Latest real starky interview…
http://trstriathlon.com/lagerstrom-winning-triathlon-race-videos-life/
It seems our olympian athlete development will be going down the toilet as the only choice is for them to do 70.3 .
The inside tack for the us women’s Olympic spots are Gwen, Hersey and true. How many LT events did they do last year? 2 years ago?
The us men is a toss up. And full of guys who raced LT the last 2 years.
If you had to guess, How many US women will place top 10 in the Olympics? How many men?
(on a sort of related note: has LT still sponsoring Kemper and Haskins ?)
Pretty sure Olympic development shouldn’t depend on commercial races…
It’s the same as Rock’n’roll getting rid of their prize purse causing marathoner development to go down the toilet.
Latest real starky interview…
http://trstriathlon.com/...on-race-videos-life/
It seems our olympian athlete development will be going down the toilet as the only choice is for them to do 70.3 .
Nope it won’t suffer at all.
The athletes with the best shot at being future olympic material will likely be fast collegiate swimmers who have a body composition conducive to running, or collegiate runners who have some swimming background.
And then they can race in draft-legal U25 elite development races to earn their pro card, get into continental cups, world cups, and the WTS.
College years are best spent being in a good D1 swimming or running program and going straight to the elite dev races after college.
Races like lifetime don’t really aid in this process. Plenty of other ways for young athletes to get their pro card like collegiate nats too, if they are not in a swim or run program and are instead into triathlons already in college.
If you look at the mens in the US it’s not LTF that’s developing them it’s guys like Paulo.
Now the cancellation of LTF hurts bc they have less US opportunities to race and make some lunch $.
US women has historically been better than the US men.
Nondraft Olympic, while not directly the same format, certainly has a place in development. It’s an extra way for developing ITU athletes to earn some side money, as well as simply just getting race experience without having to spend 36 hours traveling to a race.
The dynamics aren’t identical, but they’re close enough that it’s better experience than only racing 4-5x per year.
I think 70.3 and 140.6 development might suffer a bit, but then again a lot of the top guys now go to long course from the ITU stream. It is going to be tough for the teen/early 20s athlete that isn’t a fast enough swimmer to race draft legal, but might have a solid bike/run combo to build on. If they are in their late teens early 20s they might not be ready or not want to jump up to 70.3s, and now there are limited oly distance events for them. In Ontario we are lucky because MultiSport Canada offers some prize money at the end of the year based on series points. So guys like Lionel, Cody, and myself have been able to make a little bit of money as we transition into the pro ranks. I think it has helped develop a deep field of local talent that I think has played a small part in the development of us. I think I raced head to head with Lionel 4 or 5 times last year (a blessing and a curse).
Latest real starky interview…
http://trstriathlon.com/...on-race-videos-life/
It seems our olympian athlete development will be going down the toilet as the only choice is for them to do 70.3 .
Nope it won’t suffer at all.
The athletes with the best shot at being future olympic material will likely be fast collegiate swimmers who have a body composition conducive to running, or collegiate runners who have some swimming background.
And then they can race in draft-legal U25 elite development races to earn their pro card, get into continental cups, world cups, and the WTS.
College years are best spent being in a good D1 swimming or running program and going straight to the elite dev races after college.
Races like lifetime don’t really aid in this process. Plenty of other ways for young athletes to get their pro card like collegiate nats too, if they are not in a swim or run program and are instead into triathlons already in college.
This was basically word for word what I was going to say. Olympic hopefuls don’t typically come from a series such as Lifetime. They are plucked out of college.
I remember an article a while back from one of the head USAT coaches saying that they specifically look for high level swimmers or runners because they feel it is hard to beat natural talent in those sports and they can teach an athlete to cycle.
As lschmidt pointed out, there are multiple levels to the international draft legal scene to keep an Olympic hopeful busy.
Simply put, with a few exceptipns the LT series was where former US Olympians went who were no longer able to compete at that level.
I thought it was great but in no way is this going to effect Olympic Developement.
I don’t understand the mentality of blaming Lifetime? If it is not economically feasible to put on the event then of course they can’t continue to lose money.
Maybe college and universities, USA triathlon etc should take up the slack.
I think 70.3 and 140.6 development might suffer a bit, but then again a lot of the top guys now go to long course from the ITU stream.
If you are talking about overall talent in 70.3 and 140.6 racing it’s not going to suffer. In fact it’s going to get harder for guys who weren’t/aren’t near ITU caliber after this and following olympic cycles. We saw after the last Oly cycle swim times drop and run times drop a bit compared to the year before, on average.
ITU athletes are just technically better athletes with higher reving motors than the average long course only athlete. The LC only athlete tends to be more like a gas guzzler with good economy but lacking some of the speed.
it’s easier for an ITU athlete to go longer than it is for a LC focused pro to go faster.
If I had SC focused pros (DL focused or not) in the N, NE, midwest US and they were staying there, I’d be sending them to Canada to race more often. Instead I’m sending him to Europe to race for the summer.
Im not sure the top d1 college swimmers/track stars will be as motivated to pursue tri knowing there is no afterlife for the olympic distance. The long course races dont really work for a spectators attention, even the olympic distance pushes it. Eventually we will have a movement were everyone will assume triathlon is of the ironman distance.