Tempo Talks-IMWC recap, 70.3 announcements and more
A look back at a phenomenal weekend in Nice, a look forward to Kona and Marbella. A discussion of a 70.3 WC in Oman and much, much more on the latest episode of Tempo Talks. Matt and Jeff go deep and bring you a varied perspective on all things triathlon.
Links to topics discussed:
The TriDoc Podcast
Matt's Instagram
Jeff's Instagram
Email Jeff: tri_doc@icloud.com
Email Matt: Matt@thetemponews.com
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Transcript
What would happen if you brought together a professional triathlete and producer of one of the most widely read triathlon newsletters.
Speaker B:Together with the tridoc medical contributor for Triathlete magazine, age group winner and coach at LifeSport coaching.
Speaker A:Let's say you had the makings of a pretty good podcast.
Speaker B:Welcome to Tempo Talks.
Speaker B:Two perspectives, one sport all things triathlon.
Speaker B:Hello everyone.
Speaker B:Welcome back to another episode of Tempo Talks.
Speaker B:Your co host here, Matthew Sharp, alongside the better half.
Speaker B:Co HOST I like to say every time it's going to do it.
Speaker B:Dr. Jeffrey Sankoff.
Speaker B:Jeff, how are we doing?
Speaker B:You are actually going to be packing for a race.
Speaker B:Packing for the race after this.
Speaker A:Yep.
Speaker A:I have got my, my, a lot of my gear is all set aside ready to go and once we finish this I actually have one last swim to do.
Speaker A:So I'm going to head over to the pool and then once I get back from that I got to pack up the bike and have the bike ready to go.
Speaker A:A lot of last.
Speaker A:It's not really last minute.
Speaker A:I don't leave till tomorrow night but because I work.
Speaker B:But you gotta get it done.
Speaker A:Yeah, I work all day and I won't really have a chance to do it tomorrow.
Speaker B:Nice.
Speaker B:How are you feeling for this race?
Speaker B:How are the vibes?
Speaker A:Definitely feel better than I did, certainly way better than Boulder.
Speaker A:I felt pretty good going into Oregon and I had, I thought a better race.
Speaker A:I feel better still because I feel like I've had a really good training block.
Speaker A:I feel like I haven't had as much success really and consistency running this year as I have previously.
Speaker A:But like my coach says he's the running that I did as much running as I did last year.
Speaker A:It's kind of a little bit hardwired.
Speaker A:I feel like I can rely on that a little bit and I've had some good solid long runs recently so.
Speaker B:Excellent.
Speaker A:Yeah, I'm feeling, feeling, feeling reasonably good.
Speaker A:How about yourself?
Speaker A:Are you got anything on the horizon?
Speaker A:I know you were telling me before we started recording you injury.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:So I've actually got a little flare up of a, an injury like I broke my toe earlier this year and as it turns out it hasn't quite healed properly.
Speaker B:It's not so bad that I can't run on it but it's just a little inconsistent in terms of if the pain will crop up because basically what happened was I went for a run, it would have been last week and all of a sudden it just like from the first step there's pain and sometimes it Would get randomly achy but never like true pain.
Speaker B:And when I was doing this run like I ran for 8 minutes total cuz I was like, okay, this isn't getting better.
Speaker B:This is.
Speaker B:I'm not working this out.
Speaker B:Like it's just there I ended up getting like the scan and whatnot and there's a little bit of a crack still on the top of this bone.
Speaker B:But talk to the sports doctor and whatnot and he's not concerned.
Speaker B:That was his words.
Speaker B:He's not concerned about it.
Speaker B:But I'm actually, I've got this.
Speaker B:The exogen.
Speaker B:Are you familiar with the exogen?
Speaker B:You must be.
Speaker B:It's a bone stem.
Speaker A:Oh yes, I know about that.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So I'm going to be using that and just trying to get this thing cleaned up, peeled up as much as possible.
Speaker B:But originally I was actually thinking maybe gonna jump into this Ironman Arizona.
Speaker B:It could be a fun first race.
Speaker B:Not so hilly like Marbella.
Speaker B:So a little more up my alley but with the kind of uncertainty with the pain and whatnot.
Speaker B:Definitely not ready for a full Ironman build unfortunately.
Speaker B:So TBD on the next race for me anyways.
Speaker A:Do you think you'll.
Speaker A:Oh, so tbd.
Speaker A:I was gonna ask, do you think you'll make it back to a start line this year?
Speaker A:But I guess the offseason it's definitely.
Speaker B:In the cards for sure.
Speaker B:I just.
Speaker B:When you have a crack in your bone that's not very.
Speaker B:That's not very nice to have.
Speaker A:It's not conducive.
Speaker A:It's not conducive to training.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:And with the inconsistency, uncertainty like I've been running the last.
Speaker B:Whatever little bit now and no pain, no sim whatever sensations or anything which is just so weird.
Speaker B:I definitely want to get a handle on this because there's definitely races like in November and December that I could actually do.
Speaker A:And you're biking and swimming still.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:Because those aren't causing you to jump.
Speaker B:Yeah, definitely.
Speaker B:All good there.
Speaker A:And do you, when you have a running injury like this, do you switch over to things like elliptical or water running or even alter G or do you just stay off it altogether?
Speaker B:It's funny like the water running thing because when I was younger I had so many injuries and definitely put in some time in the pool, water running.
Speaker B:I think if mentally, if it's going to make you feel good about doing something and doing that, I guess stimulus, then go for it.
Speaker B:I really think.
Speaker B:Otherwise I don't think it's worth the time in a Lot of ways I think it's.
Speaker B:You're better to like, maybe do another swim or do some more biking or something.
Speaker B:Obviously, if it doesn't cause pain to your injury, I think that's just better.
Speaker B:ROI for time versus water running in terms of elliptical, you see a lot of people have success with elliptical.
Speaker B:If you enjoy it, if you get on there, throw some music on, have a podcast or something, go to town, like, I think that's fine.
Speaker B:And then that kind of like Alter G have.
Speaker B:You're familiar with the Alter G?
Speaker A:Yeah, I used to.
Speaker A:I used it when I was coming back from my hip surgery.
Speaker B:Super effective tool if you have access to it.
Speaker B:I know sometimes it can cost people a lot of money, but if you have a decent access to it and it's so much nicer to actually feel like you're running than just not running.
Speaker B:So recommend that.
Speaker B:Definitely.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:It's interesting to hear your approach because with water running, yeah, the whole theory is that you're activating the same muscles, but there's just.
Speaker B:So if you're a runner, if you're training for a marathon and you have something crop up before the marathon where it makes sense like that you can still race, then I would say definitely just water run, because you're going to get the same stimulus.
Speaker B:If you're not really someone who like swims and bikes, then, yeah, it doesn't make sense.
Speaker B:But if you're a triathlete, you can just put that onto the other disciplines and get some nice benefits that way.
Speaker A:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker A:Yes, it is, Matt.
Speaker A:We've got a good lineup today.
Speaker A:We are going to recap what was just a phenomenal Ironman World Championships.
Speaker A:We'll probably spend a bulk of the time talking about that.
Speaker A:I think there's a lot to unpack there.
Speaker A:We will discuss a couple of Items about the 70.3 World Championships, a beef that I have to Ironman around Marbella.
Speaker A:But then also we'll talk about the announcement of the 29 location for 70.3 worlds.
Speaker A:If you haven't heard about that, stay tuned.
Speaker A:And we are going to just briefly recap the finale of the Vuelta Espana.
Speaker A:How.
