Poll 60/100 | Triathlon | Who'll be the Mixed Relay Medallist?

[Fly_like_a_don 1,142]

Those nations that qualified a triathlete :

 1 Who's your nation's best prospect in individual for medal OR top 10 OR top 30

 

 

Open to all

2. Where do your triathletes stand at world level? And how popular are they back in your country 

 

 

[phelps 8,287]

my pick... and  going for gold, then a bunch of Nations fighting for bronze, among which I opt for the 

 

side polls:

 

1 - Betto and Olmo could get close to top 10 in the women's race in a good day, Steinhauser and the men are hopeless (they qualified only because of the mixed relay, where I think we can't get any better than 9th or 10th, if we're lucky)...

 

2 - less than average, top 10 places in the history of world series/world champs and Olympic games can be counted on one or two hand's fingers...

and the worse part of that, it's that here Triathlon is one of those sports with a lot of amateurs practicing, but with absolutely no reward for professional athletes (they are fully unknown to the media, which never broadcast any event, not even the world championships), therefore we also have a lot of troubles finding new faces for the top level activity...

somehow, exceptionally, it looks that we have a couple of young promising athletes right now, but who knows if they will ever make a good transition to the senior level?

[Jinzha 702]

I had the same picks as Phelps for the mixed relay medals. Maybe Norway, Australia or South Africa could overtake the US for bronze.

 

As for Dutch triathletes: Rachel Klamer has been consistently top 10 in the world triathlon series for multiple years now, but never quite reaching that top 3. Kingma has mostly finished behind her, but this year she has suddenly taken a win and a podium in the world series. They could both be capable of a top 10 finish in Tokyo, but I don't expect any medals.

 

Triathlon is an amazing sport that a lot of amateurs practice, but that really doesn't translate to any popularity for the elite level. Klamer finished 10th in Rio 2016, but I doubt many casual sports followers in the Netherlands know about her.

[mpjmcevoy 375]

On 16/06/2021 at 09:52, Jinzha said:

I had the same picks as Phelps for the mixed relay medals. Maybe Norway, Australia or South Africa could overtake the US for bronze.

 

As for Dutch triathletes: Rachel Klamer has been consistently top 10 in the world triathlon series for multiple years now, but never quite reaching that top 3. Kingma has mostly finished behind her, but this year she has suddenly taken a win and a podium in the world series. They could both be capable of a top 10 finish in Tokyo, but I don't expect any medals.

 

Triathlon is an amazing sport that a lot of amateurs practice, but that really doesn't translate to any popularity for the elite level. Klamer finished 10th in Rio 2016, but I doubt many casual sports followers in the Netherlands know about her.

Hard to argue, I think. 12 months ago, I would have had France as hot favourite, USA a lock for silver and maybe four or five contending for bronze.

 

A year is a long time in triathlon. France seem to have taken a step back, and GBR seem to have taken about three steps forward, and I think barring disaster, the gold comes from those two. The Zaferes issue has upended USA, but I still see them strong enough to be favourites, just, for bronze, but it might well end up a dog fight...

 

As for my TWO countries, Triathlon is obvious hugely high profile, relatively speaking, in the UK, thanks to all the women since Helen Jenkins, and the Brownlee Brothers, whose various triumphs and struggles have had a soap opera quality. People don't know much about Yee yet, but they tend to like the cut of his jobm whether in Triathlon or Athletics where he won the Night of 10k PBs british event a few years back.

 

Ireland on the other hand has a lot of amateur triathlon, and the sport is well loved, but we have not yet had a breakthrough star like a Katie Taylor or a Sean Kelly/Stephen Roche who could bring it to the next level.

[Grassmarket 4,031]

1 hour ago, mpjmcevoy said:

Hard to argue, I think. 12 months ago, I would have had France as hot favourite, USA a lock for silver and maybe four or five contending for bronze.

 

A year is a long time in triathlon. France seem to have taken a step back, and GBR seem to have taken about three steps forward, and I think barring disaster, the gold comes from those two. The Zaferes issue has upended USA, but I still see them strong enough to be favourites, just, for bronze, but it might well end up a dog fight...

 

As for my TWO countries, Triathlon is obvious hugely high profile, relatively speaking, in the UK, thanks to all the women since Helen Jenkins, and the Brownlee Brothers, whose various triumphs and struggles have had a soap opera quality. People don't know much about Yee yet, but they tend to like the cut of his jobm whether in Triathlon or Athletics where he won the Night of 10k PBs british event a few years back.

 

Ireland on the other hand has a lot of amateur triathlon, and the sport is well loved, but we have not yet had a breakthrough star like a Katie Taylor or a Sean Kelly/Stephen Roche who could bring it to the next level.

To do well in triathlon now you need to be international standard in at least one of the three elements, so it’s difficult for small nations to divert people if they’re needed in their primary event.