Triathlon WT Relay & Sprint World Championships 2023

[Rafa Maciel 1,658]

4 minutes ago, Grassmarket said:

Wouldn’t say so - Potter & Coldwell have been better than Georgia Taylor-Brown this year.

Coldwell only took part in the relay - she wasn't in the individual event as far as I am aware.  But you are right in a way - the British women's team has far greater strength and depth than the men with 3 inside the top 10 and 4 inside the top 20 so we are virtually certain to have 3 quotas for Paris. 

 

The men on the other hand need to chase the points and realistically the only athletes that can hope to finish inside the top 30 are Izzard and Brownlee 

[Benolympique 2,414]

29 minutes ago, EselTheDonkey said:

Barring disaster on the last leg, Gold and the quota place will go to New Zealand or Germany.

congrats

[OlympicsFan 860]

Really surprised by Germany winning gold. What happened to the better teams (for example France and GB)?

 

I fear that this will lead the german federation to believe that they are better than they actually are. The goal should be to have 2 medal contenders in both individual events and as far as i know they are currently lightyears away from that (especially on the men's side).

Edited July 17, 2023 by OlympicsFan

[Oldira 88]

On 7/16/2023 at 2:14 PM, mpjmcevoy said:

I think Team GB has already given up the ghost on that sadly. I'm not even convinced Brownlee will make it sxcept through the relay quota - there are 4 women fighting for three spots, all of them world class. On the men's side it's yee theeeeen..................................(plonk!)

Wellthey havent given up as much as Team Ireland. Highly unlikely that we qualify a\for Paris in Triathlon so thats us down one sport at least.

[mpjmcevoy 375]

20 minutes ago, Oldira said:

Wellthey havent given up as much as Team Ireland. Highly unlikely that we qualify a\for Paris in Triathlon so thats us down one sport at least.

I know. Given the relative size of the country and pool, I wonder if Ireland might not consider a small elite 'academy' approach, near ish to Abbottstown

[OlympicsFan 860]

Really surprised to see the results of the weekend:

1) Germany had 3 in the top 5 of the women's race. Where were all the american/british women and the woman from Bermuda? Did they skip this competition to prepare for the olympics? Also i have the feeling that Switzerland used to be better.

2) Germany was actually somewhat decent on the men's side as well. What happened to Blummenfelt (didn't he use to dominate) and the british men?

3) Did Germany mainly profit from the home advantage or do the results actually reflect the current level?

[Rafa Maciel 1,658]

10 minutes ago, OlympicsFan said:

Really surprised to see the results of the weekend:

1) Germany had 3 in the top 5 of the women's race. Where were all the american/british women and the woman from Bermuda? Did they skip this competition to prepare for the olympics? Also i have the feeling that Switzerland used to be better.

2) Germany was actually somewhat decent on the men's side as well. What happened to Blummenfelt (didn't he use to dominate) and the british men?

3) Did Germany mainly profit from the home advantage or do the results actually reflect the current level?

Taking these in order:

 

1.) The British women are focusing on the World Triathlon Championship Series and Flora Duffy is nursing injury and has been off the circuit for a while (Patellar Tendinopothy) For Switzerland, they had Nicola Spirig in the past but think she's retired. Nevertheless, they are still likely to qualify 2 women to Paris although unlikely they will challenge for the podium.

2.) Blummenfelt took time away from Olympic distance events after Tokyo and stepped up to the Ironman. He came back to the Olympic distance in May of this year. As for the British men - Yee was 3rd and remains a strong favourite to challenge the podium in Paris. Others have asked about the wider British team earlier in the thread but basically Brownlee is trying to hang on to Paris. As we won the relay quota last year we're guaranteed 2 quotas for the men - which is the same as we achieved in Tokyo

3.) Would raise a couple of caveats about reading too much into the performances this weekend. This event was a sprint series so multiple races over shorter distances. Not everyone likes or is suited to the format (which may also help explain some of the absences highlighted). In terms of the relay, France and GBR didn't contest the event (GB were there but with a B squad) so again, there's nothing to suggest that the result in Hamburg give any indications of what we can expect in Paris. 

[mpjmcevoy 375]

6 hours ago, Rafa Maciel said:

Taking these in order:

 

1.) The British women are focusing on the World Triathlon Championship Series and Flora Duffy is nursing injury and has been off the circuit for a while (Patellar Tendinopothy) For Switzerland, they had Nicola Spirig in the past but think she's retired. Nevertheless, they are still likely to qualify 2 women to Paris although unlikely they will challenge for the podium.

2.) Blummenfelt took time away from Olympic distance events after Tokyo and stepped up to the Ironman. He came back to the Olympic distance in May of this year. As for the British men - Yee was 3rd and remains a strong favourite to challenge the podium in Paris. Others have asked about the wider British team earlier in the thread but basically Brownlee is trying to hang on to Paris. As we won the relay quota last year we're guaranteed 2 quotas for the men - which is the same as we achieved in Tokyo

3.) Would raise a couple of caveats about reading too much into the performances this weekend. This event was a sprint series so multiple races over shorter distances. Not everyone likes or is suited to the format (which may also help explain some of the absences highlighted). In terms of the relay, France and GBR didn't contest the event (GB were there but with a B squad) so again, there's nothing to suggest that the result in Hamburg give any indications of what we can expect in Paris. 

Good summary.

 

If there were the old single sex 3 up relays, GBR would win the women's and the French the men's at an absolute cantor. At this stage they are holding poor Jonny Brownlee together with gaffer tape and bubble gum - get him off on the first leg where he's still a strong swimmer, go hard on the bike, and then hold on in the run long enough to get one of the three strong women off not TOO far behind. On the French side, the depth is brilliant, but they maybe can't match a fully fit Coldwell/Potter-Yee-Taylor-Brown backend. If either team turns up at even 95%, no other team wins gold....but both teams are well capable of finding a way not to be 95%.

 

Bach was at the event this weekend, and there's a general consensus that World Triathlon are going to let the hare sit for the 2028 Games in terms of events, and let the mixed relay 'bed in', before attempting to expand in 32 in friendly territory (Aus loves tiathon) by adding this precise format - not just a sprint, but an eliminator super sprint.

 

The thinking is that the soul of Triathlon is endurance. It's not truly a sport for sprinting, and they don't really want to be. however, sprint formats are popular, and the ability to do repeated speed bursts is a legit skill some great triathletes have, and some don't (Beaugrande, for example, looks far happier switch multiple shorter races than the two hour grind) - so this format which still tests endurance, but tests it in a different way seems to WA the best compromise - Triathlon has always had a 'cricket' issue with formats - purists love Ironman but it's not particularly TV friendly - Olympic is now, literally, the Standard race, but sprint formats are popular on TV and with IOC and the Mixed relay went down VERY well - but WA know they won't just get a sprint/1hr event or 30 minute event out of IOC - but this repeated battery? Yep, this will fly - Not least because you could maybe only add 10 'specialist' spots in each sex, and just let the main field also compete in the Elimination Sprint series - it doesn't require finding another 100 quota spots