Start lists are out and no Lionel!
Does anyone know whether he picked up some injury? Very surprised he's not on it.

Ajax Bay wrote:

Linky?
https://www.ironman.com/pro-athletes
https://sportstats.one/...ronman-703-st-george

I see him on the link provided...

Is Cam Wurf really racing this? FWIW, Lionel shows up in the tracker.

. . . I’m gonna go with that start list.

This easiest: https://www.instagram.com/...0WePDyY/?img_index=2
32 WPros racing including T100 athletes: Findlay, Moench.
Hope Metzler J comes back with a bang and has a great race.

Looks like both WPro and MPro should be excellent races, but missing the cream (who are racing in the T100 Series). Many of those on the start list raced at Oceanside, a fair few at Singapore as T100 wildcards, and a few are even racing on Saturday in IM Texas (Lewis, Simpson, Currie, Hanson, Wilkowiecki, Magnien) - must assume that several of those will DNS. Slowtwitch's favourite Weiss on the list.

Lionel is finally not over-racing & is going to peak at championship races!! (or maybe he picked up an injury)

Lionel is finally not over-racing & is going to peak at championship races!! (or maybe he picked up an injury)

A quick look a the list shows that at least 11 athletes are already qualified:
Long, Landry, Sperl, Dubrick, Riele, Foley, Hamilton, Quenet, Klau, Arishita and M. Weiss.
It may be important for the IM Pro Series KQ contenders : Wilkowiecki, Magnien who may get one of the 4 slots for the WC. Mikki Taagholt who finished 6th at the 2022 70.3 WC there should be near the front. Guerbeur (FRA) who won l'Alpe d'Huez tri last year could benefit from the bike course.
So far, among the IM Pro Series contenders, only Currie is qualified for the 70.3 which gives him a boost for the Series, indeed, at the WC even a 8'20 (=500 points) difference to the winner gets as much as a win elsewhere. If Currie has a good race in Texas, he will be the early favorite for the season.

Ironman have published the start list 'properly' (at last):
https://files.constantcontact.com/...4e1-37e37525d7e5.pdf

No Lionel. I thought he was doing St. G. Was he not?

Recommend reading this thread. That was his stated intent and he was entered. You'll see that M2 is 'missing'. We wait for @talbot' update, apparently.

Tri247's take:
https://www.tri247.com/...-pro-series-sam-long
IM: https://proseries.ironman.com/...ronman-703-st-george
31 WPros; 70 MPros on the start list.
Following now not on start list:
Moench (F3)
Thek (F4)

Additions: Currie added (M6) - after his DNF/did not run on Saturday
Last year: https://www.trirating.com/...3-analyzing-results/
Metzler(W) is wearing F1: https://stats.protriathletes.org/athlete/jeanni-metzler
Findlay (F2), though, is the standout favourite.

I believe Currie posted on Instagram yesterday that he was back in NZ

Ajax Bay wrote:

"70.3 St. George will take place on Saturday May 4. The professional race will begin at 06:50 MDT, which corresponds to 05:50 on the West Coast, 13:50 (BST) in the UK and 14:50 (CEST) in continental Europe.
"The race will be broadcast live, with the event the third race this year to be broadcast on the dedicated IRONMAN Pro Series app. You will be able to watch for free on race day via the IRONMAN Pro Series website."
And preview, from here:

https://www.tri247.com/...s-preview-watch-live

You can watch on YouTube as well. Why do people stay on outside tv?

That guy just slotted in. Where's the penalty???

That guy in the blue kit... SHAME!!!!

Edit: That was M21. Shameful drafting a while ago.

M21 = Nic Quenet?

https://www.youtube.com/live/P6jDw1u-WMQ?si=uTp8ghsFhEeNF3il

Is it just me or does Laundry look like he's on like 145 cranks?

He waved him through at the start of snow canyon, and man that is a hard climb. I got to do it last summer in the world senior games as a hill climb tt, it is no joke. I think sam is thinking to just pace up it, and then there is a long gradual downhill where he can really smash anyone trying to hold 400 watts. And as I write this, sam is taking over the lead, had a nice break and is ready to hammer to the finish of T2

One thing overall I'm surprised about is the lack of quality of fields in these ironman series races. When they announced the big prize purse earlier, I really thought that these races would be super stacked at the front, and not full of BOP pros crowding up the races. It really doesnt even feel like the fields are better than what they were before the series money was put in.