Speaker A:Just coming back to what we talked about on the last episode last week, about those protests and the disruptions, they really loomed huge in on this past weekend on the final stage.
Speaker A:It was very unfortunate and what that might portend for cycling in the future.
Speaker A:And if we have time, and I'm sure we will, we'll just make time.
Speaker A:We'll just touch very briefly on the final Ironman Arizona.
Speaker A:It's a little bit sad.
Speaker A:I've heard from some people who are sad to see that race go.
Speaker A:But let's begin first with the Ironman World Championships, which I have to say, I was reading a bunch of articles, Matt, and people were saying how they didn't see Casper Storn as a real threat.
Speaker A:And I'm like, clearly they didn't listen to us.
Speaker B:Did we call Storm as a threat?
Speaker A:I said that he would be a podium threat.
Speaker B:And interesting.
Speaker B:Yep, you're on that.
Speaker A:I didn't say he would win, but I said you didn't pick podium.
Speaker A:He would be at podium.
Speaker B:You hedged your bets a little bit?
Speaker B:I gave a full pod.
Speaker A:Absolutely.
Speaker A:I hedged my bets.
Speaker A:But when I said my top five, I said that I thought that he would be one of the people to look out for.
Speaker B:Definitely.
Speaker B:Did you stay up at all to watch this race?
Speaker A:I did not.
Speaker A:But I did wake up in the morning to see a text from you saying, Matthew looks like he's struggling early.
Speaker A:Not a good sign.
Speaker A:And when I quickly pulled up, my tracker found out he was in ninth place.
Speaker A:And I'm like, aha.
Speaker B:Yeah, I did that.
Speaker B:This is the second time I've done that for your boy Matthew Marquardt.
Speaker B:So I should just keep doing that so he can still.
Speaker A:That's right.
Speaker A:Let's start right from the beginning and we'll just go through the race because it was a phenomenal day and I thought, I really think that it.
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker A:For all the people who are excited to see the race go back to Kona, this was a absolute poster for why the race needs to be somewhere else.
Speaker B:But anyway, truly, no, I was watching this race and they were panning with the camera, the helicopters footage of these beautiful French villages in the countryside.
Speaker B:I was like, oh, my God, this is incredible.
Speaker B:And then you had that combined with what was happening on the course, it was incredibly compelling.
Speaker B:But yes, I definitely stayed up.
Speaker B:I stayed up until the top of the hill because I knew the beginning of this race was going to be absolutely critical, especially to the top of that climb, for how it shook out the rest of the way.
Speaker B:And it certainly did.
Speaker B:Like even just pre race, the footage of the guys getting ready, the nerves were high.
Speaker B:I was feeling the nerves.
Speaker B:It was just like palpable for me.
Speaker B:But it was hilarious too.
Speaker B:Cause they were showing their pre race routines.
Speaker B:And it started off at one point, you saw Jamie Riddle.
Speaker B:He was doing this crazy.
Speaker B:I don't even know what it was Not Pilates, but just some crazy, like, pre race routine.
Speaker B:He was put his hand in his mouth and doing these arm circle things.
Speaker B:So that kind of just set the tone.
Speaker B:You had Patrick Lange in this, like, boxing, like, cheetah print robe, just heading down to the race start, which was smart because you saw a lot of guys do a swim warmup, and they looked freezing as they were getting out of the swim and not drying off.
Speaker B:But Lange knew he had to make a fashion statement and stay warm.
Speaker B:So starting this race, it played out exactly as we thought it would.
Speaker B:You basically had a full.
Speaker B:The guys who competed at the Olympics last year basically pretended that they were still competing in the Olympics.
Speaker B:In terms of the pace, they were taking it out.
Speaker B:Martin Van Real, Jamie Riddle, Jonas Schomberg basically were full tilt from the very gun to the whole way.
Speaker B:You also had Andrea Salvisberg from Switzerland in that bunch.
Speaker B:And even.
Speaker B:I think he was even after 400 meters or 500 meters.
Speaker B:You saw Riddle basically pull over and do backstroke and allow these other athletes to go through, which that's a move of mine.
Speaker B:So I'm gonna take a little bit of credit.
Speaker A:We talked about that.
Speaker A:We said that a couple of these guys might go really hard at the beginning to try and break away.
Speaker A:But what was interesting to me is that they didn't really establish a huge time difference.
Speaker A:And I wonder why you think that is.
Speaker A:Because the top guys came out 45 11, but it was really only a minute and a half through Sam Laidlaw.
Speaker B:Yes, yes.
Speaker A:Not a big gap.
Speaker B:And it was interesting too, because Laid Low clearly struggling right from the gun.
Speaker B:Like he.
Speaker B:Like, I was watching, I was like, man, I think that's him.
Speaker B:Like eight position back on the feet.
Speaker B:But it was really hard to tell at some points with the coverage.
Speaker B:But then you saw footage of him, like at one point just flipping onto his back and almost stopping.
Speaker B:Which was not great for my podium picks.
Speaker B:Cause he was the guy I picked to win.
Speaker B:So I was like, oh, no, it's over for Laid Low.
Speaker B:It's over for my podium.
Speaker B:Thinking about how these guys really push the pace.
Speaker B:Like, the thing is, they obviously rent really hard.
Speaker B:But then everyone who's on their feet, there's a bit of an accordion effect in the group where these guys are up front.
Speaker B:They don't have to do too many massive surges.
Speaker B:But as it goes further back and you saw it, it was totally strung out at points there until it broke up.
Speaker B:There wasn't distinct packs.
Speaker B:But if you're the last guy in that line of 20 people, the accelerations from the front just the way it would accordion.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And when you saw them on the bike, like, it's not like they caught them quickly.
Speaker B:I think there was just so much fatigue from that swim that people who, even though they weren't far back they were, almost had to recover the first bit of the bike to then start making moves.
Speaker B:And some people obviously did not make moves to the front.
Speaker A:I thought it was interesting that the time was so fast.
Speaker A:45 minutes for a swim.
Speaker B:Two minutes then.
Speaker B:Nice.
Speaker B:Two years ago.
Speaker B:Two minutes.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And do you think that's just a reflection of the very strong Olympic type swimmers thrashing the pace?
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:It's always getting quicker, but it doesn't get two minutes quicker in two years like these guys.
Speaker B:It was a team time trial in that swim, which really set the tone for the entire rest of the race.
Speaker B:Like you saw them, like, even though they worked really hard on the front, they were able to establish a great gap on the bike for the first third anyways.
Speaker A:I know that's what really amazed me is because you had guys coming out in 50, 51 minutes, which is normally a answer.
Speaker A:And you've got like, guys like skipper is down at 50 minutes and Chris Lieferman, friend of ours, 51 minutes.
Speaker A:These are decent times.
Speaker A:But they're.
Speaker A:By the time they're out of the swim, they're already five minutes back.
Speaker A:It's not a good sign.
Speaker B:Yeah, you had a group of nine which included those three guys.
Speaker B:You also had Casper Stornes in that front group of nine, which I think helped him closer to the end of the race, really.
Speaker B:And then the second group back was about a minute back that had Blumenfeld, Rudy von Berg.
Speaker B:I don't think Lalo was in there.
Speaker B:I think he was even further back than that.
Speaker B:And there was a group with Gustav and Laid Low and a bunch of others.
Speaker B:And that was okay, two minutes back.
Speaker B:That's not terrible.
Speaker B:Two or two minutes or so.
Speaker B:But then you had the six minute group, like Sam Long, right.
Speaker B:Leon Chevalier, Cam Wurf, like those guys.
