Verzbicas wins ITU World Cup, drops a 30:55 on the run leg.

green apple wrote:

bootsie wrote:

That's amazing that he did so well against the Kenyans and the Ethiopians.........oh wait.......... right.

You're significantly unintelligent.

Why, specifically?

Let me preface by saying I know almost nothing about triathlon, but I would like to know: has Lukas ever competed against the Brownlees? Is Alistair Brownlee currently the top triathlete in the world? How far off that level is Lukas? Is Lukas likely to compete against the Brownlees any time soon?

Cheers.

Triathlons suck

melbs wrote:

Let me preface by saying I know almost nothing about triathlon, but I would like to know: has Lukas ever competed against the Brownlees? Is Alistair Brownlee currently the top triathlete in the world? How far off that level is Lukas? Is Lukas likely to compete against the Brownlees any time soon?

Cheers.

Second and third place finishers were ranked 10th and 2nd in the world, respectively, within the ITU World Triathlon Series. Lukas has no ranking, but I'd say he's doing alright for himself.

How many spots does the US have for the Olympics (3?)? Who are the athletes that will represent the US?

I don't know who is selected for the US, but the best ranked American is ranked 12th, second best ranked is 20th and third best ranked is 27th...

It just feels like LV is somewhere in there (or better)...

The rankings at this time of year dont mean much as the top athletes, Alistair Brownlee and Javier Gomez have yet to race, and the rankings are dominated by athletes who have done early season races to gather olympic qualifying points.

The USA only has 2 slots for the Olympics, won by Hunter Kemper and Manny Huerta at WCS San Diego last month. Unlikely either will win a medal.

Lukas is showing promise, but would be interesting to see how he does against decent competition, this was a weak field. The swim at Banyoles was slow, and tactics in ITU races with the Brownlees are now different. Gone are the days you can rely on a fast run. If you cant swim sub 18mins and be top 10/15 out the water, your likely miss the Brownlee bike pack and not see them again till the finish.

Although beating Laurent Vidal is a good achievement.

I guess that we will see where he really stands after Kitzbuehel on the 23rd, where Gomez, the Brownlees, the top Russians, Vidal... Will also be there to race against him...

Well, Solinsky was a 2009 World Champs qualifier and plenty of people beat him by over 5 min last week (over 5k). So according to the idea that since Lukas beat former Olympians than these people that beat Solinsky are very VERY good runners and should have a chance at performing well in London.

Yes, that's a very good analogy (not)...

This shows that he made the right decision. He is a great runner, but he will never be the best runner. He can be the best triathlete in the world.

Not a bad time for a 5.7 mile run at the end of a tri. Usually deduct a half mile from the stated distance in a tri to convert to the true distance.

Just for argument's sake, let's say he ends up ranked 25th in the world. That's still a better ranking than he was headed for the way he was running at Oregon. Kid made a smart decision.

Seyta wrote:

I believe that the reason he could not make the Olympics this year dealt with the dual-problem of citizenship and qualifications.

Would it be possible for LV to compete for Lithuania this year?

Thanks to letsrun for posting the news. I, for one, certainly am interested in his career. Anybody who saw him win both Footlockers as well as breaking 4 minutes is probably interested in his career.

I wonder if others, like me, wonder about what he could be doing if he were focused on his running career. He's still so young. I hope he may focus totally on running at some point in the future. His focus on the tri may help him in the long run by making him such a well-conditioned athlete.

Best of luck, Lukas!

Seyta wrote:

I believe that the reason he could not make the Olympics this year dealt with the dual-problem of citizenship and qualifications.

LV not on da luggage wrote:

Would it be possible for LV to compete for Lithuania this year?

When he did his first ITU event as a pro back in January, there was some discussion about him having to accumulate some number of ITU ranking points to be eligible for the Olympics. Since he was injured and hasn't competed again until recently, I doubt he's got the points to be eligible regardless of his citizenship status.

Darnell wrote:

Not a bad time for a 5.7 mile run at the end of a tri. Usually deduct a half mile from the stated distance in a tri to convert to the true distance.

This is incorrect.

In fact, the running course at the Dallas Pan-Am Cup ITU event ended up being 1500m LONG.

Wankantanka wrote:

2- Why are there no African runners on this list?

I'd think that they show far more dedication to the sport than anyone you listed.

Because this is Letsrun. Duhhh.

Lukas will always know deep down in his heart that he doesn't have what it takes mentally to be a top runner, and that he has to be in a less competitive sport in order to have success. That's enough for me.