I suppose it is the T100 effect and most of the names we have come to recognize are tied up and picking and choosing. That and the olympic year stuff, lot of great athletes who would normally race tied up there too. Really is going to be a nice bonus for some lower lever pros filling out the top 10 positions this year for sure...

And how much do we miss Lionel not racing here, looks like its giving Sam an easy chip shot to the hole...But anything can still happen, just doesnt seem like it at this point.

What's with all the chain drops? It looks like guys are riding one bys, not like it is a bumpy course. Maybe they need front chain holders. Did like Costes on the fly fix, done that many times myself back in the day. Just have to stop immediately and not jam that thing at the bottom of the crank, and it is easy peasy to pull it back on...

Sam Long is insane. Winning a 70.3 by over 6 minutes.

A great race for sam, just like the 3 previous ones, all right on track with super solid bike/runs..But come on Ed, I can think of 10 guys that can give him a race at worlds, none of which are here of course. As I said in an earlier post, the quality of field is super weak here, he should win by this much. I mean who are the next 3 guys again here?? Have we already forgot the 3 different guys that have beaten him this year already, and those with the real potential to once they cross back over to this distance??

He really needs to get that swim down with Lionel, it will matter later on when all the boys are on the line and on fire. Its kind of like there wasn't even a swim today, even though it was a really fast one with the guys at front drilling it..

And I'm a sam fanboy too, just want him to close the gaps so that he is not out run in the big races for the big places...

Problem is World's is soooo far away. I hope he can keep this form, but every other season and endurance sport suggests that's very unlikely.

piece of cake for Sam and Paula.

Who’s that Connor Weaver guy? He just ran a 1:08:34!!! Is that a run course record?

https://www.orlando2024trials.com/...142/34/connor-weaver

Google found this. I wonder if he's done a full yet? Says he's a Pro Tri in that link.

Taupo slots to:
Costes, Wilkowiecki, Sandi, Andrie(#12)
Metzler, Frades, Simpson, McBride
Disappointing to see no coverage of Hamilton running up into second. He passed Quenet and Sperl at about 13km and never looked back.
Did we even see him finish? With commentators focusing on Quenet, Laundry and Costes (in the mix for #3, 100 seconds back).
Hering tried and tried, closing to 22 seconds at 14km but Salthouse looked as if she'd held a bit back for that last 7km. And Findlay eased off massively/sensibly in the last 5km.
Hering shared she will be racing IM Hamburg: it'd be her first IM for 9 years! IM Pro Series influence.
Findlay thinks she might enjoy IMMT, next year - "we'll see!"


Think Long jumps to #1 on the PTO Rankings (with this score = about 98 with the 5% bonus) and as Blummenfelt drops off the plot (has to count his #35 finish in Lahti).
And Findlay (with 92.6) climbs a place, above Philipp.

Race Recap here: Findlay & Long Coast to 70.3 North American Championship Titles

Race Recap here: Findlay & Long Coast to 70.3 North American Championship Titles

I don't mind if you always call the racers by their name but rather I just wish you would put names under the photos where you can not see the racer's name. In this article, I don't know who the chick in the flowered tri suit is and I don't know who the guy on the bike is. He looks kind of like the guy getting his bike out in transition but OTOH the color of his leggings is black in the bike rack picture vs white in the pic where he's standing up on the bike, so who knows. I've noticed this in several past articles also. I follow tri fairly closely but I don't what all the pros look like. :)

Are you being thick or do you really have no idea who Ellie Salthouse is?

It's a huge margin and he wasn't pushed. How much faster could he go?//

On the bike and run, not much if any. He was pushed by the clock, and watching the race, he drilled it from the gun to the finish. Being able to pace your own run will most often get you your best time, vs having to chase or run with others who may be faster or surgey.


There are a half dozen guys in ITU that are now doing 70.3's who will be tough to beat, along with some of the PTO series guys that are either in front of him, or just behind. You dont have these gaps in PTO races, and like I said, who are the next 3 guys here? Look like up and coming pros who had a great day for them.


My big question now is does sam start thinking about the Ironman series?? I mean no one in this race is really going to be a factor, almost 500 points lost just to 2nd. I mean he probably cannot win the thing, but with one, maybe two fulls, well it could be possible to podium?? He could still get some good $$ for doing 5 half's at this level too, especially with a great worlds performance at the end. Has to be entering his mind I bet, so perhaps a full will suddenly appear on the horizon after a little break now for a good training bloc...

Great write up. In regards to your quick take 3 on the run, the run as definitely more difficult than 2022/23 years except for when we climbed up red cliffs in 2020/21.

