Some how blu had a direct pathway rather than working up? But it would make some great content, i think there was a youtuber who went from 5->1 in a year.
Blu? As in Blummenfelt? What about him on that topic?
Next year seems likely to be completely different for the Pro series, especially for the men with the Norwegians focused on the series, but also simply because there will be a lot of lessons learned from this year.
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I agreeā¦ I think the menās Pro Series winning number of points was quite soft this yearā¦ in stark contrast to the womenās Pro Series where the point score will be hard to beat as Matthews lost so little time (points).
I think at the beginning of the year, folks speculated it would take ~20,000 points to win and it took around 19,000.
I think Ajax is suggesting that Sam target the North American Pro Series races and get as close to 20,000 points of the max 21,500 as a strategy, potentially forgoing the WC/premium points.
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I think a lot of folks here are neglecting this fact. It is silly to go off this years scores, it will be a huge anomaly 5 years from now when we have lots of data points to go on. I would imagine that Blu will be gunning for a perfect score, and if falls short, it wont be by much. And others will not be far behind either, would imagine some who made big scheduling mistakes this year will not repeat that againā¦
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This is going to sound harsh, but itās not meant to be. I enjoy watching you race.
Are you ok with coming out dead last and 2 minutes behind the last pack in the swim?
If your psyche can handle that for every race in the series, then the T100 contract seems to be the best financial option.
Good luck in 2025.
No, I think you have to race the IMWC well to give yourself a maximum of 21,000.
I am suggesting that, given some hot shots will be at Marbella, a good result in a domestic (NA) 70.3 is probably going to score almost as well.
A prudent athlete would seek to mitigate risk (see also Marquardt) by racing an additional 70.3 and can then decide (see also Lange) whether to travel to Europe in November.
Having said that, Marbella is only a week before Dubai so I assume few of the T100 bods will race.
Barnaby scored 2515 in Taupo (in #9), more or less the same as his win in Busso and 2477 in Mallorca (#3).
Without seeing the terms of a PTO/Moritz Contract, it would be hard to advise you on what to do. But in an individual sport where those contracts still treat you like a race to race 1099ā¦it would likely be better to do the thing with the most freedom.
Right, Jackie Hering experienced this this year. Her 70.3 Worlds score did not count for her because her North American 70.3 scores were higher (far less competition). Lotte Wilms would have had a decent chance of beating Hering if she had raced another non-championship 70.3.
I suspect many athletes would have placed higher in the series by forgoing the championship races (or at least not counting on them for scores).
One additional consideration (sorry to complicate things): what impact will 2025 have on future sponsorship?
T100 probably has the highest payout, but how would a winless season as a T100 athlete impact sponsorship levels, merch sales, etc. for 2026?
Consider Pieter Heemeryck, five T100 top10s including a podium. Super solid results and good T100 $$$, but does that profile lead to big sponsorships?
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You may be right, but this aspect of professional triathlon sucks and Iām hoping the PTO race tiers, T100, (and to some extent the IM Pro Series) will help eliminate it. The best racing the best needs to be normalized and celebrated such that being associated with the T100 is looked at higher than winning a bronze 70.3 against athletes ranked below 75.
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You ask this question as if Peter has a choice in the matter. He did some Ironman races and his T100 results are by far his best of the year, and he likely would just be top 10 filler in good WTC results anyway. Its not just about winning races, because that is a very hard thing to do these days in the pro ranks in a legit $$ race.
I think Sam knows now that winning in either series is going to be super hard, probably not realistic until his swim comes waaaay down. But that doesnt mean he cannot be successful, as long as winning is not the only goal. Doing his very best over a lot of races, well that is what we are talking about here between the two series. Even with the top ITU guys in the T100, sam still had the fastest or near fastest bike and runs. I dont think that changes, just whether he can get that swim down to 2 1/2 minutes behind and have a real shot at podium each race, especially the hot onesā¦
Yes, quite intārāsting. Wilms actually raced IMLP deliberately to work this one as (I assume) she assessed the high priced help (Philipp/Matthews/Haug/LCB) were going to go so fast in Nice that she would score better in Lake Placid (winner = 5000). She was with Hering entering T2 and I donāt know what happened but she DNFād. A run to form would have surely meant sheād have scored 4500+ and thus beaten Hering in the IM Pro Series overall (coulda woulda)
Even with her #9 in IMWC she āonlyā scored 3707.
Donāt think I can add anything here that hasnāt been said, but perhaps Sam L should consider whether Nice course suits him as a comparatively bigger rider.
As for T100, it will be just too incredibly competitive. I believe Wilde just announced a two year break from SC racing to focus on mid distance. Thatās him and God knows how many other ITU guys going mid distance, doesnāt seem like the right choice but ultimately it is whatever makes you happy racing!
@SamYoYoYo1 I donāt know about next year but I hope you follow Heather Jacksonās path; Western States, UTMB, Unbound Gravel 200. It looks like sheās having fun. Black Canyon Ultras by UTMB is near you, do it. For fun and content, you need to race Lionel and Phil Gaimon up Mount Lemmon. Ride the Tour du Rwanda. Run the Grand Canyon R2R2R with Jim Walmsley.
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Everything said here is valid, but thereās tons of uncertainty and randomness that will determine race results, so hard to model (even if we had all the contract data).
Assuming low likelihood for the big prize money in both paths (for all the reasons mentioned above), financial optimization should go to sponsorship dollars.
So I would look at another dimension - which path will bring more social media followers and what else you can do to significantly increase that number. Arguably that has more earning potential than improving the swim.
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Its not either or, he can do both things.
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have you been living under a rock and missed all the talk of blu going to tdf for next year? (which the plan was canceled anyways)
Blu is Norwegian. He wouldnāt need to advance through a USA categories system to become a cycling pro. That is a very unique US system, I assumed you knew.
But there is defo pros this year that made less money with pto than last year without any series . Fred funk is one of those being open about that financially PTO does not really work for him as he lost out on a lot of sponsor race bonuses . He seems to be happy to take the loss , but just pointing out t 100 is not a guaranteed money maker.