Do we know why?

It would have been great if the series was raced across various distances, but the whole rebranding to T100 probably means that we would be stuck with that distance for quite some time. Having a season-long narrative has been the PTO's main talking point and they want to establish the T100 as the premiere middle to long(ish)-distance triathlon. It would have been great if there was a non-drafting Olympic distance, 70.3, and a full or even just a T200 in addition to the T100. That's probably something they'll consider if the series becomes sustainable in the future.

I have wondered the same thing for a while now. He moved to Europe, and that was the last anyone heard. Even if he was injured, you would think some form of statement or social media update would be put out there... however in saying this, he admittedly isn't big on social media haha

i've thought the same. i think half the fun of the middle distance is seeing the short- vs. long-course specialists squaring off in the middle. imagine if the PTO series had a duathlon? a triple sprint? a flat-fast T100? a hilly ironman? would be really cool to see that play out.

maybe it's old fashioned, but i find the homogenization less interesting than the different challenges thrown up by varied courses/formats/distances.

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https://lshtm.academia.edu/MikeCallaghan

http://howtobeswiss.blogspot.ch/

I think that all sounds really fun to watch and see unfold I just don’t think it’s feasible for pros though. The competition for these races is insane now. No more can a top pro just show up to any race and have an easy day. There is always someone ready to have it be their world champs. The amount of prep that goes into these races for specific courses and conditions is insane. And that’s knowing races will be swim/bike/run 100km. Throwing all those different variables you mentioned into the mix would make a season really hard to plan for and execute.

Ditlev has a fractured wrist....

https://www.tri247.com/...53j87Ixs_6DoFPeVNf7o

More than the prep it will entail for the athlete, it's really just about the PTO wanting to sell a standardized broadcast product. They can market the T100 series as 3.5 hour event with 8 races all over the world. Having 2 Olympic distance, 2 T100s, 2 70.3s, 2 T200/full distance events over a season would be a harder product to sell. I blame the popularity of F1 and the Netflix show. Suddenly every sport now wants their own version of DTS and more TV-friendly events.

Women's odds courtesy of Skybet (mens isn't there probably cos Ditlevs wrist)

. Gentle 4/6
. LCB 5/2
. Sodaro 6/1
. Lee 6/1
. Simmonds 12/1
. Watkinson 14/1
. Byram 14/1
. Chura 16/1
. Salthouse 20/1
. Wilms 20/1

Any others you want to know ask.


Buckingham 33/1

I've gone in on Buckingham at 33/1 on EW, seems a decent value for money bet, I'm also tempted to throw a fiver on Lee at that price, see if any value, when they put the mens back on.

Thats mad, I saw Ditlev had a crash and went on skybet straight away lastnight and all the odds were on there for the men. I grabbed Ali at 8/1 on a boost.

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@the.lazy.triathlete

https://www.strava.com/athletes/18691068

Was Ditlev on there? I expect they're re doing the odds, 8/1 on Brownlee is definitely worth a punt.

yes he was favourite on there, I want to say he was something like 2/1.

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@the.lazy.triathlete

https://www.strava.com/athletes/18691068

You did well getting in there before they figured Ditlev was probably going to pull out.

ProTriNews (recorded Tuesday) predicted Ditlev would DNS
https://podcasts.apple.com/...ri-news/id1559781865 (@ 1:00:04)

My point was more they can dictate “terms” to athletes because they have the money. They talk publicly like they are all good with all other series and “their” athletes getting to race other events…..I call bullshit. So it wouldn’t shock me at all if next year they tighten the restrictions on race schedules, again especially if what half the field is being paid close to 6 figure appearance fees. Eventually pros will realize they are going to have to be “all in” on pto or essentially they aren’t going to be apart of it. That’s easily the way pto will go to protect their investment.

Again publicly they want to support pros and their choices but I don’t think for a second they want athletes to do what Sam long is doing- racing back to back weekends or what knibb did. Race a rival series over their series. It’s called business and especially when their long term success is built on the pros. So if it’s not the distance that will change it will with almost certainity be tighter restrictions on participation. They aren’t going to make it with just letting athletes race any race any time they want, that’s not how you run a successful race series that is only successful if you get millions of people to tune in and support it. It’s destined that it will come down to t100 vs IM. They will have to do that to have the best chance at actually making it. They aren’t going to have events long term where maybe your best is there and maybe they aren’t. That’s not how you run a successful entertaining product and that is what this is more than just a “race”.

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

I agree with you, pros will have to show some commitment.

As previously stated, Mignon plans to race 3 full IM in less than 4 months , July (Roth), July (Frankfurt chasing Kona) and October -Kona-! So it looks hard for him to get a great result in London (July) or Ibiza.
It does not make sense if you are contracted then why race Roth especially when you first T100 race is a DNF. He does not need the money. Unless he has great results, which is capable of, he risks not being kept on a contract given the limited commitment he shows.

On the french broadcast of Oceanside, it was strange to hear Chevalier say '''oh and Sam Long had a good result in 'a' race in Miami, obviously they had been briefed not to mention PTO, but given how only fans watch triathlon it sound lame.

The broadcast in french was so much better no 'Maurteen move' or endless advertising. And having a current pro on deck is better than having people reminescing of their glory days or knowing less about the athletes than the viewers....

Anyone know why Gomez is out then? Can't see anything on a search.

While they might be a little annoyed about Knibb, I think they realize they aren't going to get an Olympian to travel to Singapore for their race. If their race was in San Francisco this weekend, and Knibb skipped it for Oceanside last week, yes they'd have a right to be pissed. But they have to understand Singapore is going to be a big stretch for their Olympic athletes.

