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Another Triathlon Podcast
ATP, or 'Another Triathlon Podcast,' is a fresh voice in the world of endurance sports. Our name is a playful nod to the abundance of triathlon podcasts out there and also stands for Adenosine Triphosphate, the energy source of our bodies, symbolizing the relentless energy of triathletes. We want to have some fun with triathlon, not take ourselves too seriously while delivering insight, answer your training and racing questions and give you everything you need from inspiration to information that can help your race day.
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Another Triathlon Podcast
Episode 56: Olympic Triathlon Swim Crisis, T100 London Recap with Sam Laidlow and Ashleigh Gentle taking the win!
Summary
The conversation covers the T100 triathlon in London, with discussions about the race, the athletes, and some interesting incidents. The women's race saw Ashleigh Gentle dominate, with Imogen Simmons and Kat Matthews battling for second and third place. In the men's race, Sam Laidlow surprised everyone with a strong performance, while Kyle Smith and Daniel Bakkegard fought for second and third place. There was also a discussion about drafting penalties and technical issues during the race.
They talk about the challenging conditions in the T100 race, including crashes and mechanical issues. They also discuss the lackluster visuals and camera angles in the race. They then move on to previewing the men's and women's Olympic races, considering the impact of the swim conditions and the potential for a duathlon. They mention several top contenders and make their predictions for the winners. Finally, they briefly discuss the mixed team relay and the challenges of the current racing season.
Chapters
00:00 T100 Triathlon in London
25:06 Surprising Win for Sam Laidlow
27:43 Controversy with Drafting Penalties
30:53 Challenging Conditions in the T100 Race
33:33 Lackluster Visuals in the T100 Race
38:05 Previewing the Men's and Women's Olympic Races
41:20 The Impact of Swim Conditions in the Olympic Races
45:36 The Potential for a Duathlon in the Olympic Races
49:30 Top Contenders in the Olympic Races
56:23 The Unpredictability of the Mixed Team Relay
01:00:47 The Challenges of the Current Racing Season
Keywords
triathlon, T100, London, race, athletes, drafting penalties, technical issues, T100, Olympic races, challenges, conditions, crashes, mechanical issues, visuals, camera angles, men's race, women's race, swim conditions, duathlon, top contenders, predictions, mixed team relay, current racing season
Stay connected with us! Follow us on social media - @anothertriathlonpodcast with hosts Jenna-Caer, Fede and Josh to keep up with the latest. And if you have any burning questions for the coaches, feel free to shoot them over to Jennacaer@maunaendurance.com
https://www.instagram.com/anothertriathlonpodcast/
Welcome to another triathlon podcast, the podcast that brings the electrifying world of triathlons right into your headphones. Journey into captivating conversations, share the excitement of race recaps, enjoy the humor only a triathlete would understand, and join us as we debunk myths and bring you the bare, thrilling truths of the triathlon world. Myths and bring you the bare, thrilling truths of the triathlon world. So feel your heart pound, breathe in anticipation and get ready to dive into the world of triathlon. This is another triathlon podcast. Enjoy the ride.
Speaker 2:Here we are with another triathlon podcast brought to you by Mana Apparel. I'm joined, as always, with my co-hosts, fede and Josh, and we're going to have fun getting into everything this week. There is certainly no shortage of things to talk about, especially with the T100 in London and the big question everyone's wondering will the Olympics go ahead with a swim or will it turn into a duathlon, with the timing of when they're going to make the call with the water? We might actually find out during the podcast, but we will let you know that breaking news if that happens. But first we're gonna check in see what's going on with everyone here. Let's start with you, fede. What's going on in your world?
Speaker 3:yeah, hey, guys, I hope everyone's doing good. I mean, I had a lot of FOMO watching, you know, the team up in Canada and in Maine. I was supposed to race Maine actually, but I couldn't get out of some adult responsibilities and sometimes I don't wear lycra and I need to wear like a suit tie to work, so those type of duties. But nonetheless I'm happy. You know, I was happy to see the team perform really well.
Speaker 3:Josh, whom I'm not going to spoil it for you, but he has some very good news to share about his race in maine uh, a lot of shenanigans that happen up in canada and you know, just been training a lot, uh, been doing quite a bit of intensity on the run. So I'm starting to get used to that feeling again of just, you know, pushing through the pain, because I don't know if you guys feel it, uh, when you start getting into it like intensity, it's very easy to quit, like you just pull the plug very easily. But then as soon as you start, you know, doing more and more reps, you can hold on to the pain a little bit more. So I'm just happy with that and being a little bit more consistent. So, yeah, uh, and you know, on the olympics period we've been watching a lot of olympic sports, uh.
Speaker 2:So yeah, I'm just glued to the uh tv and news and everything love it, lots to watch, lots to get on to for sure, which makes it so much fun. And you know what I always tell myself when I'm watching, um, those pro races or anything like the olympics whatever I'm doing right now I'm training is nowhere near as painful as what they're doing exactly, yeah, yeah well you gave me some fomo too feday, because we starting off main in the shenanigans, we had a group chat in mana trying to find a bike oh yeah for a feday, but not this.
Speaker 3:So when I came across.
Speaker 4:I was driving home from like bike check-in or dinner and I started seeing all these messages come across my watch and my and I was like, wait, wait, feday's coming. He lied to me he's no, no, our pro fanny had some bike issues and, uh, yeah, he ended up having a dnf. But he had an unbelievable swim, an unbelievable bike, um, and was right there with trevor foley going into the run and things just went sideways. So, um, I was hoping it was you, but I'm glad he at least was able to race. Yeah, yeah, some serious teamwork, everyone rolling around trying to get him a bike.
Speaker 2:it I was hoping it was you, but I'm glad he at least was able to race. Yeah, yeah, some serious teamwork, everyone rolling around trying to get him a bike. It sounds like it showed up late, like the late night before kind of deal.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and he had to go from Augusta, maine to Boston and back which, oh God. And that's not an easy drive.
Speaker 2:No man. Even just getting started in a race after all that stress and late night trying to get the bike and set it up and get started is just brutal. It sounds like the Mono team really rallied around trying to find him, like shoes and bikes and all that fun stuff, just in case he couldn't get it.
Speaker 4:In the triathlon community in general, because each one of these races typically has like a Facebook community page and sure enough that was the group that started coming through for them and we had a helmet and we had this and we had that. But better to ride your own stuff. Even if you don't get back until 3am, I'll wait. It's time to get to transition, Jesus. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Imagine Brutal.
Speaker 4:Unbelievable, but yeah, I'm still up in Maine, we, we, but yeah, I'm still up in Maine. We got a team house up here in Maine and one of my teammates left right after the race late last night and then my other teammates been here, so we actually did got to do a little training run last night with him after the race and then a little swim this morning because we're right on a lake. So it's been been a cool trip. Cool trip, um is actually. So. This is a relay that I did and I did the bike leg but my swim bike run. We were, uh, teammates that never really met, had not met in person, physically the three of us together um I had met each of them individually, so as a team we had never met.
