Apparently in the old days of the Nice long course tri people used to wear flip flops at the start and kick them off when they started swimming 
They had to explicitly ban them because the water was covered with them after the start
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The old school mass start of Nice was always the mythical peak of triathlon. The “Prom Swim” 2km OWS event I did in Nice back in 2023 didn’t have quite the same vibe to it 
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IM NZ did the same. IM Wales even give you a bag for them!
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MrsB still laughs about it to this day. My practice swim the day before the race and I was almost crawling across the pebbles wincing with every foot step. She stood heckling me with “my Ironman” and other playful insults. Raceday and I was apparently like a Highland charge, screaming at the top of my voice and running full pelt into the water. I couldn’t get in the water fast enough, that beach is evil 
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Yep-it’s pretty dramatic. Also difficult to maintain one’s dignity trying to get in and out while the waves are crushing you and the stones crippling you.
Ha-just saw these other posts. Seems I’m not alone!
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That’s my every day when I go to the beach! You’ve just got to toughen up your feet!
But it makes for great viewing watching people who aren’t used to the big undertow from the seemingly small waves. Coupled up with a billion pebbles! 
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Why do I think it’s a deep water start on Sunday 
I certainly think the pros had a deep water start the past couple of years as I remember how far they drifted in front of the buoys before the gun went off.
AG is possibly 5 at a time from the beach or something like that. I only recall seeing the pro starts previously.
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Pretty sure it was age group\deep water mass starts, so all the M50’s go together etc., so there was a bit of a battle to get near the front for the swimmers.
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Yup, according to the athlete guide there will be 10 age group swim waves. That’s good.
Oh, and the pebbles on the beach will have carpet on them.
(edit: I think it was the 70.3 worlds that had rolling starts for AG. I just recall John on the IM Talk podcast going berserk about it when he first found out!)
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Great fior the first two waves, not so much later on 
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For the race, I think if Laidlow is properly fit, he wins. Then probably Blu. After that I think there’s several but would like Chevalier to have a good race but wouldn’t be surprised if von Berg, Iden or Stornes came in third.
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Best of the Brits? Lindars, Palmer, Skipper.
No, Laidlow doesn’t count! Until he wins.
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- Blu
- Laidlow
- Ditlev
- Eden
- Lange
To be honest it seems wide open to me. One of my top five will blowup no doubt.
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youtube live stream? 6:05am start?
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Doesn’t that stand for most of Nice? and not just on IM weekend.
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Good luck Matt, Spoons and TC 
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My AG is second to last and @Mr-me starts in the wave ahead. About 15 mins before that all of age 55+ waves go together. We will see lots of faster athletes passing the slightly older ones on the Swim and bike
being on of the last to start and being a little slower on the swim, I expect to come into a very empty T1
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Given that this is the most stacked pro field for many years, I would love a lesser known underdog to come from relative obscurity and win IMWC Nice
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