Speaker B:So you're six minutes back coming out of the swim.
Speaker B:I don't want to say I was thinking like, okay, the race isn't over, but there's no way these guys can overcome that with the people who are ahead of them in a kind of group.
Speaker B:There's no way they're podiuming.
Speaker B:That's what I thought.
Speaker A:Yeah, and rightly so.
Speaker B:I also thought Laid Low was done and then all of a sudden he got on his bike, he looked terrible starting, but as it was going on the flat section, he was making up ground pretty quickly.
Speaker B:So he clearly had not thrown in the towel quite yet, which was great to see.
Speaker A:Yeah, he had an up and down day and he was surged to the front and then fall away and then you never knew what you were going to get with him.
Speaker A:But anyways.
Speaker A:All right, let's just talk about the bike course, which really I think set us up because you and I both talked about how we thought there'd be a pack coming off the bike.
Speaker A:And indeed there was a very exciting.
Speaker B:There was, there was.
Speaker A:Let's just talk about how the bike unfolded.
Speaker B:So the way the bike unfolded, you had those three guys break away and then you had a second group which had like Blumenfeld, Rudy von Berg, a few others.
Speaker B:And then behind you had Gustav and Sam Laidlow coming up from behind.
Speaker B:And as they hit the foot of the big climb.
Speaker B:Can you pronounce it?
Speaker B:Is it the call de Lech?
Speaker B:Is that how you say it?
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, I believe that is how you say it.
Speaker B:Okay, nice.
Speaker B:My, my French coming through.
Speaker B:So as they hit the bottom of that climb, I think they had a 90 second, maybe almost two minute gap, like the front three to the next chasers.
Speaker B:And then we knew like this climb was gonna make the race really.
Speaker B:And as it went on, you saw athletes, especially Patrick Lange, who started actually in a pretty decent position, just really fall back quickly as you, as it went on, you saw that guys like Cam Wurf and Sam Long weren't making up any time to the leaders ahead.
Speaker B:And really like the front three were still powering through like they were doing their three man breakaway that they did in the swim on that climb, like they weren't losing too much time.
Speaker B:And so as they crested the hill and that was at about 60k I think, or so into the race, maybe a bit more, then it was clear, okay, like the gap was starting to come down a little bit.
Speaker B:It was like, okay, maybe these guys are going to get caught at some point on this plateau.
Speaker B:Because you had a group behind them with Gustav, with Sam, laid low with Magnus Ditlev.
Speaker B:Nick Thompson from Australia, who was a bit of a surprise, but a great cyclist.
Speaker B:He was there.
Speaker B:They eventually rolled up on those guys on that kind of plateau.
Speaker B:It's.
Speaker B:They called the plateau.
Speaker B:I think it was still hilly, but it was on that plateau section.
Speaker A:Yeah, Huge, huge surprise.
Speaker A:Nick Thompson, we'll get back to him in a little bit.
Speaker A:But yeah, you had this two minute Gap between the three Riddle.
Speaker A:Van Real.
Speaker A:Yeah, Van Real.
Speaker A:Am I saying that right?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And then Schomberg who basically as you said, were just kind of time traveling their way up.
Speaker A:And then big group Feld, Laidlau, Thompson, Stornis and Ditlev was somewhere in that mix.
Speaker A:He unfortunately did go on to finish.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So what happened, like in my viewing, like I was watching these guys basically come up over the top of the hill.
Speaker B:I wanted to see what the split was there.
Speaker B:And then I was, I think I was like, I gotta get to bed.
Speaker B:Like it was almost 2am at that point.
Speaker B:I was like, I need to sleep.
Speaker B:So I went to bed.
Speaker B:And then after that, Ditlev, like not long after that he actually pulled out because he was sick going into this race apparently.
Speaker B:So that was a podium pick on in my sleep.
Speaker A:That's so unfortunate to fall.
Speaker A:I just can't control stuff like that.
Speaker B:And eventually, like I was saying, it was pretty clear these guys were gonna get caught.
Speaker B:It was just a matter of when.
Speaker B:And not too long after on the plateau, the groups came together.
Speaker B:And then at one point you had I believe was it laid low and Blumenfeld off the front together.
Speaker B:And there was a bit of a separation to like the Gustav Storna's group, Schomburg as well, I think Riddle fell off maybe 2/3 into the race and eventually that small gap that Blumenfeld I think laid low had eventually came back as they went into T2.
Speaker B:And you had this six person group, the Norwegians.
Speaker B:Sam laid low, Jonas Schomberg and Nick Thompson going into T2 together.
Speaker A:And we had talked last week about Martin Van Real.
Speaker B:Sorry.
Speaker B:And Van Real.
Speaker A:We had talked last week about that iconic picture from Kona from many years ago of Cam Brown, Tim De Boom and Peter Reed running along ali' I drive and how rare that is the case in Kona these days because the bike course just doesn't lend itself to people coming off in groups.
Speaker A:And here we were with exactly what we had talked about last week saying we thought that a pack would come in together.
Speaker A:And indeed they did.
Speaker A:And to see five guys running the same incredible along the the way they did was really incredible.
Speaker A:And none of them looked like you could not have picked a winner from that group at that moment.
Speaker B:No, they all looked, they swam and biked quite hard.
Speaker B:But I guess with that group coming in together on T2, like who would you have picked then for the podium?
Speaker A:Probably one of Sam.
Speaker A:Sam would have.
Speaker A:I probably wouldn't have picked Sam just because he fell apart in the run last year and he's still a little bit unpredictable.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Probably Christian, right?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I certainly would have picked him for the win.
Speaker B:I think I would have picked Laid Low for second, personally.
Speaker B:And then probably Gustav or Van Riel for third.
Speaker B:That's what I would have picked based on the five of them.
Speaker B:But that's not how it played out, is it?
Speaker A:That is not how it played out.
Speaker A:And I have to say that the shot, the footage that I did see of the run, the one who looked the weakest of them was Christian.
Speaker A:It felt like he wasn't running.
Speaker A:He kept.
Speaker A:He was constantly looking back and I couldn't really.
Speaker B:Which is not a good sign.
Speaker B:If you're in a position of strength, you're not looking back.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And he was running like so, like when I.
Speaker A:He was running.
Speaker A:The three of them were running together.
Speaker A:Then at one point they dropped Christian.
Speaker A:Not Christian.
Speaker A:Sorry, Casper.
Speaker B:Casper and laid low.
Speaker B:I think that's.
Speaker B:They both went like.
Speaker B:Van Reel went first.
Speaker B:Laid low.
Speaker B:Stone as next, I believe.
Speaker B:And then it was the two of them, Gustav and Christian on the front for almost like 5k or so.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And they were running.
Speaker A:And the entire time they're running, Christian just keeps looking back over his shoulders and I'm like.
Speaker B:Even though there's a lot of.
Speaker B:There's a lot of outbacks that you could see people.
Speaker A:Exactly.
Speaker A:And Gustav looked totally controlled, totally comfortable.
Speaker A:Although he said after the fact he thought he wasn't smart.
Speaker A:He thought he should have let Christian go and step to his own pace.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So then you had those two.
Speaker B:And if you look at the timing checks, I guess in the first 15k or so, or whenever Casper got dropped, it gets down to about 35 second seconds rather, which is a long time on the road.
Speaker B:Like 30 seconds, like you waiting 30 seconds for someone running at the pace they were running out, which was quite rapid.
Speaker B:That's a decent gap.
Speaker B:But eventually, like, it just.
Speaker B:It steadied at 35 seconds or whatever.
Speaker B:And then it kept just slowly coming down.