Speaker 4:We were three strangers that came together and uh had chatted and talked about aspirations and that, looking at past years times, that maybe a podium could be there if we all had a great day. But we all have other things we're training for.
Speaker 4:Not this was not our a race, um, but I still had a pretty decent taper, an active taper, um, and was ready to go for my bike and and our swimmer was ready to go for the down river swim and and our runner's been doing a go for the downriver swim and and our runner's been doing a lot of zone two training, so she was a little concerned. Uh, we had a mixed relay team, which was cool too, um, and our runner was ready to go too. So I got on the bike in I think like 17th or 18th place. There were about 60 relay teams too, which was really cool to see, um, but I got on the bike in like 17th or 18th place and came off in fourth or fifth um so I had a really good bike and it was.
Speaker 4:The goal was to stay arrow 90 95 for the time and and was able to to hold that.
Speaker 4:But man, that uh, when, when you're 182 pounds and not a great climber and you're a descender, I had a lot of crappy moments and I had a lot of fun moments.
Speaker 4:So I was anywhere between eight miles an hour and 45 and a half miles an hour and pushing it. But the cool part was I got to get out with a lot of people who know how to ride and typically when I'm doing my own swim, I'm coming from a little further back and riding through the pack. And this time I had trains following me and I was leading them out and all of a sudden they go flying by and I try and stay with them and catch on the back and then we hit a hill and it was just, it was up and down, up and down, up and down, and it was nothing really crazy climb wise, but it was just constant and every time you had a descent it was a hard right, and then it was a descent and a hard left and it was just and then you have to worry about who's in front of you and whether or not they're taking the turn as much as as fast as you possibly could, and I felt like I had a really good executed race.
Speaker 4:My coach looked at the VI and training peaks and I was right on almost just above 1.0. I was at like 1.04. So shifting everything was there. Cda wise. I felt great. I even went flying by my wife and daughter and dog and didn't even see them because I was still in aero with like two minutes left in the ride, just crushing it because everyone else is starting to clip out, which is another cool part about the relay.
Speaker 4:like everyone, else is starting to clip and get, get, get out of their shoes and I'm like flying. I must have passed like 40 50 people in the last quarter mile, just starting to slow down like no, I'm, I'm dismounting and running to the rack and that's it. That's all I have to worry about. I don't need to get my sneakers on.
Speaker 4:So we had like a one-minute T2. And with the run everyone had a long T1 because the run out of this swim is probably one of the hardest in all of Ironman. It's probably a half mile plus straight uphill where one hill actually has a bike sign on the rail trail saying 8% grade.
Speaker 2:That's up in a transition.
Speaker 4:So it was cool being there as a pro race too. Like I as the biker, I got to see all the pros come out in out of T1 and into, get their bikes and stuff. And and Trevor Foley was here a week after winning iron man lake placid here to defend his title. Sarah true was here after having the dnf at lake placid. Uh, and watching trevor, knowing he was going to come out a little later in the swim, come out passing people like five, ten people, ari cloud passing people because they just know they got to get on the bike and go and it was. It was just really cool, awesome as always Ironman environment as it was in Calgary. As general, I would tell everyone too. It's so cool to be around that and then be around the team aspect.
Speaker 4:And then I let the runner go and she ran us up to what we thought was second place and had probably her PR for the year and a half marathon after doing like 10 minute, 11 minute pace training for her ultra marathon coming up. She's got a hundred K coming up that she's training for and it got hot. It was about 80 and beating sun and the last two miles is one giant one mile climb and then you come down from that and then you got to go up that same swim exit, run to the finish line. One giant one mile climb. And then you come down from that and then you got to go up that same swim exit, run to the finish line. So she crushed it.
Speaker 4:We thought we had second place. We got to the award ceremony. We got to go to the award ceremony. For the first time I knew I had a podium finish in an Ironman, a branded event, and got to see all the age groupers, got to talk, talk to a bunch of the pros and hang out with Nick and Kinga, and Kinga got third in her group, another mana athlete in her age group. So it was just really cool, really awesome atmosphere. And they finally remembered to do the relay awards and we were first Congratulations. Well, that was really really neat and now I'm in a a mindset of not just because of me, but I think this would be really cool. We got to get scott drew on the uh podcast and really push for relay teams to be part of the slot down in world champion slots, like why not give people another reason to join a relay team and start to stack some relay teams and get involved in the sport.
Speaker 4:I had my first run-in with an official on the bike course too, so gotta go what happened? I was actually riding passing um on one of those on the uphills. Gavin, one of our other mana athletes went flying by me on an uphill On the downhill. I caught him and was going by him. The moto came by as I was straddling the yellow line. He's like can you get over? Stay on that side? Must have seen my relay number and been like all right, let's give him a warning.
Speaker 4:There were a lot of a lot of crashes on the course.
Speaker 4:I saw a bunch of ambulances, a lot of mechanicals, my, my, old coach he had a very similar incident to to Phillip uh, who runs Mono out in Calgary, jenna talk about where he had a bike leaving transition and was waiting 45 minutes for a mechanic and still never had a right bike, and because I saw him finish like six hours later. But what? That's not, um, just just an awesome, awesome, all-around day, really cool experience, and we were just all amped up and I was like blaming it on the morton caffeine gel, like the only thing I took from an aid station on the bike.
Speaker 4:But nutrition was perfect, everything was perfect, and kind of ftp'd it on the last 20 minutes home nicely done yeah nothing pulled back at that point, no run to do no run to do and it was uh, leave it all out there yeah, oh, that's awesome, although I did have an hour run to do that night oh yeah, can't slack, come on it's beautiful up here. That hour went by quick.
Speaker 2:Oh nice. Yeah, I remember one time I did this race where it was a duathlon that went back and forth like a bunch more times than normal, but the last run was a 50-meter run across the finish line, like 50 meters Really. Like, do I take my shoes? Like, do I take my shoes? My new transition run in the bike, helmet and shoes, finish it off that way. It just wasn't worth the time.
Speaker 4:That's awesome We'll talk about bike helmet scandals later too.
Speaker 2:Oh, yes, we will In an ever increasing list of scandals. But yeah, like Josh mentioned, this weekend we had Ironman Calgary 70.3, which this is a race I almost always do because it's about 45 minutes from home. So it's the local race up here and I will say it's a really fun one because the Calgary triathlon community you have to spend like seven months riding indoors, like you. Just you don't want to be riding outside for those seven months. So everyone's just crazy enough to train through that every year and still want to race triathlon. So it's a pretty passionate community, we'll say. And it's fun because Calgary, everyone comes out there. It's one of the best atmospheres on the run. You'll just see the run course by the finish line. There's people everywhere yelling and cheering, setting up tents, having a good time and it's really a lot of fun.
