Looks like Wurf is doing a Wurf again this year. Racing Ironman Italy a few weeks before Kona. Just gone through 100km at an average of over 43kph 
Difference is that he looks like he can run these days. Even off a 4:10 bike. Wonder how long he keeps it up.
7:46 and a 2:45 run. I’d have him top 5 if he hadn’t Lionel-ed his race by doing it 3 weeks out…
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Impressive swim as well ~47mins.
Run was 1.2k short according to his Strava, but even so…swift!
So much for a “training day” which he mentioned in the pre race interview. Where was his coach when he decided to race 20days out from Kona? Could have jogged the run 20mins slower and still taken the dough 
Sealed his 2020 Kona slot nice and early though 
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It does depend on the athlete. Is it T o’D that has said on a podcast recently how he always races best on the second IM in quick succession? It was one of the American pros anyway. Whoever that was had a plan to do something similar to this pre-Kona, and it was all part of a strategy to execute their best Kona race possible.
Its also a rapid time. Something like the fourth or fifth fastest (Ironman brand) time ever
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7:46 is bloody shifting!
So Wurf is no longer just a biker…he still doesn’t make my list.
He looked really comfortable out there.
I wouldn’t rule him out…
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Joe Skipper in great shape with his time trial efforts over the summer. Beating the 12h national record. He’s had a run injury but his race-best 2.52 at Wales suggests he’s over that. He’s experienced at Kona with top 10 finishes to his name. So I really hope this is his year.
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Wurf… cos my dog said. But he had a good race today. So let’s see.
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Brownlee. The man’s a legend. In London 2012 he swam 17.04 for 1500m and ran 29.04 for 10km. Queen K is not often kind to pros on their first attempt, but this guy is a thoroughbred.
Sure there are other guys our there, some of them are German. But just maybe 2019 will be the year the streak gets broken. So I’m gunning for the home crowd, while my dog has his own reason to support an Aussie.
Whatever, we can’t wait to watch the race this year. Already stocking up on caffeine drinks, bonios and eyelid tape.
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My top 3 are a couple of Germans and an Aussie.
Not sure about the ladies other than the winner Ryf…not certain Charles is quite where she was last year?
Can’t wait!
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Fancy Frodeno again. Would like to see Wurf and Skipper on the podium. Maybe one of the Americans will sneak on, say O’Donnell.
Surely only a mechanical can stop Ryf winning five straight?
My picks…
- Frodeno
- Wurf
- Kienle
Despite my dig earlier, wurf looked great today and in the post race interview he was full of beans 
- Ryf
- Haug
- Charles-Barclay
Agree with previous comments, no one can touch ryf unless she has some bad luck (even then she seems to mange it well, like Kona last year) and LCB hasn’t looked quite as imperious (despite Roth win) this year, so reckon haug will catch her late in the run.
Edit: assuming there is a little bit of wind to stop Lange/Dreitz trotting to a hat-trick
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LCB cranked out a 16:25 at the Gunpowder Park run yesterday…rapid! Not much to do with Iron distance performance, but shows run form is in a good place.
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Watching Wurf yesterday he just looked so easy. This got me thinking that he wasn’t a world class cyclist, don’t know how good he was rowing. But seems to be a top drawer IM triathlete. Is that because triathlon is still a bit ‘soft’ as a sport? Or …
My biased starting point is that I can’t separate him and his coach and training ‘pals’ TBH and I a very cynical cycling fan and that includes Sky/Ineos.
(If this is diverting this thread I will happily delete this.)
So you don’t ‘believe’ any of British Cycling? As Tim Kerrison was one of their main coaches for 2012.
You’re throwing some pretty big shade there.
I didn’t state that, Sky/Ineos I don’t trust at all. Kerrison is their endurance coach IIRC but I am largely agnostic about BC. Many track fans from other countries certainly don’t trust BC results and how they’re all beatable (is that a word?) except at the Olympics.
I don’t trust anti-doping though as they don’t seem to be able to catch anyone, Christian Coleman and Lizzie Deignan using technicalities to stay clear as examples of their (anti-doping) incompetence.
The problem with that thinking is that the biological passport just wouldn’t allow “one off” performance enhancement. It would be even more likely to be caught, as it would result in numbers so out of line with the baseline. As Hammerer has said before, this Olympic peaking largely comes from the funding model operated in UK sport
I don’t think the blood passport is that effective, if it was I don’t think Valverde would be riding as fast as he is.
I think you should spend more time in the clinic.