jamie t wrote:
To answer your first question, no, she isn't the greatest triathlete ever. She isn't even top 2 in short course. Duffy and Spirig both match her Olympic gold but both have done more than Gwen outside of the gold. Her two year peak was the best two year stretch ever but that was far too short. Duffy has beaten her largest WTCS win record and then went out and became the first woman ever to lead a race wire to wire. There then are all of the long course women who had better careers with many Kona wins and HM wins.
I don't understand why people are having such a hard time understanding how much better women's triathlon is today versus 2016. The top women all are the top swimmers who also are the top bikers who also can run. Can they run as fast as Gwen at her peak? No but Gwen never would be able to swim with the top women today, would get further dropped on the bike and then would be so far back the little bit she would be able to make up on the run wouldn't matter. She would be a worse Beaugrand who is a top swimmer who still cannot handle a hard 40K on the bike and still is not a factor in the Olympic distance (she must better at sprints and is best female on the relay). She never would have medaled in Tokyo because she never would have been able to swim with the lead women on the swim and the race was over if you weren't in the lead pack. Flora then ran 33 flat.
Her bid to make the Olympics is entirely hinged on conning USAT to give her the 3rd discretionary spot. She has ZERO chance of grabbing one of the two possible auto picks. However, as noted above, there are many women who are far superior to a 38-year old far ahead of her who can swim much better than she ever could (and swimming really matters now). The two Taylors, Rappaport, Kasper and Zafares all are ahead of her. She could pass Kasper but I don't see how she ever gets ahead of the other four. Don't forget that if she makes the team, it means that two of those four don't. She then would have to bump one of the other two who make the team off the relay. The only way any of this would happen is politics or major injuries to multiple women.
Short course women's triathlon has never had a GOAT. Nicola Spirig is the closest to it with two Olympic medals. Mostly, its dominant seasons but from many different women.
Long course women have had a couple vying for GOAT: Paula Newbie Fraser, Chrissie Wellington, Daniela Reif
This question will never be answered for women until it is answered in the same way it has definitively been answered for men:
Kristian Blummenfeldt
Who has done it all, over multiple distances, in the span of one year. Nobody comes close to his GOAT status.
Jonny Brownlee is the GOAT for short course racing.
Kristian Blummenfeldt is the GOAT for overall men's triathlon (short & long).
But women's dominance for the GOAT conversation is mostly in the long course realm, not the short course realm (Spirig?) and certainly not all combined (Erin Baker?), like Kristian Blummenfeldt's clear GOAT status in the span of a year, beating the best over multi distances.
Jan Frodeno is not close to Blu's record year.