Speaker 2:And this time we made it a bit of a monoteam race and we had a bunch of team members up to Calgary and it was just fun to be able to show them a little bit of my hometown and a little bit of the area here. It's pretty, pretty stunning with the foothills and the Rocky mountains and stuff. I think a few people I think mostly everyone handled the elevation pretty well. We're at about 4,000 feet at a race site. A couple that took off guard a little bit more than they thought, but I don't think anyone was too crushed by it, which was good, but it was just fun. We had a really great mana pop-up shop and a webinar on how to have your best training day, with myself and coaches Philip and Sergio chatting alongside, so it was fun to connect with people in person and then, yeah, send it out to everyone afterwards.
Speaker 2:We did a course rundown. It was fun. We did a course rundown. It was fun. I had a bunch of people afterwards coming up and saying they watched the course rundown and it really helped them a lot, because the one thing with Calgary is the bike course seems to change every year, so you never quite know what to expect, and this year was no different. So actually, one of our teammates spent a fair bit of time out on the course and gave a very in-depth rundown of all the places to watch, for things to look for, and it's kind of the same. It's hard to get into a rhythm because there's a lot of just rolling up and down the whole way and a lot of turns.
Speaker 2:The turns kind of slow you down a bit, having to get that groove again. So, other than that, though, it is a pretty bike course, which is always good, and we had, I think, three team members qualified for the 2025 70.3 World Championships, which was awesome to see. I know that was a goal for a lot of them just to get that early slot locked down. And, yeah, like you mentioned, josh Philip, one of the co-founders of Mono.
Speaker 2:Unfortunately, his rear derailleur snapped out on the bike course, which that's a brutal one, and, funny enough, the bike mechanic showed up like within five minutes. It was just a case of the way the spring some issue with the spring and the ceramic speed oversized pulley wheel didn't have the tools for it, because it's something that's not common and doesn't happen. He was just lucky enough to have it happen to him. Race days, the mechanic spent about an hour trying to make it workable. And race days, the mechanic spent about an hour trying to make it workable, and he ended up having to stay around 55 rpm to keep the chain on, but he made it in and came out with like the second fastest run in his age group, so I was definitely fired up afterwards, which is good that's a crazy run, after a big gear workout too.
Speaker 2:Oh my god yeah especially on that course, like and even it was funny because he'd have to break on the downhills, because he couldn't let it spin or free will it all. It always had to be around that 55 or else the chain dropped. So he's like breaking on the downhill, so he has enough tension to keep it on.
Speaker 2:It's just like oh just the mental pain of having to do that, waiting by the side of the road. But yeah, he got it, got back and crushed the run, so it was good to see yeah, that's amazing.
Speaker 2:And then to stick around for his, his well-deserved slot down yes, end up getting the slot which is good, um, but you know stuff like that, like you mentioned, josh, just when you have the team around it makes the race experience a whole different thing. Like it's just so much more fun when you have that run around you. You're all commiserating and cheering each other on and it was such a blast to have there. Um, for my me, training wise, I'm getting man, australia is getting close. I leave on august 10th. Um, betty, weren't here last time, but I ended up hurting my hip in the last race. I did, so had to take just over a week off running, and now starting to kind of turn the legs over a little bit more, it's, um, yeah, kind of try a little bit of speed, let it rest up for a couple of days, try a little bit more speed. So not the most ideal timing before world championships, but at least I'll. I'll be back running by then, slowly getting back into it, and we'll see what we can go do race day.
Speaker 3:You'll be fine. You'll be fine. I know you can always squeeze that little bit extra in you when it comes to race day. So, yeah, it should be good.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it should be good.
Speaker 4:My, my coach was reeling me back today. She's like I know you're probably feeling okay and I actually had a like 90% whoop recovery score today and I was like she's like 20 minutes swim, that's it. We need that, we need all of that work to absorb and then get back at it tomorrow I swear that's half the work of a coach.
Speaker 2:Sometimes it's just holding athletes back yeah smart and that's definitely like myself as a coach. Why I have a coach? Because that outside perspective is absolutely invaluable, because we can be a little too close to it. Most of us are pretty a type motivated people who just want to go smash everything all the time. Balance is a good thing, for sure absolutely let's jump into some racing.
Speaker 2:I was uh watching these races in between, uh cheering people on on the race course, but I think the biggest one we had this weekend was definitely the t100 in london. I was really looking forward to watching these races and it definitely did not disappoint, other than wasn't the most interesting view of the race course, but there was some pretty good racing to keep us entertained. Fede, why don't you tell us all about what went down?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so we had the T100 in London. It was a long time coming and there were a lot of big names showing up to this race On the girls side Laura Phillip, chelsea Sodaro, ashley Gentle and I think we're going to discuss a little bit more about Chelsea because she did something with her bike sponsor last week, yeah, but anyways, yeah, we had Sam Lalo, kyle Smith, daniel Bakkegaard, frederick Funk friend of the show Ali Brownlee, rico Bogan, so it was a very stacked field and the race did not disappoint. On the girls' side, we saw the queen of the 100 distance, ashley Gentle. When she's on, nobody can beat her on this distance. I mean, she's a very good swimmer. She has a bike legs to hold off, you know, even if, with the likes of taylor neve, uh, and her strength on the bike, she has the bike strength to not lose a lot of time and then catch her on the run, which we saw that happening in um, dallas last year.
Speaker 3:No, 22, uh, yeah, 22. So, uh, yeah, ashley took the win. Uh, a very surprising, imogen simmons holding on to the lead because she had the fastest bike split. She was the only girl who biked under two hours, so 159 and uh, like we, we've said on the podcast, her run has been coming along nicely. So kudos to imogen and kat. Kat Matthews, who's probably just training for the world champs, just being super consistent in that third spot. Laura Phillip took fourth place and we had Sophie Caldwell, from former ITU. She obviously had the fastest swim split 24, 42 for the 2k, so just blazing fast and uh, I think she's going to be good over the 70.3 distance and the 100 distance.
Speaker 2:Uh, so expect big things from uh, from Sophie and talk about being fired up after, you know, not getting that Olympic spot. Um, pretty impressive performance. With only a handful of rides on a TT bike. That's pretty, pretty legit.
Speaker 2:But, how good was that run battle with Kat Matthews and Laura Philp Like it made that race. We have Ashley Gentle going off the front and if you watch the commentary at all, you know that she just just changed coaches this year. I don't know if you noticed that. They mentioned that once or twice during the broadcast just a couple times, yeah um, but she like when she's on, like you mentioned, she just dominates at this distance. So it was kind of like, okay, it's a runaway, she's gonna take this win, are we gonna?
