Is JB realistically anywhere near where he needs to be though?
No idea, let’s see if he can get through winter without an injury.
On that, it’s interesting that Ali was saying he’s been injury free for longest time in years. IIRC it was Stu Hayes (or similar) who said they both (AB a& JB) only get injured running really fast.
I had to re-read his post to understand your Peter Crouch reference 
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So I saw some Brownlee video a while ago, and it was the first run session Ali and Johnny had done together for a year or two. There was some interesting ‘banter’ at the end where Ali was taking the mick out of Johnny for wearing a HRM. He said something like “Johnny likes to keep his heart rate in check, but it didn’t seem to stop him trying to keep up when I went hard at the end on that tempo run”.
Similar to the story about Rio where Johnny said to Ali to slow down on the run as they had a decent lead and shouldn’t risk blowing up in the heat.
The other insight was that basically Johnny would end up doing those sessions on his own because Mark Buckingham had been injured a lot and Ali wasn’t there and so no-one else could keep up (presumably Yee doesn’t do the same sessions?).
From all that I would gauge that JB might well be back better this summer due to being pushed a bit more in training (assuming they stay fit). Also, I wonder if the difference in attitude might not mean that Johnny could be more of a force over Ironman?
Was reminded to comment because AB posted another track session insta last night, reminding me that they’re definately going for it this winter.
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Tokyo going to be cancelled anyway (says my crystal ball).
nah, it won’t get cancelled… too much money tied up.
I’m betting lots of events will be behind closed doors and aired on TV only… will be a rubbish atmosphere if that happens.
Yeah, Tokyo Marathon is elites only now. I wonder how many other big International events might go that way this year.
Covid19 might really impact on qualifying events if not the games themselves. The warm weather should see us right by the time the Olympics come around.
I thought I’d read that so far warm weather has not been a factor? It’s still being as prevalent in warm weather areas of the world as it is in cold?
Speaking of AB, I listened to this weeks OA podcast with Macca…
… he rates him as having the potential to win Kona and with it taking the GOAT crown.
You may well be right, I heard a virologist say if it becomes endemic then we will likely see it go away in the summer and come back in the winter. I haven’t been tracking it other than reading some articles on news sites.
I’ll resurect this topic because I think the Blumenfeld has a good shot at becoming the GOAT. I know that he still has a long way to go and probably another 3-5 years consistent performance before he can lay claim, but he’s not off to a bad start
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Nope.
Joe is a goat 
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He’s well on the way. A win in Kona with stacked field is needed though first and I’d consider him up with Frodo then. Frodo won a one off race at short course, and although was a decent athlete, he wasn’t as dominant as Blu is over the short races. For Blu to win the worlds in short and long and an Olympic gold all in the same year, that’s stuff of legends already.
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He has a good shot, but a long way to go. Needs 70.3 World title and a couple of stacked Kona’s I think.
Ultimately world records mean nothing, he has the Olympic gold and an IM title in a race that will always be regarded as a bit of an oddity (course, time of year, massive DNS list).
If he drops back, wins gold at Paris (very unlikely IMO) and continues to perform at LC after then all arguments end.
On the other hand if Gustav has his measure at LC, ie whenever they face off Gustav wins then it becomes a lot harder, as there’ll be a clearly superior rival for his LC career. Also if Frodo wins in October then whatever he does it will be hard to put him above Frodo, if he’s beaten by the 41 year old version of Frodo.
It’ll be fun watching it play out.
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That’s what I was thinking too, add on Sub 7. Kona would be amazing.
I am really glad I am racing Kona on the 6th, Its a shame I won’t be able to watch the women, will Daniella still be up there? but really looking foward to watching the men’s race and see whether KB continues to make history, or can Frodo cement his place in the Ironman hall of fame
Not knocking his achievements - Blu’s last 12 months are beyond spectacular. But looking at his short-distance palmares, in addition to Tokyo he’s only one 3 WTS races in his career (2 in 2021) so not much different to Jan who won 2 plus Beijing, and obviously this puts AB in a different stratosphere to either of them in short-course.
Given Frodo’s success at long course (let’s not forget his time from the race against Lionel is reckoned to be on a par with Blu’s Cozumel time if you factor in the current) then as folks say it’s going to take a few years of LC winning (plus a 70.3) to get Blu there. I think he can do it though, his run is an absolute weapon and he’s shown he can hang in with Wurf on the bike and still run well off it.
I think another thing that pushes Frodo up a notch was that 70.3 Worlds win against AB and Gomez.
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Ah yes, Port Elizabeth where 5? Guys all came into t2 together and Frodo dropped the hammer. That was an awesome race
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I’m sure this happens in many sports; where someone’s light burns very bright all of a sudden. Everyone wonders if they’ll be the GOAT.
Despite being a phenom, he’s still way off Mark Allen: 6x Kona, 10x Nice, (inaugral) World Champion Short Course (he won all three in 1989!). MA dominated for a decade…
The answer for Blu is way in the distance. Frodo never got there imho.
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Also, swim & run times haven’t really moved on from Iron War…only technology.
The run in Kona used to include T2; so both Scott & Allen ran sub 2:40…in ‘plimsolls’ 
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