#132: No jokes about the size of Texas
Even though you know you want to.
issue #132: April 23, 2025
All-sporters, we have a long list of “-ish” items this week — lots to know from around the no ball sports world. And one big race on tap in the tri world.
Let’s just get down to it…
- Kelly
The first big *big* race of the year?
What qualifies as a truly big race now? In this modern era of racing. Isn’t everything big? Which makes nothing big?
Yes, we had WTCS Abu Dhabi back in February and the WTCSs are always big — but I think we all have to admit that this year’s early early season start had a lot of names missing.
Yes, we had T100 Singapore a few weeks ago and the T100s are always fast racing — I don’t think anyone’s arguing that the T100s aren’t consistently pinnacle-ish of mid-distance racing right now — but, again, we had quite a few of the contracted names missing and, with some of the bigger names in the sport turning down contracts, it can start to feel a little…less exciting?
Yes, we had IM S. Africa and Oceanside 70.3 — both big regular season races — but they lacked some of the head-to-heads I think we were hoping for.
Now, we have IM Texas. And, presumably, those much desired head-to-heads.
IM Texas looks like painfully boring as a course (and one I never intend to do), but, with only so many fulls on the IM Pro Series schedule and only two in N. America, it has attracted some big talent, some of the biggest line-ups outside of a world champs. Which means: Does it now qualify as a truly big BIG race?
The women: Kat & Taylor & Chelsea
I think this is the one everyone’s curious about. We haven’t seen Taylor Knibb do a full Ironman since her debut Ironman at Women’s Kona 2023. It’s probably fair to say she’s more prepared this time? (And that one went pretty well, anyway. So I think we’re all wondering what a more prepared Taylor looks like…) It’d be hard to imagine her not riding away and then holding on. Kat Matthews has won here twice, she obviously likes racing here and knows how to win here, and she has said very clearly that she’s changed her training to level up her cycling (primarily to hang with Taylor, etc) with the goal of winning Kona. This then could be a mini-preview of the Big Island. Chelsea Sodaro made a lot (!) of changes last year and still pulled off third at Women’s Nice, coming off injuries and abbreviated training. She now has had a full block of consistency (I think) and a new bike sponsor. And we sometimes forget that she’s only raced five Ironmans and she tends to win the non-world championship ones she does.
That basically means we have three people who all could be considered heavy favorites to win. Who do you pick?
Throw in the fact that we also have some interesting wildcards: Rachel Zilinskas and Haley Chura will make it a fast swim. Tamara Jewett is making her long-course debut — and we have to assume will run quickly.
And then there’s the men…
IM Texas: Even without Lange, we’ve got the Norwegians+
Defending world champ Patrick Lange pulled out (or the men’s race might have topped the card here). But, we’ve still got both Norwegians back (?) to long-course: Last year, Kristian Blummenfelt might have finally bit off more than he could chew with the Olympics + Kona bid and ended up nailing neither — but he’s nothing if not resilient and willing to adapt. Him & Gustav Iden almost look like the Kristian & Gustav of old again. Gustav might not have been totally back to form at Oceanside, not yet, not after the rough two years he had, and so (in some ways) I don’t know that we’ll see him truly front pack here, but I am betting that we’ll see that by September. He’s on the path to world championship podium-ing. Rudy Von Berg won here two years ago and he’s consistently a world podium contender too, so part of me actually has him picked for the win.
And then you have the athletes who will be in the mix, the question is just where in the mix: Leon Chevalier, Dr. Matt, Daniel Baekkegard. I feel like Texas always has one wildcard on the podium.
See, it’s a big fun race. Big enough for you?
WATCH: Saturday at 7:25 a.m. ET/4:25 a.m. PT on proseries.ironman.com or Outside Watch in the U.S.
New start times
An email went out to pros outlining minimum time gaps between the pro men’s and women’s field and age-groupers at all Ironman races this year. We mentioned it in last week’s breakdown of the Ironman women’s survey as one of the steps they were promising to take — because of the importance of giving the pro women a clean race both for their own racing, their visibility and media coverage (which has rippling effects in creating stories and stars), and to send the message that we care about women’s racing.
Now it’s official: All races will have at least a five-minute gap between the pro men & pro women, and then five minutes between the pro women & age-groupers. Half of the races will have more (St. George will have 10 minutes) and championship races will have a bigger gap.