Speaker 2:have another race where we just watch her out the front for a while. But that whole cat matthew thing like how often do you get caught by someone behind you? Run side by side for kilometers and then overtake them again to go on for third place, like that was some serious toughness. All doing it like 13 days after an iron man.
Speaker 3:That was crazy usually, usually it's a, it's the athlete who catches on, uh the. The athlete in front is the one who usually takes the, the, the win, or you know the position, but not this time. And yeah, like you said, jenna, it was incredible, uh showcase of mental strength and uh ability from cats.
Speaker 4:I was close. I had her for the win.
Speaker 2:But not a bad performance.
Speaker 3:Yeah, not bad at all.
Speaker 2:No, and there was some good performance in there. It wasn't like Ashley's definitely dominating this distance and I'm curious to see what she can do with the new coach. It sounds like he's very much a cycling and a time trial specialist, so Matt if she becomes even stronger on the bike.
Speaker 2:Watch out yeah, watch out going on in the race that it kept it interesting and it looked like there was a ton of crowd support for them out there too, which makes a massive difference. We had one thing that was could also be my what the f. I think most of my what the f's are going to come out during these discussions, because there was a few things in there. There was the first ever in all the history of the T100 drafting penalty yeah until there wasn't who would have thought?
Speaker 2:man, we're this close to having some warfare racing. Just scare the guys into my god but it sounds like with race ranger, um, their race ranger kind of runs on some similar signals to those being used commonly in london, having everyone in a compressed space.
Speaker 2:It just wasn't um working, so there were some cases where the lights weren't showing at all, and in one case it was showing red when it flashed on. So there was a drafting penalty handed out, but they're like, okay, we can't attest to this being accurate at this point or fair, so we're gonna take the drafting penalty away. The funny part, though, was how excited jan ferdino got that there was finally a hundred. He was like overjoyed that one had been handed out. Did you guys see that?
Speaker 3:yeah, he was like finally.
Speaker 2:And then they pulled it.
Speaker 4:Oh God, I mean, and they tried to test it overnight too for the men's race and get it back up and running like even going out on the course and stuff. But yeah, just not to be.
Speaker 2:And they could have used it in the men's race let's say that for sure To the point where they were told not to say packs or talk about drafting on the broadcast. But it was just so blatantly bad that they could not. You're never going to tell Jan Frodeno not to talk about something that is right in front of his face.
Speaker 4:Even their social media pages, sharing videos. This is what we were talking about last week, jenna, where age groupers are sharing videos of them drafting other people. What are you doing? The T100 is sharing videos of clear drafting on their Instagram.
Speaker 2:They wouldn't show any bike if they didn't show any drafting.
Speaker 3:Yeah, they need to do something about it. Yeah, yeah, why?
Speaker 3:don't you run down what happened in the men's race and we'll go into a little bit more detail with some of that yeah it gets scared into not drafting so on the men's side, we saw a very nice battle for second and third with Kyle Smith and Daniel Beckiger from Denmark, but Sam Laidlaw took the win. And nobody was expecting Sam to win. I know he wasn't the big favorite because he's been dealing with injuries and not being the Sam we saw in Nice last year, so it was a big question mark from him and I mean he delivered. He rode so hard. Fastest bike split 146.42. And then he ran a 101 to hold on to the lead.
Speaker 3:But Kyle and Daniel, they were back and forth, back and forth all the way from the bike and the run, and that was very cool to see them working together, hopefully keeping the distance. And we saw a very angry Alistair Brownlee. He had a bit of an issue there and then he was raging and chasing the pack. Probably he thought he was back in 2012 in the Olympic Games just screaming at everyone. So yeah, it was fun to watch. It was fun to watch for sure yeah, suck.
Speaker 2:To see that front flap for Alistair. It just seemed like he's finally kind of in form and fit again and then to have them mechanical is just absolutely brutal. But I heard with Sam Laitlow. Apparently only 11 people picked him for the win on the Daily Tribe.
Speaker 4:I was just going to say he was probably the least picked athlete that we all know can win it on any given day. But we just haven't seen him want to win or shit goes wrong and he's waiting for Kona.
Speaker 3:It's like there's no way he's showing up in london, so why would we pick him?
Speaker 4:that's awesome.
Speaker 2:Our minds were on the same page right there absolutely, I know, and it's so funny because you at some, in some ways it's silly not to pick him because, like I said, when he's on, he's on and he's fantastic, but he just the form hasn't shown up, where there have been issues and all sorts of drama throughout there. Um, but it was crazy seeing, uh, seeing the battle near the end, just 20 seconds between first and second, there for kilometers, like that's gonna be so tough. Being 20 seconds behind someone, getting a second or two here and there and just not being able to close that last little gap would be absolutely brutal. They're definitely both giving it.
Speaker 4:Maybe kyle didn't want another sprint finish. Yeah he wanted to hold on to his breakfast he was hoping they were going to reassess that penalty on sam. Laid low that he didn't get assessed that is the craziest thing, okay.
Speaker 2:So if you guys didn't see and this kind of came out afterwards was well, the T100 doesn't like to give drafting penalties out ever. They do give some other penalties. One was handed out for socks being outside of the box, and we've seen in the past Sam long is often the benefactor of a few penalties of just like technical details, right. But with uh, sam levo, he grabbed his bike and pulled it out of the rack without a helmet on, which. That is like triathlon 101 some races will disqualify for you. That qualify you for that. Um, we saw with the wt races they're handing out 10 second penalties for touching your bike helmet strap, even if it's on just touching it. Um. So he should have been given a 30 second penalty for touching his bike without having a helmet on. He wasn't um, he put the bike back in and grabbed his helmet and went on his way on his way. But 30-second penalty, he won by 20 seconds. It just I would have loved to see that battle at the end.
Speaker 4:That would have been epic it would have been interesting, because the one thing we all know with Sam Lalo is and we knew he was actually coming from behind more than he normally is on the swim to this time too. Yeah, he's curious. Yeah, when he did surge, would he have just surged more or come from further back and like would that 30 seconds have made a difference? At the end of the day? It would have definitely put some more watts in his legs.
Speaker 2:He still would have been first coming off the bike yeah it really would be interesting to see how that would have broken down in there. And yeah, like you said, he came from behind in the swim, making a bold choice to wear a swimskin instead of a wetsuit, like everyone else. I heard the reasoning was so that he doesn't overheat in the water, because it was very on the border of whether it was wetsuit legal or not. But you know what Kudos to him. That's a gutsy move to go without a wetsuit and then just lead it from there after he took it over on the bike and take the win, because most of us were not expecting that whatsoever.
