issue #208: Nov. 5, 2026
Some nights, after the kid goes to bed, I get more work done. But Tuesday night was not one of those nights. And then we went to the Valkyries victory parade yesterday morning, and I can’t prove it but I’m pretty sure the Blue Wave happened because the Valkyries won.
I mentioned the absolutely epic insane Valkyries WNBA championship win on this week’s podcast. But I think it’s worth repeating a lesson that should be learned here: One of the things the Valkyries did (among many things) was they didn’t adopt the same colors or branding or style or fans as the men’s team. They built an entirely new fanbase — with just 8% overlap in season ticket holders between the men’s and women’s teams — and an entirely new culture. And the thing that’s worth learning is that people were skeptical about the choices to create something totally new (violet as our color? a purple raven in drag as our mascot?). It’s harder to do. It’s harder to not just attach yourself to the men’s thing, you don’t then get the leg up to start. But. Your ceiling is higher. If you’re the little sister brand to the men’s thing, then you’ll always be the second billing.
Just something to keep in mind.
- Kelly
Let’s all try to understand Gen Z together
(Or whatever the generations are called now.)
Coming out of the pandemic, we had a theory at Triathlete that there was going to be a boom. That all these people who had taken up running and bought bikes and started caring about health and wellness were coming for triathlon and for our sports. We thought we’d convert them. We also thought — given that an Outside Inc. membership is most beneficial if you care about lots of sports and about those sports’ brands — that if we couldn’t sell memberships to triathletes, then we couldn’t sell them to anyone.
It didn’t quite work out at the time. There were some hiccups coming out of the pandemic, a lot of backlogged deferrals and inventory surpluses from brands who thought exact pandemic behavior would last forever. Also, I don’t think people were ready yet for the idea that triathletes don’t just do triathlon.
But now? Triathletes don’t just do triathlon.
There are not many things I’m trendy on. Don’t ask me what the kids will be wearing in a year. (Are we doing no clothes now or all the clothes? I dunno.) But there are a couple of things I’m almost always 3-5 years ahead on: whatever people are gonna be pissed off about next and the sports media zeitgeist.
Which is to say: I’ve been hearing from a lot of different people behind-the-scenes about the numbers and the shift happening. The 20-somethings are doing triathlon. The data supports that. But they’re not just doing triathlon. They’re doing the Marathon Majors and Hyrox and bucket list things, and gym-going is up and they care about wellness (so many wellness and health and fitness start-ups right now), and we all know they’re over-indexing on experiences because they came of age in a shit time for experiences and anyway YOLO.
Which means that yes, triathlon numbers are looking pre-pandemic again and Ironmans are selling out and the average age at major events is going down.
But.
We’ve (as a sport) always viewed those new triathletes as simply the first step in a funnel. How do we make them lifers and convince them to do a whole season and multiple seasons of triathlon. We’ve always treated the triathlete as a capital T Triathlete.
Yet, that is no longer how people, especially younger athletes, are operating. It’s certainly not how anyone I know operates anymore. A triathlon is maybe part of many things they do, but it is not the only thing. Which means the old-school tri-for-life athlete is no longer the model we need to sell to. The world changes. Move on. Hell, the wave might already be past peak anyway.
If you view the World Triathlon x Hyrox partnership in this context, I think it starts to make a lot more sense. Bringing Hyrox (“hybrid racing”) into triathlon as a discipline under World Tri starts to then seem less about defining who is or isn’t a triathlete, and becomes more about capturing additional activity streams that consumers/(tri)athletes are now participating in. Because triathletes don’t just triathlon anymore.
Speaking of the Hyrox deal…
We told you it was coming. Hell, World Triathlon told you it was coming. They literally said at last year’s annual meeting they were going to do this and then they said at this year’s annual meeting: ‘hey we’re doing this right now currently.’
But still. A lot of confusion from triathletes.
So I went deep (deeeeeeep) for a full podcast show that might be the most answers anyone has yet assembled in one place about Hyrox + triathlon.
You need to understand the triathlon history and background of Christian Toetzke (one of the founders of Hyrox)
Plus, the numbers of growth and finances in “hybrid racing” — and my guesses about which way money is flowing
If Hyrox tried to start their own federation it’d take years and possibly not work — and you need a federation to be a part of the Olympic movement
Plus, World Triathlon answered as many questions as I could get them to:
Three distances (the one you know right now is Ultimate, then Ultra and Fast)
Hyrox will continue to operate as normal and will continue to be the official world championship in the Ultimate distance
The other distances will be open for World Tri to eventually operate world championships in ‘hybrid racing’
National federations will be able to run their own hybrid racing national championships — either as a wave at a Hyrox or as their own events
Licenses will not be needed for age-group athletes at Hyrox races, for elites tbd. Insurance and rules also tbd coming from a working group
Seriously, absolutely everything you want to know in this week’s episode. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or watch on Youtube.
From the races
Proper triathlon!
XTERRA World Cup: The year’s World Cup series came down to ONE POINT. (Reminder: XTERRA does a one-day world championship and also awards a season-long series winner.) In the final World Cup of that series, this past weekend, Maxim Chané won both races but Arthur Forissier still managed to win the overall series by just one point. That’s on his fourth year of trying (broken collarbone, broken spine, lost to his brother).
Noosa Triathlon: For the first time in its 40 years, the swim was canceled. Because of sharks. But people still had fun.
World Cup - San Pedro de la Paz: Morgan Pearson is back on top, so good for him.
Results: XTERRA World Cup final standings, Noosa Triathlon, World Cup - San Pedro de la Paz, World Para Cup
Mark your calendar
T100 Saudi Arabia was finally officially rescheduled to April. And the men’s race is being added to the women’s T100 Dubai two weeks earlier on Nov. 14. (Another thing we also told you was going to happen.) And Hayden Wilde is on both the T100 and the WTCS start lists that weekend.
IM Florida: Starts at 5:40 a.m. (oof) on Saturday, no broadcast, but still a very strong start list.
The -ish
Some of the other things worth knowing about this week in our sports — or that I just think are interesting.
Quite the New York Marathon. More than one way to the top. Plus, the men’s winner was in the new Nike shoes Vince wore at Kona, so those are probably officially The Shoes To Own. (Steve Magness/Marathon Handbook)
Heather Jackson won a rainy Javelina Jundred (100-miler) by 55 seconds in the end. She was down a few minutes in the final miles, but there you go. (Instagram)
The 67-year-old who raced two Ironmans eight days apart and won her age-group in both. And one of them was Kona. (Triathlete)
Gustav and Kristian evidently rocked an age-group race because they JUST LOVE TRIATHLON SO MUCH. (Triathlon Magazine)
Imogen Simmonds ran a 34:11 10K, which isn’t bad for an Ironman-er. (Instagram)
Ruth Astle is getting hip surgery. Good thoughts to ending the string of shit things. (Instagram)
Same good thoughts to Steph Clutterbuck. (Instagram)
Youth Olympics Games in Dakar this week. Gear hauls. (Instagram)
Cycling has a visa problem. (Escape Collective)
I didn’t even know that people counted Strava PRs as PRs. But I also didn’t know anyone cared? (For the record: Your Strava PR is a nice piece of information. But races are races, your time is your actual time on the course.) (The Athletic)
I did know, though, that pro athletes injuries are tough on the wallet. (Front Office Sports)
“After 28 years walking across the globe, he’s almost home.” (New York Times)
And how to run a sub-3-hour marathon. (tangents h/t Mario Fraioli)
One last thing
This one was actually my favorite of the post-Valkyries win chaos celebration, but also: