But she has so many head scratchers. For instance in Bermuda she can’t keep up with Spivey and Potter as they bridge to the main group. Then (by herself) she closes up to within 3 bike lengths of that pack at the top of the hill, only to loose a bunch of time on the downhill/town section, only to then catch and destroy them a few laps later on the same section
If I remember correctly, it had just started to rain as they were going out on the bike. That’s certainly time to be a bit cautious to feel things out before you go too hard. Also someone on the board mentioned that Taylor had fallen on the bike the last time she raced Bermuda so that may have played a bit with her psyche early on. On top of that it was just a week before when she smashed the 70.3 WC so not all that much time to completely recover. All in all it was a really impressive performance on her part. If she can catch and hold some fast feet in Abu Dhabi something special may happen.
They have Samuel dickenson and two others to domestique for Yee, so really don’t need Jonny to.
Samuel Dickenson did a good job in the commonwealth games
Both the men’s and women’s races should prove to be oh so exciting from start to finish the way a season finale ought to be.I suspect with GTB and Yee in the hunt to be WC that GB Tri will be looking to Coldwell and Brownlee to play domestique roles.Coldwell might as it suits her ambitions as well. But JB will not domestique for AY. Not a chance.Agree: not a chance. And not because of inter-personal relationships.
Currently Brownlee and Yee are both needed to win the MTR again. So the chance of Brownlee being selected only on condition he domestiques for Yee is zero.
The other key aspect is: just how do you see Brownlee ‘domestiquing’ for Yee. Do you envisage Brownlee easing back on the swim so he can pull the 25 man chase pack (with Yee in) up to the fish? Brownlee will be front pack exiting the water, in fact I think it likely his mission may be to join the French led breakaway but play the ‘our main man is chasing’ card and let Bergere and Luis waste French expletives on him, and degrade their run trying to stay away. As the race develops, it may be, as in Bermuda, that it becomes clear that the break is not going to be caught. Does Brownlee then work? Will he reckon himself against Luis’ run? We’ll see in Abu Dhabi, but we can see this might be the template for Paris. Have the French got a swim/biker to have 3 in the front pack out of T1?
Part of our (armchair) difficulty is that there have been so few standard distance races this year (WTCS).
Yee has got a hell of a lot going on outside of Tri and tbh I am surprised he had the strength to race//
First I have heard that something else is going on, can you share?? I suppose he could have been off physically, but looked fine and just pushed to the limit and reacted like every other guy in his group…
Wow.
I assumed they put Paul Georgethum in front of him (and Conix)
But nope. They are only taking four elite men. Georgethum is in the U-23 race.
That’s a bummer for the sport and more so for Tom.
Can’t understand which ranking/how or a policy.
World Rankings Tom Richard is ranked higher than Le Corre and WCTS Tom is ranked higher than Coninx. Both of those are on the start list and Tom isn’t. Tough for Tom.
Could it be that he is sick or injured and we just dont know about it? Does seem strange, is there a limit on how many guys they can enter and they are over it? Or are they just trying to save some money?
Could it be that he is sick or injured and we just dont know about it? Does seem strange, is there a limit on how many guys they can enter and they are over it? Or are they just trying to save some money?
Tom said he was very disappointed not to be picked so injury/illness isn’t a factor. Each federation can have a maximum of 6 qualified athletes on the start list. I think no substitutions are allowed for grand final.
I can’t see it being a money saving exercise. Paris to Abu Dhabi is pretty cheap and once there the rooms are paid for by World Triathlon.
Wow.
I assumed they put Paul Georgethum in front of him (and Conix)
But nope. They are only taking four elite men. Georgethum is in the U-23 race.
That’s a bummer for the sport and more so for Tom.
Can’t understand which ranking/how or a policy.
World Rankings Tom Richard is ranked higher than Le Corre and WCTS Tom is ranked higher than Coninx. Both of those are on the start list and Tom isn’t. Tough for Tom.
Very very strange. With 6 places this seems unnecessary. Must be more to it.
IIf this thinking played out in our sport, we would have like 8 athletes racing. I get it, it’s an “high performance†sport but that imo can’t be the line in the sand.
Maybe they truly are going all in on the front pack only French athletes and don’t want him potentially “chasing†them from the chase pack, but I would assume a simple race tactic discussion would suffice and still let him race for some good money to finish the year.
IIf this thinking played out in our sport, we would have like 8 athletes racing. I get it, it’s an “high performance†sport but that imo can’t be the line in the sand.
Maybe they truly are going all in on the front pack only French athletes and don’t want him potentially “chasing†them from the chase pack, but I would assume a simple race tactic discussion would suffice and still let him race for some good money to finish the year.