Speaker 3:No, we were not, but yeah, that was so good to see. I guess that's why some athletes are champions they always back themselves up even when nobody backs them up. So, uh, congrats to sam and hopefully he's back on form and we can see a very good performance in kona from all of the boys and when we say sam sam, lalo, not sam long, because the the americans the americans might not be racing t100 london next year man.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it didn't work out well for the americans. That was a really technical bike course too, like there. That definitely took some bike handling skills and that's where I would have loved to see um taylor niv. I don't think, even if she was in great form, I don't think she would have dominated this course, yeah, no Too technical. Yeah that's exactly it. I guess we wouldn't have talked about it, but they had the women's time trial and, unfortunately, Taylor Nitton went down three crashes in the corners on what looked like very slick conditions and it's so tough.
Speaker 2:She was so early on in the send-offs so a lot of the athletes and teams afterwards would have figured out which corners are really slick and sketchy and known ahead of time. They get more information than everyone else at that point, but she was so early on that unfortunately she found out about a lot of those slick corners on her own, not the way you want to.
Speaker 2:And then the craziest thing you haven't seen she had a bike mechanical after the third crash and called for her spare bike and you just see the bike mechanic sliding into her because he ended up slipping and going down on the road. If you're running and sliding face first like those are some crazy conditions. And then unfortunately dropped the chain. You had to get the chain going yet it just that was brutal for her. You feel for her.
Speaker 4:And still only finished just over three minutes back.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Three crashes. That is insane. I just I wish we could have seen what would happen. She was crushing it from the first time, jackson there. But I think most of the worry with her doing the TT was that she'd be too tired for the triathlon. Not that she'd be too tired for the triathlon, not that she'd have blood running down her leg for three crashes. Hopefully she's okay and no damage there.
Speaker 3:She can get out and race aggressively on the bike in a couple of days maybe. Yeah, I think she was podium material on the TT if she hadn't had those issues. But I mean, she's young and I know she's going to be back with vengeance in 28 in home soil. And yeah, I think this was just a big rehearsal because I know her team has big plans for 28. I mean, imagine winning the TT at home and then Olympic gold at home and mixed team release at home, and then give her the kiss to the city and change the name from LA to Taylor Neve land or something.
Speaker 2:So yeah, man with her potential. It's all possible. You never know in there. No, it's so good to see but that that t100 racing it was. You know they're getting better at it. This time we had a lot more um time splits. At times they were showing the speeds and the paces and that was good to see and see how the um, how the positioning changes.
Speaker 2:It changed as they went, which was awesome, but the visuals of where they're riding in london and the camera angles and stuff were all pretty blah and average, like going from san francisco to this.
Speaker 4:It was like indoor transition in an indoor finish line is like very weird. But I mean clearly the fans loved it and it was crazy loud in there, but just strange.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and especially London. There's so many iconic places to look and look, I get it, it's hard to close down the streets of London, but that doesn't scream iconic race in a cool location. That screams parking garage that you're trying to find some place to put everything. But it does sound like they had a lot of crowd support so they did it around that London triathlon so they had like 5000 athletes out there with one of the biggest triathlons in the world, and that aspect is very cool. So it makes a big difference having people out there cheering.
Speaker 2:It just would have been cool to see more people like around the course and outside and a few more sites from London. But the technical aspect they definitely did a lot better, giving us a lot more information on screen, which I appreciate as geeking out on there and you can actually see what's going on in the back of the race too. You can see those rankings moving up and down, um, and see what's happening as athletes slide back or get mechanicals and see them kind of come back up the field. I think they could talk a little bit more about those moves back up the field, but uh, yeah, definitely just have more information. Did you guys have any other thoughts on t100 in the series before we move on here. We got a little bit of a break before the next race that comes up I thought it was.
Speaker 4:I mean so we were talking about taylor nib to. One thing I did see is finally her in a picture with her us olympic triathlon teammates. It's, it's been all enjoying Paris. And finally, she hopped in a picture with some of her teammates because of everything we had to deal with with the time trial. So she's back in triathlon mode.
Speaker 2:That is excellent. Well, the next big hit out will be the T100 in Ibiza, spain, on September 28th, so we got a bit of time until that one, and I think we'll be missing a few familiar faces, with it being was that a week after the women's Ironman world championships?
Speaker 3:I think so.
Speaker 2:So, yes, there'll definitely be a few swap outs for the Olympic athletes, for the long distance athletes that we're usually used to seeing, so that one could be very interesting with some of the short course athletes moving across and just mix up the field a bit.
Speaker 3:Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 4:And that's interesting too. So I mean, but Lucy Charles gets her her participation award for in like her on her contract for showing up in London and doing that.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, I forgot about that.
Speaker 4:Yeah, we didn't even touch on that, but I mean, but she started the race and that's all that matters contractually for them to do that. But what a tough DNF she was having a pretty decent race.
Speaker 2:Yeah, she was doing awesome Again. If you didn't see it, she started to feel some pain in her. I think it was Achilles or ankle in there, so that injury she had after going to last year and just decided to stay safe and not push it, which you know she's. There are a few athletes that drop out very easily and all that, but she's one who will fight to the very end if she can, so it sounds like yeah she made the right decision and listened to her body, which is good, because we want to see her full health and, yeah, contending for another world championship win.
Speaker 3:Absolutely yeah.
Speaker 2:Speaking of the Ironman distance coming up next. We've still got a bit of time, but next up will be the Ironman European Championships in Frankfurt on August 18th and we'll talk about that a little closer to race day. But I'm hearing some rumblings. There may be a Lionel Sanders thinking about doing another Ironman before Kona, either Frankfurt or I don't know if Penticton has a pro race, but they have an Ironman so you can go pull an age grouper and go do that.
Speaker 2:But I don't know if doing an Ironman to better prepare for an Ironman that close is the best call. But you know what? We've seen some from Iron man distance to short course. So who knows, it's lionel sanders it's lionel sanders.
Speaker 3:I mean, hopefully he still listens to jan's advice and then uh doesn't burn himself out before the big dance. Uh, but yeah, we never know with lionel. So, uh, whatever happens, probably, uh, I hope it's the best decision, but uh, yeah, I don't think doing an ironman is gonna be good for him no well, let's jump on to some slightly shorter races with the olympics.
Speaker 2:So we got the men's race coming up tonight, tomorrow in france, but I think it's in a few hours here tonight. What were you saying At eight, like 10 o'clock PM, mountain time?
Speaker 3:It's our midnight, so it's going to be our midnight, and then it's going to be Josh's 2 AM.
Speaker 4:So it's easier for you guys. I might have to take a nap after this and pop back out too, but social media and watch the replay, yeah, well that is if it happens.