Speaker B:And I'm sure he could see those guys sense those guys ahead, coming back to him.
Speaker B:And then he rolled back onto them, which was.
Speaker B:Which just incredible drama.
Speaker B:Like a guy.
Speaker B:Once you're dropped, usually in race like that, like, it's over, you're not coming back.
Speaker B:But he fought back.
Speaker A:He fought back.
Speaker A:And when he went by them, Gustav held on briefly because it was him and Gustav for a little while.
Speaker A:They dropped Christian and Christian did look like he was limping a little bit.
Speaker A:And then.
Speaker A:And then finally Gustav just Fell away.
Speaker A:And it was just Casper.
Speaker A:But, yeah, he just looked so cool, calm and collected.
Speaker A:He just didn't look like.
Speaker A:He did not look like a rookie, that's for sure.
Speaker B:No.
Speaker B:And he basically.
Speaker B:He caught them, what, around that 30k mark or something.
Speaker B:So basically, like, it seemed like he had at least a good 10k kind of on his own on the front, right?
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:And I was talking to someone who, after the race was saying how they were very.
Speaker A:They knew that.
Speaker A:Now that we've seen this Norwegian sweep, with Casper first, Gustav second, Christian third.
Speaker A:I'm saying this as if anybody doesn't know.
Speaker A:And with this Norwegian sweep, of course, now all we're going to hear about is the Norwegian method again and all this other stuff.
Speaker B:Baby, it died last year in Kona, but now it's back.
Speaker A:But what this person said to me was, they really feel like it's being underplayed, the importance of the three of them pushing each other in training, that they train together so much that they learn from each other, that they are able to make sure that they're always training at such an elite level.
Speaker A:Because I trained by myself, I know accountable for sure.
Speaker A:They hold each other accountable.
Speaker A:And it's that idea.
Speaker A:It's so sure.
Speaker A:Is the Norwegian method some kind of secret soccer us maybe, but probably accentuated by the fact that the three of them train together as much as they do and as well as they do, because clearly they're very good friends.
Speaker A:And the way they finished and spoke so admiringly of each other was amazing.
Speaker B:These guys go to battle every day in training and they're spending so much time together.
Speaker B:Like, it.
Speaker B:It obviously means so much to win yourself, but to feel like you played a role in your friend's success, I think that's actually a really powerful thing that they have.
Speaker B:It's interesting, like, I've been observing these guys for 10 years, basically, once they.
Speaker B:When they first burst onto the elite scene, and I will say, like, the Norwegian method, whatever, how many facets there are to it.
Speaker B:One of the things is just total, like, commitment to the training.
Speaker B:Like, they.
Speaker B:They're not distracted by anything.
Speaker B:These guys aren't going home to their dogs, they're not going home to their partners.
Speaker B:Like, they have each other.
Speaker B:That's the thing, which is great.
Speaker B:It's good to have other people, but there is no other, I guess, external focus or stimulus.
Speaker B:Like, it is always them all the time, and not everyone is cut out for that.
Speaker B:And so that's partly why they have been so successful, because for 10 years, I think I heard.
Speaker B:I think Christian had a girlfriend maybe for a hot second last year, but that was it.
Speaker B:And so it is very selfish.
Speaker B:It is very.
Speaker B:Like, you just have to be all in.
Speaker B:And that's the result.
Speaker B:Like, I wouldn't say these guys, if you put them in whatever middle school or early high school in, like, the talent ID program, like, they wouldn't come out as the most talented kids.
Speaker B:Like, they wouldn't come out, like, they.
Speaker B:They wouldn't be flagged as, like, future champions.
Speaker B:But their commitment is unlike anything personally I've ever seen in the sport.
Speaker A:And that's a huge component, something in their DNA, something in their makeup that really contributes to their ability to do as well as they do.
Speaker A:On top of, obviously, years of training.
Speaker B:And very optimized, too.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Like, they've.
Speaker B:In the years that they've come on in the last five, six years, like, they've just had access to incredible resources.
Speaker B:They are willing to do the things that other people aren't doing.
Speaker B:I've talked about this, I think, before where, after was it when Gustav won Kona or maybe when Christian won St. George?
Speaker B:Like, they talked about how these guys were taking stool samples and measuring how much carb they were, like, what type of carb and how many carbs they were burning during training sessions and stuff.
Speaker B:And nobody's doing that.
Speaker B:I don't think anybody else is doing that now, but they were doing that then.
Speaker B:And you can imagine they've probably stepped up their game in some ways, too, since then.
Speaker A:Yeah, pretty amazing.
Speaker A:Just a couple other things to talk about.
Speaker A:Number one, I wanted to mention Patrick Long.
Speaker A:You mentioned his name before he got off the bike 20 minutes back.
Speaker A:Still managed to run his way back to 10th place.
Speaker B:He ran, what, a 231.
Speaker A:He had the second fastest run after Casper.
Speaker A:And I was just watching him tick his way through the field and make his way up.
Speaker A:And just a guy who was.
Speaker A:Yeah, he's there, right?
Speaker A:And he's there and he's going to give it his all.
Speaker A:And he knew he wasn't going to win, but he didn't care.
Speaker A:He was there to give the absolute best that he had, and he did.
Speaker A:And he ran his way back up to 10th, which I thought was amazing.
Speaker B:Yeah, he definitely honored the race, honored his preparation, his team's commitment.
Speaker B:Like, he's seen.
Speaker B:I think he's had these kind of experiences at Worlds before.
Speaker B:Like, he's basically seen the ups and the downs, like, as completely as you can see them.
Speaker B:And so to see him just fully commit to the race even though it wasn't his day.
Speaker B:It's inspiring in its own way.
Speaker B:No doubt.
Speaker A:Agreed.
Speaker A:And then gotta just tip of the hat to my boy Matthew, top American on the day.
Speaker A:I don't.
Speaker A:I had him as an outside shot for five and he wasn't too far off of that.
Speaker A:I thought he might catch Nick because he was running down.
Speaker A:That was quite a performance by Nick Johnson, somebody who I wasn't all that familiar with.
Speaker A:And Matthew did a great job of almost reeling him in and just again a really solid start to finish effort for Matthew and I, I had, I have communicated with him since the race just to wish him well and he responded and he was sorry.
Speaker A:He was sorry he missed our invitation to join us in our preview show.
Speaker A:So I told him I didn't.
Speaker B:Well, he's not busy now so he can definitely come on the pod.
Speaker A:Should ask him again.
Speaker A:Yeah, he is certainly going to be much busier with media attention now after that kind of finish.
Speaker A:So good to him.
Speaker A:Good for him really.
Speaker A:I think he, he earned it to beat, to beat an amazing field of Americans.
Speaker B:So definitely.
Speaker B:And really it's like obviously Casper's performance, incredible, he's the winner.
Speaker B:But then you have all these sub plots and a guy like him having success even with his, the demands on him as a medical student and with all his advocacy and stuff, to still see him battling in the top 10, firmly in the top 10.
Speaker B:It's incredible.
Speaker B:It's another just beautiful kind of side story that I'd love to follow.
Speaker A:Where does Sam Long go now?
Speaker A:Because you mentioned last week that he was all in for this race, that this was going to be the big thing for him.
Speaker A:Comes out of the water, down by quite a lot, comes off the bike, down by even more, is not able to get his way back to the top 10 and really is an afterthought.
Speaker A:So where does he go now?
Speaker B:Yeah, it's funny too because I feel like in the lead up to the race he wasn't getting as much maybe attention from like the Ironman media and whatnot.
