#115: Down under puns
Hot take: 70.3 Worlds is better than IM Worlds
issue #115: Nov. 27, 2024
All-sporters, it’s the day before Thanksgiving here in the U.S. Which very much means it is the day everyone’s brains stop working at like noon. (And, anyway, it seems that the holidays are starting even earlier and earlier; the middle school behind my house just took off the whole week. Kids these days.)
So, we’re going to keep this super short and to the point, and then go eat pie.
- Kelly
It’s almost time for my favorite race of the year
Do you remember when no one cared about 70.3 Worlds? Everyone said it was a joke — I mean, Clearwater actually was kinda a joke in the age-group packs — and that it was too easy to qualify and then when they increased the number of women’s spots that ohmygod it was going to ruin the championship-ness of it and it wasn’t a real world championship because only Kona can ever be the “real” world championship for ever and ever and ever until triathlon goes to the grave muttering that even in death.
Just bringing this up for absolutely no reason at all.
The point is: It took some changes to the structure/format and some time to build up 70.3 Worlds into a legit thing, but IMO it’s one of the best races out there now. Both in terms of some of the historic battles that have gone down and just in terms of fun. (Yes, the T100 events have some of those same elements now — dynamic racing, stacked fields, drama. But 70.3 Worlds Champs has another layer of age-group-ness, too. And it’s still got it.)
So, we’re two weeks away: Start lists are out. Both champs are returning (Taylor Knibb & Rico Bogen). Plus, on the women’s side, Kat Matthews (who was second last year), Julie Derron (who has really lit it up in mid-distance post-Paris), and Ashleigh Gentle (who definitely had this “home-ish” race on her calendar for awhile). And for the men, super curious about Hayden Wilde, Jelle Geens, and Leo Bergere (who have to be favorites, even if it’s not their usual distance); I mean wouldn’t you expect Hayden to really go for it in New Zealand. And, I’m looking at Kyle Smith and Youri Keulen. «FYI, Lionel is out after a crash.» I’d assume, overall, the men’s race is going to be a very tight pack. And, the women’s will be people trying to not let Taylor ride away, and then trying to run her down.
Seems like everyone’s already in Australia training and prepping (including Sam Laidlow for some reason). 100% wish I was up for a trip to New Zealand right now, but will just live vicariously.
IM Pro Series v. T100: The eternal question — or, at least, the question of the moment
There are technically two races left in the Pro Series (Western Australia 70.3 & then 70.3 Worlds) — but it actually isn’t all that close for the overall series win. No matter how much they’re trying to hype it up.
Women: Since Kat Matthews only has four races on the board out of five, she basically just needs to finish to add a 5th score to jump past Jackie Hering into #1. Something could go wrong, definitely, but it’s not a huge ask.
Men: And while Patrick Lange isn’t racing anymore this year, the athletes closest to him all already have five races — so they’d have to improve their 5th score by about 800 points to pass Patrick, which conversely is a big ask (when the win for Worlds starts at 3,000 points and, for example, Matt Hanson’s lowest score in #2 is 2,309 — so even if he won 70.3 Worlds he wouldn’t improve his overall score by more than 691 points, and that wouldn’t be enough, see). There are some interesting iterations where, for example, Dr. Matt in #4 or Gregory Barnaby in #5 could add a 5th score at Worlds, because neither currently has one, and jump up past Patrick potentially. But you see what I’m saying, it’s eh.
See: Full IM Pro Series standings
Overall, though: Wouldn’t we say the IM Pro Series has been a relative success this year?
Yes, Ironman probably needs to cut down on the number of races, make 70.3s worth more points, maybe adjust the ‘every second equals a point’ thing a little bit so you don’t end up with these weird situations where athletes are placing well but getting shit points. Overall, though, I really thought the series would get overshadowed by the T100 and it didn’t. Plus, the fact that any pro can do these races is actually kinda fun; everyone loves an underdog.
And, now, even with all the talk about who will and who won’t take a fancy T100 contract for 2025 (¯\_(ツ)_/¯ on opinions about that right now), the Norwegians are already committing to next year’s IM Pro Series.
Which kinda just goes to show something I say all the time: PEOPLE CARE ABOUT WHAT YOU TELL THEM TO CARE ABOUT.
Building the pipeline
Also chatted last week with Katie Zaferes about the new development training group she’ll be running out of Cary, North Carolina starting in February. (Applications for the first round of athletes are open through the weekend.)
She didn’t say this, but my sense is it is very much part of an overall effort to fill in the gap where there simply aren’t many daily training environments (DTEs as they like to say) in the U.S., especially for World Tri athletes, especially for athletes trying to develop and get to that level, especially female-led groups.