This year we traded the flat section in town with a loop around the park for more climbing back out of town with a loop around the church. Significantly more climbing than last year, but Sam has said he loves the descents so it suited him well too.

StG is such a great race. I'm always surprised it doesn't sell out.

I chatted with Sam at Eric Wynn's ST get together BBQ in St. George. It "sounds" like Sam may be contemplating a full IM this summer some time. He mentioned Penticton being an option

Quick take #1. Burying Sam in the swim would be tough. He was ~3' down and won by over 7'. Nobody is going to put 10' on him. At this point, 70.3 distance, Sam would have to falter in order to get beat. I want to see him race this distance against Blu and Hayden Wilde. Throw Lionel in for grins and tickles.

Just out of curiosity how much vertical did you have on the 2024 run in st. George vs 2023/2022?

Penticton isn't a Series race, however lovely and a living/surviving legend (and I appreciate the reason you might float that).
I'd be surprised if he chose to race an IM just 'for fun': to be meaningful surely he would want to race a stacked field? And racing anywhere except an IM Pro Series race will be a 'B' field (racing one would take prize money from the the neo-pros who need it).
Long's two top 70.3s plus 2700+ points at Taupo means he could rack up 12000 points with two more 70.3s.
With his contracted T100 events, whilst he needs to race 3 more times, plus GF, he only needs one more podium in the regular season races. That determines when he might slot in an IM (or heaven help us two IMs) or two more 70.3s, or one of each.
So which T100 offers his best chance of good points? Probably not SF with its swim and climbing, and van Riel there btw.
London looks good with Ibiza a possible, but with an enhanced level of post Olympic competition. Las Vegas will lose all the Kona bound athletes but that'll mean a wedge of wildcard weapons to beat. So let's target London (end July) with Las Vegas as the standby, and Dubai as the kick return.
He has multiple North American 70.3s to choose from in the next 7 weeks so that's not a determining factor. But IMs?
If only one then IMLP is the obvious choice (21 July) but that would mean shelving London as a 'top finish' target.
Frankfurt on 18 August is another, but likely the winner there will be further ahead, and 'every second counts'. And he doesn't travel well. Doesn't clash with anything, though.
The numbers (tl;dr probably not worth it):
A set of five scores, including one good (for him) IM raises the IM Pro Series potential score to 14,500 which will be top 10 (my estimate) and remember #8 only pays $20k.
But an athlete who places average #20 when completing two IMs plus Kona (30 minutes down in all three) plus a couple of 70.3s (15 minutes down x 2), scores 13,800.
The max possible score (Ryf 2018 dominance) is 21,500. We might expect Lange to score about 19,000 points (now on 6519, +4800 (Frankfurt), +1900 (10 mins down in a second 70.3), +5800 (Kona)) and not go to Taupo (he has no slot nor likely to get). Who else, as a benchmark for whether it's worth Long trying to score 5 times?
We might expect Mignon to score over 18,000 points (now on 4641, +4400 (Frankfurt), +4000 (two 70.3s), +5400 (Kona)) and not go to Taupo.
I assume Blummenfelt is going to validate his AQ for Taupo after Cagliari (guess a gentle training day @ Les Sables) so he with only four races could score 15,300 (2000+4700(Frankfurt)+5800(Kona)+2800(Taupo))
Of course the current IM Pro Series standings include only NA races (x 3) and the European contenders have IM Vitoria and IM Frankfurt to show their cards before Kona. So we have a skewed insight to the likely players.
I shall cross post this into another (non-event specific) thread.

He was ~3' down and won by over 7'. Nobody is going to put 10' on him. At this point, 70.3 distance, Sam would have to falter in order to get beat.

70.3 distance on a hilly course with a categorized climb. Put Sam on your run of the mill Ironman 70.3 course and suddenly he’s no longer gobbling people up like pacman - 360 watts or not. Those trains are high speed rail nowadays.

Appreciate the time to do a write up. Good stuff!!

Quick take #1. Burying Sam in the swim would be tough. He was ~3' down and won by over 7'. Nobody is going to put 10' on him. At this point, 70.3 distance, Sam would have to falter in order to get beat. I want to see him race this distance against Blu and Hayden Wilde. Throw Lionel in for grins and tickles.

Good question, here's a bunch for comparison. I flipped between strava data and device data to see if it was out of wack and it was consistent.

