#198: The countdown to Champs season

Will we get a sprint finish? And other questions.

issue #198: Aug. 12, 2026

Presented by Mint & Honey Co.

a unique endurance and wellness public relations and digital marketing firm where the founder is an active part of the same world as her clients. editors, influencers, and consumers are reaching out daily because of Mint & Honey’s consistent ability to deliver sources and stories that resonate with the people who really love and live this space.

---

You all, I’m headed home from L.A. right now as you read this, where I was at the Association of Women in Sports Media conference for the first half of the week. Learned some interesting things about ball sports coverage and got some good tips and tricks for investigative reporting should the story strike.

I also stayed downtown (where the conference was) at the L.A. Athletic Club, which I picked primarily because they remodeled the old athletic club to include hotel rooms now + a renovated full gym and pool. Swam next to a former world record holder yesterday — who it sounds like may be trying to un-retire with a hometown Games now on the horizon. Made me wonder: How many U.S. athletes are trying to un-retire ahead of LA28? I think the answer is a lot.

The other thing I was struck by at a conference where most of what they mean when they say sports is basketball, football, and baseball, how important it is to really have people who know your niche. AMA about triathlon, running, the Olympics, the business of fitness, women’s sports TV deals and sponsor negotiations, or the podcast landscape in 2026. But don’t ask me about baseball.

- Kelly

---

Champs season has officially started

Maps for 70.3 Worlds are out. Start lists are out. This upcoming weekend is the last chance to qualify for 140.6 Worlds (as discussed last week) and people are already starting their how many days to go countdowns. We have two more WTCS races before the World Triathlon Championship Final at the end of September. And, oh yeah, T100, too.

The course

There are a few small changes to the Nice 70.3 Worlds course from what we’ve done before. Primarily, the swim is more of an L-shape — which could affect the wave/current/sun/sighting dynamics. But the bigger change is that they’ve split transitions slightly so T1 is where transition has always been — along the Promenade by the start/finish — but T2 is about one mile past that, past the ‘I Love Nice’ sign, over by the quay. (If you’ve never ventured to the docks in previous editions, it’s where all the mega yachts are anchored.)

Since the bike and run courses are otherwise the same, I’m going to guess that the transition split has more to do with getting men bike-checked in for the Sunday race while the women are still finishing on Saturday, especially with more people racing. This way they can have T1 cleared out earlier and turn it around. In 2019, the men’s check-in line on Saturday afternoon was long. Very long.

From IRONMAN

The start list

There will be some changes I’m sure, but full pro start lists are out here. Both lists are pretty stacked (I know we say that every year but); I think the women’s is slightly more 70.3 packed (Taylor, Lucy, Kat, Laura, Solveig, Marjolaine — I mean when Paula Findlay is bib F10 that says a lot), but it’s probably six of one, baker’s dozen of the other. Plus, for some reason, some of the Olympians who will inevitably be top five (top three?) are not being as hyped in the men’s race (Marten Van Riel, Hayden Wilde).

We’ll do more previewing closer, especially as we learn who is pulling out, but let’s all take the next few weeks to ponder this question:

---

Is this a boom?

Obviously with Championship Season officially about to kick off, the excitement always starts to build. But is it enough excitement to carry the sport, does the excitement extend beyond October.

This week, while I was at this conference, with so many sports reporters who cover the balls sports, I did a lot of explaining our no-balls sports, explaining super shoes, explaining if there’s an audience (is there an audience?), and someone asked me: How’s triathlon doing, is it growing or not growing or the same?

Good question.

Yesterday, I signed up for the L.A. Hyrox race coming in December. I got a pre-sale registration link from my gym and pre-sale opened at 10 a.m. I finally got through the 15,000-person queue at 10:25 a.m. A friend texted that he got into a different day, and when I went back to see what days were still open, all of the races (Thursday-Sunday) were sold out as of 10:45 a.m.

It doesn’t even go on sale to the public, who don’t have pre-sale links, for two more days.

Is triathlon booming? I don’t know. We’ve obviously talked about this a lot before.

Hyrox is booming. Running is booming. I was slow to believe this, because, well, because organizations always lie about their numbers. But the events are more than selling out, the lotteries and registrations are there, the spending on running/gym is very high. People are pumped about trail. People are pumped about gyms.

Is triathlon booming?

In some places, I think so. I think the market is very different in Europe than it is in the U.S. I think it’s doing much better over there than here. But even in Europe, the smaller races, the feeder events, seem to be struggling. I think everywhere people are signing up for bucket list things (Majors selling out, etc) and The Young People want experiences, YOLO, wellness, do the thing. But I don’t know yet if that will last after they check the box. I don’t think anyone actually knows if we’ll be able to get them to stick around. I don’t think they know yet; it probably depends on what we do next. So all that can be said is: Don’t fuck this up, triathlon. Be cool.

---

From the races

• World Cup Asucion: After I said last week that I had my picks for which of the many U.S. up-and-comers to keep your eye on ahead of L.A., of course different U.S. up-and-comers podiumed this week. Danielle Orie took her first World Cup win.

