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There are few more divisive issues in triathlon, but it’s time for ‘team orders’ – or ‘team delivery’ (as British Triathlon prefers to term it) – to be jettisoned. Why? Because while the role of the pilot (formerly domestique) may on occasion prove helpful, it’s more often ineffective, confusing and even detrimental to performance.
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The latest high profile example is the ITU World Series race in Leeds last Sunday, an event that could well be the biggest showcase for triathlon in this country until Tokyo 2020. The women raced first and as Jess Learmonth led the swim the excitement mounted. Given her results this season (a win, two seconds, and eighth in the World Series race in Japan), the Leeds local is Team GB’s form triathlete.
She emerged first from the water in Roundhay Park, powered clear up the hill on the bike… and then – after passing a British Triathlon official – all but stopped so abruptly that not even the commentators noticed. The reason she’d dropped behind the front pack was to offer assistance to team-mate Non Stanford. But it was folly.
Stanford, the 2013 world champion and fourth in the Rio Olympics, was 58secs behind out from the swim, and despite Learmonth’s best efforts on the bike lost another 1:39mins to the leaders coming into T2. The race was done.
The irony here is two-fold. Firstly, we’d been here before. Last year in Leeds, Learmonth and fellow wonder-swimmer Lucy Hall were clear with Flora Duffy on the bike, but dithered, unsure over a team directive to help team GB’s faster runners in the chase group, and the fast-running American Gwen Jorgensen took full advantage.
Secondly, Learmonth, ran not only better than Stanford this year, but a full minute faster than Italy’s third-place finisher, Alice Betto. She still achieved a career-high World Series finish of sixth, but had she just put her head down and gone for it, she’d likely have been on the podium.
In mitigation, British Triathlon concede that Stanford has been unwell but gambled she’d pull through with the home crowd support. Conversely, Learmonth had not run for three weeks with a knee niggle, and is still a relative novice as despite being 29 years old, she only competed in her first triathlon five years ago.
The reality is that the team delivery instructions, discussed with the performance staff and senior British triathletes, ultimately befuddled Learmonth’s thinking on the course, and when a BTF steward told her her time split she made the wrong call.
Team delivery has worked in the past for Team GB. It worked to help Gordon Benson win the European Games in 2015 and India Lee in last year’s European championship. But those races played out in front of tiny audiences. Leeds had four hours of BBC coverage and tens of thousands watching in Leeds city centre so the real shame is not just a missed opportunity for Learmonth but that the sport was robbed of a barnstorming showcase for our British women.
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For that Sunday evening entertainment, it was, once again, over to the Brownlees.
Team 220 Triathlon are on the Isles of Scilly this weekend, where yesterday the full distance ÖtillÖ race took place in scorching conditions.
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This is the second running of the British version of the Swedish race series, which this year saw saw 200 participants in teams of two compete, with athletes attending from 17 different countries. This year’s course was slightly modified from last year and took out one shallow section of swimming early in the race (which had seen many competitors wading), replacing it with an additional swim leg from the beautiful island of Tresco.
This meant competitors raced a total of a little over 37km, with almost 30km of running around the Cornish coastal trails and 8km of swimming across bays and between islands, with water temperatures ranging from 12-14 degrees C. What was very different was the air temperatures this year though – the swimrunners faced searing heat and direct sun, with almost no breeze.
Records smashed
Many of the top athletes loved the conditions though, with the warm runs providing a strong contrast to the chill of the swims. There’s a lot of swimming in ÖtillÖ and the longest two swims in yesterday’s race were 2km at the start and 2.5km at the end of the race, meaning it was important to make smart kit choices.
The first team, Stefano Prestinoni and Fredrik Axegård (SWE), crossed the line in 04:42:08, smashing the course record from last year’s race in over 20 minutes. Other fast times were set too, with a mixed team, Diane Sadik (SUI) and Henrik Wahlberg (SWE), finishing second overall, only 13 minutes after the leaders with the time 4:55:55!
The winning women’s team, reigning world champion Annika Ericsson and Elisabet Pärsdotter Westman (SWE), finished 5:28:58 and 12th overall.
