West finishes the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in Taupo, New Zealand. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

Jason West was a big enough name in the world of multisport at the beginning of 2023 – from 2019 to 2022 he’d won five IRONMAN 70.3 races. In 2023, though, West didn’t just add a another 70.3 win to his resume (along with a win at Clash Miami), he proved that he could compete with the world’s best thanks to a runner-up finish to Leo Bergere in Oceanside, a runner-up finish to Jan Frodeno (just 28 seconds down from the German) at the PTO US Open, and a third-place finish at the PTO Asian Open in Singapore.

Renowned as one of the sport’s premier runners – he sits atop the PTO run rankings – West appeared ready to continue his steady move towards the elite levels of long-distance racing at the beginning of 2024. The 2015 national collegiate champion (he did a kinesiology degree at Penn State) truly turned his sights from making it to the Olympics to focusing on long-course during the pandemic, and his 2023 season seemed to foreshadow his chance to achieve his dream of winning the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship. Unfortunately, he ended up getting sick in the days before the race in Lahti, Finland, one of the few disappointments in his otherwise successful year of racing.

He rolled into 2024 sitting third in the PTO World Rankings and armed with a T100 contract, but found himself struggling for much of the first half of the year as he dealt with tendon issues around his pelvis.

“The first six or seven months of the year, I was probably in pain everyday,” West said in an interview a few days before the worlds in Taupo. Heading into the T100 races while injured wasn’t exactly the best way to take on the world’s best triathletes.

“Racing the T100 series, every single race felt like a world championship field,” West continued. “These big races where everybody is there, you can have a good day and come 10th … I’ve had performances this year that would’ve won most of the races in my career … and I’d be back in like eighth or 10th place. I think at some of the lower level races, there’s lots of points throughout the race that just aren’t that hard. There are some parts that might be tough, but the swims are generally not as hard, and there’s times on the bike where you’re not pushing that hard. But these races, you’re just full gas the whole way and that’s the norm.”

After trying to hold things together for months, West was finally forced to take some time off of running to try and get over the injury. Since he had a big break through August and September, instead of feeling like he needed a rest at the end of the season, West felt like he was just getting going as he went into the 70.3 worlds in Taupo. He arrived in New Zealand after a solid fifth-place finish at T100 Lake Las Vegas, but then had a tougher day at T100 Dubai, where he finished 13th.

Instead of getting that decent performance he was hoping for at the 70.3 worlds, the day ended up “summing up (his) year,” as he posted on Instagram. He was a bit behind where he’d hoped after the swim, then got dropped by the big group he was with on the bike, only to get passed by another group towards the end of the ride and getting a drafting penalty when they came around, setting the stage for a disappointing 28th-place finish.

Renewed Focus

Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

The tough year of racing in 2024 forced West to evaluate his approach to the sport.

“You take lessons from both sides of it,” he said. “When things go well, it’s also important to look at what was I doing that led me to have things go well. Or, if things haven’t gone well this year, what did I change or what was different in my life? It also gives you a little bit more perspective of what you want, what you don’t want. When you’re winning and you’re on top of the world, it probably masks a lot of things and you’re like, everything is just great. But when things start going wrong, you look to figure out why. I think it’s made me take a step back and just focus on what’s important, and how I want to do the sport. Not just going after specific goals, or I have to win this race, or that series, or something like that. It certainly made me think about how I want do it, what I want to get out of it and, maybe just making some changes for longevity and things like that.”

West’s answers to those questions? He’s determined to keep pushing himself, ensure he is enjoying the sport, and make some changes for 2025, including doing the “year totally different and thinking about what excites me and what’s fun.”

That process starts with this weekend’s IRONMAN 70.3 Pucon. Whether or not that will be the first stop on a season focused on the IRONMAN Pro Series is very much up in the air. West acknowledges that a full-distance race is in his future, but whether or not it will come this year remains to be seen.

“It’s something that I know I want to do eventually,” he said. “It’s such a big part of the sport. The pinnacle really is the Ironman World Championship. I mean, it’s the first triathlon I ever saw on TV, and know that I want to do that eventually. It’s just that I want to respect the distance, respect the race and respect what my competitors are doing. So I know that I can’t just hop in one and expect it to go well. I need to put in the appropriate training and really prepare.”

Partners

The upside of West’s breakthrough year was he was able to sign a number of excellent partnerships, many of which will run through the end of 2025. West was careful to think through what he was doing on the sponsor front during 2023, and enlisted the help of former pro Alicia Kaye to manage those partnerships.

“I feel like I have an incredible team around me and that’s become even more obvious as I’ve had a difficult year and they’ve all just been so supportive, and there’s a lot of belief in me,” he said. “So it feels like I have a super-good team around me that’s gonna be there to enjoy the highs, but also to continue to encourage me through the tough times.”

His only changes for 2025 on the sponsorship front is he’s signed with Goodlife Nutrition.

adding to his previous deal with Goodlife Brands, and replacing his previous nutrition sponsor.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Jason West (@jasonwesttri)

“I’ve really been able to build a team around me that’s focused on performance,” West continued. “That’s from Ventum helping me with a new bike, my position, and what equipment to run, or JACKROO trying to get the fastest fabrics and doing a custom suit. Every brand we have is playing a specific role and helping me create the ultimate performance.”

New Arrival

There is one other big change coming for West in 2025 – he and his wife Jessica have announced that they will be expecting a new addition to the family.

“I’m excited to be a dad and it just gives you a different perspective on life and a different purpose,” West said. “I’m not going to be able to wake up and drag along ’cause all I have to do is my training. I’m going to have other things that I have to do. And I think that’s gonna be really awesome. Ultimately, this is the most important thing, being a dad, and it’s just really exciting. It’s something I’ve looked forward to for a long time and now it felt like the time was right.”

While congrats might be in order, there’s some time before training days will be oriented around parenting. First up for 2025 is Sunday’s race in Pucon, where West arrives as one of the pre-race favorites. You can see the full pro list here.

The post Jason West Resets for 2025 first appeared on Slowtwitch News.

Kevin: Ryan, in addition to your thoughts, let’s bring Eric Wynn into the discussion, too – I think he has some very strong feelings on this subject.

