#105: 1,471 women
issue #105: Sept. 18, 2024
Yes, all-sporters, this newsletter is late. I think. I don’t know actually. Time has lost any meaning. We are in Nice, pulling together coverage at @feistytriathlon. And this reel took me an absurd amount of time to edit — so it is whatever time it is. Which also means no voiceover on today’s newsletter — the rest of the house is asleep — and we’ll get back to regular Q&As and interviews once we get out of championship season. But for now: Women’s Nice.
If you’re here in Nice, you can still join our underwater photo shoot tomorrow morning at 8 a.m. or come by the Feisty House (same link).
The race is on Sunday, I’ll be home on Tuesday. And then I’m not going back to France for at least a year.
- Kelly
Vibe check: The Nice edition
I was going to write a full preview of Women’s Nice this Sunday, but really everyone’s already done that:
Torsten has his detailed rating report
Triathlete did their pro ‘how it could play out if we had to guess’ preview
Everyone has a lot of course recon
And in short: No one knows what’ll happen. So what do I have to add.
The swim will be non-wetsuit for the pros, possibly slightly choppy farther out but mostly calm. The bike will be very hilly (duh), which could break the field up early and make it easier for swimmers farther back to catch up — eliminating draft benefits, etc. The descent could be a game-changing decider. Or not. And then the run will be flat and fast and probably sun-exposed, and if you over-biked (which quite a lot of people will have done) then it will not go quickly.
On the podium will be Anne Haug, Lucy Charles-Barclay, Chelsea Sodaro, Laura Philipp, and Kat Matthews most likely. But possibly not. In some order.
There you go. Done.
Picks, picks, picks
Everyone’s saying they’re picking Anne — and I think that’s probably right. Everyone’s also saying she looks relaxed — and I think that’s probably reading tea leaves ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Everyone’s saying Lucy’s been battling some injury or niggle or something — but I think that’s probably true of every pro. (Racing at this level just isn’t necessarily a healthy endeavor. There’s a reason we haven’t seen Anne since Roth and we haven’t seen Lucy since IM France, but that either means everything or it means nothing.) And everyone’s saying Chelsea is “aloof” I believe was the word used — but I think, actually, she’s pretty funny.
So.
Don’t forget to get your picks in for our Pick Your Podium Annual Random Contest:
How to watch: My understanding is that in N. America (ie. U.S. and Canada) the exclusive and only broadcast option will be Outside Watch, because of the parameters of that deal this year. While the broadcast will be available globally on Youtube and proseries.ironman.com, I do not believe those will generally work in the U.S. (Ironman may certainly make the broadcast available on Youtube if there are issues, but I have asked and asked and my current understanding is: For Americans, Outside Watch.)
If this is right, that’s not great. Yes, Outside Watch is free live. Yes, anyone can sign up. But it will likely drive down viewership compared to past years. And, given that typically (?) replays are only available to Outside+ members and the race will be starting at 1:15 a.m. ET in the U.S., it’s, well, not great.
Second one of these for today’s newsletter: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
‘Women’ is not a topic
Now, down to the question everyone wants to know (and what I’m really here to answer): What is the vibe in Nice?
To which I throw back this question: What constitutes success? Who gets to decide?
The official number is official: 1,471 women are on the start list — which a fan actually figured out before Ironman released it, simply by going to the race tracker and realizing numbers had been assigned chronologically.
This is, obviously, not as many athletes as there were last year and not as many as will be at Men’s Kona this year. But it’s also, obviously, 100% what we said would happen. Simply because the qualification was always stacked against the field: there were too many races right around Women’s Kona last year, not enough N. American fulls (two)—where the majority of Ironman’s female athletes are still based, it was too far and too much money for those people, too condensed a timeline to expect the same women to do Kona and then do two more fulls. I know that’s why Ironman changed the qualification procedures and I think the change did what it was supposed to do in that it eliminated barriers to getting the best people to this start line. And if you’re committing to growing the number of European women racing a championship, great. But I also think you can’t solve systemic sexism in 10 months.
It’s important to realize, too, that there are still deferrals rolling into Men’s Kona this year — some left because of the pandemic and some because athletes were allowed to pick which race, if they had already qualified when the split World Champs locations were announced. So there literally weren’t as many men’s spots to be handed out this season, which helped create a perception of scarcity and demand.
Just remember that. And, later when someone says ‘not as many people watched as last year,’ remember if it only airs on Outside Watch. Context matters. Details matters. Triathlons don’t just fall from coconut trees.
Last year, at Men’s Nice, someone asked if an all-men’s race felt different and I thought: An all-men’s Ironman feels kinda like most European Ironmans.
This year doesn’t feel like that. But it doesn’t feel like Women’s Kona felt either.
