So I just went on instagram and saw after-race posts from Findlay, Derron, Gentle, Lee, Jewett and Madsen.
Some short, some long, but not a single one discussing or even touching on what exactly happened in the race. (Swim, bike, run, transitions, tactics, how they felt mentally, etc.) Reflections, if any, pertained to the entire tour or the sport of triathlon, but I saw more platitudes about being humbled or honored or loving triathlon than reflections anyway.
The lack of specificity is very often a problem there. These posts are dull and generic. Jewett’s was less generic but only about her entire approach to triathlon and the tour, and then she was mostly cryptic anyway, and I’d think that (another) DNF warrants a little, you know, story of what happened yesterday.
Does this really draw eyeballs? Not mine. I unfollow athletes after a few such posts. Unless they’re Gentle.
I do think this is what happens when an athlete or someone working for them does box checking instead of creating content. A contractual obligation to create may work for professional writers but I have so much more clarity now why it wouldn’t work when the author isn’t dying to do it. Look at your own posts. You’re not a pro creator either, but there’s some sort of quick lesson (going beyond platitudes) in every post-race message you put out. I strongly suspect that they’re driven by an internal need to share.
Instead of focusing on the (fake or real) effort, let’s pay for results.
I’m may put some more effort into analysis and have a different opinion, but my initial thoughts are that they should take a chance on as many women moving from short course as they can. A large group of wildcards on the women’s side have shown that they’re not competitive (at least yet).
I think they should not reward those that didn’t take their contact seriously. Sodaro and Pierre, no way they should have contracts next year. Haug, probably not either as it clearly wasn’t her priority, didn’t race enough races, and she didn’t perform that well. Charles and Philipp also didn’t race enough and that was at least partly because they didn’t prioritize the series. Philipp is obviously very hard to leave off with her Nice performance and being in the top 10. Charles also would be hard to leave off because she did so well in T100 when prioritizing it.
In general I think they should come down hard on those that took them for a ride this year. Or at least structure things so that they won’t get paid much if they don’t again next year (and definitely won’t be welcome back again). It just really hurts the whole thing to have people showing up not prepared to race for the win (or not at all).
Spivey, yes because she will prioritize the series and probably has a chance to compete near the front next year. Jewett, probably yes too as she was reasonably competitive some of the races and can provide some come from behind drama when not lapped out. There’s also just not many obvious better options as she’s also someone who will prioritize the series.
Zero chance you will see Jewett in the series next year. She didn’t enjoy it at all, and her insta stories and posts from the weekend are very telling. I love watching her race happy but, this season didn’t seem to bring her any joy in her life.
She’s part of Nick Chase’s squad which seems like a pretty cool group and all alone at these races. Meanwhile all those guys are out having fun together.
Agreed. And I think that she might feel similar pressure to Sam to be fair - when she gets it right she’s pretty competitive, but needs everything to go right and that’s a lot of pressure.
Plus…there’s a pathway to making a good living as a domestic pro - and as we have seen with Chelsea this year as well - mental health is important. I have said this with both my kids - endurance sports is too fucking hard if you don’t love it. She needs to love it again for sure.
Yes, seems she didn’t enjoy the series at all & won’t be back. Great athlete who I’m sure we’ll see on many more North American 70.3 podium’s going forwards.
“. . . a different opinion”
Look forward to it. Triathlon Insights is posting on this, he says, shortly “. . . they should take a chance on as many women moving from short course as they can”
I agree but so difficult to identify with any confidence, after GTB, female SC athletes who could both come up to the standard AND be prepared to go long (without an easy way back to LA28). In Jan 2024 every hot shot bar Spivey had already raced MD several times (so demonstrating capability and ‘will’).
Name names! Would Potter? She won’t be still around for LA. Waugh? Still young and LA28 focused. Beaugrand? Has never struck me as likely to go long (MD). Miller/Loevseth? Former poor run. Latter v young. Michel? See last w/e. Kasper? Gomez-Göggel? Lindemann? Kingma?
“. . wildcards on the women’s side . .”
This was more evident with the women because the performance v ranking drop-off angle is steeper and the top 15 PTO Ranked athletes all took the 2024 contract and 3 of 4 hotshots were top drawer (Byram, Duffy and Spivey).
(tbf PTO did well with 2024 hot shot picks in the men’s too: 3 of 4: Van Riel, Bogen and Brownlee)
While I’ve loved the intense racing, the courses are abysmal. And more worryingly, they don’t garner spectators, other than the entourage of the pros and some age-groupers. The juxtaposition with the Laguna Phuket tri this weekend couldn’t be more stark.
One of the best race week experiences in the triathlon world. Great course, great location and a Five Star event.A back injury stopped me from visiting this year which totally sucked. Next year might have to be an Ironman Malaysia/Laguna Phuket bikepacking Tri adventure.