Stefano Prestinoni from the winning team Swimshop.se said after the finish line: “It was an amazing race. We struggled quite hard as the temperatures were changing so much from air to water. The air was hot and the water was cold. But the swimming was fantastic – the water was so calm it was like swimming in the pool!”
Today sees the Sprint race take place, where over 30 teams of two (including 220‘s Editor Helen Webster) will take on a course of almost 15km, with nine runs and eight swims. You can follow the race live from 11am today at www.otilloswimrun.com/live.
There will be a full five-page report from the ÖtillÖ Swimrun Isles of Scilly weekend in issue 341 of 220 Triathlon, on sale 19th July.
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Interested in trying swimrun for the first time? Read our guide here: What Is Swimrun?
Want to find out more about kit for swimrun? Read our Essential Guide to Swimrun Kit
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Here are some stunning photos from the event
The 1989 Tour de France is arguably the greatest Tour de France ever. It saw American rider Greg LeMond overturn a 50-second deficit to France’s Laurent Fignon on the final stage on the Champs Élysées to snatch the title by a mere eight seconds.
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After three weeks and more than 2,000 miles in the saddle, these few seconds remain the smallest margin of victory in the race’s 100+ year history.
But, as dramatic as that Sunday afternoon on the streets of Paris was, the race wasn’t just about that one time-trial. During the previous fortnight, the leader’s yellow jersey had swapped back and forth between LeMond and Fignon in a titanic struggle for supremacy, a battle with more twists and turns than the maziest Alpine mountain pass. At no point during the entire three weeks were LeMond and Fignon separated by more than 53 seconds.
In Three Weeks, Eight Seconds, 220 Triathlon contributor Nige Tassell brings one of cycling’s most astonishing stories to life, examining that extraordinary race in all its multi-faceted glory with fresh interviews and new perspectives and laying bare that towering heights of adrenaline, agony, excitement, torment and triumph that it produced.
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Three Weeks, Eight Seconds is out now from Polaris Publishing, priced £14.99.
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NIGE TASSELL writes about sport and music, and his work has appeared in the pages of 220 Triathlon, the Guardian, Sunday Times, Esquire, FourFourTwo, Q and The Word. He’s also the author of The Bottom Corner: A Season With The Dreamers Of Non-League Football.
There was talk of an Ironman record and potentially the overall Iron-distance world best falling at Ironman Austria today; however, it wasn’t to be for world champion Jan Frodeno, who still went sub-8hrs and was streaks ahead of the chasing group despite only having resumed full training two weeks ago due to a virus.
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Frodeno’s own Iron-distance world record stands at 7:35:39 set at Challenge Roth, and Tim Don’s record at an Iron-branded event is 7:40:23; and although Frodeno’s 7:57:20 was way wide of the mark, he cited his hampered preparations as a reason for re-evaluating goals for this race, saying in an interview with Triathlon World that even a course record (Marino Vanhoenacker’s 7:45:58 set in 2011) was “very unlikely”.
Men’s race
The race kicked off at 6:40am local time in the crystal clear waters of Klagenfurt lake, with Frodeno the marked man. Other prominent triathletes on the start line were Iván Raña (ESP), Antony Costes (FRA) Michael Weiss (AUT) and Eneko Llanos (ESP). No British male pros were competing.
Frodeno was first out of the water in a time of 46:29, which was to be expected but his 1:55 gap on fellow former ITU pro Raña made for an even more impressive split. The trailing pack emerged from the water 4mins back from Frodeno, with Tim Brydenback of Belgium leading Costes and Llanos out after 50mins of swimming.
On the bike Frodo continued to assert his dominance and extended the lead after every single checkpoint. The gap grew from 5mins at the 25km mark to a whopping 13min advantage by the end of the 180km bike leg, with the German pacing the two-lap course perfectly evenly for a split of 4:19:45.
