The big issue with the standings is that from about 20th-40th, the athletes are basically all the same. So that you don’t really move up a bunch unless you get a big time top 5 style type of result and big points jump. But if you are a consistent 18th / 23rd / 28th / 24th / 30th, you kinda don’t really move all that much because 1 race you’ll be 18th and you’ll just switch spots the next race who is 27th, etc. So eventually you kinda are stuck where you are. That I think is where the 3rd US men’s spot will kinda fall into with it being Rider / McDowell / McQueen. The top 2 are going to eventually be Pearson and McElroy when all is said and done, especially if Pearson races a normal schedule next year (he’ll get some T10’s for sure next year). Good thing is that those 3 guys previously mentioned can atleast hold their own in the MTR and so all 3 have legit reasons to race and score as best as they can. Prior to the last few months of the Tokyo qualification period, there was some “inner turmoil” brewing with athletes knowing who and who wasn’t likely to get picked, so then some things transpired that really lost it for the U.S.
That I think is where the 3rd US men’s spot will kinda fall into with it being Rider / McDowell / McQueen. The top 2 are going to eventually be Pearson and McElroy when all is said and done, especially if Pearson races a normal schedule next year (he’ll get some T10’s for sure next year).
If Pearson had 3 20th places in world cup events he would be in the top 25 already. Having an 11 point race when it takes ~3200 to get in the top 30is huge. I’d say that He and Mc are locked in to get into the top 30 at this point (injury issues aside).
I sort of feel like McDowell can make this easy on everyone: just get yourself in the top 30 and be the last guy taken.
It seems that McQueen and Rider can run when the bike isn’t too hot. And they can obviously swim/bike with the best in the world. I wouldn’t be surprised if one of them emerges into a star. Because the US men were so weak 5 years ago Rider has been around for a while, but he is only 25. And McQueen is 24.
Since Blu has already won an IM world championship I am hoping the decision to move the Men’s race to Nice next year will lesson Blum’s draw of racing IM next season. He wants to win Kona, not another World title.
Will be interesting to see how it falls, unfortunately with the new rotation starting, the men get Kona the same year as the Olympics, and with a two year cycle, that will be the case every time…
Also, new rules are up. Some very interesting changes. Definitely took recent events into consideration, with rules based on things that happened in Montreal, Leeds, Commonwealth Games and the Tokyo test event… Also bike and run conduct rules for contact a bit like has been added for the swim.
Will make for an exciting 2023 season…
Is anyone thinking KB will race the world champs in 2023, even they are in Kona? No way. Gustav and him wanted to be polite when they were interviewed in Hawaii and did not want to sound unrespectul. Kristian perfectly knows that he cannot play going forward and backwards all the time with short and long distance. World Triathlon-ITU is much more demanding that long distance in terms of training and competition (just take a look at all the podiums in the last 15 months, a lot of different guys). So, in a so so day you can finish 25th instead of top 5 or at the podium. Plus he will have to confront the french, Yee,Wilde and some others who are swimming, biking and running really strong. He is a machine, but not unbeatable if he is not focusing 100%.
Luis is showing great fitness. If he can keep healthy he is a trully contender. Bergere is the world champ. Conninx is able to win in a good day. Yee and Wilde are at their pick. Hauser has progressed and if he can swim like he usually does he will be at the front. We cannot forget Geens, a healthy Van Riel, and some underdogs (J Brownlee, Bicsak, Pearson…)
I actually think because he’s already won the Gold medal, they have much less “pressure” to nail the itu focus builds now, and they can kinda play into the “norwegian method” and how effective it is with winning at all distances, etc. So that even though he’s likely lost his top end speed, I just wonder if the allure of showcasing how good of a program they are all across all distances is greater draw than the actual “proper” Paris build.
Merry Christmas and a happy new year to the dirty dozen! The build up to Paris looks to have some fascinating story lines to follow starting in the spring time.
Merry Christmas and a happy new year to the dirty dozen! The build up to Paris looks to have some fascinating story lines to follow starting in the spring time.
So after the New Year we are looking at some Arena Games before the WTCS opener in Abu Dhabi?
Also I think the Lievin Indoor Tri should definitely get a bit more attention on here as very fun event to watch.
Merry Christmas and a happy new year to the dirty dozen! The build up to Paris looks to have some fascinating story lines to follow starting in the spring time.So after the New Year we are looking at some Arena Games before the WTCS opener in Abu Dhabi?
