Kanute’s rear bottle position is more than 250mm to the rear of the lowest point of his armrest, when a 750ml reference bottle is inserted in the cage.
May not be the set up he racked with.
Edit: And to be clear, just using this image as an example, not getting at Kanute in particular,
Is that a “hard measurement”? Crack on the USAT refs: happy days in Boulder and Happy Valley.
(Edit: have replaced image, and to be clear, this is not an in-competition image)
Gosh - how will he manage to “scramble last minute to find an alternative solution. He’s trained with the setup he had, has a solid plan, and now has to change it completely.”? Frankfurt = weeks. Alt sol’n = no rear bottle. “change it completely” - give us all a break.
That was my doodling over top of the image, so not sure where the image came from. But a quick look suggestions that this isn’t his race kit.
I wasn’t able to quickly pull the best screengrab showing the hydration system but here’s him from last weekend. The bottle looks like its in a similar position but is hard to tell from the angle
Idk, but these are not “guidelines” they are World Tri issued interpretation of the World Tri Rules (dated January 2025).
I thought USAT was a member of World Triathlon.
Fwiw, the IRONMAN Rules say more or less the same as the World Tri Rules because they were ‘copied’ an issued by IM in March.
As of now the USAT rules make no mention of demensions i.e. 30 x 30, 250mm, etc. as per a pdf link on this page USA Triathlon | Multisport Rules that indicates it was updated on 5/16/25.
They do put a 2L limit on the front and 2 1L bottle limit on the back (not sure how that impacts the most recent Shiv with in more that 1L.
Here is the excerpt:
h) Hydration bottles or hydration systems exceeding the following volume limits:
i. Front-mounted: Bottles or systems mounted to components that rotate
around the steering axis (e.g. cockpit extensions, base bar) have a
combined maximum capacity of 2 liters. (Note: Water bottles may not be
placed on handlebars in Draft-Legal races. See Sections 4.7.1.1.h. /
4.7.2.1.h.)
ii. Rear-mounted: Bottles or systems not mounted inside the triangle bicycle
frame cannot contain more than two bottles and cannot exceed a capacity
of 1 liter per bottle. (Note: Water bottles may not be placed behind the
saddle in Draft-Legal races. See Sections 4.7.1.1.h. / 4.7.2.1.h.)
And from that:
“1.1 e) The rules outlined in this document are underpinned by the World Triathlon
Competition Rules.”
I assume interpretations issued by World Tri will be followed given that the USAT Rules are underpinned by the World Triathlon Competition Rules.
I’m certain that USAT will give clear guidance on how they will approach this.
Did not see that reference. Thanks. Looked for the green highlights for new rules of which the excerpted text was a subset.
What doesn’t make sense then is why go into detail about the volume limits and not the rest of the new World Triathlon rules.
No, you have it correct: the USAT Rules almost exactly replicate the World Tri Rules (they have improved the wording). What USAT don’t have yet (and imho don’t actually need) is the German inspired ‘interpretation’ doc (linked above).
If USAT just enforce the basic rules as stated (maxs 2 liters front, 2 bottles/liters rear, any amount inside frame or inside triangle, non-hydration box on seat tube/post matters not) all will be fine.
FWIW, I e-mailed the USAT rules comissioner a few weeks ago, asking if the WT fairings rule would be enforced in August at the Age Group Nationals. No reply yet, but his autoreply states he’s been out supporting T100 Sanfran and then the Omaha multisport festival. I’ll forward a reply, if I get one.
Isn’t your starting point a little too far forward (at least a few cm)? Her elbows are sitting pretty far forward from the edge of the cups which is where you would measure from since its the lowest edge of the arm support.
Could be and btw this is from an insta image Trek shared.
We discussed up thread that the “lowest edge of the armrest” could be gamed by extending to the rear the full forearm rest and making that extension (which has no function) a little lower than under the elbow.
From a ‘rule enforcer’ PoV I would eliminate that extension as it is not longer “the armrest” and set the datum reference point directly under the point of the elbow in its natural aero position (“lowest edge of the armrest”).
More broadly I don’t see why this rearward limit needs to be set (remember this is not in the rules themself but in the fevered Germanic enthusiasm of the DTU, which World Triathlon have failed to moderate in an adult way.
As for height, if indeed it has merit at all, I’d use the top of the base bar as a (simple) datum reference point (but I guess there are complications if that was adopted).
I was wondering this with my Carbon Wasp extensions. The end of my actual elbow is at least 4cm forward of the back of the extension. So having them measured from the lowest edge of the arm support gives me far more room to fit a bottle than where my elbow sits in position.
Handy for me, I suppose but seems an easy workaround for manufactures going forward. Just add length to the back, even if the rider won’t use it.
How do you police that though? Do you have a ref following athletes while riding and eye-balling 250cm? At bike check-in, I would be showing them that I rest my elbows as far rearward as the pads go. Even if I ride 1-2cm forward from the rear of the pad in reality.
At bike check-in, I would ask the athlete to hold the grips, rest their forearm and that will determine where their elbow lies: and take it from there. And be sensible with tolerances (<250mm rearwards, but actually just where the bottle base is (given 250mm long 750ml reference bottle, assumes normal cage).