Behind him, Raña suffered a mechanical early on in the bike and was sent way down the pecking order by the halfway point, with Llanos taking the second spot until Costes overtook at the 100km mark. The two continued to exchange places until the end of the bike leg, coming into T2 in an almost identical time with Llanos marginally in front. Michael Weiss made plenty of ground on the bike with a 4:27:53 clocking, while Paul Ruttmann of Austria who was briefly second was forced to pull out due to a mechanical.
On the run, it was more of the same with Frodeno continuing to extend his lead coming up to the half marathon point, where his lead grew to 17mins; however he began to show signs of fatigue in the second half of the marathon, and a predicted sub-7hrs 50mins clocking starting to edge closer back towards the 8hr mark.
Llanos cemented his place in second on the run, with Costes dropping back to fourth before fading horribly in the second half of the marathon and dropping out of the top 20 finishers.
Frodeno crossed the line in 7:57:20, recording a 2:46:09 marathon. Exhausted and in a heap on the floor after finishing, Frodeno told Ironman Live he was “really hurting” towards the end and only crowd energy pulled him through.
Llanos followed Frodeno home 15mins later in a time of 8:12:43, with Viktor Zyemtsev (UKR) third in 8:17:05, David Plese (SVN) fourth in 8:19:13 and Michael Weiss fifth in 8:22:42.
Women’s race
In the women’s pro race British interest was solely on the shoulders of Corinne Abraham, who with a 59:44 swim and out of the water in fifth had much catching up to do on leader Michelle Vesterby (DEN), nearly 6mins ahead with a 53:52 split.
It looked to be Vesterby’s day entirely, as she held pole position throughout the bike leg. A crash towards the end of the bike didn’t even look to be stopping her, and she came into T2 with a near 6min lead over the chasers. Behind her Abraham had made up huge ground on the bike with a 5:00:12 split, coming into T2 in second and 3mins up on third-placed Eva Wutti (AUT).
Wutti absolutely flew on the first half of the run, making up 2mins on Abraham and Vesterby in the first 5km. Abraham continued to run well (although not quite at Wutti’s pace) while Vesterby faded, and Wutti took the lead just before the halfway mark on the run course.
From here it was a case of how much Wutti could stretch the lead by and how much Vesterby would lose, and ultimately, she was also passed by Abraham at the 25km mark.
Wutti took the win in a time of 9:06:25 after a super-fast 2:57:43 marathon. This victory comes less than a year after giving birth to her first child.
Abraham finished second in 9:08:03, and Vesterby held on for a third-place finish, clocking 9:16:44.
View the full Ironman Austria 2017 results here
Elsewhere
Today also marked the inaugural Ironman 70.3 Edinburgh, where there was a sizeable British contingent. In the women’s race Emma Pallant took a comfortable victory in 4:23:17, and fellow Brit Lucy Gossage was right behind her in 4:26:32. Sarah True (USA) had another good result in a post-Olympic season of 70.3 racing with a 4:26:32 clocking. In the men’s race, former Iron-distance world record holder Andreas Raelert of Germany won in a time of 3:55:21, while the fastest British finisher was Elliot Smales in 4:04:35.
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View the full Ironman Edinburgh 70.3 results here
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She’s coming back! Thrilled to welcome @chrissiesmiles back to #challengeroth. Will she witness her record fall? @danielaryf #triathlon pic.twitter.com/gnRKLjiUUc
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— Challenge Roth (@ChallengeRoth1) 23 June 2017
On July 9 Ironman World Champion Daniela Ryf will be racing Challenge Roth in Germany with one goal in mind; breaking Chrissie Wellington’s Iron-distance world record of 8:18:13, which was set back at Roth in 2011.
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Last year Ryf was just four minutes short of Wellington’s record, winning in a time of 8:22:04, the third fastest female Iron time in history.
“I enjoyed the atmosphere at DATEV Challenge Roth so much last year. It gave me wings and it made me realise, on a perfect day the world record of Chrissie Wellington could possibly be in reach,” she said. “I am fascinated by Chrissie’s record and I will try my best on race day to see how fast I can go.”
If she does break the record one of the first to celebrate with her will be Chrissie Wellington, who is heading out to watch Ryf’s attempt.