Also I think the Lievin Indoor Tri should definitely get a bit more attention on here as very fun event to watch.
WT released this on 13 Jan:
“World Triathlon is pleased to announce two more events that will join the 2023 World Triathlon Championship Series circuit: Cagliari, Italy, that will take place on 27-28 May, and Montreal, Canada, 24-25 June. The World Cup planned in Busselton (Australia) and the Bergen World Cup (Norway) unfortunately will not take place this year.”
https://www.triathlon.org/news/article/cagliari_and_montreal_added_to_the_2023_wtcs_calendar
2023 WTCS:
3-4 March – Abu Dhabi, UAE (Sprint)
13 May - Yokohama, JPN (Standard)
27-28 May – Cagliari, ITA (Standard)
24-25 June – Montreal, CAN (Sprint & MTR)
13-16 July - Hamburg, GER (Super-sprint & MTR)
29-30 July - Sunderland, GBR (Sprint & MTR)
22-24 September - Pontevedra, ESP (Standard)
Paris 2024 Test Event:
17-20 August – Paris, FRA (Standard & MTR)
Arena Games (for @Adman)**: **25 Feb – 8 Apr: Montreal, Switzerland, Singapore, London
Merry Christmas and a happy new year to the dirty dozen! The build up to Paris looks to have some fascinating story lines to follow starting in the spring time.So after the New Year we are looking at some Arena Games before the WTCS opener in Abu Dhabi?
Also I think the Lievin Indoor Tri should definitely get a bit more attention on here as very fun event to watch.
WT released this on 13 Jan:
“World Triathlon is pleased to announce two more events that will join the 2023 World Triathlon Championship Series circuit: Cagliari, Italy, that will take place on 27-28 May, and Montreal, Canada, 24-25 June. The World Cup planned in Busselton (Australia) and the Bergen World Cup (Norway) unfortunately will not take place this year.”
https://www.triathlon.org/...e_2023_wtcs_calendar
2023 WTCS:
3-4 March – Abu Dhabi, UAE (Sprint)
13 May - Yokohama, JPN (Standard)
27-28 May – Cagliari, ITA (Standard)
24-25 June – Montreal, CAN (Sprint & MTR)
13-16 July - Hamburg, GER (Super-sprint & MTR)
29-30 July - Sunderland, GBR (Sprint & MTR)
22-24 September - Pontevedra, ESP (Standard)
Paris 2024 Test Event:
17-20 August – Paris, FRA (Standard & MTR)
Arena Games (for @Adman)**: **25 Feb – 8 Apr: Montreal, Switzerland, Singapore, London
Looking like it will be a full season, but it’s nice to see the WTCS series back to more traditional season boundaries, as opposed to the 16month season we had last year…
Not sure why people sleep on the Lievin race, I am pretty positive that it is that event that inspired Super League’s Arena games, and it is the truest to form indoor triathlon that I am aware of in the world…
Interested in seeing the Sunderland and Paris courses to see what they look like from an interest perspective… Abu Dhabi depends a bit on what course they use, but it could be interesting, or more of a dash for cash. Yokohama will likely be a boring men’s race, and 50/50 for the ladies. Cagliari is a great course, Montreal returning to sprint distance instead of the eliminator means the course is likely to be harder and more technical like it used to be, so it has some potential… Hamburg will depend on the dynamics, but it’s a technical course, if people try to make the race it could be good. I assume the individual course with the SS format will likely look like the traditional MTR one (this is still my favorite spectator venue on the circuit, readily available course side Erdinger doesn’t hurt, but such a great venue)… Pontevedra should be an interesting course if they use something similar to what they have used for Duathlon worlds there in the past. Definitely too bad that there’s no Bermuda this year, but there’s potential for this season to be one of the less boring ones in a while, simply due to the courses…
World Triathlon keeps on delaying the announcement of the 2024 Grand Finale and 2024 Sprint/Mixed Relay championships. What is going on there? It must be annoying to the bidding cities.
Disappointing about Bergen as it was a great course. Calgliari is just OK, I preferred the old course that had more elevation to it (went to the city centre). I fear Paris will also be a bit flat, so will L.A. 4 years later. I really think World Triathlon should give more thought to bike courses when picking locations for the series and Olympics. I know it’s not easy, and especially for the Olympics as they don’t choose the city where it’s held, and cities often want to showcase their city centre and public attractions rather than go somewhere on the outskirts that provides a better/great course (but then why did they change Cagliari to leave the city centre?).