I’m not sure if we need to have any specific parameters for this topic, other than it should be endurance sport oriented, and available in 2024. I don’t think said product necessarily needs to have been released in 2024, that way we can take into consideration products that might have been launched in 2023, but weren’t widely available until last year. 

Ryan: I think that makes sense – if a product “launched” in 2023 but was largely unavailable to the general public until 2024, I think that fits our criteria.

Kevin: To get started, here are a few products that caught my attention in 2024 that I would happily throw into the mix: 

There were a few bike launches that caught my attention last year. Cervelo’s new P5 is a great ride, and innovative in a particularly “Cervelo way” – the big changes were around comfort and adjustability. The new P-Series was probably more of a breakthrough – it really is all the bike most triathletes could ever need for a lot less money. In that vein, Argon 18’s new E117 was another mid-range bike that offered a ton of high-end features. You can add Factor’s new Slick and Van Rysel’s new XCR to that “lot of bike for the money” group. My guess is that none of these will fit the bill as our award winner – the bike world seems to move in such tiny increments these days. 

One product that was released in 2023 that remained almost impossible to find for much of 2024 was Profile Design’s 43 ASC Carbon Extensions. (The company added the 52 ASC last year that offers an “increased grip angle.”) For $300 you got the extra support and aero features seen in bars with a much, much higher price tag, which is no-doubt why they were in such demand. A more affordable way to get into the world of the aero-cockpit was hugely appreciated by many in the sport.

On the electronics front, there’s been a lot going on over the last few years. The Apple Watch Ultra has been a game changer for many, allowing serious triathletes to track their training with a smartwatch that does all they want on that front. There were no changes to the Ultra last year, but the new Apple Watch Series 10 offers almost all the same features for half the price, making it a viable option for triathletes who aren’t gearing up for a full-distance race. I haven’t had a chance to play with Garmin’s Fenix 8, but that AMOLED screen with decent battery life sure looks good.

I’ve purposely left out a few categories here, knowing full well that you’ll have some running shoe options to throw out, Ryan. Eric, I’ll let you throw your two-cents in, too!

Eric: I think the most important product of the year is FORM Swim 2.0.

As triathletes, what do we struggle with the most? Outside of the overall price tag of the sport of triathlon, it’s the swim. The swim is by far the biggest hurdle of the three disciplines we have when it comes to getting and keeping athletes in the sport. It’s the least natural thing for the masses to wrap their heads around. And it takes the most consistent effort to become and stay efficient in. It’s the biggest problem we see when it comes to safety in the sport.

What I love about the FORM goggles is that it’s the first product to truly help the newbie be able to manage some of the biggest hurdles they face in a consistent way without costing a lot of money. Some examples: 

#1 Measure stress and effort.

With heart rate and stroke count visible in the goggle display, athletes can now focus on effort at the start and during a race and for the first time really doing a race like they have trained. For years we have been able to do this on the bike and run. And it’s one of the main reasons why athletes are getting so much faster. They know what is going on with their body and they can match that effort on race day and know what limits they can push. Up until FORM came out, measuring that in the water just wasn’t really available to the masses in the way FORM has presented it, with a visual display for athletes to be able to calm themselves as they measure true effort within the swim. 

#2 Directional help aka swimming straight.

I’m sorry, but I don’t care who you are. You don’t always swim straight. We have seen everyone get lost or mess up a line on a swim at some point. Does that mean this device will make you perfect? No, but it will make your swim path better at a much less expended effort (AKA a lot less sighting required.) If I’m the average swimmer I can spend way less time focusing on lifting my head out of the water and focusing on stroke, heart rate and breathing. 

The masses worry about the swim the most. Race directors worry about the swim the most. Insurance companies care about the swim the most. FORM 2.0 is the biggest and most influential product in my opinion for 2024.

Ryan: Eric raises some really good points on the FORM 2.0, especially with the integration for open-water sighting.

That said, I think most innovation and impact happened in the run space over the past year. For me, it comes down to three potential products.

I’ll get the two running shoes out of the way first. I think ASICS and the MetaSpeed Sky Paris has done something that no other shoe has been able to do, which is supplant Nike as the shoe of choice for non-sponsored athletes. Having done a fair amount of testing in that shoe last year in my build-up to Lake Placid, it is shockingly quick for someone with a longer stride length. As I build back up into my running, that’s probably my default choice for a racing shoe. It’s everything you could want in a carbon racing shoe, and it’s selling extremely well.

The other shoe innovation comes from On, and it’s the Cloudboom Strike LS (seen above on Paula Findlay at 70.3 Worlds). Although the midsole and outsole construction are shared with the standard Strike, it’s the upper that sees all the innovation. It’s a single thread of filament, 1500 meters long, spun by a robot to turn it into a mesh-like upper. It’s both significantly lighter than a standard shoe upper, and it reduces carbon emissions during the build by 75% versus a standard upper. Considering the environmental impacts of our sport, generally, any kind of cut during product construction should be seen as a boon.

But I would argue that the greatest innovation came for indoor training, and that’s Wahoo’s KICKR Run treadmill. You first have the run free mode, where the treadmill senses your pace and adjusts the belt accordingly. No more playing around with the speed toggle for interval training; it’s just done. But then there’s the smart connectivity – whether it’s in Wahoo’s own ecosystem, Zwift, or others, the treadmill can be fully controlled for terrain or intervals. It brings the gamification benefit of indoor training apps to running, which has always been what hampers indoor run training.

In my opinion, being able to really unlock the gamification of indoor running for the millions of indoor training users is the biggest innovation of the year.

Voting is now open at the forum thread for this article.

The post 2024 Slowtwitch Awards: Product of the Year first appeared on Slowtwitch News.

Matt Burton hugs his son after winning the IRONMAN Asia-Pacific Championship Cairns. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

For most of the last 30 years I have been at a lot of races in my capacity as a journalist, photographer and race announcer, but 2024 will go down as one of the most memorable, without a doubt. It marked my first Olympics as a journalist, which was certainly a highlight, but there were a lot of other notable events that made the year special. As we wrap up our 2024 recaps, I figured I would share some photos and stories that were particularly poignant for me. I’ll break the year up into three sections – this first story will look at the first half of the year, the second will focus on a busy summer, and the third will look back at a crazy-busy fall.