Speaker B:So maybe they knew something I didn't like.
Speaker B:He's a character in the sport, he's a great ambassador for the sport.
Speaker B:So I thought they'd feature him a little bit more.
Speaker B:I'm wondering, do you think he like his race was the disappointment of the day.
Speaker B:I'm looking for a theme.
Speaker B:A disappointment.
Speaker A:I think his race was what I expected and we talked about it last week.
Speaker A:You can only do so much on the bike.
Speaker A:And the run, if you've given up that much on the swim, and I think if you're starting that far behind the eight ball, look at Cam Wurf.
Speaker A:Cam Wurf is the same situation.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Although he came back and I think it did.
Speaker A:He finished higher than Sam did.
Speaker A:I think.
Speaker B:Yeah, maybe like a place or a couple places.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So those guys are.
Speaker A:And Lionel has referred, has mentioned this as well, he's.
Speaker A:Listen, it used to be that you can come out back a few minutes and make up for it with a really strong bike.
Speaker A:You can't do that anymore because these guys are just such powerful swimmers and bikers.
Speaker A:And I think an athlete like Sam, he's going to continue to do well in, for sure in, in the races he participates in.
Speaker A:But when he goes to big T100 races, when he goes to these world championship type races, he's going to struggle because the swim just sets him back too much.
Speaker A:They can't, he can't make it up.
Speaker B:It's interesting.
Speaker B:It's an interesting move or situation now for him.
Speaker B:It's like how willing is he to try and improve his swim to be like three minutes down instead of six minutes down?
Speaker B:Because a three minutes down, I feel like in a race like Kona might actually be not as bad as three minutes down in a nice race.
Speaker B:I don't know why I just feel.
Speaker A:That way because the bike is easier.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:I think that there's more group dynamics.
Speaker B:You can leapfrog between groups maybe.
Speaker B:It's definitely a really interesting inflection point because.
Speaker B:And I wrote about this in the newsletter, you know, Christians 31, Gustav's 30, I think 29, Casper's 28.
Speaker B:These guys aren't going.
Speaker B:These guys aren't going away.
Speaker B:The only way they go away is if they think, oh, I want to go back to the Olympics and start training for short course again next year, which they conceivably could.
Speaker B:But really for these Sam Long type characters.
Speaker B:Leon Chevalier, who's had some great results at Worlds, but did not this year with the injection of this pace, you're kind of like, what's your path to the podium?
Speaker B:Really?
Speaker B:What is your path to the podium?
Speaker B:I don't know.
Speaker B:Because you can't be six minutes down clearly coming out of the water and the swim's not getting any slower.
Speaker B:There's only going to be more short course guys coming into long course when they see like a Jamie Riddle, he scraped into the Olympics kind of, and he wasn't a guy who was top 10 at WTS and now he's whatever.
Speaker B:Sixth.
Speaker B:Was he sixth?
Speaker B:Eighth, maybe.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Jamie Riddle was top 10 at the Ironman World Championships.
Speaker B:Like a guy who's grinding out in a short course career, he's going to look at that and be like, okay, I want that versus grinding it out.
Speaker B:And I don't want to say obscurity, but it's a little bit of obscurity.
Speaker B:So it's only going to get harder for the Sam Longs of the world in these championship races anyways.
Speaker B:Ironman Chattanooga, no problem for him.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Picking your races carefully, right?
Speaker A:The ones that are going to give you the benefit on the swim, for sure.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Really interesting.
Speaker A:And just final thoughts on the race now, unifying back in Kona and losing this really magnificent.
Speaker A:Not just a beautiful course to look at, but just a completely different kind of course that we've seen in Nice the last few years.
Speaker A:What are your thoughts about that?
Speaker B:It's bittersweet, for sure.
Speaker B:I think Kona, just how strong the brand is with triathletes rather, and just the world, it's compelling.
Speaker B:Being back in Kona, have everyone in Kona, rather.
Speaker B:It'd be cool if we could have two days, but it's not going to happen that way.
Speaker B:So I think it's a good thing.
Speaker B:It's going back to Kona in some ways.
Speaker B:But after watching this race for the pros, you're like, oh, man, I wish they could move this thing around.
Speaker B:And just because it creates intrigue, maybe a Nick Thompson in a different course in Kona, like he's not going to go as well, maybe as he would in a niece because he's such a great cyclist.
Speaker B:Like, it just creates so much more intrigue the way this course profile brought about for the race.
Speaker B:I'm happy in some ways it's going back to Kona, but after watching this race, it's, oh, man, that was awesome.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker A:Speaking of races that move around, we are going to move on to the 70.3 worlds, which is of course a race that moves around year to year.
Speaker A:I have been vocal in my criticisms of T100 and I wanted to be fair and express some criticisms of the Ironman brand because they've made some weird missteps, I think, around Marbella, a location that I think is going to be terrific and I think is going to put on a great race.
Speaker A:But the very late notice of the course, which turns out to be a bear, I saw on a Facebook group for the world championship, somebody actually rode the course and said that he was spent and would not be doing any more bike riding for a little while because he said discourse is very legit and is going to be ridicul.
Speaker A:And when you look at how many pros DNF'd and how many age groupers DNF'd in Nice, that's a warning sign for Ironman for what is likely gonna happen in Marbella.
Speaker A:So that's number one.
Speaker A:But the other thing that just happened last week is that they finally released the event schedule, a schedule that doesn't change that much year to year, so it shouldn't be that hard to put it out in advance.
Speaker A:The problem is, of course, everybody has booked their flights, including me, and only to find out now that they've released the event schedule, the that the Banquet of Champions, instead of being on Sunday night after the men's race, is now Monday at noon.
Speaker A:Which weird.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Not like I was.
Speaker A:Not like I have any reason to stick around for the Banquet of Champions.
Speaker A:I do not.
Speaker A:I want to be very clear.
Speaker A:I am not going to be accepting any trophies.
Speaker A:However, I have friends who have in the past and likely will again, and I have gone to the banquet for that reason.
Speaker A:I may or may not decide to go any given time, but I would like the opportunity to decide, given that they announced it last week, which is well within the time frame, that the majority of people will have booked their travel.
Speaker A:I wonder how many people will be there.
Speaker A:It's just odd to me.
Speaker B:When would they typically have this event schedule?
Speaker A:Sunday.
Speaker A:Oh, the event schedule.
Speaker A:Oh.
Speaker A:I'm trying to think for New Zealand, if it was.
Speaker A:I can't remember when it came out for New Zealand, but I mean, it's.
Speaker A:I'm sure it was out earlier than six weeks before you would have remembered if it was.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So this is interesting.
Speaker B:We definitely rag on T100 for their missteps and miscalculations and lack of consistency, all that kind of stuff.
Speaker B:But it's interesting.
Speaker B:This is like the T1I T100 ization of Ironman in a way where they're expected to be on the ball and they're just, especially with this kind of stuff like this Marbella race, they're just.
Speaker B:It's just really sloppy.
Speaker B:It seems really sloppy, especially for athletes like yourself who are investing a lot to go there.
Speaker B:We would have invested last year to ensure your place or whatever.
Speaker B:Like, it's just.
Speaker B:It seems really sloppy, especially from a guy, the new CEO, Scott Derues, who seems like he's doing generally a pretty good job of listening to the athletes and going by the athletes and what they want.
Speaker B:This, I don't know.
Speaker B:Does he realize that this is happening?
Speaker B:Because it really seems like a misstep.
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker A:If I ever meet him, I'll ask.
Speaker A:But yeah, I just don't know.