Speaker 2:So if you guys uh, yeah, true true, there's been a lot of talk about the water quality um in the sen, which again I shocking that it wasn't just I don't know moved or find something else. We've known this probably going to be a problem for a long time. But now, not only have the water quality readings not been acceptable for them to do the swim recon the last couple of days, now we have an additional issue of the water current speed, because there has been a lot of rain in Paris recently. Apparently, no one thought it would rain in the summer, but it sounds like the currents are crazy fast. And, josh, you were saying some of the speeds that the pro athletes would be moving at. What were you telling us about those times?
Speaker 4:Yeah, I think I read in, like Triathlete Magazine has been putting out a lot of articles about this for tomorrow and reasons. So we're not on the water quality now, we're on the current conditions and I think they measure it at like a pro swimmer at 110 per 100 meters typically, would be doing this at 245 per 100 meters against the current rate of flow.
Speaker 2:And they have to do it twice because it's two laps yeah, so they had head with the current and then have to turn around and swim back in there and um, yeah, I think it's saying the same thing where it'd be like 140 per hundred for you to just stay in one place and not move forward or backward it's like an endless pool pretty much. Right.
Speaker 3:Sounds like my swim.
Speaker 2:There you go. Oh man, so it's going to be crazy fast one way and then battling the current on the waxed out. That would be pretty crazy to see, like pro triathletes moving at that kind of pace 245 for 100 meters.
Speaker 3:Imagine that like oh, I can beat an Olympian.
Speaker 2:Right, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 4:Well, the crazy part is, if it drops under the threshold, which it's close to doing, we could be seeing them swimming 215 230s.
Speaker 3:Yeah, imagine like we could see like a 35 minute swim oh man, well, it'll be one way.
Speaker 2:So it goes super fast one way, and then struggle bus, yeah, yeah, um, we gotta think that that could be the end of it for like a hayden and alex, because yeah whenever you have your swim conditions, it's typically the better swimmers who have the advantage there, just because they are so smooth and efficient. Um, especially if it does take them longer with that extra current.
Speaker 4:Like it's the weaker swimmers that are going to suffer in this for sure absolutely yeah it's going to change the dynamic harder for the men too, than the woman, because it's as long as it doesn't rain that that current is going to get slower and slower again yeah, yeah, but it's supposed to start raining again on like wednesday, thursdays.
Speaker 2:I just you know, I know I always felt they were going to find some way to make it happen. With the water quality, this one's a little bit tougher to fudge, I think. Hopefully we'll hear some news very soon. They should be testing the water very soon in Paris to see if this one will go ahead for the men's race in a few hours. So I guess we'll see. But this year let's run through how the race could actually go down here With the talent in this race like it could go one of two ways. If they have those fast swimmers off the front, it is entirely possible that they have like a one, two, three French athletes Like.
Speaker 2:I would not be shocked to see like you got Dorian Connick's in there.
Speaker 3:Pierre Lacour.
Speaker 2:You got Leo Berger Like that could be something where they just take it out hard. And I've heard some rumblings now unsubstantiated rumors, but I've heard some rumblings from close sources that a few of the federations are talking about taking the swim out extra hard, like really drilling it to give the advantage over?
Speaker 2:Yeah, basically Hayden and Alex, because they definitely they would be the ones that suffer if it is a tougher swim and if they really push it from the start they could drop off the bat. So I hear there's some um team tactics a little bit maybe going on there, so I'll be curious to see if that actually does play out in the race. But then we got to think what happens if it's a duathlon?
Speaker 2:that definitely oh no the dynamics for sure it, um, you know, in the opposite way. I think that's where hayden and alex have the advantage if it does turn into a duathlon just being just fast runner with hate or alexie and just really strong athlete and hayden wild, something that would definitely um suit him in a duathlon that changes things up completely, but some of the other people to look out for.
Speaker 2:We've already talked about the french athletes. We also have morgan pearson. He's, you know, crazy fast runner. Um, on the american side we got vasco balacca. He could be someone who really plays. Uh is in contention in this too. The one that I think everyone's wondering about is kristen blumenfeld. He hasn't really the top of the rankings, but he's someone who man, if he's he's on, he's on and he's very good at performing on those big days. What do you guys think? Who do we need to watch for in this men's race coming up?
Speaker 3:I mean, I really, I really I'm not going to discuss Duathlon because I don't want to even consider it. I'm just going to pretend that all the poo is going to magically disappear from the sand.
Speaker 2:Never think you'd have to say.
Speaker 4:Yeah yeah, I don't think they have enough fans to blow the river the right way, though I mean.
Speaker 3:And They've already spent like two point something billion dollars to clean it. And so I mean it would be a disaster if I mean probably I think they're going to straight up lie that the levels are okay. But anyways, I, I see a very fast swim. Probably the french are gonna be up front, and then I'm, uh, I think there's gonna be two main uh bike chase packs one with the likes of alex, he hidden wild and a couple other athletes, you know, maybe christian trying to bridge the gap to the french, and then a bigger chase back, you know just uh, battling for positions and then hoping, uh, that the two groups in front soft pedal so they can catch them, uh, and then again it's going to be a run race.
Speaker 3:So, uh, I, I think we're gonna see uh, you know uh, 28 highs, 29 lows, uh, for the winning time on the 10k. And I mean there's a couple of french athletes who can deliver that of course alex, of course hayden and mr bl Blumenfeld. So if it comes down to a run race, I don't think KB has got the goods. I think it's going to be between Alex Yee and Hayden Wild, and I'm going to pick Hayden for the win. I think he's going to have the little bit extra edge man.
Speaker 2:That would be epic to see. He's really. You just see this battle back and forth with him and Alex Ian. Alex has always gotten the best of him, but how cool would that be to see. In the race that really matters, down to the wire. Um, he gets that edge over. Alex Ian takes down because it looked like his last race. He wasn't like max effort kind of thing it looked. He went hard but it didn't seem like he really pushed that last little while, whether that's. You know. Maybe I'm entirely wrong and he was absolutely gassed, or maybe it's a little bit taking that psychological edge where it's not. That's not the place to push to the max and see how you line up. Just save it for the Olympics. Yeah, what do you think? Absolutely.
Speaker 1:No, what do you think, jamie? Absolutely.
Speaker 4:So I mean, we always ask for the swim to be a factor in these races, right, and the swim is going to be a factor, and especially if the current doesn't change drastically. So I think it introduces somebody even more so, like Morgan Pearson and what we've seen. Hey, we're not going to probably talk about it too much, but did we all see what Gustav Iden did this week and finally win a race at Challenge? So does that mean Christian's ready to go? And if Christian swim has come along as much as it has, then maybe he's a bigger factor. So to me, I think my my crazy picks would be Christian and Morgan battling it out.
Speaker 4:Oh, really I like that I think that Alex, Alex and Hayden are just going to get dumped in the swim. That's my prediction.