Sam Long is at least going and not giving some lame too-far travel excuse to turn around and race St George in his backyard. I think he probably raced Oceanside too hard and it will affect his Singapore result. If Sam takes 3-5th in Singapore, he's going to be wondering if it was worth it and if he should have just dedicated one weekend to the T100 instead of putting that load on his legs in Oceanside. But he's not blowing off the T100 like so many other contract athletes are.

These other guys need to show up and race unless they are seriously ill or badly injured. If you can't race all out, fine. Get the pants beat off you. But for PTO to pay these guys to get to the start line and then have them drop out because they don't feel like they are fit enough to fully showcase their talent is BS. PTO needs these athletes to start the race for their narrative, not be absent from the narrative altogether. Gomez DNF'ing part way through the bike gives them some story during the broadcast and gives them some broll they can recall of him later in the season as he's racing for redemption. Gomez just not starting leaves them nothing.

The pro talk a big game when it comes to deserves. And guys like Sam are showing they will put in the work and make themselves worth it. The others are a joke when it comes to compensation for sports entertainment. As athletes, they may be absolute beasts. As a training decision it might be the right call. But they are paid to race. Not DNS.

I think the sorta scary part is that if (more like when) the pto goes away, it's almost certainly agreed by many, so will the IM Pro Series. So I just think all these pro's that are half in / half out are really only doing the whole thing no favors. Like the PTO needs 100% buy in from everyone from the start. They basically conceded to the Olympic athletes, but everyone else should be busting their ass to race a full schedule. But again for the most part, we've never had pro's collectively care about anything but themselves, and you can't really blame them with how poor money is in our sport. But if the pro's can't even really buy in fully to this, how in the hell do you think the general public is. And you need an entire field committed, not this 6 of the 20 all in and the rest fillers. You need 20-30 athletes going all in and build that up. They gave way too much leeway and again I think it's all smoke and mirrors that they want to give the athletes chances to race other races. You'd be idiotic to truly feel that way, beyond basically the olympic athletes.

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

33/1 are great odds to bet on Bucky. And 4/6 on Gentle is a terrible payday! Yes I do have her in #1 in Fantasy, but don’t people know how unpredictable triathlon is?

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"FTP is a bit 2015, don't you think?" - Gustav Iden

I do agree PTO should have simply asked for either exclusivity or at a maximum only allowed two races outside of their own series.

No doubt it sucks to fly to Singapore for some. But plenty of athletes. Manage long distance events and if that's what T100 needs to do to put on their races so be it.

Whatever happens next year, I'm looking forward to racing this format in Vegas. Just a little bit shorter than 70.3 I really think is ideal from a participant standpoint.

I think we can all be certain that the restrictions next year will be a whole lot tighter than this year for any contracted athletes. I imagine they will not be exclusive deals as I don't see them denying LCB a shot at defending her Kona crown, but I wouldn't be surprised if athletes are only allowed to miss 1 race maximum. If athletes want to race on top of that then they can, but then they should not expect to be welcomed back the following year (if the PTO makes it that far).

I do wish more of the athletes were all the way in on this series because it really is head and shoulders above anything else out there. They're going to be really bummed when it vanishes and they didn't give it their best effort.

There are 10 PTO races next year, at least that is what they are promising. Missing one means you have to do 9 and that’s your entire season. It’s a tough one for many, especially if the contract is 70-100k. The prize money is on par with IM series or slightly less but contract is guaranteed cash in the bank!

Why don’t we wait to make judgement on Gomez until we hear why he dropped out? Don’t forget these are human beings too and there could be other factors going on that we don’t know about. There has been no report of injury or illness so let’s wait to see.

I think the biggest problem with why athletes are not racing these early season races is the pto itself. They promised to get the schedule out back in October but it didn’t officially come out until almost February. It is very hard to plan a season with travel and prep on such short notice for these pros and we are now seeing the early season results. Many pros thought the pto might not even have a full season which is why some made sure they were qualified to Ironman worlds. If pto gets their act together early this year I think you will see a lot more buy in to early races next year. And no Olympics so no excuse there next year either.

I think in Gomez case, I suspect there is something else going on (fitness, illness). It was reported that it was an "injury" but he seems unusually secretive and vague about it. This guy raced at the highest level for decades with a bicuspid aortic valve so I often wonder if this could ever affect his performance one day.

Despite list of no-shows, still plenty of horsepower so hopefully a pretty competitive race.

Has he been training? I presume yes. Can he show up and lose the race but still take part? I presume yes. Are he (and others) protecting their ego at the cost of the season long narrative which the PTO is paying for? It seems like, Yes.

From a production stand point, I guess I'm just looking at it saying just because you can't redline the race doesn't mean you shouldn't show up and get bottom five and help provide PTO with the content they are paying you to show up for and provide.

It should be obvious that not everyone can win in this group of champions. So show up, race, get last or DNF. You've got Lucy Charles having calf issues going into Kona saying, F-it, I'm still going to race because she values the importance of it being a World Championship.

That's the point -- if this was the Olympics, would Gomez pull out? No, short of a serious issue (which if you're saying there's a heart issue, that's obviously serious), he'd get out there and race. I'm not even saying they need to redline it like it's their one shot at the Olympics but PTO is trying to build, and indeed paying for these guys to treat every PTO race like a Championship race. And they are basically treating it like another stop on the 70.3 circuit they can just skip.