Speaker A:It's just odd.
Speaker A: ws is the announcement of the: Speaker A:And I'm not as a like geography, but I had to look and see on the map where it was.
Speaker A:I knew regionally where it was, but to actually identify it.
Speaker B:A lot of Mideast action in triathlon.
Speaker B:You have the Bahrain team come about a few years ago.
Speaker B:You recently had this big announcement of funding from Saudi Arabia for the T100.
Speaker B:There's been talks of super tri getting involved.
Speaker B:They did get involved actually with.
Speaker B:With Saudi and Neom for a few of their races.
Speaker B:You have the UAE host a bunch of world triathlon races.
Speaker B:So I feel like Ironman just wanted a piece of the Middle East.
Speaker B:They saw an opportunity and they said hey, let's go knock on a few princes doors.
Speaker B:And they found a willing su clearly.
Speaker A:Following the money, no question.
Speaker A:The question I have is will the athletes follow?
Speaker A:Now if you're in Europe, it's.
Speaker A:It's an easy flight over there.
Speaker A:If you're here, it's not so easy.
Speaker A:And the question then becomes, do you want to go a.
Speaker A:Do you want to go to a country like that?
Speaker A:I haven't looked into the politics that much but if it's like Saudi, if it's like some of the other countries.
Speaker B:Are as well for T100 which just got bombed the other week.
Speaker B:So that's a little bit of the tough for their grand final coming up.
Speaker B:I would.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:The whole region.
Speaker A:The whole region is a bit of a tinderbox.
Speaker A:But then you've also got the issues around women's issues and just the fact that we always talk about how we want these courses to be world championship worthy.
Speaker A:What's a course in Oman going to be like?
Speaker A:It's not going to windy probably but.
Speaker A:And dry and hot.
Speaker B:They have a cycling race there.
Speaker B:Like they have a tour of Oman.
Speaker B:Yeah, I think most years and from what I've seen from photos, there's definitely hills there.
Speaker B:So it could be hilly, maybe not Marbella hilly, but there could be some hills, some profile to it.
Speaker B:But really.
Speaker B:And also like at announced at the same time was that experience.
Speaker B:Oman, which is like the tourism arm of the country, is going to be the title sponsor of the pro series for the next five years.
Speaker B:So really like interesting to see this other Mideast country get involved with pro racing.
Speaker B:I know there wasn't a title sponsor for the Ironman World Championship, so maybe seeing them want to go and sponsor the pro Series and have be involved in that quote unquote season long narrative, maybe that's where a lot of the value is for Ironman.
Speaker B:Potentially more so than just one off world championship races.
Speaker B:That was something that came to my.
Speaker A:Mind anyway, we'll have to see.
Speaker A:We're interested in hearing what you think.
Speaker A:Am I way off base?
Speaker A: xcited about going to Oman in: Speaker A:Is it something should start training for?
Speaker A:Let us know.
Speaker A:We'd love to hear your thoughts.
Speaker A:Join the Talk Tempo Talks Facebook group.
Speaker A:If you're not a member already, just have a search for it on that platform.
Speaker A:Answer the easy questions.
Speaker A:We'll grant you admittance.
Speaker A:We would love to have you join the conversation and to tear me down because I'm so completely wrong on this whole, this whole situation.
Speaker A:Enlighten me.
Speaker A:Yeah, enlighten me.
Speaker A:All right, we're going to shift over now to a couple of shorter bits.
Speaker A:The first of them is just to revisit the topical conversation from last week when we talked about the Vuelta Espana.
Speaker A:We talked about the Gaza protests, the pro Palestine protests that really disrupted the race.
Speaker A:It was very unfortunate to see that on the final stage, race was already finished.
Speaker A:Pretty much they were.
Speaker A:All that was left to do was the ceremonial procession into Madrid.
Speaker A:With 80km left to go, a just gigantic number of protesters broke through the barriers and they were very robust barriers with a huge police presence and flooded the streets to the point that it was impossible for the race to continue.
Speaker A:And so just like that, as we were sitting here watching the procession come in and the cyclists were about to enter the circuit in the city of Madrid, the race just had to be stopped completely.
Speaker A:They canceled the finale.
Speaker A:There was no podium presentation, no nothing.
Speaker A:And it was not okay.
Speaker B:You were watching this unfold live?
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker B:What were the broadcasters saying?
Speaker B:Were they setting it up, like for people to be.
Speaker B:No, absolutely not.
Speaker A:No.
Speaker A:The broadcasters were taken aback.
Speaker A:They were very hopeful.
Speaker A:They were.
Speaker A:They talked about what had happened and they talked about the massing of people with Palestinian flags.
Speaker A:And they said how they hoped that there wouldn't be any trouble.
Speaker A:But once again, it was pretty not a great scene.
Speaker B:What did they say?
Speaker B:Did they say anything like, oh, this is a disappointment.
Speaker B:Did they inject any of their own Thoughts?
Speaker A:Basically, basically what they were saying was that this was just, they were just shocked that this is the first time that this has ever happened.
Speaker A:A Grand Tour is not going to get to cross its final finish line.
Speaker A:And what does this mean for the future of cycling?
Speaker A:And that was I think, voiced very eloquently by Michael Kwiatovsky, a professional cyclist who opined if this can happen at the Vuelta, it can definitely happen at the other Tours.
Speaker A:The Tour de France in 26 actually starts in Barcelona.
Speaker A:How what does this mean for the future of grands of big cycling races?
Speaker A:And I think it's a legitimate question and I don't know what the answer is.
Speaker B:And really did it boil down to the cycling team, the Israelites Premier Tech team, having the name Israel in it?
Speaker B:And so that was the point of contention and where it sparked this controversy or this, these protests, rather.
Speaker A:Ostensibly that's what it began with because the team, the protesters targeted that team.
Speaker A:But at the end they were just targeting the race randomly.
Speaker A:And the riders that they actually took out, like literally physically took out on the road were never Israel Premier Tech riders.
Speaker A:They were riders from other teams.
Speaker A:And so it's hard to know.
Speaker A:We had a couple of Grand Prix races in Canada, there were protesters there as well, but they did not interfere with the race in either case.
Speaker B:Interesting.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So I don't know where it goes, but it's really sad to see.
Speaker A:And again, the conflict in the Middle east continues unabated.
Speaker A:So the protest accomplished only to disrupt this race and interfere with people who have no impact on being able to change the story.
Speaker B:Yeah, everything's unfortunate in this situation.
Speaker B:Everything we just talked about.
Speaker B:Very unfortunate.
Speaker B:And we all want it to be over, no doubt.
Speaker A:Yep.
Speaker A:The last bit of unfortunate on a very much less minor scale, we confess, is I just learned, apparently you knew before I did, but I didn't know.
Speaker B:I found at the same time as you, I think.
Speaker A:Oh, okay.
Speaker A:I learned today that Iron Man Arizona is having its final race after 21 years this year, which is super interesting because we were just talking with the announcement of a new race coming on the Ironman calendar.
Speaker A:We were thinking it's not going to be in the fall because we have all these fall races, although it would be nice if they added another one.
Speaker A:And now they're actually subtracting by losing Arizona.
Speaker A:So you have to think there's going to be another one announced.
Speaker B:I'm sure they have something figured out because for a while, obviously they would have known, like I know Ironman would be happy to Stay in Arizona, like Tempe in that area.
Speaker B:Like, I'm sure they love it.
Speaker B:It's a great.
Speaker B:I think it's a great spot for a race.
Speaker B:It's pretty easy to get to, like, the airport's perfect climate.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:And it's a pretty popular race.
