issue #204: Sept. 23, 2026
Presented by:
This is just your reminder that if you’re going to be in Kona in two weeks, you should get your COVID & flu shot now so you have a bit of a buffer. Kona is one giant petri dish anyway, might as well give yourself a chance.
And a reminder: Episode #2 of the Triathlonish podcast came out yesterday. I didn’t email it out to all of you because I, personally, hate getting too many emails, but I am going to now point you towards it a bunch of times:
In fact, one of the reasons this email is hitting you a little early is because today, right now as you read this, the World Triathlon Congress is happening in Spain. So. Buckle up.
- Kelly
First, two quick Kona questions
In two weeks, I’ll be on the Big Island, so I’ve been lining up my meetings & events & interviews & plans. In the past, I’ve written a quick-hit daily newsletter, typically for Feisty, that includes a few fun facts, some links and recs, a blurb from the ground. (I’ve done the these from Kona, Nice, Paris.)
But I haven’t decided yet if I should do them this year. Would you all be interested in short daily emails only during Kona week?
Second question: I liked this idea Matt Trappe had during Western States and UTMB, where he simply brought together a bunch of people in the sport (industry, media, agents, athletes, RDs, organizers) for an off-line chat at a house with some drinks. To give everyone a chance to talk about all the things we’re all talking about anyway, but without worrying about how it looks or might be perceived. Off-line, not online. Share wild ideas, questions, half- (or fully-) formed thoughts.
I think this could be fun to do in Kona. (Formally. Since we all do it informally throughout the week anyway.) But, also, I simply do not have the energy for it to end up being an evening of lectures on why men deserve more World Championship spots than women. I’m not interested, I’m not going to change my fundamental core beliefs, and I have no desire to re-tread this well-worn inanity. I do not have space in my life for that.
So, is it possible to talk about Ironman and triathlon and the future without devolving into debate on proportionality? Would we be able to approach the evening with fresh insights and new ideas? Thoughts?
If you’re interested, slide into my DMs and I’ll mull the salon possibility.
One other Kona thing: Start time innovations have dropped
Do you remember when we all asked how a 2,600-person one-day race with the men and women crammed into the same course together could possibly create fair racing conditions for the women? And CEO Scott said “innovations in start times.”
You don’t remember that? Well, I do.
And now, the innovations are here:
Honestly, I’m being mean because this is what RDs have done almost since start waves were invented, but that doesn’t mean I don’t understand what Ironman is going for.
Ironman race directors have often put thought into spacing waves by age and gender in order to give the pro women enough time before the age-group men, to create gaps between age-group waves of similar speeds, and to create speed differentials so that when athletes from one wave pass athletes from another wave they move quickly through — decreasing the possibility of clumping and large packs.
So I do understand what they’re going for here.
But, I also think we all know that those men’s Waves #3-6 are going to turn into one giant smoosh, and that the women’s Wave #7 is going to get swallowed up by men on both sides. We all think that’s what will probably happen because that’s what we’ve seen happen many times. Which is partially why I also think we’re having a bit of a short-term memory problem. I know Jimmy (the head ref) and Diana (the head of world championship events) remember what one-day combined Kona races were like with the massive packs and 90% of athletes coming out of the swim in a 15-minute window. But the last one of those was in 2019. I think a great many other people have forgotten a one-day Kona, and I do not think CEO Scott has any idea what that looks like on the Queen K. Guess he’s gonna find out.
fyi, World Triathlon has a Congress
Now. This week, alongside the World Championship races in Pontevedra, Spain, is the annual World Triathlon delegates meeting. Called The Congress. It’s where all the people in charge of stuff from all of the different countries meet to give updates and read budgets and have drinks and make deals and vote.
This year’s vote will include possible changes to the World Triathlon Constitution.
Because most of my Triathlonish work lately has gone into the podcast, and because we did a huge episode all about the World Triathlon drama leading into the Congress meeting today (which is happening right now), I’m just going to share here some of the background and links:
The Inquisitor did a whole investigation into documents that showed people were given a list of who to vote for in the 2024 World Tri elections
This then raised questions about corruption and a complaint was filed with the Court of Arbitration for Sport
Tim has interviewed many (many) of the people involved and written about the ongoing back and forth between the parties
And you can read the full World Triathlon Congress agenda and packet here, if you so choose
🎧 GET THE DETAILS: We tried to explain it all clearly and concisely in yesterday’s podcast episode — because you need to understand the back story to understand what got us to today’s Congress
Go listen (or watch): Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Youtube
Also happening: The World Tri races
In addition to the voting drama in Pontevedra, there is actual racing drama, too. The WTCS Championship Final: women on Saturday, men on Sunday.
