#94: Can athletes keep getting faster forever?
I mean, probably not.
issue #94: July 3, 2024
It’s a holiday week in the U.S. (and insanely hot here), and since I think most of you are probably semi-on-vacation, I did manage to keep the newsletter actually slightly shorter this week!
Even though there were a million exciting races and things I bookmarked all weekend. You’re just getting the best of the very best here. You’re welcome.
- Kelly
Is everyone getting faster? Why? How?!
The superlatives were getting hard to keep track of this past week. The 1500m women’s race at the Olympic Trials had five of the top 10 times ever run in the US run *in one race.* The top eight athletes all ran under four minutes. Running 3:56 did NOT make the team. The steeplechase was also epic-ly deep and record-setting. There were so many Trials records set across the ten days that I lost count.
And then at Western States it was another set of records and superlatives and fastest ever times. Until last year, the women’s course record for over a decade was 16:47. This weekend, three women went under that (and 4th came in at 16:48). In the men’s race, yes, Jim Walmsley won again but he was pushed like never before. 13 athletes overall (including one woman) went under 16 hours. Times that were never thought possible before are now being achieved over and over, and at shocking quantities.
Why? What’s happening?
There are almost definitely multiple reasons, which compound. And certainly a lot of those reasons around technology and training methodologies have already been heavily debated. But I would posture that training hasn’t wildly changed all of a sudden and technology has changed some but not that drastically across the board.
I would argue that what’s changed more is: Game recognizes game, and there is more game coming in. Support ultimately breeds excellence. And the more people who do a thing, then the more people who can be great at that thing. It’s just math. The massive boom in the women’s fields (for example) is the outcome of Title IX here, and increased resources everywhere, and broadcasts leading to more recognition and more sponsorships and more support, which lets those athletes spend more energy and time and effort getting faster and faster. And then other athletes (men and women) see that, and it grows and grows and grows.
Think about this: The woman who took second at Western States, Fu-Zhao Xiang, had the fastest debut ever and the third fastest time run there. She was the first woman from China to ever crack the top ten. And she only saw race in-person last year when she paced for a teammate, and so she saw Courtney Dauwalter’s record-setting run and knew what was possible.
Think about that on a large scale, about how many other runners there are in China who could be be really good at this.
Think about how many athletes are out there who could keep raising this game.
Guess people are gonna do Roth afterall
With all the money in the PTO and the IM Pro Series, the question earlier this year was: Who was gonna do Roth then. Why risk it unless you were getting a pay day that made it worth whatever other money you could potentially lose.
Ultimately, the pro lists that were announced had quite a few big names on the men’s side (Patrick Lange, Magnus Ditlev, Rudy Von Berg, Leon Chevalier) and fewer on the women’s side but still some (Laura Philipp, Lisa Norden) — btw almost always when you wonder why some athletes are doing an event and others aren’t, on the aggregate, the answer is that some of them are being paid more.
Now, though: Anne Haug has announced she will be a last-minute race week entry to Roth. So that’s interesting 🤔
It’s hard not to notice which athletes are making it to all their contracted T100 races, which are trying to do all the competing events, and which seem to be switching their focus. That’s fine, but it’s all choices, balances of risks v. rewards. And when it comes down to it, when we get to the pointy end of the season: Which events will the athletes care about the most?
Women’s Roth race: Anne Haug v. Laura Philipp, right? Anne has won two of the last three times she was here — losing to Daniela Ryf last year. And Laura was third here last year behind those two.
Men’s Roth race: Patrick Lange v. Magnus Ditlev is an interesting match-up. I’d think Magnus has to be the favorite — he set the iron-distance world record time here last year — though Rudy Von Berg will likely be near the front with him and then Patrick will try to run them down. We’ll see.
100% it will be fast as hell, too. They definitely want another world record.
WATCH: Challenge Roth livestream - Saturday, July 6 at 9 p.m. PT/midnight ET
Results & races to watch
Les Sables d’Olonne 70.3: This race was super close! With 68 seconds separating the women’s top three (Laura Madsen, Nikki Bartlett, and Kate Curran) and 49 seconds separating the men’s (Nicolas Mann, Youri Keulen, Clement Mignon).
Para Series Montreal: The final Paralympics qualifier — leading to the announcement of the U.S. Paralympic team.
Results: Les Sables 70.3, World Tri Para Series Montreal, Challenge Cagnes-Sur-Mer
Mark your calendars: T100 London wildcards were announced (women & the two men) and we are 100% here for the Sophie Coldwell pick.
The -ish
The rest of the news you should know about from our sports this week.