Here we go:

Clash Miami

Ben Kanute finishes the bike during T100 Miami. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

Even race-director extraordinaire Andre Lapar had to admit that the Clash Miami weekend involved almost too much racing. There was a World Triathlon Americas Cup race, the T100 race, all the Clash events (sprint, kids, long-distance tri, etc.) and the Redline Relay bike race. I was on deck as the lead announcer for all the races other than the T100, but I kept myself busy that day with my camera, covering the event for Triathlon Magazine.

One of the highlights of the weekend was a great interview I did with American Olympic medalist Katie Zaferes, who was in the midst of a spirited bid to earn a spot on the competitive American Olympic team after becoming a mom in 2022. (I have no shots of the Americas Cup race – I was busy on the mic that day!) I also got to do a bunch of interviews for Credo Tri, including fun chats with Ben Kanute (hence the photo above.)

UCI Track Nations Cup

My son was part of the national cycling team for many years, so I’ve been shooting cycling events for a number of years. We were really lucky to have many of the world’s top cyclists competing in Milton, just 30 mins drive from my house, as they competed for valuable Olympic qualifying points. While the American team (pictured above), would end up sixth in Milton, they would take gold in Paris a few months later.

IRONMAN Lanzarote

Anne Haug on her way to breaking Paula Newby-Fraser’s course record at IRONMAN Lanzarote. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

Anyone who knows me knows how much I love Lanzarote, one of the Canary Islands just off the coast of Africa. I’ve been going to the island since 1998. This year was a special one for the IRONMAN, as Anne Haug put together one of the most incredible races I have ever seen. Haug’s 9:06:40 topped Newby-Fraser’s 1995 course record of 9:24:39. Haug ran a 2:49:08 marathon after completing one of the world’s toughest bike courses, finishing 14th overall. Only two men ran faster than she did on race day.

Rosie Wild. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

As amazing as Haug’s performance was that day, another highlight for me was getting to meet Rosie Wild. She raced in Lanzarote as a pro triathlete and qualified for Nice thanks to a fourth-place finish. Wild is the first woman to have passed the British Armed Forces gruelling Parachute Regiment’s selection test. The woman is literally a real-life version of GI Jane, and has proven to be every bit as tough as a triathlete. You can read my feature story on Wild here.

Photo supplied by Rosie Wild.

Escape from Alcatraz

Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

I am almost embarrassed to admit that despite having been in the sport for as long as I have, until last year I’d never been to one of the sport’s most iconic events. In addition to covering the T100 race, I got to support a couple of athletes I coach and take in the race. It truly is a bucket-list event.

IRONMAN Asia-Pacific Championship Cairns

Matt Burton wins in Cairns. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

Hannah Berry wins in Cairns. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

I’ll definitely get a “destination” story up on IRONMAN Cairns over the next little bit, but my second trip to the event offered another chance to check out the Great Barrier Reef, but also a chance to watch one of the year’s most inspiring races. I used the picture of Matt Burton hugging his son after his win in Cairns as the feature photo for this story because his was a truly incredible story.

Four months before, just months after winning IRONMAN Western Australia in 2023, Burton went in for surgery for a deep bone infection in his foot. As he was put under for a third surgery in February, Burton was told that he might wake up without a foot if they didn’t think they could clean out the infection.

Suffice it to say that the surgery was a success, and Burton bounced back. It wasn’t easy, though.

“Then it was the slow crawl back where every day was the PB,” he said after the race. “When you have 10 weeks off, you start from zero. You’ve got no fitness. But the beauty is muscle memory. Ohh. Muscle does remember, and it just took ten weeks to remember before I really started to feel a little bit more myself. And then I decided to come here (two Cairns) two weeks earlier and it was the best decision in my life.” 

You think?

Canadian National Track and Field Championships

Mohammed Ahmed on his way to the win in the 5000 m at the 2024 Track and Field Olympic Trials. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

While my first “serious” sport was tennis, I ran through university, so track has always been close to my heart. When I had the chance to shoot some of the nationals in Montreal at the end of June, I jumped at it. The highlight was watching Mo Ahmed run 13:10:99 to win the 5,000 m. It’s the fastest 5,000 m race I have ever watched in person. Ahmed would finish a heartbreaking fourth in the 10,000 m in Paris, and would fall in the qualifying rounds for the 5,000.

World Triathlon Para Series Montreal

Canadian Leanne Taylor. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

After shooting this event, the final Paralympic qualifier, I was truly regretting not having sought accreditation for the Paralympics in Paris last summer. While the day was very rainy, it was one of the most inspiring race days of the year for me.

The post Looking Back at 2024: Thoughts and Pictures from a Huge Year of Racing Part 1 first appeared on Slowtwitch News.

To recap thus far, we’ve awarded the following:

Triathlete of the Year: Taylor Knibb

Long Course Athletes of the Year: Kat Matthews, Patrick Lange

Short Course Athlete of the Year: Cassandre Beaugrand

Ryan: To me, Kevin, this feels like it should be a two horse race between Alex Yee and Hayden Wilde. Kinda like the Olympics and WTCS season all over again.

Kevin: Yep, I do believe this is down to those two. I would love to add Léo Bergère to the discussion, but once again I feel like I’d just be throwing out a name then quickly setting myself up to discount it. (He was beaten by both the frontrunners at the Olympics, and finished behind Wilde for the overall supertri title, too.)

I think it’s hard not to put Alex Yee at the top of the list based on his Olympic win and then (finally) winning the world championship title. Granted, Wilde beat him at the Championship Final, but after two years of losing the world title thanks to a disastrous finals appearance, I think Yee’s one and only goal at that race was to not screw up. Yee also won when it most counted – he won every World Triathlon race he entered except the final. While he didn’t take the supertri title, Yee did manage two impressive wins in that series – taking both Boston and NEOM. (I captured this shot – and the one above – of the Boston finish – to me it pretty much expresses Yee’s dominance over Wilde when it counted the most.)