Speaker B:Like, I've never heard complaints about it, really.
Speaker B:It must have come down to the local government just not wanting to pay or whatever, subsidize the race anymore to whatever tune that it was.
Speaker B:And to be fair, when they first started that race 20 years ago, like that whole area, I don't think it was as definitely not as built up as it is now.
Speaker B:Now it's like its own city in a way, like Tempe and that whole university area where the race is based out of.
Speaker B:So, you know, it's.
Speaker B:And it goes on a fairly major, like, road there as well, bike course.
Speaker B:So really it's just a growing city issue.
Speaker B:Like, it's nothing to do with Iron Man.
Speaker B:It's just like.
Speaker B:Like it's like they've outgrown it.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Like St. George.
Speaker A:Yeah, they've outgrown the footprint.
Speaker A:The city has.
Speaker A:Has grown over what was initially a place that was easy to hold an Ironman event.
Speaker A:Having raced that event, I. I'm happy I did it.
Speaker A:But I have to say, like, it wasn't my favorite.
Speaker A:I've done nine Ironman events and this was definitely not in.
Speaker A:I would say this is probably in my bottom three.
Speaker A:Not because it wasn't a race I enjoyed doing.
Speaker A:I did enjoy it and I'm fortunate that none of my races were really races I hated.
Speaker A:But this was definitely not one of the better ones because the three lap by the three loop bike course was very congested.
Speaker A:It was really difficult to stay out of traffic.
Speaker A:It.
Speaker A:You had to have your head on a swivel the whole time.
Speaker A:It was really not the best.
Speaker A:Also wasn't the most scenic of bike courses either.
Speaker A:You're just riding out in the desert and scrub and it worked.
Speaker B:It worked, but it wasn't iconic or anything.
Speaker B:I'm wondering, like, the race you're going to this weekend, the Tri Cities race.
Speaker B:Do you think that could turn it?
Speaker A:You mentioned that before and actually there was some chatter on the life.
Speaker A:One of the life sport feeds one of the athletes I coach who has family in that city and thought that there's absolutely no reason Tri Cities couldn't be converted to a full.
Speaker A:I'm going to pay more attention when I'm there and I'm gonna ask and we're gonna speak to the race director and see if they know anything about it.
Speaker A:But I don't know, it just strikes me as a more suitable 70.3.
Speaker A:But the swim obviously would be current assisted, so they'd have to go.
Speaker A:They'd have to go twice as far up the river.
Speaker A:But that's not a big deal.
Speaker A:The run would just be turned into a two loop run.
Speaker A:That would be easy.
Speaker A:The bike could not be turned two loops.
Speaker A:You would have to do something else.
Speaker A:Although I think there's enough territory around there that you could just make it one big loop.
Speaker A:I just.
Speaker A:I'd have to figure I'd have to speak to people to know it's not a bad location to do it.
Speaker A:As I said, the community.
Speaker A:Very supportive of the 70.3.
Speaker A:I'm going to do some investigative reporting this weekend.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's.
Speaker B:And it's a.
Speaker B:It's not a huge metro like this area.
Speaker B:It feels like when, like an Ironman would come there, like it would be a big deal to the locals there and whatnot.
Speaker B:Like for Tempe, like an Ironman comes to town, like it's not really noticed.
Speaker B:I think it probably doesn't make a huge blip in the radar because that whole metro area is so massive.
Speaker B:But for an area like Tri Cities could be super meaningful for them to have more.
Speaker A:The thing is, they're already getting.
Speaker A:It's a big race.
Speaker A:I think they're getting over 2,000 people coming for the 70.3.
Speaker A:So then you have to say, is it worthwhile to you to have the same number of people coming to do a race that you.
Speaker A:That you need more volunteers, that you need a bigger footprint for that.
Speaker A:All of these other things, it's hard to.
Speaker A:It's hard to know.
Speaker A:I'll be interested to see what the numbers are for registration this year because it's always the second year.
Speaker A:Does it drop off significantly from the first?
Speaker A:My sense is that it's still going to be pretty full, but we'll see.
Speaker A:It'll be interesting.
Speaker A:Do something.
Speaker A:Like I said, I'll do some investigative reporting.
Speaker A:That's what we've got for you this week.
Speaker A:We hope that you enjoyed the program.
Speaker A:Oh, we're going to.
Speaker B:I got two more things.
Speaker A:I'm always ready to pull the curtain.
Speaker A:And then you have to remind me.
Speaker B:Yeah, you got to go work out or train or something.
Speaker B:Two things.
Speaker B:The first one, there's a T100 race this weekend.
Speaker B:It's the Valencia race.
Speaker B:That got, I guess, changed because they didn't have the budget in the city or something.
Speaker B:There was money issues even though T100 plays that down.
Speaker B:But it's up the road in a place called Oropesa del Mar.
Speaker B:And I think the big storylines or headlines or whatever stories going into this one you have Lucy Charles Barkley and Kate Wolf competing.
Speaker B:So maybe one of them will get that will be the first two time winner of a T100 this year.
Speaker B:Setting themselves well for the overall series.
Speaker A:Julie Darren still out?
Speaker B:She's not.
Speaker B:She's preparing for Kona.
Speaker B:Same with Nib and also I think those two are both definitely all in for Kona for sure.
Speaker B:And then you have the men's race and really like this would be a huge news thing, I feel like.
Speaker B:Or bigger news thing if it wasn't over.
Speaker B:World Champs weekend.
Speaker B:Was this Hayden Wild shoegate situation?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:Like the newsletter, people have been going crazy engaging with this story because it's super compelling.
Speaker B:Like him knowing he was using illegal shoes in that French Riviera.
Speaker B:People want him DQ'd.
Speaker B:He offered himself up to be DQ'd.
Speaker B:And then world Triathlon came back and said they can't because the protest has to be filed within blah, blah, blah amount of time, which is, I guess in the rules.
Speaker B:Not great.
Speaker B:Not a great look for him in a lot of ways.
Speaker B:But he'll be racing yellow.
Speaker B:Gains will be racing like the top field.
Speaker B:And you also have of Jonah Schomberg.
Speaker A:I need to go back.
Speaker A:I need to go back.
Speaker A:Are you telling me that people have now decided they don't like Hayden Wilde?
Speaker B:There's some people.
Speaker B:I think this has changed their opinion for sure.
Speaker A:Really?
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:I go back to what I said initially.
Speaker A:It's a tempest in a teapot as far as I'm concerned.
Speaker A:It's like the guy is who he is.
Speaker A:I don't think his shoes are making a big difference.
Speaker A:I understand.
Speaker A:I understand about the rules.
Speaker B:If you unzip your zipper at the finish line, you should be thrown in jail.
Speaker B:As far as.
Speaker A:Listen, I get it.
Speaker A:I get it.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:And I think Brian, our friend Brian on the feed said it could be two things.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:It could be a silly rule, but it could still be enforced.
Speaker A:And he's right.
Speaker B:So anyway, so Shoegate coming off Shoegate.
Speaker B:We'll see how this goes.
Speaker B:Could be some bad blood out there in.
Speaker B:In the waters of the T100 race.
Speaker A:And Schoenberg's coming to do this.
Speaker B:He's on the start list, so we'll see how his legs pull up.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Very short Rest.
Speaker B:And after a pretty savage race, curious to see how he goes.
Speaker B:He's always up front, so maybe he'll be at the front of this race, too.
Speaker B:Just cracking on like he did in Nice.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:What was the second thing?
Speaker B:So the final thing, Jeff?