Speaker 2:Wow, I think with the swim, that's where the French really pull through Like a Leo Berger. He's got the swim, he's got the run. That's the one I can see really kind of pulling through there. If the swim conditions are as crazy as they are and you got to wonder what the French athletes will do, will they work together in that swim to really bridge off the front? Um, it's challenging.
Speaker 3:And the Aussies.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and the Aussie for sure. Yeah, I can see a Maddie Hauser um getting out there in the swim and really pushing it. Um, yeah, he's a good shout there too. I don't know. See who I want to win. Is hayden wild? I think that'd be so fun to see some kind of like starting as a kid in super league kind of thing, and, um, to see how he's come up and become such a professional is very cool to see and it would just be fun to have that change up in the final race and that story in there.
Speaker 2:but I think with a swim, I think someone like a leo berger could take this like he's, so I don't know why he's always kind of underrated, like he's had some great results, but he's not the person that everyone's talking about in there. So I think if that swim is absolutely brutal and it comes down to it, I think the the french will pull away and have a run battle between themselves, which it's tough with a home. You gotta wonder how they'll play it, because every other race there's a little bit not entirely team tactics, but some working together to be the first French athlete in France at a home Olympics. Will they work together a little bit to battle it out between the three of them or will they just absolutely try to destroy each other for the best chance to get that top spot in France?
Speaker 4:I like Tommy's. A friend of the pod and Olympic insider, Tommy Zafaris, had a post today where he's like I'd love to pick up dark horse, but I got about 55 of them.
Speaker 3:So, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Do you like we haven't seen enough of the form, like going into this just with the grace cancellations and everyone's kind of playing it a little more cagey before the olympics? I just man, I'm so curious. Okay, I'm gonna say leo bruchere, but hey, you got hayden and josh. Who do you got for your top spot?
Speaker 4:usa morgan piercing man, I can't.
Speaker 2:I can't wait for this. I hope it ahead. Has anyone checked to see if we got water quality Counting down?
Speaker 4:I'll check the Instagram now.
Speaker 2:Okay, sounds good, and then that all changes again. If it is a duathlon, I definitely think you're looking at like a Hayden Wild to take that win for sure. Just because duathlon is so much more the bike becomes more important because you're biking hard on tired legs, so much more the bike becomes more important because you're biking hard on tired legs and I think that's where, like Alexi isn't a weaker cyclist, he's really improved it a ton. But I think that's where that grittiness would really come through. Or you could even see like a Dorian Connix. Yeah, man, okay, let's see how it all goes down here, hopefully in a few hours, if they don't delay it, and hopefully with a swim at some point. But let's move on to the women's race. This is going to be no less exciting, so at the moment it's slated to happen on july 31st. Um, again, that'll be july 30th here in well, mountain time. Still on the 31st for j Josh.
Speaker 2:There we have another just stacked field of incredible women here. We've got Flora Duffy is going to be the returning champion. Can we see another double gold medal? That hasn't been done outside of Alistair Brownlee. She really hasn't been racing much at this point after coming away or coming back from a brutal injury for a few years. We've also got Beth Potter she is absolutely tearing it up there. She used to be called a duathlete but she's definitely improved her swim quite a bit over the last little while. We've got Cassandra Beaugrand, who will definitely be the hometown hero here trying to win the Olympics for France. Georgia Taylor-Brown she was on a great streak before she dealt with some injury issues. We got laura lindeman, got taylor nibb who, like we talked about in the time trial, who knows what she'll come up with.
Speaker 2:Emma lombardi like there are just so many women, like it is hard to really nail this one down. There have been so many. There hasn't been one clear favorite in the women's race whatsoever. We don't have this alex Hayden battle back and forth. It's been changing out pretty drastically. So I think this race is almost anyone's game out there. Yeah, I'm really curious to see how this one goes down. What do you think, josh? What are we going to see in this race?
Speaker 4:I mean much like the men's race. This swim is going to be a factor of some sort, and I think we've got a lot of experience in this race as well. And, as we saw in one of our later in the season world triathlon races, flora Duffy is back and she didn't get on the podium or she didn't get in the top spot, but I think she's been ready for this moment. Um, I think she could be a shocking surprise podium, if not winner of this race. Um, I also love kate wallett too. I think she's coming into form, um, and and it's had some great races, including test event event too. So, kate or Flora, it's left to decide.
Speaker 2:Fair enough. What are your thoughts on Cassandra Beaugrand? I'm really I know a lot of people talk her up a fair bit and she's really fantastic at the sprint distance and obviously started to have some more results as it goes longer. But there's a lot of talk about kind of the mental side of racing and stuff. You got to wonder if that pressure in France will it boost her up or will it be crushing like that. I can't imagine the pressure she's under right now.
Speaker 4:So there's pressure on all of us when we take a start line and for me, that pressure goes away once the bell goes off and the gun goes off and you hit the water. In this instance, so, or even this weekend, like when I hit the bike now, I felt a little pressure every time I had a little bit of lactate built up and I was like, nope, I got to push through this. So for me, the mental aspect and she's going to have that reminder the entire race being in Paris and being in the city and having the cheers but you're in a pack for the most part in these races too. So on the bike, I think she'll be okay. It's just if she can get through the swim and feel good going out on the bike. You're just gone, I mean, you're threshold level and you're just in it. So if she has a good swim and a good start to the bike, I think she can still be a factor, because that's where, on the run, that energy level of the crowd will pick her up and get her through.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely yeah. I feel it'd be so good to see a battle at the end here and again. It's going to change drastically whether it's a duathlon or triathlon. I think the Team USA will be kind of doubting some of their selections there If it ends up being a duathlon. I think they would have made some different choices in there. What do you think?
Speaker 4:Yeah, definitely. And then you feel like, well, usa made the right decision without Gwen Jorgensen. If it does have a swim-up current and then well, now a duathlon well, gwen Jorgensen. If it does have a swim up current and then well, now duathlon. Well, gwen jorgensen probably is a podium contender, um, in a duathlon. So I think everyone's in a tough situation. If it goes to duathlon like that just changes the whole dynamics of it. I mean alex like shoots to the top, and I mean it just changes the dynamics of swim, bike run, um, and, and hopefully they can either delay it if they have to or find a new venue. I don't think that's possible, but it sounds like it's been thrown out there, um, I I just hope it's not duathlon yeah, as much as I love a duathlon, I want to see the olympics being raced as a triathlon let's add.
Speaker 4:Let's add duathlon to the olympics.
Speaker 2:That's fine, because then you get the right athletes in the right sport absolutely, you know though I kind of just make me question it for a bit but beth potter has gotten so much stronger on the swim the last few years I think I think she's got a good shot at taking this win here. She has just been getting stronger and stronger and now with her swim she could definitely be in contention, even if there are some current issues out there and you know she can run.