2024 half - 875 ft
2023 half - 784 ft
2022 half worlds - 757 ft *
2022 Full - 1594ft
2021 half - 1010ft
2021 half worlds - 1092ft

*this should be a little more gain than 2022 worlds though I'd think because we did a little climb near the golf course entrance

Penticton isn't a Series race, however lovely and a living/surviving legend (and I appreciate the reason you might float that).
I'd be surprised if he chose to race an IM just 'for fun': to be meaningful surely he would want to race a stacked field? And racing anywhere except an IM Pro Series race will be a 'B' field (racing one would take prize money from the the neo-pros who need it).
Long's two top 70.3s plus 2700+ points at Taupo means he could rack up 12000 points with two more 70.3s.
With his contracted T100 events, whilst he needs to race 3 more times, plus GF, he only needs one more podium in the regular season races. That determines when he might slot in an IM (or heaven help us two IMs) or two more 70.3s, or one of each.
So which T100 offers his best chance of good points? Probably not SF with its swim and climbing, and van Riel there btw.
London looks good with Ibiza a possible, but with an enhanced level of post Olympic competition. Las Vegas will lose all the Kona bound athletes but that'll mean a wedge of wildcard weapons to beat. So let's target London (end July) with Las Vegas as the standby, and Dubai as the kick return.
He has multiple North American 70.3s to choose from in the next 7 weeks so that's not a determining factor. But IMs?
If only one then IMLP is the obvious choice (21 July) but that would mean shelving London as a 'top finish' target.
Frankfurt on 18 August is another, but likely the winner there will be further ahead, and 'every second counts'. And he doesn't travel well. Doesn't clash with anything, though.
The numbers (tl;dr probably not worth it):
A set of five scores, including one good (for him) IM raises the IM Pro Series potential score to 14,500 which will be top 10 (my estimate) and remember #8 only pays $20k.
But an athlete who places average #20 when completing two IMs plus Kona (30 minutes down in all three) plus a couple of 70.3s (15 minutes down x 2), scores 13,800.
The max possible score (Ryf 2018 dominance) is 21,500. We might expect Lange to score about 19,000 points (now on 6519, +4800 (Frankfurt), +1900 (10 mins down in a second 70.3), +5800 (Kona)) and not go to Taupo (he has no slot nor likely to get). Who else, as a benchmark for whether it's worth Long trying to score 5 times?
We might expect Mignon to score over 18,000 points (now on 4641, +4400 (Frankfurt), +4000 (two 70.3s), +5400 (Kona)) and not go to Taupo.
I assume Blummenfelt is going to validate his AQ for Taupo after Cagliari (guess a gentle training day @ Les Sables) so he with only four races could score 15,300 (2000+4700(Frankfurt)+5800(Kona)+2800(Taupo))
Of course the current IM Pro Series standings include only NA races (x 3) and the European contenders have IM Vitoria and IM Frankfurt to show their cards before Kona. So we have a skewed insight to the likely players.
I shall cross post this into another (non-event specific) thread.

Serious question, was the 2024 bike course yesterday meaningfully different than it was for 70.3 Worlds 2021?

Iden rode 1:58 that day and ran 1:11 on a (subjectively) harder run.

Remember, he is all in on T100. He would be racing an IM to qualify for Kona.

Penticton isn't a Series race, however lovely and a living/surviving legend (and I appreciate the reason you might float that).
I'd be surprised if he chose to race an IM just 'for fun': to be meaningful surely he would want to race a stacked field? And racing anywhere except an IM Pro Series race will be a 'B' field (racing one would take prize money from the the neo-pros who need it).
Long's two top 70.3s plus 2700+ points at Taupo means he could rack up 12000 points with two more 70.3s.
With his contracted T100 events, whilst he needs to race 3 more times, plus GF, he only needs one more podium in the regular season races. That determines when he might slot in an IM (or heaven help us two IMs) or two more 70.3s, or one of each.
So which T100 offers his best chance of good points? Probably not SF with its swim and climbing, and van Riel there btw.
London looks good with Ibiza a possible, but with an enhanced level of post Olympic competition. Las Vegas will lose all the Kona bound athletes but that'll mean a wedge of wildcard weapons to beat. So let's target London (end July) with Las Vegas as the standby, and Dubai as the kick return.
He has multiple North American 70.3s to choose from in the next 7 weeks so that's not a determining factor. But IMs?
If only one then IMLP is the obvious choice (21 July) but that would mean shelving London as a 'top finish' target.
Frankfurt on 18 August is another, but likely the winner there will be further ahead, and 'every second counts'. And he doesn't travel well. Doesn't clash with anything, though.
The numbers (tl;dr probably not worth it):
A set of five scores, including one good (for him) IM raises the IM Pro Series potential score to 14,500 which will be top 10 (my estimate) and remember #8 only pays $20k.
But an athlete who places average #20 when completing two IMs plus Kona (30 minutes down in all three) plus a couple of 70.3s (15 minutes down x 2), scores 13,800.
The max possible score (Ryf 2018 dominance) is 21,500. We might expect Lange to score about 19,000 points (now on 6519, +4800 (Frankfurt), +1900 (10 mins down in a second 70.3), +5800 (Kona)) and not go to Taupo (he has no slot nor likely to get). Who else, as a benchmark for whether it's worth Long trying to score 5 times?
We might expect Mignon to score over 18,000 points (now on 4641, +4400 (Frankfurt), +4000 (two 70.3s), +5400 (Kona)) and not go to Taupo.
I assume Blummenfelt is going to validate his AQ for Taupo after Cagliari (guess a gentle training day @ Les Sables) so he with only four races could score 15,300 (2000+4700(Frankfurt)+5800(Kona)+2800(Taupo))
Of course the current IM Pro Series standings include only NA races (x 3) and the European contenders have IM Vitoria and IM Frankfurt to show their cards before Kona. So we have a skewed insight to the likely players.
I shall cross post this into another (non-event specific) thread.