Speaker B:25 years ago today, Sydney, Australia, the Sydney Olympics.
Speaker B:You had history made.
Speaker B:Simon Whitfield, Canadian, ran across the line for the very first Olympic gold medal in triathlon.
Speaker B:It was quite the race.
Speaker B:It was quite the finish.
Speaker B:He crashed on the bike, came into transition, 20 seconds back or so of the leaders, ran them all down, made history.
Speaker B:It's a big thing in Canada.
Speaker B:Do you remember this race at all?
Speaker A:I remember it very well.
Speaker B:I remember.
Speaker B:Were you watching it live?
Speaker A:I was watching it live.
Speaker A:I remember him running down.
Speaker A:Now, when you say 25 years ago today, are you talking about today when we're recording or today when this comes out?
Speaker B:Today when we're recording?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Okay, so we are recording September 17th.
Speaker A:When?
Speaker B:Wednesday.
Speaker A:This will come out a couple days later.
Speaker A:But I remember him running down the German, the guy Vukovic.
Speaker A:Stefan Vukovic.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And I remember him running him down.
Speaker A:And it's almost.
Speaker A:Vukovic knew that he was running for a second.
Speaker A:Even though he was well out in front.
Speaker A:You could see Simon gaining on him with every single step.
Speaker A:Vukovic never really looked back.
Speaker A:But as soon as Simon went by him, he was like, it was over.
Speaker A:Yeah, he was just celebrating.
Speaker A:He was just happy to finish second, even though he was in control for so long.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:I watched that race.
Speaker A:I had just literally just started getting into triathlon at that point and hadn't even raced my first race yet.
Speaker A:And it was.
Speaker A:I got to meet Simon many years later.
Speaker A:I have actually spoken with him quite recently because we were discussing possibly collaborating on something, and he's a lovely guy.
Speaker A:I asked him, where does he keep his gold medal?
Speaker A:And I was very disappointed to find out he doesn't even know where it is.
Speaker B:Yeah, no, I wouldn't be surprised.
Speaker A:I am surprised.
Speaker A:So you gotta help me understand this, because I.
Speaker A:What he.
Speaker A:The way he put it to me was that was one part of his life, and he doesn't want to be known for that.
Speaker A:He wants to be known for what he's doing now.
Speaker A:He wants it.
Speaker A:He wants to.
Speaker A:He's left that behind, and he's moved into another phase of his life.
Speaker A:And I'm like, okay, it's a gold medal from the Olympics.
Speaker A:Put it in a frame and put it in your bathroom.
Speaker A:You don't have to show it to everybody who Comes in the house.
Speaker A:But isn't it something you would prize.
Speaker A:Isn't it something that would mean something to you intimately?
Speaker B:I'm sure it'll come full circle at some point.
Speaker B:But I would say knowing him and just knowing after that race like that, just the weight that metal carried and the pressure it put on him.
Speaker B:And he was a young guy.
Speaker B:He was 25 when he won.
Speaker B:Like, like when I was 25, I didn't know and I still don't really know what the hell's going on.
Speaker B:Yeah, I think it's.
Speaker B:Obviously it changed his life, it changed the sport in Canada.
Speaker B:It was a historic moment, but it carried a lot of weight on him and he carried that through his career.
Speaker B:So I definitely can understand why he'd maybe just put it.
Speaker B:I think he knows where it is.
Speaker B:But in metaphorically being like, he just, he put it away to just put it away and focus on what he's doing now.
Speaker B:But for like yourself, for myself especially, young Canadian guy, like, watching him win this gold medal made us realize like, we're a hockey, ice hockey was the thing.
Speaker B:But all of a sudden it's, oh, no, like, we're good at endurance sports, we're good at this, we can be good at this.
Speaker B:And for a whole generation, myself included, it was just a huge galvanizing moment where we just, we could choose to do something like triathlon.
Speaker B:And he was a household name.
Speaker B:Like telling people you did triathlon, like, I don't know if normally that makes a lot of sense for a kid, but after that people are like, oh, yeah, like Simon Whitfield, he's amazing.
Speaker B:Like, this guy was a household name in the country.
Speaker B:I think he did a, his gold medal win, like just created a boom, obviously, in triathletes and created just a very positive, I want to say, like, movement towards fitness and athletics.
Speaker B:So it just, the ripple effects of that were just far beyond getting a medal and just wanted to bring that up because it's.
Speaker B:That was a huge moment, I think, in my life and a lot of our, A lot of our lives, for sure.
Speaker A:I'm going to date myself two ways here.
Speaker A:The first is I'm going to say, you mean Simon Whitfield made us more fitness oriented than, say, the flexed arm hang?
Speaker B:Maybe it's debatable if you don't know.
Speaker A:What the flexed arm hangs.
Speaker A:Don't worry about it.
Speaker A:Oh, the participation, the.
Speaker A:Anyways.
Speaker A: second thing is if I say the: Speaker A:72 series was the first time that the Canadian hockey stars got together on an all star team.
Speaker A:They played the Soviet Red army team.
Speaker A:It went to eight exciting games and Team Canada won on a last second goal by Paul Henderson to be able to win the series four games to three with one tie.
Speaker A:And Paul Henderson was a Canadian hero for the rest of his life.
Speaker A:And he said in a documentary later in his life, he said, people come up to me still and thank me and tell me how much I meant to them.
Speaker A:And he said he never got tired of that.
Speaker A:He said it, really.
Speaker A:He said he loved that.
Speaker A:He said it was something he was so happy to give to people and that he knew what it meant.
Speaker A:I asked Simon about that story.
Speaker A:I asked him, I said, so I understand you've put this all behind you, but do you ever get recognized?
Speaker A:Do people say anything to you?
Speaker A:And he said, I was coaching my daughter's soccer game and one of the kids from the other team came over and said they knew who I was and, and they thanked me for winning that gold medal.
Speaker A:And he said, yeah.
Speaker A:He said, yeah, it definitely feels good.
Speaker A:It's very nice when it happens, but he doesn't need it and he doesn't, he doesn't like really revel in it all that much.
Speaker A:Which I still, I think for us age groupers it's really interesting, especially because so many age groupers define themselves on their results.
Speaker A:And to see a pro who made their whole life about that now just put that in the rearview mirror completely is just fascinating to me.
Speaker B:Yeah, no doubt.
Speaker B:I just wanted to pump Simon's tires a bit.
Speaker B:It was a big moment for Canada.
Speaker A:Oh yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker A:And he's just a great guy.
Speaker A:I really love him.
Speaker A:Now I think we're done, but thanks everyone.
Speaker A:If you stuck around this long, you've made it through our first hour long episode and I think it's been a good one because we had a lot of fun talking about stuff to you.
Speaker A:So if you liked what you heard, don't forget to leave us a rating and a review.
Speaker A:Wherever you download the content, please share with a friend.
Speaker A:We definitely want to try and get ourselves to as many interested athletes as possible.
Speaker A:And don't forget to subscribe to the Tempo News mat.
Speaker A:We have the sign up in the Facebook group and we'll make sure to get it out there periodically as well.
Speaker A:Matt, great chatting with you.
Speaker A:Look forward to catching up next week and hearing about the T100 and letting you know what I find out on my deep undercover assignment in Richland, Washington.
Speaker B:Yeah, looking forward to hearing about it.
Speaker B:And good luck this weekend.
Speaker B:We'll be cheering for you and definitely get you on the tracker there.
Speaker A:All right, thanks.
Speaker A:Talk to you later.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:Have a good one.
Speaker A:Jeff.
Speaker B:Sam.
