the injury. Since he had a big break through August and September, instead of feeling like he needed a rest at the end of the season, West felt like he was just getting going as he went into the 70.3 worlds in Taupo. He arrived in New Zealand after a solid fifth-place finish at T100 Lake Las Vegas, but then had a tougher day at T100 Dubai, where he finished 13th.

Instead of getting that decent performance he was hoping for at the 70.3 worlds, the day ended up “summing up (his) year,” as he posted on Instagram. He was a bit behind where he’d hoped after the swim, then got dropped by the big group he was with on the bike, only to get passed by another group towards the end of the ride and getting a drafting penalty when they came around, setting the stage for a disappointing 28th-place finish.

Renewed Focus

Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

The tough year of racing in 2024 forced West to evaluate his approach to the sport.

“You take lessons from both sides of it,” he said. “When things go well, it’s also important to look at what was I doing that led me to have things go well. Or, if things haven’t gone well this year, what did I change or what was different in my life? It also gives you a little bit more perspective of what you want, what you don’t want. When you’re winning and you’re on top of the world, it probably masks a lot of things and you’re like, everything is just great. But when things start going wrong, you look to figure out why. I think it’s made me take a step back and just focus on what’s important, and how I want to do the sport. Not just going after specific goals, or I have to win this race, or that series, or something like that. It certainly made me think about how I want do it, what I want to get out of it and, maybe just making some changes for longevity and things like that.”

West’s answers to those questions? He’s determined to keep pushing himself, ensure he is enjoying the sport, and make some changes for 2025, including doing the “year totally different and thinking about what excites me and what’s fun.”

That process starts with this weekend’s IRONMAN 70.3 Pucon. Whether or not that will be the first stop on a season focused on the IRONMAN Pro Series is very much up in the air. West acknowledges that a full-distance race is in his future, but whether or not it will come this year remains to be seen.

“It’s something that I know I want to do eventually,” he said. “It’s such a big part of the sport. The pinnacle really is the Ironman World Championship. I mean, it’s the first triathlon I ever saw on TV, and know that I want to do that eventually. It’s just that I want to respect the distance, respect the race and respect what my competitors are doing. So I know that I can’t just hop in one and expect it to go well. I need to put in the appropriate training and really prepare.”

Partners

The upside of West’s breakthrough year was he was able to sign a number of excellent partnerships, many of which will run through the end of 2025. West was careful to think through what he was doing on the sponsor front during 2023, and enlisted the help of former pro Alicia Kaye to manage those partnerships.

“I feel like I have an incredible team around me and that’s become even more obvious as I’ve had a difficult year and they’ve all just been so supportive, and there’s a lot of belief in me,” he said. “So it feels like I have a super-good team around me that’s gonna be there to enjoy the highs, but also to continue to encourage me through the tough times.”

His only changes for 2025 on the sponsorship front is he’s signed with Goodlife Nutrition.

adding to his previous deal with Goodlife Brands, and replacing his previous nutrition sponsor.

“I’ve really been able to build a team around me that’s focused on performance,” West continued. “That’s from Ventum helping me with a new bike, my position, and what equipment to run, or JACKROO trying to get the fastest fabrics and doing a custom suit. Every brand we have is playing a specific role and helping me create the ultimate performance.”

New Arrival

There is one other big change coming for West in 2025 – he and his wife Jessica have announced that they will be expecting a new addition to the family.

“I’m excited to be a dad and it just gives you a different perspective on life and a different purpose,” West said. “I’m not going to be able to wake up and drag along ’cause all I have to do is my training. I’m going to have other things that I have to do. And I think that’s gonna be really awesome. Ultimately, this is the most important thing, being a dad, and it’s just really exciting. It’s something I’ve looked forward to for a long time and now it felt like the time was right.”

While congrats might be in order, there’s some time before training days will be oriented around parenting. First up for 2025 is Sunday’s race in Pucon, where West arrives as one of the pre-race favorites. You can see the full pro list here.

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It was an interesting choice to finish the 2023 season with 2 back to back ITU races in 2 different continents in 1 week time. Obviously it was a hail mary last effort to see if he could sneak in and get a spot, but it certainly was an “interesting” choice to finish the year that way. It may have turned out to be more on the body than just a “racation”.

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His story is really adjacent to Sam Longs, only a different sport of the 3 he has yet to master. They both win minor/some bigger races, often podium, but also bring up the rear when their off event is really off. Jason is unique in that not many have the bike as their weak point after so many years, as it is the easiest to master. But dude swims lead pack, has the fastest run, and often is out of the top 10 or bigger money places.

One thing they do have in common is that they have to come from behind in T2 and have a stellar run to have a great race. Its a tough mentality that knows that this is going to be the case each and every start, like Tinley in the olden days…

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I would actually say he’s still not mastered the swim which then puts him at the mercy of the “world class fields” on the bike. He’s certainly improved his swim with some solid swims even this year, but he was no where close to a front pack swimmer in his career, so he’s had to have a focus on that as much as his bike.