So far in 6 Olympics, we’ve only had one truly challenging bike course, in Athens in 2004.
Hell, apart from one year (and that course I think was a little too extreme fwiw), even in Kitzbuhel they’ve gone out of their way to provide a fully flat course.
I think instead of going to major cities, they should concentrate on smaller (but still fairly big) cities or tourist destinations that offer challenging terrain. Lausanne was great. Bermuda is nice. Monaco could be amazing for example. Etc.
Not sure what’s happening on the 2024 announcement fronts, certainly with qualification processes beginning in some countries for that championship year, it would be useful info for people to have. I guess it depends on the bids, evaluating potential courses, etc. But hopefully those announcements come out pretty soon. If I had to guess, the championship venues would generally come from the pool of this year’s WTCS/World Cup lists, so maybe Sunderland? Maybe back to Bermuda? time will tell.
In terms of the vanilla courses, it’s a tricky one. Cities ponying up to bid on these race want to show off their tourist assets, which generally tends to be in less interesting downtown areas, and therefore results in more vanilla courses. The Olympics tend to be the worst for that, since the selection of the host is not done with the consideration of the course for any event. Once the host is selected, World Tri works with the LOC to try and find the least bad venue/course, but limitations such as location of viable swim venues, impacts on traffic and access to other OG venues, tends to limit the possibilities really fast. Unfortunately in some of the series rotations we’ve lost some really good courses, the old Stockholm course for example was badass, with an 8% slope in the T-zone… Bermuda, Leeds (most years), etc. Hopefully Bergen is back next year, that was a fantastic course. And hopefully new venues add some intrigue.
Disappointing about Bergen as it was a great course. Calgliari is just OK, I preferred the old course that had more elevation to it (went to the city centre). I fear Paris will also be a bit flat, so will L.A. 4 years later. I really think World Triathlon should give more thought to bike courses when picking locations for the series and Olympics. I know it’s not easy, and especially for the Olympics as they don’t choose the city where it’s held, and cities often want to showcase their city centre and public attractions rather than go somewhere on the outskirts that provides a better/great course (but then why did they change Cagliari to leave the city centre?).
**So far in 6 Olympics, we’ve only had one truly challenging bike course, in Athens in 2004. **
Hell, apart from one year (and that course I think was a little too extreme fwiw), even in Kitzbuhel they’ve gone out of their way to provide a fully flat course.
I think instead of going to major cities, they should concentrate on smaller (but still fairly big) cities or tourist destinations that offer challenging terrain. Lausanne was great. Bermuda is nice. Monaco could be amazing for example. Etc.
Rio anyone?
London wasn’t half bad either (between the bridges and the tram tracks. it was enough for breaks to stick)…
abu dhabi start lists are up:
https://triathlon.org/events/start_list/2023_world_triathlon_championship_series_abu_dhabi/581954.
abu dhabi start lists are up:
https://triathlon.org/...ies_abu_dhabi/581954
Interesting. Only Blummenfelt on the list for Norway guys. Could change still.
Yes, interesting on the Norwegians; but, also no Knibb or Duffy. Great to see Katie Zafares returning. Excited for the season - and Olympic qualifying - to begin. No question, the French are well positioned for their hometown Games.
Yes, interesting on the Norwegians; but, also no Knibb or Duffy. Great to see Katie Zafares returning. Excited for the season - and Olympic qualifying - to begin. No question, the French are well positioned for their hometown Games.
The French are the most likely (almost a lock) to qualify 6 for the Olympics. However none of them are a lock for an individual podium at the Games (but they all could do it depending on race scenarios). On the other hand, bar a major surprise or an incident, the French (and GB and USA) should again be on the podium in the mixed relay.
Yes, interesting on the Norwegians; but, also no Knibb or Duffy. Great to see Katie Zafares returning. Excited for the season - and Olympic qualifying - to begin. No question, the French are well positioned for their hometown Games.
The French are the most likely (almost a lock) to qualify 6 for the Olympics. However none of them are a lock for an individual podium at the Games (but they all could do it depending on race scenarios). On the other hand, bar a major surprise or an incident, the French (and GB and USA) should again be on the podium in the mixed relay.
As host nation France is automatically allocated 3 female and 3 male athletes.