Has pulled out due to ‘personal reasons’…not even attending.
Really hope it is just personal reasons and not the personal reasons everyone was saying Imogen should have said, or another chicken and eggs story…
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Already being discussed in the T100 thread.
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The cynic would suggest something adverse…I bet Imo is wishing she just came out with personal issues.
Have a read here - was days ago.
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This is super borderline on what we’d allow in terms of accusing an athlete of a doping offense without proof.
It’s at best in somewhat bad taste.
Anyways. Carry on. She ain’t racing.
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Thank you.
Medical issue with a parent, some personal medical issue, death in the family - she said she will be racing SF. Thanks for crushing this early
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Thanks for clarifying, it’s a shame this wasn’t included in any of the initial notifications. It’s not at all surprising that with all the doping controversy of late that people would have suspicions at a big name pulling out with no apparent reason…We shouldn’t shy away from asking the questions just because someone is likeable.
Except that it’s March and athletes pull out of races all the time this early in the season…
Its a little different with a contracted T100 athlete though is it not? Aren’t they required to attend even if they aren’t racing?
The reason I posed the question is because Imogen was apparently forced into making it public because she would have been a no show at Singapore and people would have put 2 and 2 together. And then Knibb is a no show with no reason, so surely the question had to be asked.
A bit of a fail by Knibbs team to not quash the rumour mill from the get go by saying there was a family illnesses. I hope they get through this time as best as possible.
She said it was a personal reason which usually means it’s her business not ours
She also stated she will be in SF so I doubt it is the reason that everyone is speculating about and she is likely to show up in Texas too
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It’s totally nonsense that everyone pulling out of a race needs to give a detailed explanation to the world because in some people’s eyes they’re obviously doping
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Pretty sure she has a genuine personal issue going on. They were talking about it in Girona at the weekend and it does seem justified.
She is entitled to her privacy.
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Taylor is entitled to her privacy (which she values more than most), and we’re entitled to spinning up the rumor mill. I don’t like it when said mill includes the “d-word” and I also think it’s extremely unlikely to be a viable answer. But the question remains. I guess we’ll see soon enough if the answer starts with a “T” (not T100 LOL, and also not a substance of any kind).
I was watching all this play out from a distance. I think whether it is a politician, an artist, a CEO, a athlete, what ends up happening because they are in the public, if they suddenly want their privacy and don’t want to explain to the public why they are doing something the public will spin up whatever story they want and that partially becomes reality. No one is forcing anyone to go into public facing professions, so managing the public perception IS part of their business and if they don’t manage the communication to the public, then all kinds of stories will get spun up out there.
If her personal reason is that she does not want to sit on 2x15 hrs flights in the middle of an IM Texas build so she can nail that because winning Kona is her priority then just say it. My guess is that she things she can probably show up at the rest of the T100 and win it anyway, so just use the “personal reason” excuse and call it done.
T100 should say it is a violation of the contract that she is not coming to Singapore, and tear up her contract and tell her she can’t come of the rest of the races.
My gut feel is this is what is going on so they should toss her from the series. I am the biggest fan of Knibb, but if that is the contract, she is no special than anyone else and if she can’t meet the clause she is out. Why should everyone else do 2x15 hrs flights to drain their reserves at the start of season and she get’s a pass.
The T100 series probably ends up being more exciting without her there anyway.
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After reading your post one could come up with another hot take: that Taylor was allowed to skip Singapore under the condition that she’d cite “personal reasons” and not tell the world that the PTO was giving out special passes.
Again, 100% speculation of course.
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It’s been my understanding that her manager, Pat, was a bit cagey in regards to saying whether Taylor had actually signed a contract which implied to me that she may well have a come to a different agreement worked out with T-100 than other athletes. That’s purely speculation on my part but as the winner of the series one might have a bit more leverage in negotiations than others.
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I don’t think T100 needs her. Generally sports events don’t need any particular athlete, as there is always a new champion to crown behind them (it’s like the replaceable gladiators in the coloseum at Rome). Athletes have no power, the organizers have it all because they control the money. T100 should realize this and just be fair to the other athletes and tell her a flat out “you’re out”.
Exactly…I think the sport of Triathlon (outside of the ITU/World Tri) has,for so many years been run by ex- pro athletes who are all tied into each other through close shared history and long friendships. I think that has actually stalled the growth of the sport and kept the overall professionalism of “the industry” from crossing over to mainstream. Just look how we put up with the same Ironman commentators giving us the same second rate race coverage year after year.
No one athlete is bigger than thier sport
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Not if they cut a side deal with her ahead of time and now are just following through. Things like “appearance money” have been in the sport since its beginning and I don’t see this as much different.
The athletes do have the power in this scenario because I don’t think there is a single person in the sport that actually thinks T100 is here long term. So athletes are going to look after themselves waaaaay more than what is best for T100 and/or “long term” viewpoint. Even if it means they are only increasing the odds of it failing and they will squarely be the reason it “fails”. So T100 is sorta in a damned if they do, damned if they don’t scenario. Yes they are the bag man, but they have very big needs in order to put the best product forward, which then allows the athlete to create behind the scene “deals” with the race organizers.
There would be zero chance you tell your reigning champion to kick rocks. But the interesting part is that T100’s “needs” for her to be a personality and buy in seems to be the opposite of what Knibb actually wants to do. It’s almost destined to be an oil and water type of situation at some point. Will she go full Marshawn Lynch in interviews “I’m only here so I don’t get fined” at some point? (I sorta kid but the point is- when your “forcing” athletes to do things it’s going to turn bad for all parties eventually).
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