Pro race chat (Tri)

2:35 for a 7:21. Wowsers.

Watching KB and Gustav go head to head will be epic TV. Last time they raced a branded event together I got to see it in person out in Bahrain. They were duking it out like the final mile of the Olympics v Yee

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From mile 24. Looks pretty good!

Apparently it did chuck it down mid run, hence all the puddles

He looks like he had quite a bit left

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Sounds like he lucked out, downhill swim, light winds on the bike (discs are banned, it is usually blowy) and cloudy/showers on the run.

Still very very impressed - so which was better: Blu’s Coz or Iden’s IMFL?

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I would say Iden’s Florida considering the conditions he had to race in.

Obviously hard to say, but I feel Iden got to sit in for basically all of the bike, so his 4:04 (I think it was) was definitely with some draft benefit. Blu seems to have set the pace, so is more a personal effort.

The swims are obviously hard to judge. Blu is normally one pack ahead of Gustav at ITU level, so will be interested to see the tactics come St. George. I can see Kristian really hitting the swim-bike hard to try and open a gap, and then Iden will have to run him down. But I’m not sure he can. KB really looks pretty decent crossing that finish line.

Add frodo into the mix, who can certainly hang with a punchy swim-bike if KB goes down that route, and it should be epic

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Comparing with ruedi wild (15 mins back), 7:49 at IMCH where he was 10mins behind berkel and 9 behind skipper. All things being equal (they never are) still a storming debut.

As mentioned should be a hell of a race if they both on form and frodo in the mix.

ETA: what he said :point_up:

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I believe that means Kristian now holds the world best times at both full and 70.3 distance.

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Great performance from Blu.

There was a link on the Ironman Now fb that you then had to register on to watch the live stream.

The dude wins the Olympics and then does this 4 months later. Chapeau.

And did Super League short stuff in between as well…

And won the ITU series.

Makes next year pretty exciting with 2 IM WC’s on top of the usual stuff.

Hard not to conclude there’s another quantum shift about to happen; not sure the Skipper’s and Sanders with weak swims will be able to get to the front of the race and then run competitively. What was 2:50 run is now 2:40 (partly shoes but still……).

Meanwhile, back in Girona, Jan plans and goes to work……

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I’m really happy for Blum that he has come in at a strong second place on the greatness list behind LIONel

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with that IM win, Blum (and to an extent Iden), now needs to decide where his future lies - WT draft legal racing and maybe keep his Olympic title in Paris, or go long and become the next Frodeno et al. Sure, he’s pulled it all off this year but trying to balance all distances in the future would be a tough act.

Iden has already said he’ll do St George, but not Kona as he wants to properly defend his 70.3 title, which is just a couple of weeks later. He stated in an article that he’s not awed by the magic of Kona, the destination etc, but just wants to win races at the highest level. Think he may have said he wants to go to Paris as well.

Blum has said he wants to do SG and Kona this year before buliding back into ITU, Superleague etc ready to defend in Paris. They’re both still so young!

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FTFY :grimacing:

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Mystery injury for Blum just before St George and they get an IM WC each without having to race each other.

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Bit of the old Coe and Ovett’s until the next Olympics?

Except I don’t think Iden is an Olympic medal contender unless it’s a very hilly course….

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Iden’s interview on the Zwift Triathlon podcast is pretty interesting to listen to.

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Clavel isn’t the big news of the weekend but he seems to have dramatically improved over the last couple of years, run in particular