Supertri Boston. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

If we were to have an award for the year’s most exciting racer, it would have to go to Wilde. He certainly went for it all in Paris, setting up a truly classic race. He closed the season with a solid supertri season, and finally got the big day we’ve long expected at the World Triathlon Championship Final. While his Taupō performance doesn’t count on this front, he sure did help make that day an exciting one, too.

Am I missing something, Ryan? Is there a reason to give this award to Hayden Wilde that I am not seeing?

Wilde on the run at the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

Ryan: Yes, there is!

If we are looking line-by-line at their race results this year, you wind up seeing that Wilde and Yee split the supertri season against one another – they beat each other twice. But whereas Wilde was extremely competitive at all of the supertri events (his worst finish of the year was third in Toulouse), the same could not be said for Yee. He was 8th in Chicago, and 12th in London. Yee was never really in contention for the supertri standings crown.

Then when you factor in Wilde’s races with Yee in WTCS and the Olympics, it’s a much closer battle there than it was with supertri. Yes, Yee won more. But it’s not like Wilde was getting his doors blown off. And Wilde did, indeed, win the Grand Final, with a very sizable margin of victory.

I do put a bit of a premium on being able to showcase racecraft across multiple disciplines, even within our definitions of course length. Wilde did that more than anybody else last year.

Kevin: So, if I have this straight, Alex Yee, the Olympic and world champion, shouldn’t be our short course male athlete of the year because he had two “bad” supertri races and finished third at the World Triathlon Championship Finals? He beat Wilde in Cagliari. He beat Wilde in Paris, at the biggest draft-legal/ short course race of the year. He was well ahead of Wilde in Wehei (Wilde was 1:40 back there – further behind than Wilde was in Torremolinos), too. He also managed to beat Wilde at two of the five supertri races. To me, if you’re going to vote for Wilde, you’re saying that the supertri series means more in the big picture than the Olympics or the World Triathlon Championship Series. 

I get the added premium on Wilde doing so well at 70.3 worlds, and he also won the Laguna Phuket Triathlon, but I am not sure we should be counting those results when we’re handing out the short course athlete of the year.

Good grief … another vote? I thought I was going to be safe on this one, as with the women!

Ryan: Didn’t you know I went to law school? I can argue just about anything and make some type of reasonable case out of it…

I think, similarly to how we did the women’s calculus, it means we should weigh the supertri and WTCS season championships similarly. So the tiebreaker comes down to the Olympics. And, well, Yee beat Wilde, despite Wilde throwing everything he had at him.

Therefore, much to the happiness of a couple of our *ahem* vocal forum members, Alex Yee is our men’s Short Course Athlete of the Year.

Kevin: Great choice, Ryan. I do admire your ability to argue almost anything. And, while I’m not sure I’m willing to weigh supertri and WTCS equally, I’ll happily concur that Alex Yee is the right choice.

The post 2024 Slowtwitch Awards: Men’s Short Course Athlete of the Year first appeared on Slowtwitch News.

Before I begin, here is my normal disclaimer:

• These are static images taken at a single moment during the race.
• Camera angles can distort positions.
• I’ve also started viewing multiple sources other than the images below to make my recommendations.

I’m also assuming that athletes have arrived at these positions through a deliberate process, supported by trial and error, bike fit professionals, and some form of aerodynamic testing.

Photos by Kevin Mackinnon

1. Hayden Wilde – 1:58:51

The Olympic Silver Medalist seems to have adapted nicely to the time trial position. In my experience, most World Triathlon-focused athletes can either go full-blown TT position or something in between, as you’ll see further down the list. Hayden rides a pretty standard position that is a bit more reminiscent of the positions used just before we started seeing the trend of taller and longer setups. He rides taller in the front, but doesn’t ride as long. What I like about his position is that his bar drop is in just the right spot, allowing him to relax onto the front end and keep his head low.

2. Rico Bogen – 1:59:02

Rico rides the most aggressive position of the top 10 bike splits. He looks like what a ProTour rider would look like if they didn’t have to abide by the UCI rules. He is very low and long, with the front end so low that he forces his head into a very nice position. I’m not sure how comfortable he is, but if he hasn’t already, I’d experiment with coming up in the front to see what that would do to his CDA.

3. Justus Nieschlag – 1:59:07

It’s hard to get a great look at Justus’s position in these photos, but he has a solid setup. His front end isn’t that low, but he does a really nice job of hiding behind his hands in a very relaxed position. He rides what I’d call a moderate reach—not tight, but not overly stretched out, either.

4. Jelle Geens – 1:59:08

I struggle to write this because I’m biased by his result. He won the race! This doesn’t mean that he can’t improve. I’ve worked with world champions that didn’t want to change a thing until it stopped working. I’d always say that “failure forces change.”

If Jelle hadn’t performed so well during the back half of the year, I’d rip his position apart! Jelle doesn’t ride as steep as some of the other top riders, and this is exacerbated by not having great anterior pelvic tilt. Some of this pelvic position can be attributed to his front end being overly tall and the reach being short.

If I were working with Jelle, I don’t think I’d do anything drastic in 2025, as you don’t want to make big changes to a formula that seems to be working. The changes I’d make would focus on getting him more familiar with the mechanics and posture of a good TT position. I would extend his reach and work on his pelvic position, which could result in moving the saddle forward, or by him adjusting to a more forward position on the saddle. I’d keep the bar height where it is if adding length achieved the desired result.

5. Kyle Smith – 1:59:09

Kyle is another athlete who rides a very aggressive position—steep, low, and long. A few things I’d do here: 1. Lower his saddle, 2. Raise the front end, and 3. Add more angulation to the bars using the Canyon fairing to shield the head and body, similar to what you see Sam Laidlow and Patrick Lange doing.

6. Leo Bergere – 1:59:29

Leo is another ITU athlete who, like Wilde, looks really great on a TT bike. I don’t think I’d change anything with his position at this time. He rides forward with good pelvic tilt, a great front-end position that elongates his torso while keeping his head nice and low.

7. Henri Schoeman – 2:00:07

I went to Henri’s Instagram account to see if I could find more images/videos of him on his TT bike. It seems like he looks a bit different in all of them. This suggests he either does a lot of experimenting or his position is primarily driven by his posture at the time. Henri is somewhat limited by the geometry of his bike. He rides more rearward of the bottom bracket with a relatively tall front end. When you don’t ride as far forward, in order to maintain an open hip angle, you will typically need to raise the front end. Henri does a great job of working around this by manipulating his posture on the bike, sinking low onto the bike and keeping his head low.