Partially, it’s always true that Nice is a big city, it’s 1 million people. Triathletes will never outnumber cruise ship-goers. It’s hard to make something feel like the biggest show in town when the town is that much bigger. Partially, though, it’s also true that the world of women’s sports has moved forward since last year; it’s changed dramatically and drastically. And I’m not sure triathlon is moving at that same speed. I’m not sure women are at a place anymore where they need anyone else to tell them whether their event is a success or not, whether they’re good enough or not. Are you going to tell Lucy it matters whether you think her win was as good as the men’s?! I don’t think she needs the approval. I’m not sure any of us do. I’m not sure, in 2024, “women” is a topic area.
A few other odds and ends:
The new Ironman CEO is certainly making the rounds here, and doing all the press chats. More TK. (ProTriNews)
Ironman has their full Iron Will season out. And they released their pre-race ‘A Fighting Chance’ show. (Youtube)
This breakdown of the “best” women’s Ironman World Championship performances of all time is fun. (Triathlete)
The most interesting human interest stories are the first woman from Kuwait to qualify and the 2016 tennis gold medalist Monica Puig racing.
I haven’t seen a ton of new gear released at the expo, but Ironman did nail the merch — very on trend and cute logo/colors. Which doesn’t matter except that it does.
We have a daily podcast going out if you want excruciating detail. And a lot of pieces of interviews going up. (Feisty Triathlon)
But the absolute best thing we’ve made (besides the baguette bike preview) was this video on the dreams v. reality of training in Nice. (Instagram)
I think this is what the kids call “cringe”
For the record: I thought the first part was funny. But then.
Some background: On Tuesday, Ironman posted an announcement of an announcement. (A joke that really took on a life of its own out of our old podcast and will ultimately end up being my longest lasting legacy in the sport.) The announcement was clearly that the new 2025 Ironman Pro Series schedule was coming. To which, the comments turned into the above…
Some more background: Announcements always get made during world champs week. Last year, the PTO was supposed to announce their new T100 plan during Women’s Kona week — but there was concern among athletes that it would take attention from the women’s race and so they held off (and then they didn’t have all the details sorted, so). Ironman, however, went ahead and announced their new competing IM Pro Series that week anyway. Bad blood ensued.
And that, I’m sure, is why when news leaked of the 2025 IM Pro Series schedule, the PTO went ahead and also announced their 2025 T100 schedule Tuesday afternoon as well.
Again: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
The “take:” Do you really need a take? It is good. Pros need to have a schedule so they can plan. It is bad if the schedule then doesn’t actually come to fruition. You’re welcome for that level of analysis.
I don’t think this is exactly the game-changer some Instagram enthusiasts have declared it to be — only because it was pretty much what was already promised by both parties — but there are some interesting tweaks. A newly announced T100 French Riviera race (if the above wasn’t petty, this definitely is). Changes to the IM Pro Series schedule & prize money. All of which is good. Fine. There isn’t anything inherently wild about the schedule announcements themselves. Anything wild in the analysis comes in what you can infer and predict will happen from here, and if it’s indicative of larger shifts or trends. But let’s save that for another week.
The -ish
Stuff from around our sports worth knowing about this week.
We’ll get back to our regular race results sum-ups next week, but know that the XTERRA World Championships is coming up next weekend. As is the T100 Ibiza race. (XTERRA/Triathlete)
If you missed the other T100 news: The Grand Finale that was quasi-planned for Oman is officially off. But we kinda already knew that and I told you that weeks ago. Still, it does make a mess of the scoring… (Instagram/Tri247)
Ironman announced a new IM UK race in Leeds; this evidently clashes with the Outlaw Triathlon popular in the UK. This now makes three new events announced last week — though I’ll admit I was secretly hoping the “big” announcement was going to be a new N. American full in the spring/early summer. (The Bolton News/Tri247/Instagram)
Kristian Blummenfelt announced he will be putting his plan to win the Tour de France on hold. And I would also like to announce I will be putting my plan to win the Tour on hold. (Velo)
Jakob Ingebrigtsen ran a 1:03 half-marathon debut that included a total implosion and walking at the end — and I think we were all just fascinated to see that go off. (Instagram)
Lael Wilcox set a record for biking around-the-world: 18,125 miles in 108 days, 12 hours, and 12 minutes. And it seems to have captured the popular imagination. If you’re curious, there are official rules for the record (at least 18,000 miles, continues in one direction) but no official route. (New York Times)
UCI World Championships starts this weekend and, fyi, Paula Findlay is competing for Canada in the TT. (Instagram)
Wout van Aert signed a lifetime career contract with Visma-Lease a Bike. Which is interesting. (Velo)
Track is also experiencing a kind of battle over who will attract the most funding and pros and come out on top. And now the Diamond League has announced it’s upping its prize money. And the big money all-women’s track event that goes off next week, Athlos NYC, has announced Megan Thee Stallion. Sames sames. (NBC/Forbes)
USA Triathlon Age-Group Nationals was this past weekend. (Instagram)
The Boston Marathon tightened its qualifying times by 5 minutes (except for the oldest age groups). But, given that you already had to run over 5 minutes faster than the stated qualifying time to get in because it was so over-impacted, I’m not sure this is really any kind of a change at all. (BAA/Citius Mag)
And before it’s too late to share this: Human tennis in the Seine. (Instagram)
One last thing
True.
