Yes, I’ve always thought there is a standard applied to T100 to which IM is not held. Other than a handful of races, the field in the IM Pro Series races is thin and predicting the podium easy. The series itself is pretty boring, we know who will win. But somehow the criticism of the T100 is that pros don’t show up and the series is failing.
Ironically, I think IM has benefited from the split racing that it’s just abandoned. Having three WC races, one per month, has allowed it to steal attention from the T100’s one championship race.
That being said, I agree with those that say the T100 should go back to fewer races. Jack Kelly, I think, suggested one race per month for four months starting in February or March. That might work. You’d get more of a narrative with more frequent races and less interference from IM’s championship season.
I don’t think that will fix anything. It’s too early in the year, and pros won’t want/be able to peak in June for a first grand final, before peaking for another 3 months later. Also can T100 survive while being totally absent every year for 8 months? obviously, no. There is a reason why IM isn’t already occupying this early year window with big events, but JK missed that with his suggestion.
Fully agree on the double standard point though, it’s almost like some people who pretend loving the sport want to see T100 fail. Despite the exciting racing fields they have put together.
I am not of the opinion that there is a viable option for IM and T100 to both thrive on the middle distance scene. The pro fields are to small.
It’s not a double standard. The main races of the IM series aren’t promoted the way the main T100 races are promoted. T100 puts it out that each of their races are the best of the best, not so with Ironman. Ironman has their non-series pro races which are kind of like the development races, then pro series races which are high volume fields but abundant enough not to be deeply stacked with top talent, then their 4 WC events which are the pinnacle of their calendar.
Now if their WC events weren’t stacked than yeah totally agree they would be getting a pass, but their the 4 WC races are loaded fields. Some of their series races have fantastic fields like Texas and Oceanside, but there’s no expectation for them to be that deep each series race.
Fair enough on the marketing side of things. And that upcoming T100 isn’t spectacular, start-list wise, expectations won’t be met.
But all the other T100 start lists have been really good. T100 London was overall a massive success. TV broadcast and commentaries are excellent. etc. Yet the overall feeling is that there is little love from the community (at least for the visible online part of it) for T100. One possibly weaker start list and people even here say T100 is failing as an organization.
A lot of it comes from people thinking they have to pick a side: team IM or team T100. I guess it’s a sign of the times, it’s not just triathlon.
Both organizations are doing really well, without being perfect. We would just be so lucky if they found a way to work together.
Thank you. That’s put Charles-Barclay’s excellent 1:04 into perspective. But she reigned in Spain in the middle of her build to Kona.
Agreed, though PTO then T100 firmly brought that on themselves by openly waging a war with Ironman. When you declare war you naturally force people to take sides. At first most people were on the side of the pro athletes. but then the PTO faded and the T100 stopped being a pro athlete advocacy platform; they continued to try and wage a war with IM and support quickly faded for a lot of people.
“Ha ha! You fool! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders! The most famous is never get involved in a land war in Asia, but only slightly less well-known is this: never go in against Ironman when money is on the line!”
On some podcast or other (with Geens), Royle shared that he would be commentating on the T100 races in Wollongong, if I heard him correctly.
To echo @marquette42 here. The pick a side bit came from the PTO/PTU. For years it was just the CollinsCup twitter account which essentially was Charles Adamo’s burner account where they antagonized Ironman every chance they could get. Then once they had some money, Adamo and subsequently Renouf attacked Ironman more overtly in Interviews. They offered to buy Ironman from Wanda Sports Group saying that Ironman was a failing business yada yada. Ironman was acquired by Advance for significantly more than the PTO had. Moritz could buy Ironman, PTO? No it cannot, not remotely.
So when it comes to sides, what has the PTO actually done for the sport is a question I have? It’s paid a select number of pros a lot of money. Some expensive broadcasts. But is that evergreen? No.
So nobody is going to comment about Sam Long having the near longest illegal time at French Riviera? I guess I just did.
Completely revitalized the pro side of the sport. We all know IM would not have the Pro Series without T100/PTO so every single triathlete competing in either has your buddy Mr. Moritz to thank.
So true. He is unfortunately not rewarded enough by said triathletes.
Yes, the competition from T100 has made IM better, and many triathletes richer. Plus, it has given us a lot of great races. I only got into triathlon as a spectator sport around the time of COVID. I don’t know how you long time fans did it back in the day when the only time you saw top athletes go head to head was in the 1-2 IM WC races. How boring! Now we get to watch the occasional IM Pro Series race that has a decent field, IM WCs, and a bunch of T100s with stacked fields.