Tri stuff
Do you think Kristian Blummenfelt really got the shaft from the Norwegian national team? I’m curious and I don’t think the English translation of that article holds up great. (NRK)
I’m not really a huge Youtube person, but I do always enjoy entries in the ‘can average dude keep up with Olympic champ’ genre. (Youtube)
Gustav Iden validated his Kona slot by finishing two 70.3s (since he has the automatic slot from winning two years ago), and maybe I’m overly optimistic but I think he’ll work his way back by October. He also evidently has a Youtube/film coming out today, too. (Instagram/Youtube)
World Tri has also come out with the first episode of its doc series, following 14 of the athletes. It’s solidly decent, if you’re just looking for back stories and treadmill watching. (Youtube)
World Tri also put together a kind of educational course/race/statistical review of the Paris Test Event and Olympics — which it is selling instead of giving away. To who? (World Tri)
Meet the New Flag athletes who will be in Paris. (Triathlete)
This is an absolutely crazy story about a Ukrainian triathlete who’s trying to make it to Norseman. (Triathlete)
And Ironman sent an email out to past athletes today saying Morro Bay 70.3 is discontinued — which, ugh, sucks because we have so few races on the West Coast for the size of our tri population and it had the fundamentals of what could have become a great race with some tweaks.
Western States stuff
Western States! Absolutely wild (as mentioned above, in terms of the times and performances). The last thing I would want to do after 100 miles is sprint to hold off third place by 15 seconds. (iRunFar/Instagram)
We also need to give a shoutout to Heather Jackson for her 7th place — evidently trail running + gravel racing is working out for her. (Instagram)
And to the first Hijabi athlete to finish. (Instagram)
And Will Barken was attempting to become the first legally blind runner to complete the race but finished 30 seconds after the cut-off. (Instagram)
Also, if you just want to get the feels, this video compilation of finishes will do it for you. (Instagram)
Apparently, the top three women were all coached by the same guy. (Twitter)
I did rant a bunch this weekend about what Western States could do if it *really* wanted to diversify its fields — but I do recognize that the Board President and all the people trying to push things in that direction are definitely pushing uphill. (Triathlonish/TrailRunner)
Olympic Track Trials stuff
Other things that made me tear up this weekend: Anna Cockrell using her post-race Olympic Trials interview to give props to Delilah Muhammed for everything she’d done for the event. (Instagram)
And a few other amazing things from the Olympic Track & Field Trials — which is one of the best sporting events in the world, IMO:
Women’s steeplechase: Marisa Howard ran a 15-second PR in the steeplechase to make her first Olympic team. Believe in yourself. (Tracksmith)
Men’s steeplechase: James Corrigan took third last weekend but DID NOT have the Olympic standard. So his coach found a meet, convinced them to add a steeple, and he went out and raced again and got the standard on the last day before the deadline. Amazing. (Flotrack)
400m hurdles: Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone is so good at the 400m hurdles that she achieved the Olympic standard for the non-hurdling 400m *in the hurdles*! (That’s nuts.) And she tied her existing world record — and then she broke down her race with her own commentary. (Youtube/Instagram)
Women’s 1500m: We already mentioned this totally insane race, but additionally love the mental visualization notes Nikki Hiltz shared. (Twitter)
Also this 58-year-old didn’t actually qualify for the Olympics in the race walk because she doesn’t have the Olympic standard (despite *every* news outlet misreporting that and only *some* of them correcting it), but still third place at 58 is impressive. (PEOPLE Magazine)
College standout Parker Valby is set to make a LOT on her first pro deal, so why is she still racing in her college uniform? (Runner’s World)
It’s an interesting question: Did you find Eric Holt’s push to make the Olympics even though he’s still a struggling athlete without a sponsor (though he has one now) inspiring or pathetic? (Range Widely)
Other stuff I thought was interesting
Tour de France: Ahh, there’s too many things to keep track of! Four storylines now that we’re underway. And Biniam Girmay, from Eritrea, becoming the first Black rider to win a stage just feels like the wholesome content we need right now. (Velo/Instagram)
A solid Venn diagram of how “this is going to ruin the Tour.” (Instagram)
This man swam 510km in the freezing Yukon River, for some reason. (CBC)
The temporary pool from the Olympic Swim Trials has ended up in Fort Wayne. (Wane.com)
A 72-year-old Masters-record-setting runner had four different banned substances in his urine. (Canadian Running)
The two long-time running coaches at the University of Colorado are out after an investigation into their practices. I’ve thought a lot about the changing culture in old-school coaching across our sports, and I think what’s happening is that what used to be considered normal (and isn’t necessarily against a law or breaking specific rules) is no longer OK — and it’s probably time for teams and styles to catch up. (Runner’s World)
And RIP: Legendary triathlon photographer Rich Cruse has passed away suddenly. (The Coast News)
One last thing
Deep cut, super tri weeds, but accurate.
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