#92: The triathlon shake-ups
#92: The triathlon shake-ups
A media fracturing happening in super speed.
issue #92: June 19, 2024
All-sporters, I want to welcome all of you who are new. I just found out a lot of you came in through the story on how much it costs to do an Ironman — and so I want to briefly give you a re-introduction of what we do here:
I’m Kelly O’Mara, I used to be editor of Triathlete and now I oversee content for Feisty
This is your weekly free Wednesday morning newsletter on all things triathlon(ish) in one place
We wanted to create a non-douche space to talk about our sports the way big-time sports are debated and analyzed and talked about
We don’t really do training advice or gear reviews; you can get that a lot (!) of other places and, anyway, Charles Barkley doesn’t review basketballs
We do do analysis, commentary, what to know, reported insider info — think of it like ‘First Take’ on ESPN (I think, I don’t really watch ESPN)
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BOOK CLUB: Remember to join us for our quarterly Book Club Q&A today, Wednesday, at 4 p.m. PT/7p.m. ET with the author ‘All in Stride’ — to help get us ready for the Olympic Track Trials. (Q&A Zoom link in here.)
Now, since this is a lighter week race-wise, let’s get to a bunch of short updates.
- Kelly
Rumors, rumors, everywhere
One of the things happening in the background of the triathlon world is a massive fragmentation of triathlon media. By which I mean: Old traditional media outlets are losing prominence or influence or staff (often through no particular fault of their own). RIP to the last U.S. tri magazine! [Ed note clarification: Triathlete Magazine stopped printing a magazine two years ago; it is still very much a website and media outlet, but no magazine.] And at the same time, dozens of new podcasts and newsletters and Youtube channels and social media platforms are popping up to cover the sport — some of which are great and some of which are less great. This is also pushing old school coverage to evolve, too. Which is also mostly great.
But right now, it’s not clear which will survive and which won’t. Nor is it always clear which are worth following and which aren’t.
That’s all fine. That’s not particularly different than everything happening in media or in sports on a larger scale. It’ll sort itself out eventually. But. It’s happening at such an accelerated speed and at such a heightened intensity in such a small sport (ie. triathlon) that I don’t think I’ve ever seen this degree of shake-up this quickly.
When I left Triathlete two years ago and thought ‘hey, there’s a gap in covering the sport the way big mainstream sports are covered,’ there were 4-5 English-speaking websites, maybe 2 podcasts, a bunch of pro athlete Youtubes, and no newsletters really. The main place to get tri gossip was the Slowtwitch forum. Now, today, there are 3x or 4x the number of outlets & 10x the amount of gossip.
Let’s put it this way: Ironman use to have a policy that it wouldn’t issue media credentials to individual athlete’s Youtube channels. I don’t know if that’s still the official policy, but certainly the public expectations have changed.
Why does any of this matter to you?
Because it’s made following triathlon news absolutely wild right now. Sometimes you can get your news from Instagram; the majority of the time it’s 60-70% right. Sometimes you really can’t, though.
I think, on the whole, this is mostly probably good? If we’re hoping to create the buzz and interest level of bigger sports, then we have to build for the future — and basketball fans certainly spend a lot of their time arguing on the internet (for example). But I also think it’s incredibly disorienting — and I’m definitely glad I don’t run PR for Ironman because that’d be exhausting.
Related: GCN’s founder bought GCN back from Warner Bros — and about 20 layoffs are expected
A few rumors that have circulated…
On that note, there have been a lot of rumors going around lately and generating momentum. Let’s address a couple of them.
Youri Keulen probably isn’t getting a last-minute PTO contract for this year.
Kristian Blummenfelt has said before that he was interested in getting into pro cycling after Paris (so that’s not actually new news) — and we don’t know right now if it would be like Taylor Knibb’s contract with Trek or Cam Wurf’s balance between Ineos Grenadiers and triathlon. We’ll have to see after the Games. Plus, he might change his mind.
A number of the things people are saying the new Ironman CEO has implemented with race experiences (the dine around town program, pre-race banquets and clinics) actually existed at plenty of races before.
Yes, Lucy Charles-Barclay changed her mind (and decided to do the Ironman World Champs after saying she wasn’t going to) for a number of reasons, as all athletes do. But, the talk everywhere is that part of that decision-making was probably financial. (I do think it’s not an accident she announced her updated plan on the new Ironman podcast — instead of on her popular Youtube channel.) However, Ironman has said they provide the same support/stipend for every single defending world champion and that they are not compensating Lucy more or differently — and I believe them. So whether she was incentivized (in addition to all of her other reasons) by partners or sponsor bonuses, that’s fine, it’s how pro sports work.
Do know: Ironman doesn’t really play favorites or give special treatment. That’s kinda their thing. Alistair Brownlee got denied from registering for IM Texas because it was full.
Any other rumors I’m missing right now? Oh, the (to-be-announced) T100 Grand Final is in the Middle East.
This week’s Olympics update
While we’re on the topic of rumors. As I was writing this, the British triathlon team was finally announced: Georgia Taylor-Brown, Kate Waugh, and Sam Dickinson join Alex Yee and Beth Potter.
The understanding is the delay was caused by an athlete appeal that is now resolved. Tim Heming wrote a little for us this past weekend about the process:
And as far as both Tim & I are aware: Appeals have almost never resulted in overturning selections.