“I absolutely love DATEV Challenge Roth, whether that is as a competitor or as a spectator. It truly is the best race in our sport, with an atmosphere and professionalism that is unrivalled. It was the place where I had some of my greatest victories, and proved to myself that more is possible. I’m really looking forward to being there this year and supporting the thousands of people out on the course, including Daniela as she attempts to break the world record. It will take a very special day when everything falls into place but I know that those days exist and I wish her all the very best in her pursuit of the sub 8.18 goal!”
If the record gets broken it will follow Jan Frodeno’s record breaking race last year, and cement Roth as the place where records are broken.
Here’s why we named Roth the greatest triathlon in the world
220 named Daniela Ryf 8th greatest triathlete ever and 9th greatest Kona athlete of all time
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Daniela Ryf’s top 5 tips for racing and recovery
Daniela Ryf’s 3 key Ironman training sessions
The Professional Triathletes Organisation, Challenge Family and Challenge Roth have today announced that the inaugural Collins Cup will be hosted at Challenge Roth on 1 July 2018 and will be the highlight of the weekend celebrations at the legendary race.
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In order to accommodate a live global media broadcast, the first Collins Cup match is expected to start at noon, while age-groupers and professionals (not on a Collins Cup team) racing the traditional Roth course will begin at 6:30am.
The Collins Cup: a new Ryder Cup-style team competition for long distance tri
Tim O’Donnell and Rachel Joyce, Co-Presidents of the PTO, commented: “We could not be more thrilled that the first Collins Cup will be hosted at Roth. The primary mission of the PTO is to celebrate the sport of triathlon. The Collins Cup will bring together legends in this sport to captain today’s top triathletes in a battle to see which region dominates triathlon.
“Not only is this going to create a riveting competition, it will also serve as a platform for professionals and fans to celebrate triathlon. We can think of no better place to start that celebration than in Roth, where the fan support is truly amazing.”
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Challenge Roth CEO, Felix Walchshoefer, stated: “Europeans love triathlon and especially the 260,000 dedicated German fans at Roth. As Germany has been unsuccessful in its last two bids to host the Ryder Cup, we were not going to miss the opportunity to bring The Collins Cup to Germany. The whole Challenge Family team pulled out all the stops to make sure that The Collins Cup would be contested at Roth, and we are pleased to have been selected as host venue for the inaugural event. It is only fitting that our dedicated fans and supporters have the opportunity to witness what will be an iconic event for the sport for triathlon.”
The Collins Cup is a first of its kind global competition in which teams of triathletes from the USA, Europe and the rest of the World (the ‘Internationals’) will compete to determine which region dominates the sport of triathlon.
Modelled on golf’s Ryder Cup, The Collins Cup is a long-distance team competition among USA, Europe and the Internationals. Each team will consist of 12 professional triathletes, six men and six women. An athlete from each team will battle against one another in an individual race of three, so there will be 12 separate race matches, each staggered 10 minutes apart. Athletes will be awarded points for their team based on performances in their respective race match and the team with the most overall points from the 12 race matches will claim the spoils of The Collins Cup and bragging rights as the most dominant force in the sport. The team that finishes last will receive The Broken Spoke Trophy.
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Eight athletes will earn a place on their respective teams by way of the PTO World Ranking System and the remaining four athletes will be selected by each team’s captains. The team captains for The Collins Cup 2018 are: Dave Scott & Karen Smyers (USA); Normann Stadler & Chrissie Wellington (Europe); and Craig Alexander, Simon Whitfield, Erin Baker & Lisa Bentley (International).
On a hot and windy day at one of triathlon’s most spectacular and historic races, Daniela Ryf has taken her second consecutive Challenge Roth title in front of 200,000+ spectators. Her currently unofficial time of 8:40:03 fell short of Chrissie Wellington’s 8:18hr iron-distance world record, but was still the 10th fastest women’s iron time in history.
