VERZBICAS 4:04!!!

I see LV next years going 13:30 5k, 830 2 mile, 358 for the mile. Plus he will break virgins record easily next my guess 1340!! Think about this lv vs derrick xc 2012 for ncaa title.

I don't understand why all the high schoolers get so upset that he is a year older. As someone else posted...it all evens out when redshirts come up. I think its sad that he is in such a rush to graduate just to please a few jealous high schoolers. Too bad he is too concerned with what you dyestat babies are saying.

Verzbicas is not American enough for Letsrun. Therefore, he is hated. Next.

Can anyone comment on if he is actually any good at the triathlon? His running is good but is he getting crushed in the bike and swim and making it up in the run or is he competitive in those events? He doesn't look like he has enough muscle to generate the power on the bike or in the pool. Obviously he is still maturing but it seems like at some point he will have to decide to sacrifice some running potential to improve his tri performance

Python wrote:

No, he'll focus on the tri for 2012 and stop running track.

dasfasd@hasd.com wrote:

Can anyone comment on if he is actually any good at the triathlon?

He has won the national and Pan Am junior triathlon championship and the world junior championship in duathlon. Running is the strongest of his triathlon disciplines, but he's a very, very good triathlete.

I wonder if he will be an American before the 2012 trials. At this point, presumably he's still a Lithuanian citizen. It has to be easier to make the Lithuanian triathlon team than the American one...at least in 2012 when he's 19. So, make the Lithuanian Olympic tri-team when he's 19, and compete as an American in 2016?

I know Olympic gold is his ultimate dream, and he can't be faulted for that. But when I see someone with so much obvious talent on the track (I highly doubt the mile is his best event, from the way he runs, and his build), thinking about him competing in the tri instead makes me cry a little bit inside. :(

Look, I like the kid don't get me wrong. But what I hate hearing is people talk him up like he is going to be the greatest Triathlete to walk to face of the planet. When your 5k pr is low 14's you should be able to run a decent triathlon if you are able to swim and bike decent. He gets killed at the swimming part and slaughtered on the bike. He will not make the 2012 US olympic team. Jarrod Shoemaker, Kemper and Matt Reed are all very good. Shoemaker was a very good runner in college too. I'm not putting the kid down. But lets try and keep things in perspective. Not everyone does triathlons in high school. Most get started in college.

I don't have any perspective on how good a tri-guy he is or is going to be. Apparently, he's one of the top juniors in the world, but that's a long way from making a US Olympic team, I guess. Honestly, that's just a random stab in the dark, given that I know nothing about tris.

Anyway, he's obviously really really good at running. I don't watch him run and think "miler," do you? He looks like a 10K or marathon guy to me, young as he is. Could he be an Olympic triathlete? I have no idea, but I think he could be an elite American distance runner, that's for damn sure.

bumtard wrote:

I wonder if he will be an American before the 2012 trials. At this point, presumably he's still a Lithuanian citizen. It has to be easier to make the Lithuanian triathlon team than the American one...at least in 2012 when he's 19. So, make the Lithuanian Olympic tri-team when he's 19, and compete as an American in 2016?

I know Olympic gold is his ultimate dream, and he can't be faulted for that. But when I see someone with so much obvious talent on the track (I highly doubt the mile is his best event, from the way he runs, and his build), thinking about him competing in the tri instead makes me cry a little bit inside. :(

He has competed for the US internationally.

The flags in the video indicate enough wind to make this a 4:00-ish effort. Put him in a pro race where he doesn't have to lead, in calm conditions....sub-4:00 is his.

The question is more is his swimming and biking at levels that look like they will improve to world class. For example Lance was a very good triathelete as a teenager but it was clear that his biking was his strongest. Right now I expect he Verzbicas could be a min back going into the run and win pretty easily.

Not An Expert wrote:

dasfasd@hasd.com wrote:

Can anyone comment on if he is actually any good at the triathlon?

He has won the national and Pan Am junior triathlon championship and the world junior championship in duathlon. Running is the strongest of his triathlon disciplines, but he's a very, very good triathlete.

Since he has stated Olympic Gold, that means he's doing draft legal Tris, and that alone means he doesn't have to be a world beater on the bike. There are some good runners that do ITU, but I bet none have PRs as good as Verzbica's HS times even. If he can hang with the lead pack, he will pummel those guys on the run.

You do realize that Lukas only runs the sprint division. An Olympic triathlon is twice as long so 1500 of swimming, 24.8 miles of biking, and a 10k of biking. I'm not saying the kid can't do it but when you are 1-2 minutes back on the swimming (at the junior level) and you get another 1-2 (maybe even more) minutes back on the biking, that is alot of ground to make up especially when the elite TRI guys can run the 10k in under 31 minutes. So thats just something to think about, he has said the goal for 2012 is just to make it to the trials. I feel like he should concentrate on the running. I'm not saying he won't be good at the triathlon, but his running makes up the ground at the sprint division and it will be even harder to make up that ground when you could possible be 3-4 minutes back going into the running leg.