In other controversial team picks: Check out the comments on this post announcing the Italian team.
Olympics odds & ends:
As I write this: The U.S. road cycling team hasn’t yet been announced. I’m guessing the official ‘what do we do about Taylor Knibb and the road race’ question is what’s delaying them.
U.S. Track & Field Olympic Trials start on Friday. In the events where the U.S. doesn’t immediately have three spots and all the athletes don’t have “the standard,” it’s going to be more confusing than ever — because the standards to guarantee a spot are really high this cycle and the rest of the country quota spots will be filled via a world ranking system that isn’t going be finalized until later. The complicated-ness is definitely killing part of the vibe that usually makes this one of the best sporting events in the world.
WATCH: Finals will air nightly on NBC & Peacock — with the full event schedule here.
U.S. Swimming Trials have also been going on and will continue through this weekend. (I’m actually watching as I write this.) Yes, Katie Ledecky is crazy good and you basically have to set world records to make the team. But story of the show so far: The 46-year-old swimmer who made the semis and set a lifetime PR — only one other athlete in the semis was even alive the last time she competed in the Olympics.
Get the athletes guaranteed tickets to the Games so their parents don’t get scammed!
Results from the weekend
IM Cairns: Holy shit, I didn’t know Matt Burton’s story before this weekend — but apparently he had a foot infection so bad early this year that he almost had to get it amputated. And now he’s won the Asia-Pac champs with a course record.
IM Nice: Not on the IM Pro Series, but with Lucy CB racing to get a feel for the course ahead of the World Champs in September it had a lot of eyes on it. As expected she won (also in a course record & with a 2:49 marathon).
A side note a few people messaged me about: Ironman gave Anne Haug permission to jump in the 70.3 age-group race. I know some people are all *gasp* about this, but I think it’s cool, it’s fine. She didn’t take awards, there was no prizes or money, she doesn’t even have an official result. (Though she unofficially ran 1:13:48 half-marathon.) That’s fun, there is no downside, everyone chill out.
Results: IM Cairns, IM Nice (women’s only), IM Austria (men’s only)
Mark your calendars
Mont-Tremblant 70.3: The next in the IM Pro Series, because there’s basically a race every weekend, and this one is kinda the Canadian Champs — Paula Findlay, Tamara Jewett, Jackson Laundry, Cody Beals, and Lionel Sanders is on the start list right now. Plus, you know, a bunch of Americans, too. Most notably, Paula is also racing the Canadian Time Trial National Champs three days before.
WATCH: Sunday at 6:50 a.m. ET/3:50 a.m. PT on Outside Watch or proseries.ironman.com or DAZN
A note for the future: WTCS Hamburg starts lists are out and it’s the last WTCS before the Olympics, which means it’s a mix of people looking for one last hit-out and people skipping it to focus on Paris and people who weren’t picked for Paris focusing on the WTCS instead.
The -ish
The rest of the news you should know about from our sports this week.
A mega-funded new circuit with four global events and $12.6 million in prize money, meant to disrupt and reimagine our sports. Sound familiar? No, it’s not another version of the PTO; it’s the new Grand Slam of track & field. But yes, Olympic star Michael Johnson *did* model his new league/circuit off the PTO. And yes, it was a splashy launch with
Lucy Charles-BarclaySydney McLaughlin as the first signed athlete. Also yes, apparently, no one else has questions. (Citius Mag/Twitter/Instagram/Triathlonish)UTMB has doubled the prize money. (Outside RUN)
Speaking of. The 5th fastest U.S. guy in the 1500m this year is fully unsponsored, living with his parents, and making a go at the Olympics one last time. (Twitter)
Nominations are open for the USA Triathlon Board of Directors. (USAT)
World Triathlon has opened up the RFP process (ie. “bids”) for 2027 and 2028 Finals and Multisport Champs. They’ve long (long) had an RFP/bid process for cities that want to host races — this isn’t new — but it’s gotten harder and harder to convince cities and governing bodies it’s a good investment. Both USAT and the Brit Tri have pretty notably said they lost huge amounts of money in the past on WTCS hosting duties. (World Triathlon)
Lisa Norden won her 5th Swedish national time trial championship. (Instagram)
Dave Scott is recovering from open heart surgery. (Instagram)
Jonas Deichmann is six weeks into his 120 “full-distance” triathlons in 120 days challenge on the Challenge Roth course. (Facebook/Youtube/Trizone)
I have a few friends doing RAAM right now (Race Across America) and there’s a four-women team trying to set a new record. Plus, apparently Dede Griesbauer is doing it as part of a team, too. (Race Across America/Instagram)
This butt-friendly bike seat is really going viral — and even though I’ve seen the video of how it works, I’m still like ‘but how does it work.’ (New Atlas/Tiktok)
I once had this story idea to travel entirely via Google Maps’ bike route suggestions and see what happened. So, apparently Google Maps uses a 10mph speed for biking (with some variations for hills, etc). (Discerning Cyclist)
And, there’s a massive sophisticated international bike theft ring that steals people’s high-end bike — especially from around the Bay Area — and re-sells them. (WIRED)
One last thing
Caption this photo series.