The interesting part about the T100 to me is the idea that this is essentially WTCS 2.0. Every T100 is a “world class field”, so suddenly if your season consisted of 4 “B” level easy races, 1-2 “world class” fields, you could shrug off a. bad WC performance, cus you won a bunch of races. Now it’s like T100 is such class, that it’s showcasing just what kind of potential mental hurt it can put on people.

(and no I’m not saying any athletes are mentally weak- I’m saying showing up every race and finishing mid pack can certainly have a real impact on psyche of athletes…see Long’s infamous “break down” at T100 GF)

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He came out front pack in T100 Dubai unless you’re going to hold 9sec behind the lead swimmer against him.

Now at 70.3 world’s he was 1 minute back.

In both cases, he got dropped. Although in Dubai he was 6min down from the fastest bike and in Taupo he was 14 minutes down from the fastest bike.

What do we make of that and the alleged super easy to draft 12m zone on Ironman vs 20m “honest distance” on T100?

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What I’m saying is, while yes he’s had front pack swims this year (he’s basically 50/50 this year in making the “front pack”), to say he’s mastered the swim and is a essentially a “front pack” swimmer, imo would be a mislabel. Or more accurately if he’s gotten to that point it has meant he’s worked his ass off to get to that level, because he’s never been a “front pack” swimmer in the sport. I’ve watched him and talked with him many times for almost 10 years now.

So I don’t necessarily think it’s just his bike that has been a weakness, he has had to improve his swim and bike. At this level I think you have to go all in on the swim because even at the drafting distances, it’s still better to try and “make the group” and hold on for dear life, then to never be in the group in the 1st place. Now obviously he’s now improved his swim to a point where he can pivota and move X % of his energy and focus more completely on the bike.

So my point more was West was more of a 1 dimensional athlete who’s had to work both his swim and bike since he came into the sport. There is a reason why his itu career was what it waas, he just could never hook on to the right packs in the water and then went even more backwards on the bike.

There was a reason why his “itu comeback” to see if he could sneak into a potential Paris spot lasted basically a week in '23. He still couldn’t swim well enough to put himself in the right group to then have his run matter. Which again I theorize that extra week of 2 races and travel over 2 continents, and the likely “stress” training after a successful season that summer, may have been way harder on him than just a simply “racation” attempt.

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I don’t remember who they were referencing on PTN, but when they recapped the races, it was interesting they theorized that even though it’s not “that” much more than T100, that seemingly extra 10k worth of biking can cause that band to snap hard for some athletes.

(West lost nearly ~7 mins to the leaders in the last 10km based on the IM tracker splits so whether they are truly accurate or not, point is he lost a bunch of time in the last part of that race)…I don’t think he got an penalty?..NVM he did in fact get a drafting penalty, but article states he lost the main group, got dropped agin by another group and in that process got the penalty.

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Didn’t know about the penalty. That’s probably most of it

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How many front packs did he make last year?? And everyone works on their swim because they have to. Jason is a very good swimmer, has been for quite sometime. Does he sometime miss the front group, sure. But more often he makes it, so thus a front pack swimmer…

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Did you not read what I just wrote? Lol I said he basically made half the front packs. Which again if you followed his career (which I don’t necessarily think you follow low level pros as closely as others do, your a 'fan" you don’t have too), you’d know that being considered a “front pack” swimmer generally wasn’t something he’s done. And no not everyone has to work on the swim equally, again that’s such a inaccurate oversimplifiied take. He didn’t grow up as a “gifted” swimmer that could put it in “maintaince” mode and go crush the bike. He’s had to “grind” to get that swim to what it is now. If you can’t see that, I can’t help that, but that’s the reality. (Go look up all his swim splits for his career-2023 US Open T100, he was nearly a min down on the leaders, middle of pack…2022 US Open T100 he was nearly 1 min back of the swim leaders). Again there was a reason why his ITU career was what it was, and that didn’t include “front pack” (at at times missed the chase pack) swim ability in the big boy events.

So it means he’s had to work his ass off a ton more than some other gifted “front pack” athletes. Again go look at his career swim projectory, he’s worked hard as fuck to get to what you now characterize as “front pack”. He was mid pack at T100’s the previous 2 years of races (again there is a reason why he struggled in itu). So when you basically were suggesting he was just a bike away, I thought that was sorta an incomplete analysis of his development. IE- all that hard work he’s put in has worked out with his swim progression. So only really until NOW (or this year) can he truly pivot to more of a complete bike focus training.

So his poor bike atleast has some context of why it may still be an issue when you understand that he’s also had to work really really hard on the swim (which is paying off obviously).

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In Pucon he’ll have two other ITUers who are not known for their bike prowess to contend with (Tyler and Diego). Moya is an ace swimmer, and Tyler can be front pack at ITU too.

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He was ok on the swim, there was no one strong enough to bike away from the group but he couldnt match Tyler’s run, finished over a minute down in 2nd

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I think Tyler had an impressive 70.3 debut. 1:10 on that course is no joke. We will see how it goes when he has to bike along stronger riders. Swim is top notch of course.

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