• Lapu Lapu 70.3: Natalie Van Coevorden won an all-Australian women’s race and Henri Schoeman won a less-Australian men’s race in what was evidently a wild swim.

• Alpe d’Huez: I couldn’t figure out why Alanis Siffert had to go all the way back to the start of T2 and run her bike back in again, but apparently it was because she ran down the wrong lane and then stepped over the transition spots into the right lane. And European officials are sometimes insane people. She still won by over nine minutes, so.

Results: World Cup Asucion, Lapu Lapu 70.3, Rio 70.3, XTERRA World Cup - Czech Republic, Alpe d’Huez Triathlon

(Fun fact: When we were in college and random money would pour into the U.S. College Club National Championships, one year a friend won a trip to the World University Championship, which is evidently still a thing that happened this past weekend.)

Mark your calendars

• T100 Vancouver: One of our two big ones this weekend, it's the women's turn back on the 100km circuit. You’ve got a who’s who: Julie Derron, Alanis Siffert trying out shorter things again, Georgia TB, Kate Waugh finally making a return, Taylor Spivey, Paula Findlay, Imogen Simmonds. A lot of women I talked to this year had been hoping to get a start here because of the course and location, so T100 actually has a pretty solid and full start list for this race.

  • WATCH: Saturday, Aug. 15 @ 11 a.m. PT/ 2 p.m. ET on Youtube or TriathlonLive

• IM Kalmar: As discussed last week, the last chance for some people who are still missing Kona spots. Some changes in the last week (interestingly, a few adds — come on, Fiona!). And I think some people who already have spots (Laura Phillip, for example) trying to get a good one in before the countdown really starts to Kona, test some things, shake out some demons.

  • WATCH: Aug 15 @ 12:30 a.m. ET/9:30 p.m. PT the day before on Youtube

• Northern California 70.3: You can’t watch it and it’s one of a few non-watchable 70.3s this weekend, but has an interesting start list because Lionel, etc.

---

The -ish

Some of the things worth knowing about this week in our sports — or that I just think are interesting.

• Because of the the timing of mornings at my house I missed a bunch of the first part of the Tour de France Femmes, but then tuned in for Mt. Ventoux and Kasia Niewiadoma’s absolutely insane ride. And then, obviously, I had to watch the days (and drama) after. Of course there’s something to the epic-ness of the three-week Tours, but there’s also a lot to be said for nine fast & furious days where every day is a GC day, there are no days to sit in or skip, and it all comes down to the final stage and just 15 seconds. Sometimes cycling can be confusing or (god forbid) boring for casual fans — but there’s something to be said for: See those two riders who have dropped everyone else and are just beating the shit out of each other, they’re separated by only seconds and it all comes down to this. Oh and also they’re the best in the game and they kinda hate each other. People will watch that. (Escape Collective/Instagram/New York Times/CyclingWeekly)

• Tadej Pogacar has a sense of humor. (Instagram)

• Ruth Astle has been diagnosed with Hashimoto’s, which follows Steph Clutterbuck’s diagnosis. Which follows quite a few other diagnoses within the endurance world. (Instagram/Maya Clinic)

• Maja Stage-Neilsen is retiring. (Instagram)

• Gustav Iden is raising money for Norway’s cancer charity with a raffle. (Kreftforeningen)

• Claire Danson is trying to become just the fifth woman to finish an Ironman in a wheelchair. (Instagram)

• The new stroller mile world record is 4:17. (The Athletic)

• The new world record for whatever this is (air time off a giant bouce house?) is five seconds. (Instagram)

• If you missed this epic RedBull bike obstacle course a few weeks ago, it’s worth watching. (Instagram)

• U.S. College Club National Champs will be back in Gulfport, Mississippi in 2027. (Instagram)

• Ironman S. Africa is moving to Mossel Bay. (Mossel Bay Advertiser)

• A petition has been started for Ironman to fix some of the problems at IM Frankfurt. (openPetition)

• This past weekend was USAT Age-Group Nationals and my understanding is they had to evacuate on the last day because of lightening and thunderstorms. The event will be in Des Moines, Iowa the next two years, so summer thunderstorms aren’t not an ongoing problem. (Facebook/USAT)

• This past weekend was also the biggest women’s only race in the U.S. in Minneapolis. (CBS)

• New York Road Runners changed their 9 + 1 program, which requires doing all 9 of the NYRR races and is how a lot of locals end up running the New York Marathon. It got too impacted and was pushing regular people out of the rest of the NYRR races, so they're putting a cap and lottery on how many people can enter the program. (Runner’s World)

• The U.S. Swimming CFO has been charged with embezzlement. (The Athletic)

• This college runner got a pro cycling contract instead, so now he just has to learn handling, group tactics, and race strategy. (Marathon Handbook)

• Men need better fitness role models. (New York Times)

---

One last thing

Accurate.