LV would have SMOKED wheating for the dub in that 15........

LV's pr's are not faster than the top ITU guys, or even up and coming American triathletes.

Tim Don ran 28:56 at the Great Manchester 10K this year, less than a minute behind Haile. He's also a world class swimmer and strong cyclist - that's why he was able to win the World Championships and HyVee this past weekend.

You don't have to be a sub 28 min 10k runner if you can swim a mile in 15 minutes. Runners critical of triathletes love to forget that running is only 1/3 of the race.

You can't discount the monumental importance of swimming in draft legal racing - you have to be a total stud in the water to make the front bike pack. A lot of guys out there were All-American swimmers and many made the OT in swimming. You're toast if you've got to ride 40k on your own. If you're not a super swimmer, you better be an absurd cyclist to bridge up to the lead bike group.

JR Sprint Tri's are a completely different animal. Most top American triathletes were either All American swimmers or runners in college, so the population racing JR's is much smaller and less competitive, at least in the US, since many don't get into tris until they're 23-24 yrs old. LV should further develop as a runner in college, swim 6 days a week year round, and then he can think about shooting for the Olypmic team in 2016 or '20.

Even if you run a minute faster than the best runners in triathlon, there's no way you're catching back up to the lead if you had to swim and bike on your own. Sean Jefferson is a good example of this - usually close to the fastest run split, but needs to improve a ton in the water to be a threat for an overall spot in an international race. Keep in mind, if a 3:55 miler and multipe XC All American isn't outrunning triathletes, LV isn't going to be cleaning up at big time triathlons, at least in the next two years.

No but it means you need to be a world beater in the pool otherwise you end up having to try and make up time on a pack of leaders.

oh please wrote:

Since he has stated Olympic Gold, that means he's doing draft legal Tris, and that alone means he doesn't have to be a world beater on the bike. There are some good runners that do ITU, but I bet none have PRs as good as Verzbica's HS times even. If he can hang with the lead pack, he will pummel those guys on the run.

I'm not disagreeing with your point, but I do believe Lukas is a lot better than a 3:55 miler/all american cross runner. Perhaps not today, but in 2 years. Lukas ran 14:18 solo on an indoor track as a 16 year old.

He could be an instant top 3-5 contender at NCAA cross country in 2011 if he runs it. That's a helluva runner.

I understand that you can only make up so much on the run, but on the flip side others would have to make quite a margin on him prior to the run.

That said, I really hope (selfishly I know) he does decide that it's better to stick with running as the focus.

I think he has a great shot to break 4:00 at the PRE meet (assuming he races it) in a few weeks and he's more of a distance man. Wouldn't be shocked if he can hold on to 3:57. I also bet he gets Rupp's 13:37 AJR mark before he's done.

I expect all the top tri guys are ~28:40-29 min 10k guys. You have to figure LV is in roughly that type of shape (4:04 mile for guy like him should be something like 13:50 for the 5k ). Now he isn't blowing them away but he is also 17. Did Sean ever run a really good 5k/10k on the track? I know he was AA in XC but it was like 20th place (not that is bad but it isn't suggesting he was much under 29 as a 10k runner. His 1500/mile PR is better than that). But yeah that is an example of what LV could be. Imagine he is a 27:40 type runner. He can make up 60+ secs on the run but if your 3 mins back out of the water, your in troubleBesides Ritz is going to kill them both: http://dathanritzenhein.competitor.com/2010/01/09/future-triathlete/

LV is obviously a huge talent. He's still in HS and his times are unbelievable. I just think it's silly to assume he's going to walk onto the ITU circuit and end up on the Olympic team, let alone on the podium in the next 2 years.

That said, I think its unfair to discount the running ability of current triathletes, by assuming LV is going to catch and crush everybody on the run. If you look at the top ITU guys right now, Brownlee, Gomez, Don, those guys are incredible swimmers in addition to solid runners. Brownlee's never run a fast 10k on the track, but you have to imagine he's at least as fast as Don.

As for Sean, I dunno if he ever ran the 5k or 10k on the track, but that's irrelevant. You don't need to when you're competing for the title in the mile. I would guess he had more than a sub 29 in him tho.

At Xc Nats:

2003 - 43 seconds behind winner Ritz and Hall

2004 - 11 seconds behind Hall, 23 behind Solinksky and Curtis, and 1:08 behind winner Bairu on a super muddy, super tough day.

He's the real deal.

Top 20 may not sound like much, but D1 Xc Nats is arguably the most competitive race on US soil (in terms of depth).

If Sean stays healthy and spends 10hrs a week in the pool for the next 5 years, he's got a shot at the podium in 2016.

If LV or Ritz can learn to swim fast enough to make the front pack, they'll be beasts. Learning to swim that fast though is a multi-year project, which is why I said I thought he should run in college and continue to develop as an athlete. 2 hours is a long time to race.