I think the penalty helped him to have a more solid race. Coming in behind the lead five, he didn’t shift into ITU mode and sprint out of transition (and then blow a few km later) but instead had a controlled run that netted him a top5.
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I know why certain people yell about Ironman racing on social media ( paid trolls basically).
Last week we had all this social media crap about towing riders up hill and moto draft.
I watch this race and Sam is doing 80 km with a moto behind him and riders right behind . The light is not blinking draft because the other race range is 20 m up the road but a motorcycle is between them at 80 km per hours.
That’s moto drafting , higher speeds moto drafting matters more than slower speeds .
Of course the man in question was announcing the race so he was muted , what a sell out .
Sam sat in after that for the run basically because I am pretty sure he could tell the motos around made it impossible to pull away .
Sam looks to be on good form everyone in kona will be eyes on him all the time.
Let me know if you need tips for the fantasy next time…unrivalled #1 here 
No real surprises for me with the mens race, good to see Alistair getting closer.
Wasnt expecting to see India podium and quite surprised to see Duffy so far back and struggling on the bike of all things!
I was surprised Rico didn’t have the run legs. That seemed a bit odd.
Agreed, great to see Alistair back in the mix and without the penalty I think he’s on the podium.
Duffy did not look comfortable on her TT bike at all. I’m sure look better after a few races though.
Im not sure it will happen for Duffy at longer distance, I don’t know why, shes the GOAT short course athlete and complete triathlete with no weakness.
All logic says she should have came up and podiumed/won (although she has been in stacked fields, shes/was miles better than anyone in ITU that lined up on Saturday!)
The Norwegians, MVR, couple of others have came straight up from Olympic and dominated, so it can be done.
It really seems like there is a changing of the guard occuring in both the men and women at this level.
You can’t be weak at any of the skills. You have to have your nutrition dialed, your tech dialed, your fit dialed.
I think this is also why we are seeing the likes of Sam Long look at the full distance. he’s realizing he’s not going to be competitive at these shorter distances, so he’s focusing longer where everything is not as refined as it was.
12 months ago Duffy was in a hospital scanner being told she might never run again. The rehab she went through just to get back to racing is phenomenal.
I think next year we will see a completely different Duffy but whether that means she can be back to her best remains to be seen.
5 olympic cycles leave their mark .
Yup I agree. Duffy has no weakness, she just needs to get use to TTing on a bike, I know not that simple but it will take time and I can see her chasing Knibb and Gentle in middle distance
Are we even sure Duffy will get back to her best? She’s 37 and has spent the better part of a year coming back from a near career ending injury. My opinion is she’ll fall into the Brownlee/Gomez category where peoples expectations are overwhelming and her performances are underwhelming.
Don’t get me wrong, she’s an absolute champion (much like Brownlee/Gomez) but time is not on her side, and while the likes of Knibb/Gentle et al are racing middle distance I don’t see her having spectacular results.
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Yeah definitely gonna be an uphill battle at age 37 and I don’t think I see it happening, at least not consistently. I know Haug is still racing at a high level at 41 but she’s the exception not the rule.
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What did she actually injure that was so challenging? I don’t think I’ve seen the details posted anywhere.
Agree, but I think this year has shown that Haug is really not competitve at T100 distances (and is getting farther away). She can still win at the full distance, but T100 is really too fast for her anymore.
You can’t have weaknesses at the T100 level and she was down nearly 9:30 to Knibb going into the run. Maybe in a marathon she can pull that back, but at these distances, no chance.
Duffy was a very respectable 5th at the Olympics, I dont think she’s still struggling for fitness, due to age im sure she’ll never be where she was 5 years ago. Hopefully im wrong, I can’t think of another great ITU cyclist thats moved to longer stuff and struggled on the bike though.