8. Ruben Zepuntke – 2:01:17

Ruben rides one of the longest positions in the top 10. To classify this position, I’d go with steep, long, tall and narrow. I have seen images of Ruben racing where it looks like he could do a better job of keeping his head down, but that is just from observing a few pics from his Instagram account.

9. Harry Palmer – 2:01:29

It looks like Harry visited the Silverstone wind tunnel in November of 2024 with his bike sponsor Argon 18. Having participated in many of these sessions, I’d be curious to know how much time the athletes actually had in the tunnel and if they were also working with a bike fit professional. I will write more about this in my “Pillars of Speed” series, but I’m always happy to see an athlete exit the tunnel without having their chins on the front wheel, having thrown all bike fit principles out the window as they chase the lowest unsustainable CDA.

Harry does a great job with his front end, keeping his head low and hiding behind his hands. I think when you’ve had the chance to do some aero testing, you’ll see how big of a difference this makes, and it will incentivize you to focus on it throughout the race.

Harry doesn’t ride very far forward on the bike, which could limit how much he can lower his front end without impacting his biomechanics via a closed hip angle. With how well he postures on the front end, I’m not as bothered by his saddle position.

10. Gregory Barnaby – 2:01:45

Greg has a nice position. As I mentioned in the Kona bike article, he rides steep, long, low and keeps his head in a nice position. I do think, if he has any stability issues or feels like he is falling off the front of the bike, he could experiment with more bar tilt for extra support.

-Mat

The post Taupō Rides: The Positions of the Men’s Top 10 Bike Splits from 70.3 Worlds first appeared on Slowtwitch News.

Ryan: Alright, Kevin – let’s look at who had outstanding season’s for women. I suppose we should really start this with Cassandre Beaugrand, right? Ran the table for the World Triathlon Championship Series events she raced, plus the Olympic gold.

Kevin: Yep, I think this conversation pretty much starts and finishes with Cassandre. Olympic champ, world champ, won on the biggest stages when it mattered most. (And, as I am sure you’re sick of hearing me say … won gold despite the pressure of an entire country on her shoulders.)  

Ryan: I think we can make a realistic case for Beth Potter. She won the e-Tri World Championship in February and then finished no worse than third in any other World Triathlon race she participated in during 2024. That includes dueling bronze medals in Paris for the individual and mixed team relay events, and then a second place at the Grand Final.

Add it all up and World Triathlon has Potter ranked number one, not Beaugrand. Couple it with her contributions to the mixed team relay rankings (second in the world, versus France in eighth), and you could say, just based on those rankings, Potter deserves the title.

But I also think it’s really hard to overlook the dual crowns Beaugrand took in 2024. If it was just the Olympic Games victory, you could maybe write that off as a one-off. But earning both that and the WTCS title in the same year? And she’s not the world number one right now? That tells me World Triathlon has some work to do on their points system.

Kevin: Yeah, hard to imagine how you possibly put Potter ahead in our Triathlete of the Year ranking. I think the World Triathlon Points system takes into account results from the previous year, too, which is why Potter remains at the top, but when you look at 2024, there really wasn’t any way you could say she was better than Beaugrand. Sure, she won the E World Triathlon Championship in London, but after that it was all Cassandre (almost) all the time. As much as I applaud Potter’s incredible journey from Olympic 10,000 m runner in 2016 to Olympic bronze-medal triathlete, when it comes to Triathlete of the Year voting, she just didn’t have the results.

Beaugrand’s season was so good that it even negates bringing up Georgia Taylor-Brown’s third straight supertri title – she took that after finishing fourth in the final race in NEOM which was won by … Cassandre Beaugrand.

Does this one even require a vote?

Ryan: For the sake of argument, let’s talk Taylor-Brown (and supertri) for a minute, as it’s definitely relevant. She won three of four their races before heading to the final in Neom. She beat Beaugrand head to head three times in a row. And was a critical component of that GB bronze medal in mixed team relay. She was arguably just as dominant at supertri as Beaugrand was at WTCS racing.

But that’s just the respective series crowns. And Beaugrand still won Olympic gold on top of that.

Kevin: Totally happy to have that argument, for sure. Although, I now find it interesting that the mixed relay suddenly factors into your voting process when it didn’t with the overall Triathlete of the Year conversation!

Ryan: Don’t you start bringing logic into the conversation.

Kevin: OK, I’ll give you that …  

OK, back to the supertri/ Taylor-Brown argument … I had a great interview with Beaugrand before the Boston supertri event, and she basically said she was just happy to have made it there after the insane few weeks she’d had since the Olympics. She knew she wasn’t going to be truly competitive, but still hung in for eighth that day. A week later she was second in Chicago and finished second to Taylor-Brown again in London and Toulouse. Then she took the win in NEOM where Taylor-Brown was fourth. So it’s not as though Beaugrand wasn’t competitive on the supertri front. 

There’s also the format question. To me it’s like the clay court tennis swing, where some athletes really excel on that surface, but aren’t always in the mix to be considered the top athlete of the year. (I won’t stir things up by asking anyone here to weigh in on which is more important, Wimbledon or the French Open …) Supertri is definitely a unique format that suits Taylor-Brown perfectly. Until that format appears at the Olympics, though, I think I’d prefer to have enjoyed Cassandre Beaugrand’s season over GTB’s.

As with Potter, that’s not to take anything away from Taylor-Brown and her incredible journey back to the top echelons of the sport, but I just can’t see an argument for putting her at the top of the list. 

So, in the end, I think this one is pretty simple – Olympic gold and a world championship makes this one a pretty easy pick! 

Ryan: Agreed!

Kevin: Cassandre Beaugrand is our women’s Short Course Athlete of the Year.  

The post 2024 Slowtwitch Awards: Women’s Short Course Athlete of the Year first appeared on Slowtwitch News.