Opened up the chat for everyone:
I think—and again this is not what she said but is my opinion and what I’ve gleaned from talking with different people working in different aspects of development and Talent ID for the U.S.—that the U.S. has a very real pipeline problem right now, especially on the women’s side. That if you look forward 5-10 years, we don’t have the women in the system who could win the medals in 2032. Or, rather, we don’t have enough of them to play the odds game.
Also worth listening to: Chelsea Burns’ podcast on the NCAA Dilemma Part I and Part II
The best of the rest of the races
IM Cozumel: Kudos to 40-year-old Bart Aernouts on his first full-distance win since 2018, and to Anne Reischmann. But, of course, story of the race was Marten Van Riel’s crash and hitting a spectator (and waiting around for the police before running a 2:39:38 marathon). Glad to hear he and the little girl are both OK, and they were able to chat at the hospital.
Challenge Florianopolis: Lots of Brazilians, but big thing is the Challenge Family bonus for the season is over now and it looks like Jack Moody & Alanis Siffert took the $22K prize for #1.
Results: Ironman Cozumel, Challenge Florianopolis
Mark your calendars
Western Australia 70.3: The last Pro Series race before 70.3 Worlds — with some pretty long start lists, including some people shaking out before Worlds
WATCH: Sunday 5 a.m. local time in Australia/1 p.m. PT Saturday/4 p.m. ET Saturday on Outside Watch, proseries.ironman.com
Bahrain 70.3: Also this weekend, no broadcast, but aren’t you curious how Vince Luis and Georgia Taylor-Brown are going to do??
The -ish
Stuff from around our sports worth knowing about this week.
If you somehow missed it: Ali Brownlee is retiring — and he truly is one of the greats of the sport, absolutely changed the landscape for triathlon in the UK. I’ll also say, I’ve been pretty impressed with him as he transitions into operating businesses and foundations and what he wants to do moving forward for triathlon. He’s smart, he knows what he’s doing. (Instagram)
Lauren Brandon also made it official and announced she’s done. (Instagram)
World Tri redid their website, which freaked me out a little and which puts an emphasis on more content production. And they have some fun stats for the year from the women’s and men’s WTCS season. (World Tri)
The PTO is holding its internal elections to be on the athlete board — for three open athlete spots. While the process and who is eligible has changed some over the years (and always been a subject of discussion), the rules now are: You must have three athletes ranked in the top 50 to support your nomination to the board. Athletes ranked 1-5 get seven votes per open spot, athletes 6-10 get five votes per spot, athletes ranked 11-25 get four votes, and athletes ranked up to 50th get one vote each. If you’re ranked lower than 50th you don’t get to vote on the athletes who represent you on the board. So, I think I’m just going to leave that there and not even say anything about it.
The NCAA cross-country championships were this past weekend, and while I don’t generally care about NCAA championships, the BYU double title (men’s and women’s) and the way in which they did it, without standout stars, was something. (Ciitus)
Rachel Drake became the first woman to go under six hours at the long-standing JFK50. And from what I understand in the ultra community, there’s a lot of sense that we’re in a new era — just compared to the times and training it took to win certain races before v. now. (Instagram)
Otillo Swimrun Catalina is back! And if I was doing races in April of next year (which even I am not crazy enough to think is a good idea after giving birth in February) I would 100% sign up. (Instagram)
The World Athletics Ultimate Championship announced its events — which means we’re one step closer to understanding what The Ultimate Championship actually is. (NBC)
Lots of running peoples and brands at The Running Event last week and this was the best overall summary about where the running industry is at and headed. In short: Running, yeah, doing well, lots of changes coming, likely to see growth and many smaller brands and innovations and then probably a reckoning. Does that extend to tri? I don’t think so. (A Matter of Brand)
Ironman CEO DeRue wants to make it a lifestyle luxury brand. (Women’s Wear Daily)
Really some next level Strava art animation. (And if you were wondering, the way he gets straight lines that go through buildings is by pressing pause and running around and then unpausing.) (Tiktok)
Everyone is also very worked up about Strava potentially fucking up its API and making third-party apps/integrations stop working. We’ll see if they sort it out by the 30 days deadline. (DC Rainmaker)
The Pro’s Closet is back? (Escape Collective)
Cody Beals is also on a roll: With a wattage cottage build and a whole bit about what pros actually eat. (Instagram)
Speaking of: What counts as a workout this time of year? Basically anything. (Instagram)
From earlier in the month: This guy ran a 2:51 marathon in Crocs. (PEOPLE)
And for Black Friday, we’re doing 30% OFF all Feisty merch for the holidays. (Feisty)
One last thing
The #womeninmalefields trend — but make it cycling or running. (It’s a Tiktok meme, guys. If you don’t get the joke, Google.)
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