Hear me out. 25 years in road racing before I discovered this wonderful sport. I love the individual purity of it. I love that you can claw back time in your strongest discipline.
Draft legal ruins it. If you’re a strong swimmer, you can get a free ride to the run.
You’ve just seen a designated domestique at an Olympic event. What’s next - 70kph leadouts into T2? Who’s dumb idea was draft legal in the first place?
Rant over.
It was decided by Les McDonald and crew around 1994. Triathlon was conditionally accepted to Sydney 2000 from what I recall and then they started having half the world cups draft legal to experiment with the format and not have controversy about people being DQd after the race. Then a few years later (maybe 1996), the entire ITU world cup went to draft legal and it stuck.
Unfortunately we stuck with the same order at the elite level. This could just as easily be run-swim-bike to make sure all skills are values and you would have a much more exciting made for TV event with separation and suspense. or swim-run-bike, or run-swim-bike-run. Anything that creates separation before bike then you have the equivalent of a road bike breakaway stage every race, and we know those are exciting.
Triathlon in any format is pretty stupid
.
I think people underestimate just how hard the bike is at the front of the race. It’s no blow dry as Lance once put it.
That’s what I was thinking watching the Olympics. Put the bike leg at the end. As it is it often comes down to being able to swim well enough to make the cycling bunch and then it’s just a fatigued 10k running race.
Triathlon in any format is pretty stupid
Lol. You might be on to something.
Nah.
That’s what I was thinking watching the Olympics. Put the bike leg at the end. As it is it often comes down to being able to swim well enough to make the cycling bunch and then it’s just a fatigued 10k running race.
If we are going to have a 10km running race, let’s put it first literally on a track or a 250m out and back (get lapped and you also get tossed out). Now that people have a 30 min 10km in their legs, now go dive in and we can literally have a 100m out and back swim (and if you get lapped you’re out). That makes it super spectator friendly and then you can literally make the bike draft legal 20x2km loops (get lapped and you’re out).
in womens olympic tri, duffy was first on the bike wasting energy for lap 1 by drafting no one until she slowed down. you can also sand bag on a TT bike. what should be done in DL is tale 15 seconds off the persons total time if they win a lap
Draft legal is just a shampoo a blow dry and a 10K.
Draft legal is just a shampoo a blow dry and a 10K.
Oh stop it, look at the speed they swim, the watts they push and then run off. Sure some athletes are perpetual wheel suckers but many are working very hard in those packs and cranking power most of us would only dream of. Even the back of pack swimmers fair very well in long course swims, generally among the fastest splits.
I think it helps having some more interesting bike courses. Paris didn’t allow the good bikers to put in real moves. Other courses aren’t like that. I do wish there was some sort of pro race series with non-draft legal sprint/olympic races. I get why T100 uses the same format but it would’ve been good if it mixed race distances from sprint to even full. Use longstanding races like St. A’s, Escape from Alcatraz, Alpe D’Huez, etc. USAT does their road racing series that goes from mile to marathon.
It totally makes sense that they went to draft legal to avoid penalty controversy. I can’t imagine how much of a mess that would be for an Olympic event.
Draft legal is just a shampoo a blow dry and a 10K.
Gwen Jorgensen is laughing through her tears reading such takes from people who haven’t been following short course too closely.
the question i always ask in these conversations is, “have you ever raced draft-legal tri?”
so far, nobody who’s argued that draft-legal is easy has ever raced draft legal.
boring? yeah, sometimes. i think that’s partly down to how it’s filmed, and partly down to how courses are designed. i also think that draft-legal is just another sport, or anyway another mode of the same sport, and so it rewards different skills.
as for switching up the order of the events in a tri, i’m generally a fan - i like mixing up formats/distances, etc. but, am i the only one who’s wondering how wetsuits work would?
Yep.
Wheel-suckers paradise providing the athlete’s swim ability is not totally gash.
the question i always ask in these conversations is, “have you ever raced draft-legal tri?”
so far, nobody who’s argued that draft-legal is easy has ever raced draft legal.
OP here. Yes. At the Hamburg AG worlds last year. And it was utterly stupid. If you’re not out of the water in under 11 minutes (sprint - 750m), you’re out of all contention. Period. There’s no battling back from a less-than-top swim.
the question i always ask in these conversations is, “have you ever raced draft-legal tri?”
so far, nobody who’s argued that draft-legal is easy has ever raced draft legal.
OP here. Yes. At the Hamburg AG worlds last year. And it was utterly stupid. If you’re not out of the water in under 11 minutes (sprint - 750m), you’re out of all contention. Period. There’s no battling back from a less-than-top swim.
Didn’t you say though that:
Draft legal ruins it. If you’re a strong swimmer, you can get a free ride to the run.
Clearly the fact that you didn’t swim fast enough doesn’t mean the fast swimmers get a commute?
You’re right - i did not swim fast enough. But that’s not the point. You asked if anyone bringing this up has raced DL. I have, and it’s garbage (for me lol).
Strong swimmers get the benefit of a draft on the bike. Strong cyclists who are behind out of the water are pooched. Not sure what’s so hard to fathom there…
Interesting that in every event I’ve been to where there’s a choice between DL or no drafting, the DL entries are pitiful. And it’s all strong swimmers. Read into that what you will.
Yep.
Wheel-suckers paradise providing the athlete’s swim ability is not totally gash.
People who use the phrase “wheel sucker” have likely never ridden in a pack.
Many in the front pack are also extremely strong cyclists, but not necessarily stronger than those that didn’t make the packs. When those front packs are big, just look at the middle of those packs, there will be ppl sitting in, not rolling turns and free wheeling here and there at the same time the front are hammering and the back of the pack smashing themselves to stay on after the yoyoing in the corners. The guys that didn’t make the strong front pack and are left solo or with only one or 2 others can be pushing same watts but have no one to roll through with and bleed time. A peleton moves faster with less individual effort to a solo or smaller group.
Hear me out. 25 years in road racing before I discovered this wonderful sport. I love the individual purity of it. I love that you can claw back time in your strongest discipline.
Draft legal ruins it. If you’re a strong swimmer, you can get a free ride to the run.
You’ve just seen a designated domestique at an Olympic event. What’s next - 70kph leadouts into T2? Who’s dumb idea was draft legal in the first place?
Rant over.
My suggestion would be to go off in heat waves. Say every 5 minutes send a new wave. If you get passed by a prior heat, you’re done.
This drastically cuts down the size of the swim mosh pit, which is a legit safety issue and a farce to the competition. It also reduces the importance of the draft pack.
From there you can decide whether or not to make it non drafting on the bike. With a smaller group leaving t1, you can make it non drafting which would be a similar race to what the market is racing.
Olympic triathlon is a failed sport. What I mean is it has the smallest market of participants when compared to the non draft versions. It makes no sense to have such an atypical version of our sport at the pinnacle. Especially when it’s one that the market has rejected.
The final you run the next day or maybe later that day if you want the racers more on par to the origin of the sport with long course racer fitness.