The IRONMAN Pro Series awards ceremony with Jackie Hering, Kat Matthews and Lotte Wilms. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

You’d be smiling, too, if you had just won yourself a nice US$200,000 bonus for winning the IRONMAN Pro Series. We were on hand as Kat Matthews was handed that big check after a stellar season that included a runner-up finish at both the IRONMAN World Championship in Nice and the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in Taupo. That bonus helped Matthews to earn a total of $549,000 last year, “the best earning season of any of the years I have looked at,” wrote Thorsten Radde, the man behind TriRating.com, who posted his annual year-end prize money ranking on Dec. 31.

It hardly comes as a surprise, then, that during an interview last week he was quick to agree with me that there’s never been a better time to be a pro triathlete.

“Oh, totally,” Radde said. “And, to me, Kat (Matthews) is an example. Martin Van Riel is an example. The amount of money that’s available in the middle distance, it’s never been better before. And, overall, it’s never been better before.”

Matthews finished just ahead of Taylor Knibb on the prize money ranking ($549,000 to $517,300), with Knibb earning the lion’s share of her prize money through the PTO – $410,000 from her four series wins and the overall T100 title. Van Riel, the winner of the men’s T100 series, took home $401,000 from the PTO, earning an additional $9,500 from World Triathlon and $2,500 from Ironman to take home a total of $413,000. Ashleigh Gentle was fourth in the overall standings with $354,427, while Kyle Smith rounded out the top five with $326,848.

Radde, who also consults with the Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO) and has been a key player in the development of the ranking system used by the PTO, points out that the T100 Triathlon World Tour and the IRONMAN Pro Series “have created a significant addition of prize money into long-distance triathlon.”

That boost in prize money allowed 49 athletes to make over $100,000 last year, up from 29 athletes in 2023.

Ranking Systems

A win at IRONMAN 70.3 Western Australia helped Gregory Barnaby take the men’s IRONMAN Pro Series title. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

It should hardly come as a suprise that the man who has been so involved in the PTO ranking system, which takes into consideration the depth of field for each race along with the difficulty of the course, would not be as impressed with the considerably simpler IRONMAN Pro Series system. That Pro Series rankings start with a set number of points for the winner of each event – 5,000 for IRONMAN races, 2,500 for 70.3. (The world championship points start at 6,000 for the full and 3,000 for the 70.3.) The following athletes’ points decrease by a point for every second they are behind – hence the “every second counts” promo the Series has used. (You can read more about the points system here.)

“Obviously the PTO system is a lot more complicated than what IRONMAN has done,” Radde said. “To me it was too-simple a system, and I think it still is. But it’s been working well from a marketing viewpoint. That model of every second counts, and the simple way of being able to count down the points worked well.”

Radde also wasn’t a fan of having three full-distance races count because “it forces people to do a lot of racing if they want to do well.”

“But that’s a discussion that’s older than the Pro series,” he said with a laugh.

More Competitive Than Ever

Do the numbers back up the feeling that pro racing is more competitive than ever? Radde sure thinks so.

“I mean, you just have to go back to Kona Racing in 2010, or 2005,” he said. “You had a handful of people who would win it. And you could be reasonably certain that three of them would place on the podium. I don’t think we’re at that point anymore. You have easily 10 to 15 people who could contend for the podium, and the races are so close and so variable in how they develop. We’ve got the deepest fields, we’ve got the closest races.”

Radde sites a chat with fellow German Frederik Funk as proof of just how competitive the races have become. Funk didn’t win any races in 2024, but felt like his fifth-place performances at T100 London and T100 Ibiza were likely good enough to have won him a PTO event in 2022 or 2023.

It isn’t just the T100 races, either. Radde points to IRONMAN Cozumel, where Marten Van Riel made his full-distance debut.

“I guess in almost all instances five or 10 years ago, if he (Van Riel) crashes and loses some time, he would have been able to run himself back onto the podium,” Radde said. “But no longer. Even if there are names that you’ve never heard before, they’re still able to go super fast and do a sub-eight in their first Ironman, which was unheard of a couple years ago.” 

Short Course Racing

Cassandre Beaugrand competes in the mixed relay at the Olympics. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

Olympic champ Cassandre Beaugrand topped the short course prize money ranking this year, taking home $219,875 from World Triathlon and SuperTri. Hayden Wilde was second on that list ($198,575), although he augmented his earnings with IRONMAN events and earned $247,575 in total last year. Like Beaugrand, the men’s Olympic champ, Alex Yee, earned all his money through short course racing and ended up third on the list at $162,889.

One last stat we’ll throw at you from Radde’s reporting: “The total number of athletes who earned prize money has been almost unchanged (818 in 2023 vs 823 in 2024).”

The post It’s Never Been a Better Time to Be a Pro Triathlete … And the Numbers Prove It first appeared on Slowtwitch News.

As a reminder, voting is still ongoing for the women’s ballot.

Ryan: We had a good spirited debate on the women’s nominations for this award. Let’s turn it over to the men. Who’s on your short list?

Kevin: Well, this should be fun. I am sure you will be shocked that I would put Patrick Lange on the list – while his year wasn’t super-consistent, he came through on the biggest stage in record-setting style. While he ended up short on the IRONMAN Pro Series title, he still finished second in that. As I mentioned earlier with the women – being an IRONMAN world champion in Germany is huge (yes, I know he lives in Austria, but that won’t affect anything on the sponsorship or appearance front). Taking a third Kona title puts him in some pretty rare company, and 7:35:53 … well, that just takes it all to another level, too. 

While I feel Magnus Ditlev deserves mention for his Roth performance and general consistency through the year, I really don’t think he can factor into the discussion as he didn’t get a world title or contend for the top of the podium in either the T100 standings of the IRONMAN Pro Series. 

I think you have to put Marten Van Riel in the equation (especially since we’ve decided T100 distance is “long”) – the guy won three T100 races and finished second in the other one he competed in. He also managed a seventh-place finish in Cozumel despite having to wait to file a police report after his accident. 

And then there is Jelle Geens. He ticks off the box of having won a world championship (Taupo) and was the only person to beat Van Riel in a T100 race this year (Lake Las Vegas). He was consistent in his other 70.3 appearances – second in Zell am See, third in Tallinn and fourth in Oceanside – and also managed another Olympic appearance (his third) before truly turning his sights to the long-distance stuff. 

