Gwen Jorgenson is back to the triathlon - how do you think she'll do in Paris?!

Yeah, she never put together a decent marathon, but she did run 53-flat on a hilly 10-mile course, beating Sara Hall. That was only a couple months after the Olympics, before she made her official transition to running. She definitely had the aerobic ceiling to be among the top American marathoners. She just couldn't seem to handle the volume necessary.

yet, she has more gold medals. How many golds do we have in the marathon? One? Gold medal is still pretty darn elite to me. Triathlon isnt curling.

Lol. She silently retired then had a second kid. This prediction is maybe worse than “5 days tops”.

It’s true. She'll be back to triathlon. You and everyone here will eat their words once she announces her comeback to the sport she hates.

I'm trying to wonder why we should give a F.

I don't know, depends on what your expectations were. She finished 9th in the Olympic trials in the 5k. For me that is a pretty good race for her, but maybe not given her publically bold ambitions. Her PBs of 15:08 and 31:55 while nothing special, they weren't bad or anything. She's been polarizing because she doesn't back up her words with amazing performances, but I'd still say she had a couple of "good" runs.

Bumping this thread as it'll be trending next week.

Meanwhile she's practicing all her activation drills....

I hope this is true, it’d be extremely interesting to watch. I’m doubtful she could return to her prior level but I’d like to see her try.

Looking back at Tokyo selection there will be 3 spots available /a definite qualifying period defined by the world governing body usually within the season of that Olympics /a selection criteria set out by U.S Tri which usually has one spot open to a committee decision others reliant on specific results [i.e first American across the line within the top 10 at World Cup/Series race X].I also think any Olympic athletes also have to hold a certain amount of world ranking points from the various tiers of races .She might have to start collating points /results at the lower tier before getting selection for the World Series which garner more points and selection opportunities

It really depends on if somehow she can squeeze another 2-3 hours of drills into her day.

But when she was in triathlon, she won just about every race she did. It seems like a sensible last shot before retirement.

You can't blame her too much for switching to running, she just won a gold medal in triathlon and ran a 2:36 marathon - she clearly had some potential and she had motivation and an opportunity to explore it. It wasn't as great as hoped, but she did try and didn't burn herself out (which would have happened in tri)/

She doesn't hate triathlon but hates the long training days in it, so she is vying for an opportunity to go into a mini-triathlon in the mixed relay - less training, caters to her potential - timeline could be possible for her post baby. It makes sense for a last shot and I think she can make it.

LRC wins again. Great call.

Hold up - she ran 2:41 after Rio, the 2:36 didn't come until 2years later in 2018

and she went from high volumes of training hours per week to running a Marathon time that plenty of female club runners have done. 2:41 isn't an indicator to change sports and progressing to 2:36 and then not improving on it for 4years (when you said it was your focus) isn't great still

She hasn't been competitive in Triathlon for 6years so the move back now doesn't make sense, and with the exception of being domestically competitive with a one-off performance over 5000m (her best performance per IAAF scoring tables) which is currently only marginally better than Katelyn Tuohy who has run 15:14 as a junior, she hasn't been competitive in athletics despite having the single best track team to train with during that time

The move to athletics was rash because it is quite literally a different sport, and you seem to imply she had 'done it all' in triathlon. I don't remember Eliud winning one Olympic medal and then immediately taking up skiing. The move back now seems misguided too. She's given up on the Marathon after only trying twice and is now setting herself up to fail with too short a timeline (which she acknowledged) for Tri.

Last point - I'm confused by you calling her move to athletics a 'last shot' but are now also calling her move back a 'last shot' - the two are almost 7yrs apart? What's next, a return to the Marathon for 2028?

Let's not forget that her 5000m PR was done with shoes that are now illegal (Vaporfly with spikes).

Oxford has beautiful running along the river and by the colleges.

Wales has amazing places for running. Snowdonia national park is beautiful.

I don’t know how this jumped to this thread when I pressed reply on the thread about best places to run…

Maybe she ran out of money . She banked it there for a few years doin Triathlons . Running career maybe a 3/10 that’s being nice . she does have the ability to run a fast split at the end be of trialthon and that’s what you need . time will time . I say a mediocre comeback .