Speaker 4:Yeah, she can certainly run, for sure.
Speaker 2:Okay, time to make the pick. Unfortunately, we lost Fede at this point. He had to drop off. But Josh, laura or who's going to pick?
Speaker 4:I'm going with Kate Waugh.
Speaker 2:Kate Waugh Awesome, That'd be so cool to see. Like you know what she had to fight for that spot to get that qualification, with a discretionary choice in there. So it would be a very cool story to see her come up and smash it to take the win at the Olympics. That would be a fun one to see.
Speaker 4:It's my job to take the outsider, typically there we go.
Speaker 2:Got to keep it in trust. Is he usually betting?
Speaker 4:That is true. Sometimes betting throws people that aren't even on the start list and they show up.
Speaker 2:He's just a Mexican athlete. I think he's gonna know it's ever heard of him. He just destroys. Patrick wango never seems to do amazing there. Well, after that we of course have the mixed team relay, which we have not seen near enough.
Speaker 2:Mixed team rallies this year again, a lot of doesn't instill a lot of confidence in world triathlons contingency plan abilitiesill a lot of confidence in World Triathlon's contingency plan abilities, with a number of those being canceled this year. So really we have almost no idea the form of any of these federations. The few that did happen were kind of younger athletes, bc level athletes. We haven't actually seen a really good head-to-head with the top athletes who will be at the Olympics racing the mixed team relay. So it could be very, very interesting out there. I'm bummed to say there's no Canadian team out there this year with their unfortunate last race there, but we definitely have some incredible teams out there. Are we going to see any, you know, follow-up medals with GBP or with Great Britain or with Team USA? What do you think, josh? What's going to happen with the?
Speaker 4:mixed team relay. I I think it's going to come down to great britain and france. Um, I would love to see the usa in there. I just think we've got a lot of individuals that are excited about their individual races themselves and maybe don't have that mixed team relay experience. They haven't done many races together. I just don't see them being impact as much as I would love to see it. So to me it's going to come down to Great Britain and France and France taking it. So they're going to get that medal in one of these and I think it might be in the mixed team relay.
Speaker 2:It's hard to look past France for this mixed team relay. It really really is. They have so many athletes at that top point and, like I said, in the men's race it could be a one, two, three for the Olympics. I would not be shocked at all. Um, with a lot of the other teams there are some strong top contenders, but it seems like most of them have one kind of weak link in there and in the mixed team relay that blows out very, very quickly. We saw it with the last mixed team, really with team usa. They were way off the back and that's something that we don't typically see at all. So, yeah, I'm curious to see who will really contemporary. You know who could be interesting is oh shoot, what's trying to think of the name there Blanking for a second. But what I'd love to see with the mixed team relay is just some surprise teams up at the front, because people are going to be fatigued from the individual race, hopefully not sick from the individual race.
Speaker 4:That's the only fear with the water quality in there, um, but mixed team relay always provides a few surprises I mean, you got norway, australia, um, I mean, there there's some strong teams that could have, could have a good day. And speaking of norway, I saw, while looking to see if we had an update on the olympic water, um, that velo, velo, velo is now talking about. Not only is christian blumenfeld moving into road cycling, his aspirations are the tour de france I saw that not only the tour de fr, but jerseys in the Tour de France.
Speaker 4:Unbelievable.
Speaker 2:I mean, yeah, it'd be. Oh man, that'd be fun to see, Really, really fun to see, Cause he's just got such a crazy engine that I can't see him being a GC contender but potentially something like a sprinter. You know, it could see him translating there, just having that punch and being still being able to make it through all the mountains fresh enough to really contend on some of those sprints on the sprint days would be super interesting.
Speaker 4:And kudos to Remco for taking home the TT title.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that was awesome. Did you see a Wout van Aerts double disc wheel set up? Ridiculous, oh man going all in for it, why not? Well, it's definitely going to be some fun triathlon watching over the next few days. Um, yeah, I guess we'll know soon what's going to happen with the olympic distance. Hopefully it's, hopefully it happens. But we kind of went over my what the F already with a few things going on in T100. But, josh, before we close out, what is your social media post to the week?
Speaker 4:Well, we've waited about 80 days too long for this story, but it is still got another 35, 40 days left in it. Um, since Jonas Diek Diekmann, if you haven't heard, is a German athlete and adventurer and endurance nut who is now doing we've had recently the Iron Cowboy, we had our British guy last year who did 100 and 200, three straight Ironmans. Jonas is set out to do 120 straight days of a full distance Ironman on the Challenge Roth course. So during this 120-day streak he's now at 82 or I believe 82 at the end of the day today. He also participated in Challenge Roth and got to have a pretty epic finish line on one of his days and it sounds like he's in a great mindset. Had a health scare along the way but got all checked out and he's putting down some pretty good times. He's not like I think he threw down a one 13 swim yesterday. I mean he's not just moseying through the cutoff times.
Speaker 2:Unreal. That is seriously impressive and take some mental and physical grit for sure. I mean, I love triathlon but I don't know if I'd want to do 120 days of Ironman distance back to back. So kudos for him for getting out there and getting it done, and it sounds like he's on a great trajectory and headed towards that 120, which will be absolutely epic.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and speaking of back to back and we talked about Lionel doing another Ironman as well before Kona this race this weekend in Maine was Trevor Foley back-to-back Lake Placid Ironman, maine 70.3. But it was a training day at the beginning of his block for Frankfurt, so he's adding another one in the Pro Series. So now, all of a sudden, trevor Foley is going to shoot right to the top of the Pro Series if he shows up in Frankfurt and knocks another one out.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, man. You know some serious fitness there with these pro athletes being able to back up these races, like we talked about, long to short. That is a hard way to get it done, but backing up another Ironman that's a whole other level and we're looking at that time in between.
Speaker 2:So it'd be great to see him go crush that. And the Ironman series is far from locked in and the World Championships are just going to mix things up even more. We're not too far from the Women's World Championships in September either, so the countdown is definitely on to some epic performances and we'll see how everyone's holding up with this combination of the Pro Series, the T100 and everything else all the races. It feels like there's been a lot of racing and it's epic and awesome. As a fan and we'll keep you covered.
Speaker 4:I mean, we'll do our best there we go.
Speaker 2:Try to keep it up with it all. Well, josh, looking forward to chatting more about the olympics and what happens and, yeah, it'll be on in a few hours. I'm going to turn off all social media when I wake up in the morning and watch the replay before, uh, opening instagram because I will not be up at midnight yeah, and we still don't have an update.
Speaker 4:So, uh, it's on.
Speaker 2:Hopefully, fingers crossed. Well, until next time. Have a great night, josh, and we will be back next week have a good one everyone.