Is there anyone you think I’m missing, Ryan?

Ryan: I think you have to put Gregory Barnaby in the discussion given the reasoning you have for eliminating Ditlev; winning the IM Pro Series has to count for something. Again, dueling top 10s at the two IRONMAN World Championships, plus three podiums on the year, counts for something.

But I also would put more weight on Ditlev’s season than you did, Kevin. Although he didn’t wind up contending in the season standings, it’s not like his results at T100 were lackluster. In four races he took a win, two fourths, and then an eighth at the finale – which came just a few weeks after his second place in Kona. 

This is probably controversial, but I think we might have to look at eliminating Lange from this. Yes, he’s the reigning IRONMAN World Champion. Yes, he also won IRONMAN Texas this year. But his 70.3 performances were abysmal by comparison. And I think we have to wind up giving more credit to athletes who are able to excel across the spectrum of what we’re calling long course. (No matter how important winning a world title is in Germany.) That logic also tends toward us eliminating Geens, despite the 70.3 world title.

So for me, this becomes a discussion of Van Riel, Ditlev, and Barnaby. Obviously Ditlev and Barnaby were both more successful at the full distance this year than Van Riel was. Van Riel’s got the world title in his pocket. Barnaby’s consistency got him a $200,000 bonus. And Ditlev was really strong at the two biggest full distance events in the world and had a solid run of T100 races.

I feel like now we have to get very nitpicky, Kevin.

Kevin: I hear you. And I agree that Gregory should be added to the mix, for sure. While I believe that we need to acknowledge his season, it seems crazy to me that we’d give him the Athlete of the Year award over guys who beat him at all the major races. The IRONMAN Pro Series rewards consistency, but are we ready to give the award to someone who was sixth at the IRONMAN World Championship and ninth at the 70.3 worlds? 

I would be happy to leave Magnus in the discussion, too, but remain reluctant to leave Patrick out of the equation. Maybe it’s the era I come from. Back when I was racing, Dave Scott won Kona more times than he didn’t, and often didn’t perform super-well at other races through the season. There was a reason his nickname was “The Man,” though – that ability to come through on the one day that really counted amounted to a lot. Patrick did that in style this year – his win didn’t just net him a world title, it put him in some very special company as one of the all-time Kona greats. The list of three-time Kona champs? Dave Scott, Mark Allen, Peter Reid, Craig Alexander, Jan Frodeno and now Patrick Lange. That, to me, is worth acknowledging.

Ryan: Here’s the thing I struggle with on Lange: yes, he won Kona. And he wound up earning the win in Texas, albeit a few months after the fact due to Tomas Rodriguez-Hernandez’s anti-doping sanction. But his record at 70.3 this year was atrocious – his best showing of the year was 16th place at Oceanside, more than 15 minutes behind winner Lionel Sanders. (Yes, forum readers, we’ve officially hit our Lionel quota for an article on men’s racing.)

And yes, to me, “of the year” by definition means we are looking at the entirety of the season, not just one race or performance. Just like a win in Kona or Nice or Roth carries a heavy weight, not being in the mix at another distance (or for a bunch of the year) should also carry a lot of weight. To me, Lange was so far behind in 70.3 events this year that it pulls the value of his two IM wins down.

Perhaps this all puts Ditlev’s season into further perspective – he was competitive every time he started, won the largest full distance race not named IRONMAN World Championships, and took second at IM Worlds (in the fifth fastest time ever in Kona). For as much as I like Barnaby, and that IM Pro Series consistency paid off in a healthy paycheck, I think Ditlev’s year probably outweighs it.

So to me it’s a Ditlev vs. Van Riel conversation. Ditlev was more successful at long course, and competitive at T100. Van Riel was near untouchable at T100 with a well deserved world title, and was on track for an excellent finish in Cozumel until that unfortunate collision. Results are results, though…

But I think we should put it to our readers at this point.

The post 2024 Slowtwitch Awards: Men’s Long Course Athlete of the Year first appeared on Slowtwitch News.

It certainly worked for Taylor Knibb on her way to the IRONMAN 70.3 World title. But it’s worth noting that the next two fastest splits finished second and fourth in the race, respectively. Here’s a look at the rides, along with my quick take on the bike positions of the women who had the 10 fastest bike splits in New Zealand.

Before I dive into this piece, I want to acknowledge a few things:

• These are static images taken at a single moment during the race.
• Camera angles can distort positions.

I’m also assuming that athletes have arrived at these positions through a deliberate process, supported by trial and error, bike fit professionals, and some form of aerodynamic testing.

Taylor Knibb – 2:10:09

Taylor just flat out looks good on a bike. She does everything right; she has great posture on the bike, solid anterior pelvic tilt, stretches out, relaxes her head and keeps it low. I can just tell she is very conscious of these “aero cues” will riding. She does at times, appear to run out of the length she is looking for on the bike, but most athletes will assume a few different positions on the bike based on effort. For example, you might tighten up a bit if you’re powering over a roller and then stretch out at high speed and lower power.

I don’t have much feedback here. I would potentially experiment with more bar tilt which could provide more stability on the front end.

Imogen Simmonds – 2:14:34

Imogen’s position checks most of the boxes. However, she doesn’t ride as long or low as Taylor, nor does she achieve the same anterior pelvic tilt. This could be due to soft tissue pressure from the rotation, potentially limiting her ability to achieve a lower or longer position. Another small tweak I’d suggest is extending her arms to place her hands on top of the shifters. While this likely wouldn’t affect her speed significantly, it’s a minor detail that I noticed while watching the race coverage.

Kat Matthews – 2:14:41

It’s hard not to be drawn towards Kat’s spirited attitude on the race course. Kat does a great job of staying relaxed and keeping her head low on the bike. I made a note to myself while watching the coverage that if I was working with her, I’d experiment with moving her saddle forward and her bars slightly out and down while preserving the overall characteristics of her position.

Laura Madsen – 2:16:05

Laura’s performance was impressive, so it’s hard to argue with her setup. However, her position seems a bit too conservative to me. If she hasn’t validated this through aerodynamic testing, I’d recommend lowering the front end by 20-30mm for potential aero gains.

