When I read the thread title, my first thought is "I wonder what will go wrong with Lionel Sanders" ... because something will go wrong. Training beast but seems to always have bad execution at the biggest races.
Sadly it appears I've called it. I do like LS, but he has a pattern ...
I mean, he was 2nd at the May World Champs... I think the biggest issue for him in Kona is the weather. He has a million 70.3 wins & plenty of great Ironmans in good weather. & it's not like he hasn't had some good results on the big island. When you document, you open yourself up to criticism. I think he's great for the sport. If you follow the sport, you know he delivers most of the time.
Chelsea Sodaro hasn't gotten much love on here. Former Cal runner. 4:30 mile. 15:10 5k. 32:05 10k. IM World Champ post pregnancy. Incredible. There's a really good series on her return to triathlon on the PTO Youtube channel. Alysia Montaño is in one of them, which is a cool tie in to some of the shared issues women face in athletics. PTO offers maternity leave for athletes which is a good start.
It’s funny Ironman has PTO to thank for this great Ironman WC. PTO has made it possible for approx 100 guys to make a living with triathlon (and make it possible for a few more can dream about it). In the past there were maybe 20 or 30 guys who could make it. That has raised the bar significantly. Races are a lot deeper and faster now.
Ironman was not doing that. The typical Ironman pays $7.5k for the winner and is down to $3.75k for 3rd place. you better hope that you can drive to the race and stay at a friend’s house. Otherwise, you may be out of money if you finish 3rd.
One business model is sustainable. The other is not.
I also don’t know/understand what PTO’s source of revenue or business model is. In the short run however, it’s improving the level of competition (so enjoy). They got some sort of funding from somewhere.
They got an angel investor with too much money on his hands to supposedly kick in $10-20million. Once they finish burning through that and find out they can't make enough money selling ads for their race coverage they are toast. The AG turnout for their last race was horrific.
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