Just seems completely unnecessary.
I think the decision should be outside the NGBs if they are ranked top 20/30. Too many political decisions affecting athletes.
Through no fault of his own he will drop out of the top 20, lose prize money and possibly lose sponsorship bonus payments.
NGBs affecting the careers of athletes whose face doesn’t fit should be a thing of the past.
Through no fault of his own he will drop out of the top 20, lose prize money and possibly lose sponsorship bonus payments. //
Sounds like a recipe for moving over to PTO racing, where a 10th place finish is more money than winning an ITU big event. ITs got to be tough when your country is so deep in the field, and with several legit medal contenders. The US women are often in this position, and then the selection process almost has to be political is some respect for at least one of the slots, as it should be…
Excepting that we’re talking two events and possibly four in 2023? More like an argument to become a long course racer in general.
Tom Richard has been told by French Tri he isn’t going to grand final as not ranked high enough.
He is 16th in the series and had 3 top ten WTCS finishes this season.
Brutal.
This is what happens in sports where the federation gets to choose who represents them. And in individual sports it’s really stupid since you can somehow be higher up a list but because the committee thinks a different athlete could do better they’d select them. A la when Tom Bishop was racing himself to oblivion to achieve a 3rd spot for GB but people all over the 2021 thread saying GB should select Alistair Brownlee over him. Didn’t see Alistair racing himself into oblivion to get the spot, so why should he have been selected over him?
Triathlon needs to have national trials like athletics.
My issue is that the NGB’s already have so much say in the Olympics, which is every athlete’s ultimate race. Let the athletes and sport have the rest of the races, especially a top 20 athlete. The front group imo is likely going to be “too big” in Abu Dhabi, where it may turn into 2-3 too many people trying to pull at the front and slightly disrupt the flow. I mean it’s not like the French are going to just be able to TTT away from the front group (even though all 4 of their guys should make front group). There’s going to be likely at min 12+ people out of T1, and on that course…I just dont see them even holding a 20s lead, but of course 20s can be a good gap, but with the fire power that is going to be coming from 4-5 athletes in the chase group, it’s just going to be very very hard to stay away. So I think it’ll end up showcasing that many times NBG’s “over think” it and most times it really doesn’t work out. Especially in the French’s case where for him to win A LOT has to fall into place, so I just think sometimes the PTB’s get a little too cute for their own sake.
My issue is that the NGB’s already have so much say in the Olympics, which is every athlete’s ultimate race. Let the athletes and sport have the rest of the races, especially a top 20 athlete.//
Some do and some dont. Triathlon is a tricky sport in that it is not contested on a set course, set distance, set climate. You seem to have the opinion that it needs to be a fair system to the athletes, but that is not the case. NGB’s want medals, and that is all that motivates them. Being fair to an athlete is not always the best chance at a medal. If we were just being fair, then yes there would be just one qualifying race, and top 2/3 go. But as we saw with the US qualification, designating particular races as auto qualifiers can sometimes backfire. And I dont think I have to list all the reasons that can be a problem, they are quite obvious.
I like a combination of ways to get in, and if the people in charge are hip to what is going on, and not politically motivated, then I like the at large process too. Where it gets really tricky is when domestics are considered over someone that is not likely to crack top 10 or 15. There can be a case to be made pro and con, just depends on the athletes and circumstances.
No my opinion is that races outside the Olympics really bare no need for NGB’s to play “politics”. If they want to setup whatever system they want for said olympic qualification and roster setup and race designation status, fine. But outside of that, let the athletes race for god sake. This is a world championships basically 20 months before the next Olympics, a top 20 athlete has zero business being left out by some silly NGB decision.
eta: your whole post seems to be about the olympic process, of which I’m not really arguing for or against NBG “politics”. There will always be politics within the Olympics because well all the best don’t even compose the race to begin with, as it’s only the best that qualify under all kinds of different rules and regs set by each NGB. You then get some roster spots that aren’t even “deserving” but are motivated by outside influences (the spots that go to the weak countries to “grow” the sport). I’m fine with that. Let the sport and NGB have that “political” power in that arena. But let the athletes have at it, the rest of the calendar years and races.
Tough day at the office for Pearson, who raced for 1st time in over a year since an injury(s?) kept him out. Front pack swim in the wetsuit swim at WC Vina del mar. He must of had some type of mechanical issue as he had the slowest T1 and lost 3.5 mins to the front group. There must have been some issue going on there, but he did have a top 5 run so that looks good in his return. He will be in Abu Dhabi and it’ll be helpful to get some points on the board and him back to racing healthy.