Alan Webb AND Lukas Verzbicus in last World cup in korea this weekend

how the hell do you even get into a world tri race "spontaneously"

Not a contender to win a medal at all (there are really only 4 people that: brownlees, javier and mola) but he did dhow he has a shot at making the us mens team. There are lots of guys in that group though (Kemper, zafares, maloy, kanute, billington, chrabot, webb, shoemaker) Will be fun to watch it unfold

I will grant you that it does need some serious improvement, but I don't see it as hopeless as you make it out. considering that he's only been at it a matter of months, not years, I think the room is there for the necessary improvement. he has a legit shot at coming out 30-45s back, which gives him an outside shot at making it back up to the front, especially if there are a few domestiques from a few teams willing to do legwork to bring runners to the front. obviously the brownlees/gomez/etc are not just going to fart around waiting for webb, but by time rio comes around, he'll have over 2yrs of solid tri training/adaptation. I think that puts him squarely in the 25-1 to 100-1 ballpark, for medal odds. of course AB and JG are prob around 1-1 odds for a medal, with JB around 1.75-1 odds, but hey, it's a shot, right? :)

What I am forgetting is that Webb has only done two Olympic distance races in his life. So there is certainly time for him to become more experienced and also stronger in the different phases. What has been surprising to me is that his running has not stood out at all. I've read elsewhere that this is because he has been doing very little run training but I'm still surprised just how ordinary his runs have been. But of course, swimming and cycling does impact on run speed and we still don't know if Webb is a Brownlee who is able to cycle like a madman and then run a sub 30 10K. I think that is a specialist talent in itself...

Next year, there are a lot of hideous flat and boring courses in the World Series and so there is a chance that Webb could find himself in the main pack at T2. Rio is rumoured to feature a very hilly bike course (which the Brownlees and Gomez would love) and that would make a large pack coming together exceedingly unlikely. Which is further incentive for Webb (and everyone else) to improve his swimming. But on the evidence of the last few seasons, unless you exit the swim in the top 10, it is uncommon to get a shot at utilising a good (about 75% of races have seen the front swimmers get away for good).

Rio's water is so polluted that the triathlon venue has not been chosen yet. It may be held somewhere else in Brasil that doesn't have polluted water. It's so bad that rowers aren't allowed to row there!

Why are people so surprised webbs run isn't better. He quit running for obvious reasons...

Waxy, all very valid points, & I agree. Hilly course in Rio= top dogs lock up those podium spots.

at this rate, I think webb is a lock for 2nd pack, and a slim hope for just catching on to the first pack, especially if he has enough HP with him in the 2nd pack (& the willing participants to make it happen).

Similarly to the swim, I'm unconcerned about his run, as it truly takes time to learn to run off the bike. I raced at a level higher than webb (in triathlon, was just a putz runner) and it took me a few years before I discovered how to bring my differential close to the gold standard (generally considered running within 1min of your open PB- on a LEGIT course, not these 9.72km courses that they run so often). He will get there, and fortunately he still has 1.5yrs. If he's made little to no progress towards the en dof next season, I'll take back my optomism, but for now I'm rooting like hell for the guy!

as far as LV, seems like a nice kid, but zero future in olympic distance right now. I know the crash was a huge setback, but he might have been better off sticking with running. oh well.