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

Why is this noteworthy?

In a few years he will be known as the GOAT triathlete.

Stick with eharmony wrote:

Why is this noteworthy?

Why is this not noteworthy? Verzbicas has always had a strong following on these message boards.

Really needs to drop low 29's if he wants any hope to compete at a world cup event.

Yeah, if he's gonna do well in a WCS event he'll need to be able to run that kind of time. It doesn't look like he was pushed too too hard on the run leg though.

considering the fact that olympics was won with a 30:46 10k in 2008, you might want to check your facts before posting on something you clearly don't know anything about.

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

1. This was a world cup event.

2. The Russian in 3rd in on their Olympic team

I remember many threads ago when posters said Lukas

would never swim or bike well enough for his run to

be a factor.

The Animal Within wrote:

Really needs to drop low 29's if he wants any hope to compete at a world cup event.

Course conditions will often make this vary.

For instance, a few weeks ago in the Pan-Am Cup Event, his total time was 1:57 or so due to some horrendous heat.

This time around, he's 10 or so minutes faster than that.

However, the course at the Pan-Am Cup was also apparently 1.5k or so long on the running leg, which explains why all the times were 35+ mins, which isn't quite normal for elite triathletes.

That being said, he's doing pretty well for himself.

Won both a continental and an international race within a month!

bootsie wrote:

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

I hope you realize that as a high school freshman, Verzbicas himself said that he didn't think he could compete against the East-Africans on the world stage in running.

At this point, he's doing a HELL of a lot better than the vast majority of runners in the US.

I don't know if you remember, but it was recently stated that the average sponsor contribution to a US top-10 track and field athlete was around $10,000 per year.

In contrast, Verzbicas has all his expenses covered at an Olympic Training Facility in Colorado Springs, and has won $9000 in prize money in less than a MONTH.

Logically speaking, why on Earth would he choose the path of a struggling professional runner when he could CLEARLY be much more successful in the Triathlon?

twitter me this wrote:

In a few years he will be known as the GOAT triathlete.

I agree. Its a shame he wont be in London..

Seyta wrote:

I hope you realize that as a high school freshman, Verzbicas himself said that he didn't think he could compete against the East-Africans on the world stage in running.

Umm.... so basically he talked himself out of what clearly might have been a reality had he stuck with running. His high school times blew the doors off of Galen's high school times, and Galen is doing quite well against the top tier East Africans. Bottom line, he went for the money and the easy way out and did it in a way that completely lacked class. While he's laughing all the way to the bank, his rep among runners will be of the kid who punked out on his team. Period.

GREED has been his parents motivation and GREED will be his down fall!!

Please stop posting his results as he is "Dead" in the eyes of T&F people.

WE are more interested in the athletes that stick with the sport!

Ritz

Hall

Rupp

Manzano

Derick

Levins

Tegenkamp

Solinsky

Bumbalough

Dunbar

the list goes on....

The guy in second represented France at the Olympics in 2008.

More specifically, the Russian guy in third is currently ranked second in the world Tri ranking and the French guy in second is currently ranked 10th... So this was not a low key win. Yes, very few of the top 10 were there, but a few were.

LV should have tried to make the Olympics this year. He would have done well. Most probably a top 8 finish, with an outside shot at a medal, depending how the race evolves...

bootsie wrote:

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

You're significantly unintelligent.

Go West wrote:

GREED has been his parents motivation and GREED will be his down fall!!

Please stop posting his results as he is "Dead" in the eyes of T&F people.

WE are more interested in the athletes that stick with the sport!

Ritz

Hall

Rupp

Manzano

Derick

Levins

Tegenkamp

Solinsky

Bumbalough

Dunbar

the list goes on....

Now show me the international medals all of those guys have. Lukas already has one from last year, and it appears he will have many more.

Crcdcdcdxndkxn wrote:

More specifically, the Russian guy in third is currently ranked second in the world Tri ranking and the French guy in second is currently ranked 10th... So this was not a low key win. Yes, very few of the top 10 were there, but a few were.

LV should have tried to make the Olympics this year. He would have done well. Most probably a top 8 finish, with an outside shot at a medal, depending how the race evolves...

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

In terms of citizenship, he only became a US citizen within the last year or so, so I do not believe he was actually eligible to compete for the US in the Olympics since their requirements are different from those of the ITU.

In terms of qualifications, the US system works as such:

Apparently, the top 2 spots were given to the US's top finishers in the ITU World Championships in August 2011. Verzbicas at the time, won the ITU Junior World Championships, and thus, was not eligible.

Any additional spots are determined through a selection committee, and at this point, I'm not quite sure that anyone will be quite so willing to give it to a 19-year-old who has completed a total of 2 Olympic Distance races.

Go West wrote:

GREED has been his parents motivation and GREED will be his down fall!!

Please stop posting his results as he is "Dead" in the eyes of T&F people.

WE are more interested in the athletes that stick with the sport!

Sorry, but you don't speak for everyone on LetsRun... I'm not saying he's my favorite athlete or anything, but I'm certainly interested in how he does as a triathlete. Don't tell people not to post things just because YOU don't care about them.