Only started in 2017…which is now a long time. I and my wife would watch every race that had a free feed.
Bahrain also injected a lot of money into Triathlon too…
I’ll admit I didn’t follow any Twitter battles related to this years ago, but from the earliest interviews I listened to (4-5 years ago?), PTO was always about trying to bring more or money into the sport and getting the best athletes racing against each other more frequently. It seems like they’ve made good progress on that themselves with T100 and have forced Ironman to make changes that support those goals as well.
Start list for Dubai have been out for a few days - presented by either World Tri or PTO.
Interested in the women who are qualified for the 70.3 World Champs in Marbella 7 days before.
| First Name | Last Name | Nation | 70.3WC? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hannah | Berry | NZL | q |
| Lucy | Charles-Barclay | GBR | q |
| Marlene | De Boer | NED | q |
| Hanne | De Vet | BEL | q |
| Julie | Derron | SUI | |
| Paula | Findlay | CAN | q |
| Ashleigh | Gentle | AUS | |
| Taylor | Knibb | USA | q |
| Holly | Lawrence | GBR | |
| Jessica | Learmonth | GBR | q |
| India | Lee | GBR | q |
| Laura | Madsen | DEN | q |
| Sara | Perez Sala | ESP | |
| Lisa | Perterer | AUT | q |
| Caroline | Pohle | GER | q |
| Ellie | Salthouse | AUS | q |
| Marta | Sanchez | ESP | q |
| Taylor | Spivey | USA | |
| Georgia | Taylor-Brown | GBR | q |
| Kate | Waugh | GBR |
There’s a healthy list of reserves waiting for a wildcard invite, headed by Rayner who won 70.3 Cascais last weekend. I also note:
- Derron listed: she is racing Langawi in 10 days, as a warm up back from her crash injuries and to discard her poor Singapore score.
- Will Knibb remain on this list? She needs a fourth race both to meet her contract and to score decent points so she’s in the mix with the other top 3 ftw in 6 weeks’ time in Doha. But HRI rehab/risk.
- Charles-Barclay, after the Energy Lab hyperthermia HRI/risk?
- Currently Waugh has a 9 point lead over Charles-Barclay. Given the #1 -#2 points difference in the GF is 9, with neither improving, a GF win takes the World Championship ‘title’ on tie break. Let’s hope this margin remains for the GF, as opposed to Waugh being unassailable.
- Clearly either Derron or Knibb could spoil that party but both need a win in Dubai to be in reach of the top step on the high road to Qatar.
- From a financial PoV, Berry really ought to race Marbella as her main race and then participate in Dubai (if she wants; she has already met her contract). Not racing Marbella will cost her (estimate) $30k in the IM Pro Series payout. In the T100 she might make #8 in the final standings. Only a top 8 in Dubai would make a difference, and that not much. Maybe a $10k better outcome.
- Will Lawrence travel over after her heroics in Kona?
- I expect Perterer to skip Marbella - she is locked in for #3 - and race Dubai (hot). With a decent result there and another in Qatar she could make the T100 2025 top ten, on only 3+1 scores.
- Findlay has to be a favourite for Marbella so she will be racing Dubai with heavy legs (same as any athletes who double up).
These start lists are probably the best we’ve seen this year. Seems unlikely they hold up though. It is a shame that this race and 70.3 worlds are so close as it will dilute both fields to some extent.
I guess that a number of the contracted athletes are just keeping their name on the list till decision time, or beyond.
- Knibb and Charles-Barclay won’t know for a week whether racing 4 weeks after Kona is prudent (but maybe 5 weeks for Dubai but 10 degrees C warmer: was seriously hot last year there).
- Sanchez dropped out too: reason not known. But by doing so she kiboshed her top 5 IM Pro Series opportunity.
- Taylor-Brown (if Knibb and Charles-Barclay drop out) will become a Marbella contender: racing 7 days later doesn’t seem her style, and she’s marginal for getting high enough to qualify for the Qatar GF (would need to finish top 8 in Dubai).
- Byram not on start list. I hope, after Sam’s funeral 10 days ago, she feels strong enough to choose to race Qatar. NB I am presuming nothing, merely my hope: whatever she does will be ‘right’.