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- My Week in Tri: 7 August
My Week in Triathlon
My triathlon thoughts and learnings over the last week. Hit reply if you have feedback…even if to say well done for coming middle of the pack at a small local Sprint yesterday! 🥳
PTO US Open: Full Results here
12min race highlights worth a watch - men’s, ladies. Knibb had the 2nd fastest swim and the fastest bike getting out front early. Gentle got close(ish) with the fastest run of the day but Knibb ran very well. Special mention to Byram in 4th who “out-biked” Findlay by a minute. Places 4th to 7th finished within 36s so there will be some “shoulda, coulda, woulda”. | After the swim Blummenfelt pushed to the front on the bike and kept a 30s gap for 20km (ego or tactic?) Ditlev made up a 90s swim deficit by 50km on the bike to take the lead. Essentially it was a pack of 4 at T2 with Ditlev, Margirier, Frodeno and Blummenfelt all together. Blummenfelt cramped the second he jumped off his bike and even struggled to put his shoes on. His cramps persisted throughout the run. Ditlev pulled out during the run (stomach issues). Notwithstanding the cramps, Blummenfelt jumped onto West and stuck with the 2:55/km pace for the last 5km 🤯 In the end Frodeno seemed to have a comfortable run to take the win - yes please!
Women🥇 Taylor Knibb (03:32:58) 🥈 Ash Gentle (03:33:49) 🥉 Paula Findlay (03:37:43) | Men🥇 Jan Frodeno (03:14:11) 🥈 Jason West (03:14:39) 🥉 Kristian Blummenfelt (03:14:49) |
Challenge London: Full Results here
Langridge lead from start to finish with the fastest swim and run and 2nd fastest bike only a few seconds slower than Cheetham. Visser took a wrong turn on the bike which set her back. Nieuwoudt had a hard fall before T2 and had to fight hard starting the run in 4th. | Laidlow won in similar fashion to Langridge but did feel some pressure on the run from up and coming Teagle.
Women🥇 Fenella Langridge (04:02:11) 🥈 Magda Nieuwoudt (04:08:32) 🥉 Els Visser (04:09:25) | Men🥇 Sam Laidlow (03:29:31) 🥈 James Teagle (03:32:16) 🥉 Josh Lewis (03:34:02) |
Tallinn 70.3: Full Results here
There was a big battle with Buckingham, Simmonds, Norden and Philipp getting off the bike together. Philipp and Simmonds swapped the lead with Philipp eventually being too strong. Pallant-Browne made up a 1min deficit off the bike to run onto the podium but really struggled and ended up in the medical tent. | Heemeryck took the lead on the run after trailing Phillips by 30s into T2.
Women🥇 Laura Philipp (03:59:23) 🥈 Imogen Simmonds (04:00:11) 🥉 Emma Pallant-Browne (04:02:27) | Men🥇 Pieter Heemeryck (03:36:55) 🥈 Mike Phillips (03:38:54) 🥉 Henrik Goesch (03:39:26) |
Gdynia 70.3: Full Results here
“Extreme” weather conditions forced the organizers to cancel the swim and the athletes to brave a tough duathlon. Diederiks had a comfortable lead off the bike and followed this up with the 2nd fastest run. | Men’s winner Hirsch got off the bike in 5th but a 1:09 run kept him well ahead.
Women🥇 Diede Diederiks (03:37:22) 🥈 Marta Lagownik (03:42:47) 🥉 Laura Madsen (03:44:19) | Men🥇 Willhelm Hirsch (03:15:06) 🥈 Strahinja Trakic (03:18:19) 🥉 Nico Markgraf (03:18:40) |
Other Bullets:
Frodeno Training Partner: Jan has typically trained with Kyle Smith but recently hes been seen with South African Brad Weiss while the two have been prepping for the US Open and IM Nice. Brad is flying under the radar a bit and had the 4th fastest run and came 8th at the US Open.
US Open Run: Jason West’s 56:22 for 18km (3:07/km avg) rightfully stole the show on the mens run but have a look at the epic battle for the top 10 as summarized in this photo posted by David McNamee here.
West 28s: Jason West finished just 28s behind a somewhat coasting Frodeno. How close would the race have been if West hadn’t had to stop to fix his handlebars during the bike?
Foley Drama: Race Ranger and a 20m no-draft zone ensured an exceptionally fair and drama-free bike at the US Open…except for Trevor Foley, who was told to immediately get off his bike during his last lap as a miscommunication made the referee think he was lapped out. See Foley’s post here.
Frodeno swim skin: Frodeno’s bike almost became terribly uncomfortable when he got to the mount line in T1 still wearing his swim skin. Luckily the race official suggested he take it off and throw it to him.
Frodeno Fisticuffs: In the post race interview here, Frodeno mentioned that Blummenfelt had punched him in the face at the first swim buoy. This adds to the brewing tension between the two after the “boy who cried wolf” interview between them here. I’m not sure if this is genuine or if the producer is asking for provocation but nonetheless it does make it interesting to watch 🍿
Long Double Duty: Sam Long and his partner had their baby arrive near midnight on Tuesday leaving him with only 2 days to get to Milwaukee and race. There are mixed feelings as to whether or not he should have raced but I know he’s trying to get back as soon as possible and seems to be a very devoted father already. Post of the baby here.
Pro Tri News Live show: A highly entertaining podcast from Pro Tri News largely led by a lubricated and unfiltered Mark Matthews. I lapped up every second but two small random notes: Mark referred to Max Neumann as the “king of surfing a wheel and never sees the front of a race” and also implied that Taylor Knibb’s bike sponsorship will be worth circa $50k a year. Apple podcast here and Spotify here.
Kienle does Norseman: Sebi Kienle came 2nd at the super tough Norseman as he ticks off his “must-do” races and winds down his triathlon career. Tri247 article here.
Data
The US Open consumed me over the weekend and Excel generally consumes me from 8-5 Monday to Friday, so, I may as well combine the two. The below table shows the swim, bike and run times relative to Taylor Knibb and Jan Frodeno. Let me know if anyone has an inkling to share these data posts and I’ll put them into more “Insta-appropriate” graphics:
That’s it for today.
Yours in low CdA,
Aero MaccaFrodownlee
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