The livestream from this past weekends race is here
Anyone who has done Laguna Phuket before will say it’s a world class event. Doubt any of the T100 events come close. The after party is legendary! Expats from Hong Kong and Singapore descending on the island makes a huge massive party
thanks for that video, such a long history of that race and always some good pros there to make it interesting…And I have seen folks do the typewriter on their saddles before, but go to about 1;50 to 1;51+ in the tape and this is the first time I have seen an entire body do it! The lead woman is literally sliding and rocking her entire body across her entire bike! Think they mention she has a coach, perhaps a lesson in keeping the body calm when there is pressure on the pedals, or just shift to another gear…(-;
And heard the shout out to Jurgen Zack as the head Marshall on the bike, and things looked super clean from what I could see…
Decent discussion on T100 for 2025 in Pro Tri News:
Suggestion that for contracts 11-16 OFFERS they’ll be fairly faithful to the (post-Taupo) PTO World Rankings.
This would be good news for RvB, Noodt, Geens, Nieschlag and even Lopez, Mann, Baekkegard.
Suggestion that neither Blummenfelt nor Iden will take hot shot contracts and Laidlow won’t sign.
And good for: Pohle, Visser, Spivey and Madsen (I’m assuming LCB and EPB anyway, and allowing for several women in that top 20 to refuse contracts - see speculation in posts above).
RVB has indicated his focus for 2025 will be IM. I doubt he will take up the contract
It was suggested that the new contract requires 6 starts + GF. So if you are interested in IMWC and need to qualify, it means you will be racing 9 races next year. Realistically not many can
The Podcast also highlighted what we have discussed. Lots of tired legs and 15 out of 40 completed the contract. T100 can create their own stars, I wouldn’t reward anyone that didn’t complete the contract.
Racing 6 + GF (NB all to score; looks like there’ll be 9+GF in the T100 Tour btw so 3 to drop/miss), an IM to IMWCQ and then Nice or Kona is entirely doable.
I expect Knibb, Matthews and Philipp to do this. And Van Riel, Ditlev and Heemeryck too! Laidlow has suggested he won’t sign: IMWC in Nice as a ‘home fixture’ and a course which suits will be his priority. LCB will have to decide whether to chase another IMWC or race the T100 Tour: if rational (given her fragility), she will have decided she cannot do both.
Not sure where you get only “15 out of 40 completed the contract”?
I count 28 of 40 (so 2 men and 10 women didn’t - names emboldened below).
On ‘contract fail = no 2025 offer’ position, most won’t be offered one anyway because T100 ranking/PTO World Ranking (16 Dec) not good enough anyway. And some in that cohort will not sign even if offered. I hope mums Lawrence and Moench get an offer (or at least a promise/carrot of several wildcards).
For the record, only 2 men contracted didn’t satisfy their contract: Gomez retired Baekkegard was ill running up to travelling to Dubai so withdrew/DNS.
Ditlev, Neumann and Laidlow satisfied their contract (Ditlev in Singapore was there (tick), Neumann with the mea culpa interview in lieu of SanFran (tick), and Laidlow in Dubai but injured but engaged (tick)).
More women failed (10): Lawrence and Moench raced Miami and then had other priorities (congrats on little Lois Moench!) and Ryf retired. Haug chose to miss Miami, Singapore and SF (illness or Lanza or Nice 70.3) but tbf has struggled though all the following T100s (with an 8:02 in Roth slipped in!). Philipp chose to skip the first two (and raced 3 x 70.3 instead). Imprudent really, given Ibiza 6 days after IMWC was always vulnerable. Pierré didn’t help herself by missing two of first 3 (then same as Philipp). Watkinson, EPB, LCB all missed GF (though EPB and Watkinson had otherwise raced enough, LCB injured or addressing long term illness, but she managed to fit in IM Nice as a validation) Sodaro only started twice (various reasons) but chose to race IMNZ early doors and managed to race IMWC Nice (comment so managed to race the races she really wished to race). Was in Dubai but edged out of commentary, I note, by more recent, loquacious IM World Champions.
I suggest only few of these ‘contract fails’ could be put down to the stresses and strains of racing T100 and other races: Baekkegard, EPB, Watkinson.
Which other athletes could blame contract fails on that?
Interesting on the Supertri YouTube they have a chat between Jonnie Brownlee and Vincent Luis. Both actively mention about wanting a T100 Wildcard or Hotshot contract for next year.
We knew Luis would be stepping up but from the sounds of it Jonnie was getting close too before crashing in Tolouse.
Would be a great storyline for the T100 to have both the Brownlee brothers racing and Vincent as well. Could it change the dynamics of the races or is that not really a thing away from WCTS racing?
With Vincent in the field it might well amp up the pace on the swim and string that out more than it is at the moment. On the bike the 20 meter following distance really seems to quash athletes working together a good deal compared to draft legal or even events with a 12 meter draft distance.
