According to one of the latest Ironman videos Kat also has split with Björn Geesmann, same as Patrick Lange.
Anyone knows who her new coach is? 
Dowsett for the bike, according to the video.
I smiled at the ‘I need to improve my bike to, err, reach my potential’ (repeated) carefully avoided mentioning any elephant in the room (strong cyclist) she needs to get closer to (so she can then catch and run past her over 26 miles, if not 13 miles).
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She’s been open in the past about having to make up the difference vs Knibb on the bike as the area where she has to improve if she wants a shot at beating her. I think it may have been one of the 70.3 WC after videos, but she’s called out Knibb by name before.
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Yeah that entire section with Dowsett is clearly intended for Kat to be able to TT by herself right onto the rear wheel of Taylor. I don’t think Taylor can outrun Kat at the 26.2 distance.
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Knibb’s running is work in progress. Think she has a run specific coach as well
Give her time I think she will be hard to outrun on the bike. She is also a lot younger and from WTCS background so her speed work is definitely there
I suspect that going a good bit harder on the bike all by herself while not " sharing the workload with other women" may end up affecting Kat’s stellar run a bit. Luckily, “we will see” her progress come Ironman Texas.
I don’t think the point is to go a lot harder on the bike by herself, it’s to improve her ability to ride steady while not in a group. She said that in the video.
I’d contend that in order to ride up to Taylor all by herself Kat will have to ride a good bit harder than she ever has before. I don’t think that when she was attached to Imogen’s tail keeping Imogen’s Race Ranger light oscillating between orange and blue she was riding nearly as hard as she will need to in order to go solo and I think that Imogen was riding smoothly without big surges that were detrimental to Kat’s run. Perhaps we will see;)
Well, on the assumption that Knibb will be riding alone (on the catch up to LCB when we finally see them race) Matthews catching Knibb obviously implies she’ll have to produce more watts (assuming similar CdA). That’s a tall order (“a good bit harder” seems an understatement!) but without it there ain’t no catch. However Matthews’ swim deficit has reduced (see IMWC Nice and Taupo) so there are fewer seconds to catch.
Simmonds rode superbly (as she showed in several T100s earlier in the year btw): I also think Matthews struggled to hang on. In her chat with Lieto Matthews referenced needing to be ‘brave’. That long drag up to the Taupo motorsport place was a moment (and Knibb has said she sent it for that 20 minutes, suddenly opening the gap: vital given Matthews’ run speed).
For Kona, Ryf’s retirement removes an ally for Matthews. Difficult to see who else has the bike power to tag team on the QK outward leg. Philipp and Haug will be gapped. LCB then Knibb off the front. Sodaro ‘prefers’ wheel 2. Maybe Derron has the swim-bike power (but see Taupo).
I do think Matthews run will remain her differential weapon (Knibb’s had 10 odd years in SC so @asianzone’s “speed work” hasn’t). Has she any more potential? We’ll see. Matthews recently ran 16:04 (alone) for 5km (deep in her IM Texas build).
Don’t forget that both Nice and Taupo were wetsuit swims which would tend to work in Kat’s favor. Hawaii definitely won’t be a wetsuit swim.
I doubt they were last year
Who’s CdA would you say was more optimized last year?
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and the last Kona she was a DNF and iirc she didn’t really acclimatize that well…
I would put money on Taylor.
Which race? And I fear the odds you’d get on Knibb are worse, unless the patriotic Brits pile on with optimistic fervour on Matthews in which ‘all bets are off’.
Let’s face it, Knibb has persuasively demonstrated her full distance strengths.
Extrapolation rules.
Actually I suspect, if fit in October, LCB will be favourite ahead of the other ‘top 6’.
Sorry, I wasn’t clear
I was answering to which of the two had a lower CDA. My guess with a poorly calibrated aero goggles says Taylor
Certainly her half distance strengths are persuasively demontsrated. In regards to full distance, “we will see” still rules the day;) Texas will be very exciting to watch.
There seems to be a general move amongst the top women to cycle specialist coaches.
Lorang already has Haug, LCB and Knibb in his illustrious stable, or have I got that wrong? Gentle’s gone off to some cycling bloke and Sodaro to another one (sorry cannot remember). Derron is presumably struggling on with the China-based bloke. And now Matthews has enlisted Dowsett to help her ascend into the rarified ‘Knibb’ band of the FTP spectrum. Philipp sticks with Philipp.
If you remember, that was highlighted last year and people reacted to it.
Chelsea is with Neal Henderson.
If I remember correctly, Neal worked with both Taylor Knibb and Flora Duffy at one point in their development. He’s a sharp cookie and nice guy.