Pro Cyclist Ovett 14:41 5km - Beats Schomburg/McNamee

Triathlon Forum
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I saw in the Spanish media this yesterday - https://www.triatlonchannel.com/2022/01/02/nuevo-ciclista-profesional-corriendo-a-pie-a-nivel-de-series-mundiales/

Freddy Ovett rider for L39ION of LA team beat WTS star and olympian Jonas Schomburg In Girona last week with a 14.41 5km. Also ahead of 2x podium Kona guy David McNamee. Is this legit? If so crazy impressive how this is possible to run this fast on cycling training. I found results below

https://cronoexagon.com/races/257/62/16a-cursa-sant-silvestre-de-girona

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When you’re inside the top .75% of endurance athletes on the globe why is this that surprising?

If he focused on running instead of cycling who knows how fast he would be?

These guys are enormous talents and have more latent talent at sports they don’t do than most of us will be at sports we regularly do

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I’m not sure you understand how ridiculous it is running a 14.41 5km off purely cycling training is surprising… regardless of talent

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I think his Dad could run a bit too! :wink:

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He does run a bit as well, also running quickly is in his family for sure…

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I’m not sure you understand how ridiculous it is running a 14.41 5km off purely cycling training is surprising… regardless of talent

He has quite a strong running background, and, possibly, he still does some running here and there. 14’41" is quite impressive, but it’s not coming off cycling only at all

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When I was younger I could run a good 5k for me off mostly cycling. Ovett is just at another level or two from me but its all proportional… 14.40 isnt that fast for top level runners and Freddie would be lapped nearly twice by top runners if it was a track race so I think its not that quick in terms of top class athletics

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I think I remember watching a video where he said he went to Oregon on a track/running scholarship. I’m guessing this wasn’t a 5k PR for him.

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I’m not really surprised.

He’s a running scholarship kid, and former australian junior champion so clearly has a lot of talent as a runner. 14:41 isn’t really that fast and finding another 20 seconds a mile to get to mid 13 mins range (which is good, but not the highest level) would be hard, even on 100% run training. TBH I would have been surprised if he hadn’t been able to break 15.

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He ran at Oregon. Not like he’s coming from no run background. May still do a bit here and there as cross training.

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If anyone knows the history of Freddy and ever seen him run you would easily be convinced that his talent to be a world class runner is enormous and if he went 100% to running a time of 13:30 would be child’s play. Maybe he’s thinking of returning to running after cycling

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If anyone knows the history of Freddy and ever seen him run you would easily be convinced that his talent to be a world class runner is enormous and if he went 100% to running a time of 13:30 would be child’s play. Maybe he’s thinking of returning to running after cycling

I think you are slightly overstating. If 13:30 is child’s play then he should have been a runner. You seem to be implying he has the talent to run sub 13. I doubt it.

But to the important question: can he swim?

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Indeed - can he swim? ~ as returning to competitive running* after* a stint as a cyclist, seems quite… um…unusual.

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I’m not sure you understand how ridiculous it is running a 14.41 5km off purely cycling training is surprising… regardless of talent

He ran a 1:52 800m at 16 and was recruited to Oregon for running…

Also ran a 2:48 at the LA marathon this year. He has some substantial background there.

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all these breezy answers about how 14:40 isn’t that great … are we on slowtwitch, or letsrun?

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I think his Dad could run a bit too! :wink:

Understatementmuch :-).

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Exactly. Just trying to shine some credit on an impressive feat that I’m certain no other pro cyclist could do on a whim like this. No need to go comparing to the 5km world track records…

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Schomburg is able to run faster that a 14.40 but he might have taken it easy. MC Namee is a LD guy…so, no big surprise that this guy beat them both. The thing is that is a ridiculous fast time. Dumoulin run a 31 something in a recent 10k, right? I am starting to thing that cyclists in their prime moving to LD triathlon might make some damage (not thinking of Hansen nor Talanski that came to the sport just too late)… anyone knows of any other young pro with swimming background too? The thing is they wont move into triathlon. which is much less profitable… However, the X training is becoming a thing in pro cycling…

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Tom D ran a 32 high on a 9.85km course so more 33mins… doesn’t compare to a 14:40. I don’t think Schomburg took it ‘easy’ and ran a 14.44 I think he just got beat, why would he race otherwise. I think there’s a few guys that transition well from cycling but not many. The main issue is the swim… Knowing most Australians they can swim very well, so who knows

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Exactly. Just trying to shine some credit on an impressive feat that I’m certain no other pro cyclist could do on a whim like this. No need to go comparing to the 5km world track records…

I’m pretty certain Tom Pidcock could run about that quick on a whim. It was, no doubt, an impressive run performance, but given the engine elite cyclists have, not as surprising as you seem to thing.