Great to see so much of Paula
Thoroughly enjoyed watching
Really good
4 Likes
Whats she doing next year? Dont think she podiumed at T100?
She might be better moving up to IM?
She signed the T100 contract, but also mentioned that the PTO relaxed the rules at the last moment, to convince more athletes from the top10 to sign.
The more relaxed rules than originally proposed might give her (and others) more freedom for other races. So I think the full IM option is on the table.
2 Likes
She hinted at doing a full a couple times if I recall, maybe 2026 is it.
Looking at her 2024 season, she was a contender for the win in 70.3 races (1stx2 + 3rd) and was a podium contender in T100 with her par performance being ~5th.
Those are very solid results, and not sure she’d feel pressure to move up to IM based on results…more on curiosity/bucket list.
She placed the same or a tiny bit better in the T100 series races and the equivalent field in 70.3’s. Difference is she made a lot more money in the T100’s races, thus her resighning a contract for another year…
Now of course she would like to try her hand at a full ironman, but nothing shows she would be any more competitive there than at the shorter distances, so probably fit one in here or there to dabble when the time comes…
This year my impression was she wanted to win, but wasn’t going all in on training to sacrifice her comfortable life.
My impression of her over the last couple years is she was strongly motivated by the financial security (no criticism there!) that comes from placing well. This year with the massive financial success of TTL (so it seems at least), combined with the T100 contract she has more stability and maybe isn’t training and racing scared or stressed so much.
I don’t get the impression that she’s fully at the let’s just have fun stage yet, but maybe next year she will be with further financial stability.
But that financial stability caused Rocky to lose his hunger and lose the eye of the tiger. At least from the outside (which might be nonsense justit looks like this year she wasn’t that hungry in training.