2021 had km or so false flat out of Sand Hollow parking lot on chip seal where now we race in sand hollow on fast asphalt. So faster now in this section.

2021 had an out and back chipseal road after leaving the sand hollow sand dune climb that was a hard u-turn, so that's a little slower than the u-uturn we make on the highway outside of sand hollow now. Plus a similar out and back in 2021 into the town of Washington that was a little bumpy and slowed things a bit. But 70.3 worlds had bike catchers earlier on Tabernacle street so you didn't have such a long slow down to get into t2 in 2021. So maybe we could say this bike course was 30s-1min faster.

Gustav of '21 vs Sam of '24, Sam still loses, but by 1 minute instead of 4 if you ask me.

2021 had km or so false flat out of Sand Hollow parking lot on chip seal where now we race in sand hollow on fast asphalt. So faster now in this section.

2021 had an out and back chipseal road after leaving the sand hollow sand dune climb that was a hard u-turn, so that's a little slower than the u-uturn we make on the highway outside of sand hollow now. Plus a similar out and back in 2021 into the town of Washington that was a little bumpy and slowed things a bit. But 70.3 worlds had bike catchers earlier on Tabernacle street so you didn't have such a long slow down to get into t2 in 2021. So maybe we could say this bike course was 30s-1min faster.

Gustav of '21 vs Sam of '24, Sam still loses, but by 1 minute instead of 4 if you ask me.

2021 was also a WC, with folks peaking for the event. 2024 was an early/mid season race that Sam was going into after doing a number of IM/T100 races prior.

So based on this even the t100 fields are bad haha.

Yesterday Sam said he IS doing T100 San Francisco.

I have not tracked it, but I assume Penticton is an Ironman Pro race, but perhaps not part of the Pro Series but does it offer pro slots to go to Kona? If so, Penticton is easy travel given it is in Sam's time zone and maybe an easy Kona slot and if he has all the T100 points he needs, then he does Penticton as a training day gets his Kona slot and races penticton for IM Pro series points.

I have not skin in the game on Penticton, Sam was the one who mentioned it as a potential event

This is a tremendous point - Sam rode and ran like he did for shits and gigs, not for a title

Taupo slots to:
Costes, Wilkowiecki, Sandi, Andrie(#12)
Metzler, Frades, Simpson, McBride
Disappointing to see no coverage of Hamilton running up into second. He passed Quenet and Sperl at about 13km and never looked back.
Did we even see him finish? With commentators focusing on Quenet, Laundry and Costes (in the mix for #3, 100 seconds back).
Hering tried and tried, closing to 22 seconds at 14km but Salthouse looked as if she'd held a bit back for that last 7km. And Findlay eased off massively/sensibly in the last 5km.
Hering shared she will be racing IM Hamburg: it'd be her first IM for 9 years! IM Pro Series influence.
Findlay thinks she might enjoy IMMT, next year - "we'll see!"


Think Long jumps to #1 on the PTO Rankings (with this score = about 98 with the 5% bonus) and as Blummenfelt drops off the plot (has to count his #35 finish in Lahti).
And Findlay (with 92.6) climbs a place, above Philipp.

Why does he get a 5% bonus I thought you only get that for full distance races?