As a reminder: The Final gives a 1.25x multiplier of points — meaning 1,250 points to the winner v. 1,000 in a regular WTCS race.
Also a reminder: In triathlon, the World Champion is the season series winner after the Final. (Which, personally, I think is confusing, and that there should be a world champion who wins the world championship race and then a series winner who wins the season-long series. Like in mountain biking. Or skiing.)
This does create a certain amount of drama, however, because series standings can swing wildly in the Final. And leads to a lot of announcers trying to do math mid-race.
Here’s where I understand it to be heading into the Final, based mostly on Tim’s math and World Triathlon previews:
The women’s race
Cassandre Beaugrand leads Beth Potter by 225 points, then Tilda Mansson by 363.
If Cassandre finishes on the podium, she wins the overall. Period.
If Beth is second, then Cassandre just needs to be 4th.
If Beth is third, then Cassandre just needs to be 6th. Etc.
If both Beth and Cassandre finish well down (as happened last year in Wollongong), then Tilda or Lisa Tertsch could win.
The men’s race
Vasco Vilaca leads Matt Hauser by 354 points after Matt had a very sub-par (for him) race in Weihai.
In order for Matt to win the overall, he has to win the race and Vasco has to finish 6th or lower.
Not that this has never happened. Think poor Alex Yee losing it in what seemed like an impossible race in 2023 and in a closer race in 2021.
WATCH: Para races on Friday @ 1 a.m. PT/4 a.m. ET, elite women on Saturday @ 11 a.m. PT/2 p.m. ET, elite men on Sunday @ 11 a.m. PT/2 p.m. ET
From the races
Highlights from this past weekend and what to watch this upcoming weekend.
T100 French Riviera: Hayden Wilde was my pick for Good Week; he’s really having quite the September.
Sao Paulo 70.3: No reason to mention other than a shoutout to Rachel Olson because I know exactly what it feels like to keep having things go south and your life turned upside down and to know you’re capable and just want to win one of these damn things.
Cozumel 70.3: And Lionel Sanders returned to racing with a 3rd.
IM Maryland: This was the wild one here in the U.S. this weekend. Cam Wurf can still win an Ironman, with the fastest run split too btw. But the big story was…
A bad accident required a helicopter medical evac, which necessitated stopping bikers from entering the helicopter landing zone. Depending on where you were on the course you may have not been stopped at all or may have been stopped for about 10 minutes. Because of where it landed in the two laps, this heavily split the pro men’s race and was also emotionally rough I think for those who witnessed the accident. And then after the finish, it was later determined that the most fair way to adjust the results was simply to subtract the entire ~15-mile segment between the two timing mats. Which **did ultimately change the results. I checked those details with Ironman and they’re accurate, but OnYerLeft has the best graphical explanation.
Results: T100 French Riviera & standings, IM Maryland, Sao Paulo 70.3, Cozumel 70.3, Emilia Romagna 70.3
Mark your calendars
Also happening this upcoming weekend (in addition to the World Tri racing): New York 70.3 (men) & Augusta 70.3 (women)
The -ish
Some of the other things worth knowing about this week in our sports — or that I just think are interesting.
I don’t even totally understand this Backyard Ultra Triathlon, but: It operated essentially the same way Backyard Ultras work (one loop every hour on the hour until you can’t go on), except these athletes did a sprint triathlon every two hours until they couldn’t go on (500m swim, 20km bike, 5km run). In the end, two women did 33 loops in 66 hours with the closest man in third place at 21 loops. Which is still a lot of loops. (Instagram)
Taylor Knibb was 13th overall and the top American at the UCI time trial world championships. (Tri247)
Which is part of the Cycling Road World Championships, happening right now this week. (Velo)
Triathlete had a fun list of the top triathlons in every state — which is really more like the most popular non-Ironman-brand triathlon in each state, but still, they got California right. (Triathlete)
The World Road Running Championships were this past weekend and I’m going to leave it to Citius to give you thoughts. (Citius)
Hyrox issued refunds after the “poop incident” and also sold a majority stake at a $700 million valuation. (Canadian Running/Huddle Up)
If you missed it in the podcast: World Triathlon has claimed “hybrid racing” under its purview for the purposes of being the international governing body. Except now they might call it “hyathlon.”
A good story about the steps this paramedic took to save their partner after a bike crash while they were riding.
And a cool contest from FORM to fund someone’s first triathlon. Share it with that friend who keeps thinking about trying one. (FORM)
One last thing
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