Sam signed the T100 contract.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DDuapdxvwyY/?igsh=MWE4bDM2M3h6M28wNw==
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I really had no doubt that he would come to this conclusion, it is right on so many levelsâŚ
Just read his comments. It makes sense in that is basically a âpaidâ motivation. I would caution to basically use that as a way to get faster, but donât beat yourself up with the actual T100 results. This sounds odd- but actually use the T100 to sorta get better for the longer stuff, cus I just donât know that he is going to get that much better of a swim within T100 to then have top T100 results. But he can certainly sorta âget fasterâ not necessarily have that equate to T100 success, but it put him in a better position in IM racing.
If he gets faster in the swim and then dominants T100, then obviously there is your answer. I donât really know that âthatâ needs to be the âgoalâ because I donât really know if thatâs possible right now with where he is at + the dynamics of other athletes in T100. So T100 success imo for a guy like SL wouldnât even be the goal. Iâd use it more as a monthly measuring stick to see if the swim training is actually working esssentially because at some point SL is going to be more of an long course guy than an T100 imo (again I think his swim is just a little too offâŚthe same reason we all said Wurf was a 1 and done ITU guyâŚif your too far back to be a real player, at some point itâs ok to pivot to a more successful pathway).
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Wow, i didnât think he would choose that path. Itâs going to be very fast and i donât think it will end well for him. As a fan, i wish him the very best.
He posted a video
If I see this correctly, the only US race is Lake Las Vegas in Oct? The rest of the races are in Europe or Asia or Dubai?
It still leaves Sam with enough flexibility to do a number of 70.3s and 70.3 Worldâs in Marbella, because Marbella, is roughly on the path to Dubai finals from Arizona, so if you have to go to Dubai, you can go via Europe. And heâs already qualified for IM Worldâs in Nice in Sep which seems doable because after that he can sit around and recover and then do Lake Las Vegas (close to home) + Marbella + Dubai. If he does Nice, he just skips T100 Ibiza
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Still a T100 race in SF but the 2025 Pro races arenât listed and the AG race isnât going thru T100 as itâs a stand alone race I believe.
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I guess you were probably right as Funk seems to have also signed on for another season
Didnât he mention something along the lines of setting up a âhome baseâ in Italy to make racing globally less disruptive? Could make the planning woes much simpler
Vancouver in June
What t100 should do to pay pros better and make the race more interesting, give primes for winning a split, but still finishing in top 25%. Same can probably win some .oney via bike leg
Any athlete who races in Marbella (70.3WC) a week before Dubai (T100 GF unless the GF is after and yet tba) is not giving respect to the T100 GF.
Iden, Blummenfelt to just name two will race Marbella as the culmination of their IM Pro Series campaign.
Long has contracted to race a minimum of 4 regular season plus the GF. And all those races score. If an athlete races more they have discards (and on 2024 form, Long will need to discard his worst). Better race an extra T100 than be distracted by random 70.3s.
| Date | Type | Event | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| April | T100 | Singapore | SNG |
| 17-May | T100 | Cote dâAzur | FRA |
| 31-May | T100 | San Francisco | USA |
| 15-Jun | T100 | Vancouver | Canada |
| 02-Aug | T100 | London | GBR |
| 14-Sep | IMWC | IRONMAN World Championship â Menâs Race | Nice, France |
| September tbc | T100 | Ibiza | ESP |
| 2025 (Oct?) | T100 | Las Vegas | USA |
| 16-Nov | T100 | T100(GF) Dubai | UAE |
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I think they are getting paid ok. Why pander to someone with a weakness just to appease him and his fans. The winner is the person who crosses the line first, they get the bigger money. Primes risk just causing athletes to race only to their strength and not fully race the entire event, I think we will get enough of that with athletes using these races as a tune up for their Ironman races they have stated they are targetting.
I think it will make the overall race faster. No sand bagging even though leader may have clear win. Knowing this everyone is a ticking bomb that may explode and not win the race ( as we have seen in kona this year with Sam Laidlow) . Bring back suffering!
Yes, in one of his YouTube videos after spending several weeks in Europe this year. His soon to be wifeâs grandmother lives in Italy.
None, they have made things up as they go along in their entire existence, hence my not [in]famous cynicism.
But in theory that is the job of wetsuit bike and run sponsors âŚ
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Well, the deadlines described for signing âgoldâ contracts (top 10) seem to have had effect: a day later the PTO announced who had signed and who hadnât.
We see that the OP signed: only Ironman WC top 2s didnât.
So your cynicism for this small element (signing deadline) was misplaced.
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Havenât thought this through, but it would be interesting is there was some sliding scale possible the prizes. First gets the full prize plus X amount of series points for every second they are ahead. Second place price is 90% of the first place price and starts losing money for every second they are behind. And you continue the sliding prize scale throughout the top 5.
So the San Francisco race would pay out very well to the top 3. Big blowouts would be more costly. T100 would be paying for solid broadcast performance.
The series points, I think, would deter first from slowing down out of kindness, and the sliding scale would encourage battles?
This
Addressing a problem which doesnât exist.
Are you trying to deter athletes âgoing for itâ as Gentle did courageously, chasing Knibb in Dubai?
I, too, have no idea.