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And here she is! @danielaryf is your 2017 DATEV Challenge Roth Champion! #challengeroth pic.twitter.com/UOiPOz1fvO
— Challenge Roth (@ChallengeRoth1) July 9, 2017
The men’s race in Bavaria was won by Belgium’s Bart Aernouts in 7:59:07, 3:53mins ahead of Britain’s Joe Skipper who ran himself into second place, just as he had at Roth in 2016. German Maurice Clavel was third and Roth veteran Timo Bracht of Germany was fourth.
#ChallengeRoth Your 2017 champion is @bartaernouts pic.twitter.com/FGq0XhZRcJ
— Challenge Roth (@ChallengeRoth1) July 9, 2017
At the 2016 Challenge Roth event a year ago, it was the Jan Frodeno and Daniela Ryf show. The former would smash the men’s iron-distance record with a time of 7:35:39, and the latter posted the third-fastest female time in history with a 8:22:04 finish to take a convincing win.
Here’s why we named Roth the greatest triathlon in the world
For 2017, it was Switzerland’s Ryf going it alone in the record-attempting stakes, with the German Frodeno having opted for Ironman Austria a week before; validating his Ironman World Championship spot but missing out on the official fastest Ironman time in history.
A week later and Ryf – the reigning Ironman world champ – had one bold goal in mind; breaking Brit Chrissie Wellington’s Iron-distance world record of 8:18:13, which was set back at Roth in 2011. Last year Ryf was just four minutes short of Wellington’s record, and that was having entered late after a DNF at Ironman Frankfurt a week before the Roth race.
“I enjoyed the atmosphere at DATEV Challenge Roth so much last year. It gave me wings and it made me realise, on a perfect day, the world record of Chrissie Wellington could possibly be in reach,” Ryf said pre-race. “I’m fascinated by Chrissie’s record and I’ll try my best on race day to see how fast I can go.” Wellington was in Bavaria to watch Ryf’s record attempt and to form part of a tri superstar relay team.
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And they’re off! #ChallengeRoth is underway with the male pro start. pic.twitter.com/DLNZLpkT1c
— Challenge Roth (@ChallengeRoth1) July 9, 2017
Cut to daybreak at the Donau Kanal east of Roth, and Ryf was first female out of the 3.8km swim ahead of Heather Wurtele and Brit Laura Siddall. By 25km of the 180km bike (a legendary leg that includes the iconic Solarberg, arguably tri’s greatest sight), that lead had been extended to 2:25mins, with the early lack of wind and early 20C temperatures aiding Ryf’s record-attempt.
At 90km the winds had picked up in what Challenge called ‘a significant change of weather’, and Ryf – aboard her Felt bike – was still holding an 8min advantage of the chasing trio of Siddall, former Roth winner Yvonne van Vlerken and Heather Wurtele. By 122km, that lead was 10:47mins; by the second time up the Solarberg for Ryf it was 11:05mins over Siddall.
RYF BATTLES THE NEW RUN ROUTE
Onto the marathon run and Ryf had clocked a 4:39hr bike split (a minute faster than Wellington’s 2011 time) but, with Wellington having produced a 2:44hr marathon, the Swiss star was up against it from the start of the new run route that’s said to be more undulating than the previous version.
By the 15km mark on the run and Ryf was flying, continuing to produce low 4min/kms. With temperatures approaching 30C by the half-marathon point, Ryf had a 15min lead over Siddall and her battle was now purely with the clock. Exact split times were hard to come by, but by the line Ryf was just over Wellington’s record, crossing the line in 8:40:03hrs.
Brit Laura Siddall held on for second, while American Lisa Roberts took third place.
#ChallengeRoth And here’s your women’s champion, @danielaryf! Congratulations! pic.twitter.com/Znb5GUxH2e
— Challenge Roth (@ChallengeRoth1) July 9, 2017
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Head to the Challenge Family website for info on how to race Roth in 2018.
Ironman have announced that September’s Ironman Wales in Tenby will be allocated 25 additional qualifying slots for the 2018 Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii, taking the total number of slots available to 65.
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The race on Wales’ south-west coast has become a firm athlete favourite and now carries the added prestige as a high-ranking qualifier to the world’s most famous triathlon in Ironman’s birthplace of Hawaii.