Which is a lot better than when we used to get two or three minutes (or 30 seconds!) before the age-group men started running us down.
Best of the rest
Hey, look at that, there are other races this weekend too.
Peru 70.3 (which has the interesting distinction of having a longer female start list than male start list) & Valencia 70.3
The -ish
And the other things worth knowing about this week in our sports.
I was wrong, your favorite link in last week’s newsletter ended up being about why Taylor Knibb originally said she didn’t plan to race the LA Olympics. Though I do wonder if that will change now. (Triathlete)
There was a new course record at the Boston Marathon and I was curious why it was the fastest elite race there ever (but I haven’t heard a good answer yet), so let’s just blame the shoes. (Instagram/Outside Run)
There was also a new world record set for running a marathon in a banana costume: 2:33. Dream big. (Instagram)
And apparently there’s a new new underground relay thing in Boston. Word is it’s the *new* Speed Project for the too-cool-for-cool runners. If you’re interested in following the very hip trends coming out of running these days. (Instagram)
This Sunday is now the London Marathon, and it also has a loaded field, etc. But we only care about Alex Yee. (LetsRun)
Interestingly, it was pointed out to me that London has qualifying times for guaranteed entry, but the gap between the men’s and women’s times is significantly bigger than similar qualifying times for New York or Boston (ie. the women’s times are comparatively much harder for New York or Boston). And yet, London still doesn’t get as many women taking them up on it? Which makes me think there’s an underlying London Marathon reason? (London Marathon/NYRR/BAA)
This weekend is also the last “golden ticket” race for Western States. And I just learned that Western States pregnancy deferral policy is that if you earned a golden ticket entry you can use it at any time post-pregnancy. (I learned this from one of the board members, but then EmKay Sullivan also talked about deferring her entry.) (Outside Run/The Sub Hub)
Haley & Chelsea were on Good Game with Sarah Spain — bringing triathlon to the mainstream one podcast at a time! (iHeartRadio)
Nike announced today a Breaking4 — in which they bring all the tech and science behind the Breaking2 effort to make Faith Kipyegon the first woman to break four minutes in the mile. It’s definitely going to be a whole thing. (Nike/Twitter)
For the people who like to hate on triathlon governing bodies, I present: USA Track & Field. (Wall Street Journal)
Did you know Levi’s Gran Fondo is now the biggest one day cycling payday in the U.S.? And here, two years ago, it was just a fast old dudes fondo thing. (Velo)
70.3 Worlds generated $23 million in spending around Taupo, according to one of those business report things. (SunLive)
T100 Qatar has, reportedly, already sold 1,000 age-group spots. (PTO)
You can enter to win an Escape from Alcatraz spot (aka T100 San Francisco) & a T100 Vegas spot (to be held sometime later this year). (PTO)
And Challenge Taiwan is evidently the world’s largest triathlon, with 10,000 people. (Endurance Sportswire)
I thought Lionel Sanders’ quote about how every one of the top guys is training differently but each of them believe in what they’re doing was the smartest thing he’s ever said. (Triathlete)
When someone sent me this video of Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce winning the parents’ race at her son’s school, I was like ‘no no that’s old, she did that a few years ago.’ But apparently she has a second kid and did it again because, in her words, “they haven’t banned me yet.” (Instagram)
There was a robot half-marathon in China with the winning robot doing it in 2:40 — but really you need to watch the blooper reel. (NBC/Instagram)
Strava acquired Runna — which appears to, very clearly, be a move to dole out training plans within the Strava app. (The Verge)
The hottest new supershoe is from Puma this time. (Outside)
Did you know ex-baseball player Ken Griffey Jr is a Getty sports photographer now? It’s never too late to be something new. (New York Times)
Everyone, chill with the protein. (Wall Street Journal)
I’m seeing a lot of Earth Day posts about how to be a sustainable triathlete by, like, recycling your Clif bar wrappers. So let me be the one to tell you: You don’t need a bigger car. Do not buy that bigger car. Your bike will fit just fine in whatever car you already own.
The New Yorker tackled the problem of Outside Inc — and I thought their headline was intriguing (‘the end of Outside is also the end of a certain vision of the mountain west’), but I don’t think they totally proved their argument. (New Yorker)
Last week, I very seriously considered applying to be the new WNBA Valkyries mascot. (KRON)
One last thing
He got the verified segment!