Lisa Becharas – 2:16:10

Lisa’s position looks great and checks all the boxes. If she’s experiencing any discomfort—like feeling as though she’s falling off the saddle or the front of the bike—I’d consider experimenting with more bar tilt for added stability.

Nikki Bartlett – 2:16:41

Nikki’s position looks strong. If she were open to experimenting, I’d suggest moving her saddle forward by 10-20mm to ride steeper.

Paula Findlay – 2:17:37

The 3x Canadian Road Time Trial Champion is a great cyclist with undeniable power on the bike. Paula’s riding style reminds me old-school TT positions—she sits further behind the bottom bracket and drops her heel significantly during the pedal stroke. Paula is very experienced and her riding style seems to work well for her—but since I’m armchair quarterbacking here, I’d recommend moving the saddle forward to enable a steeper position and a more open hip angle. Specialized offers a seat post that can extend forward by 20-25mm, but it might not be enough for the range I had in mind.

Ashleigh Gentle – 2:18:03

Ashleigh’s position is reminiscent of some top male pros, including Magnus Ditlev, a fellow Scott athlete. Whether they’ve used the same resources or not, her position looks fantastic.

Hannah Berry – 2:18:10

Hannah rides a long and low position, one of the best in the female field. Without feedback from her on comfort, there’s little to critique.

Julie Derron – 2:18:15

Julie’s position has room for improvement from a comfort and aerodynamic perspective. I would move Julie’s front end both up and out. These adjustments would allow Julie to relax more on the bike and close the gap between her head and hands. With these changes, I believe her cycling performance would improve substantially.

Hanne De Vet – 2:18:15

Hanne’s setup demonstrates attention to detail, and her position looks solid. Adding a bit more length to the front end could further refine her position by lowering her back angle slightly and encouraging greater forward hip rotation.

Photos by Kevin Mackinnon

The post Taupō Rides: The Positions of the Women’s Top 10 Bike Splits from 70.3 Worlds first appeared on Slowtwitch News.

Note that there is no double-dipping at this. With Taylor Knibb winning the voting for Triathlete of the Year, she is ineligible for this award.

Ryan: First, Kevin, I think we probably need to set some parameters as to how we define Long Course, because I’m sure that will ruffle a few feathers.

Kevin: You think? While I don’t necessarily agree with this, I think the PTO has pushed us into a world where T100 and up is now considered long distance. (Which, I note, is hilarious for an organization that was started to help full-distance IRONMAN athletes make more of a living – but that’s fodder for a completely different story or even a podcast!)

Ryan: Yeah. It comes down to thinking that there’s no need to divide up and have a 70.3/T100 distance award – and with World Triathlon dubbing T100 “long course,” we’ll follow along.

Going into the potential nominees, I still think the same case can be made for Kat Matthews that I made for her Triathlete of the Year nomination. Nobody raced more, and across more distances, than she did, and made an absolute killing in bonuses from the IRONMAN Pro Series victory and finishing 4th in the T100 standings. But I think there’s strong arguments for the two women who beat her on some of the larger stages: Ashleigh Gentle and Laura Philipp.

Gentle’s year was similar to that of Matthews; she raced 7 times and was on the podium for 5 of them. Head-to-head, Gentle and Matthews raced 5 times together, with Gentle coming out ahead 3 out of 5 times, including at the T100 Grand Final in Dubai. And although it doesn’t count for the purposes of this award, Gentle also extended her unbelievable win streak in Noosa.

As for Philipp: obviously, she emerged over Matthews in that duel at the IRONMAN World Championships in Nice to take her first world title. She also had her strong second place in Roth. When you race nine times in a year, and your worst finishing position is 7th, that’s an awfully strong campaign. 

For me this comes down to Matthews and Philipp, and it’s not too dissimilar from the point I was trying to make for Triathlete of the Year: I think it’s important that you show the versatility of being able to race both T100/70.3 distance and 140.6. And that’s something that Gentle just has not done.

Kevin: For sure Kat needs to be considered the front-runner on this one. Some notes, though. There was one athlete who actually raced more than Kat last year – I did a profile on Els Visser yesterday. (I did note right off the bat in that piece that she wasn’t likely to be in the running for any Triathlete of the Year awards, but did enjoy a pretty spectacular season.) There’s another name I would add to the discussion – Anne Haug. If you asked me in July who was going to be the Triathlete of the Year, I would have been willing to bet it would be her. I was in Lanzarote when she broke Paula Newby Fraser’s long-standing course record, and wished I had made it to Roth to watch that otherworldly 8:02:38 performance. I truly couldn’t see any way she wasn’t going to win Nice at that point – I hope my beliefs didn’t jinx her.

Unfortunately, as amazing as those two performances were, the rest of the season wasn’t Triathlete of the Year worthy. (Yes, I am also asking myself why I even went down that road, but it just seemed weird not to have any mention of Haug in this mix!)

I agree on your Ashleigh Gentle points, Ryan. I don’t think she ends up ahead of either Kat or Laura based on her mostly T100, with a touch of 70.3 and a dash of Olympic-distance (Noosa) race season.  

Which leaves us with the Kat / Laura debate for this one. I do believe there is an argument for giving Laura Philipp the award here. As you pointed out, her two “worst” performances were the pair of seventh-place finishes at T100 Lake Las Vegas and T100 Dubai, both of which came after her incredible day in Nice. It’s impressive to me she even made it to those races. People in North America have no idea how big a deal it is to be an IRONMAN world champion over in Germany. The sponsor and media requirements for her after winning Nice must have been nuts. 

Philipp’s year was truly focussed on Nice, too. After the race she told me that she’d had it in her head that the race in Nice was her best shot at a world title from the day IRONMAN announced they would be heading there. So, I guess it comes down to what people think is most important when it comes to picking a Triathlete of the Year. Consistency? Being able to take the world title? A combination of the two?

Happy to hear any arguments, or simply send this to a vote!

Ryan: I think this one is awfully close. In my opinion, you have to give some additional weight to performing at both IRONMAN world championship races (and, for that matter, Dubai as well). But I suppose we can send it to a vote.

The post 2024 Slowtwitch Awards: Women’s Long Course Athlete of the Year first appeared on Slowtwitch News.