Find out why we named Ironman Wales as one of the world’s toughest races
With a sea swim, a total bike elevation of 2,095m and a rolling run route (elevation of 350m), Wales is known as one of the most challenging courses on the Ironman calendar. The additional slots now give athletes an increased chance of earning a coveted place on the start line of the World Championship – one of the highest slot allocations in Europe outside of the regional championship.
With Ironman Wales’ 10th of September date, the race is one of the earliest qualifiers for the 2018 Ironman World Championship. This gives athletes the opportunity to gain early qualification and allows them to plan their 2018 season well in advance.
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Ironman Wales starts with a 3.8km swim on Tenby’s North Beach, followed by a 180km bike through the scenic countryside of Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, including the infamous ‘Heartbreak Hill’ in Saundersfoot. The 42.2km marathon run passes by medieval town walls with the beachfront providing an impressive backdrop for the marathon through Tenby, and all of this backed by some of the biggest, most passionate and vocal crowds in Ironman racing.
Ironman Wales takes place 10 September 2017 in Tenby, Pembrokeshire. For more information and to enter visit the event website, www.ironman.com/wales
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Image: Getty/Ironman
Brit online bike giants Ribble Cycles has today launched a new collection of bike apparel; the Nuovo cycling clothing range.
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Targeted at both male and female cyclists, the Nuovo clothing collection initially consists of cycling jerseys and shorts, with more items to be released in the coming months.
The short-sleeved jersey is priced at £55. Ribble tout the breathability and moisture-wicking properties, with the arm cuffs made from an elasticated and seamless material aimed at added comfort. The jerseys also have three reinforced rear pockets that are traced with reflective piping. The women’s collection comes in coral and peppermint colour ways, while the men’s range consists of red or charcoal grey.
The bib-shorts, which are priced at £65, have been designed to wear alongside the jerseys and seek to balance performance and comfort. The back of the bib-shorts are made from a mesh back panel, which is laser cut, and the pad is made from 12mm seamless breathable foam, which is perforated to aid breathability.
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For more info on the Ribble Nuovo range, visit www.ribblecycles.co.uk
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Blink and you might have missed this year’s WTS Hamburg sprint-distance women’s race, which saw reigning world champ Flora Duffy make light(ish) work of the historic German city’s streets to win her first WTS sprint distance and her third straight WTS race of 2017.
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Just off the 750m swim pace, which saw Brazil’s Vittoria Lopes exit in a blistering 9:15mins, Duffy used her world-beating pedal power to bring herself and a group of almost 25 athletes up to the front.
By the end of the first lap, Duffy, USA’s Kirstin Kasper and GB’s Jess Learmonth had made their intentions known, working as a formidable threesome to put some serious space between them and the chasers.
Halfway through the six-lap 20km bike course, and the gap had grown to 25 seconds.
With just over 6km to ride, Duffy decided she needed some alone time, shooting off the front with the remaining duo unable to respond. By T2, Duffy had built herself a cushion of 41 seconds for the start of the 5km run.
With Duffy’s lead never in doubt, the race was on for the remaining podium places. Having beasted the last few laps of the bike leg as a pair, Kasper and Learmonth were soon swallowed up by the fresher-legged chase-pack athletes. The first to make the move to the front was Australia’s Ashleigh Gentle, who raced into second for her third silver-medal finish of the season.
The next was New Zealand’s Andrea Hewitt (and winner of the Gold Coast and Abu Dhabi race), who was kept honest by Germany’s Laura Lindemann, Jolanda Annen (SUI) and the USA’s Katie Zaferes. But the local crowd helped decide the outcome, cheering Lindemann to a bronze medal in a sprint finish over Zaferes.
Duffy’s win also knocked Gwen Jorgensen’s biggest sprint winning margin, from London 2014, off the top spot, with a gap of 31 seconds the new benchmark.
Sophie Coldwell was the top-finishing Brit in 11th, Lucy Hall 14th and Jess Learmonth 17th.
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Duffy, who remains unbeaten in 2017, now stands fourth in the overall standings, behind Kasper in third, Gentle in second and Zaferes in first.
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