Webb triathlon update

I'd really love to see Webb make the Olympic team for Rio. Does anyone think this is a distinct possibility?

If Alan reads this, I think I speak for everyone else when I say we all are rooting for you! You inspired me to run in my formative years (early 2000s).

Triathlete Mag believes he is

http://triathlon.competitor.com/2014/08/features/2016-olympics-update-u-s-stands-now_103208/2

He beat the #3 American a couple of weeks ago. So I agree with Triathlete Mag. Who knows, he could be #1 already.

It will be interesting to see if Webb can stick with Zaferes (6th highest US athlete on ITU points list) and McCartney on the swim in Kelowna. Both are awesome swimmers (they are however not very good runners, which explains why they are stuck competing mostly in lower level events). Webb seems to be making rapid improvements in the swim. It will be most interesting to compare the gap between Webb and McCartney on the swim leg. Webb was 18 seconds behind McCartney in the swim in Magog. If he can stick with McCartney on the swim (or be closer), that will be a great milestone for Webb.

Webb for the win in Kelowna.

What does Webb ride?

Mmm... Webb 45 seconds back of Zaferes and McCartney after the swim. He lost a further 5 seconds to Zaferes in the first transition...

However, since this is only a PATCO event, Zaferes, McCartney and Lagerstrom are all alone at the front. If this was a World Cup event, it would already be game over for Webb. I'm disappointed that Webb did not get stronger in the swim (closer to McCartney) in the last month. My guess is that it's a wetsuit free event in Kelowna today...

Let's see what happens in the bike leg.

Looks like the pack ( including Webb) was not able to catch the top 3 on the bike.

...actually lost approx 1 minute to the top 3 on the bike. It looks like the chase pack broke up.

Good second transition however. The fastest of the field (tied with Zaferes), starting the run 1 min 43s behind Zaferes however...

Zaferes wins in 54:24

Webb 7th in 55:51

He did beat Pedersen and Libin (both top 10 Americans) and Bice (14th ranked in the US).

His swim needs to improve.

He got gapped by his group in the bike (his bike needs to improve)

He was 29 seconds slower than the fastest runner today. He ran 15:14 (his run after bike needs to improve)

Quite a bit of improvement required across the board.

He is one of the 10 best Americans however.

Even though this performance was very disappointing (after Magog), I would still love to see him in Cozumel for the World Cup event in October. Qualifying period for the Rio triathlon began May '14, so...

I like it how people look at the faces of athletes and can tell how much they have left. I remember chris froome gritting his teeth and nairo quintana looking totally fresh in the TDF a couple of years back.... right before quintana cracked and froome put minutes into him.

Btw: does anybody know who Calvin Quirk (an Australian) is? He had the fastest run segment today. I never heard of him. A former runner?

Buy byte wrote:

Btw: does anybody know who Calvin Quirk (an Australian) is? He had the fastest run segment today. I never heard of him. A former runner?

I found him. He ran 14:50 (maybe faster) last year in the 5k as a 16 y.o. (He's born in 1997).

I guess that he's splitting 14:45 this year as a 17 y.o. in a triathlon (HS junior or HS senior in the fall?). That's pretty impressive.

He came in second today in 55:00.

I guess that you heard it here first folks.

I heard Webb got kicked or hit pretty hard in the eye during the swim and that he was hurting pretty bad after the race. Others who know him well were wondering what happened to him, based on his time and position, on the swim before they knew about the injury. That indicates to me that it wasn't a typical swim performance. I don't know how badly the injury effected him.... I did see that he got third in the run behind the two Australians.

Women's triathlon in the USA is in a very healthy state and I agree with Triathlete Mag's assessment. But the men's is beyond hope. There are only going to be two places up for grabs for Rio and if they are seriously looking to find athletes who will medal, they should simply give up and give the funding to the women because there is no one who has any remote chance of getting anywhere near the podium.

Webb has shown he can compete with 2nd rate triathletes over short distances and not be embarrassed. Hats off to him for trying. But the standard of swimming and biking (by guys who are coincidentally the best proven runners in the sport) is so high that there is no way that people like Webb or Verzbicas are ever going to get a chance to test their legs.

In his defence, had Webb entered triathlon 10 years ago, when the sport was still developing, his run might have counted for something. But people like the Brownlee brothers or Gomez grew up doing all three sports with triathlon as their goal and this new generation of real triathletes have taken Olympic triathlon on to a new level. IF you have never seen him, watch Alistair Brownlee race who is ALWAYS in the front swim pack, and then drives the cycling leg like a madman, and when fit, can put in a low 29 min 10K. The Spaniard Gomez is similarly impressive. So Webb has zero chance.

jeez...maybe give him a year? maybe?

Floyd Pink wrote:

I heard Webb got kicked or hit pretty hard in the eye during the swim and that he was hurting pretty bad after the race. Others who know him well were wondering what happened to him, based on his time and position, on the swim before they knew about the injury. That indicates to me that it wasn't a typical swim performance. I don't know how badly the injury effected him.... I did see that he got third in the run behind the two Australians.

I heard the same. Apparently it was bad enough that he was in the med tent as soon as he finished. If he got beat up in the water, and kicked in the eye, chances are he had goggle/visibility issues for the entire swim.

I also heard he had to take up the reins on the bike a push the bike leg the entire time because that pack was content to sit. If he sat back during that leg, it would have been worse for him.

He continues to accumulate points to get him on the WTS circuit. I think he's safely in the top 5 for USA triathletes right now, and maybe higher.

Good to hear. I am a novice triathon fan but big Webb fan. I really don't have a good feel on how he stacks up in this sport and have to rely on the reports of others. Having said that, his adapting and improvement seem rapid to me. I had always heard that he was a very good swimmer before focusing on running and that the swimming was the hardest thing to excel in when transitioning to the triathlon if you didn't have a strong base in childhood/teens.

By the way, I saw another tweet yesterday that indicated that the wheels he needed for his bike did not arrive in time and cost him a little there as well. Again, don't know how much of an effect something like that would be and don't want to make excuses for him.

"His swim needs to improve.

He got gapped by his group in the bike (his bike needs to improve)

He was 29 seconds slower than the fastest runner today. He ran 15:14 (his run after bike needs to improve)"

-this cracked me up. so what are you trying to say in your synopsis? that he needs to improve?

doodeedoo wrote:

"His swim needs to improve.

He got gapped by his group in the bike (his bike needs to improve)

He was 29 seconds slower than the fastest runner today. He ran 15:14 (his run after bike needs to improve)"

-this cracked me up. so what are you trying to say in your synopsis? that he needs to improve?

That was pretty much my assessment. When I saw the results, I was quite disappointed with his performance across the board. I could not see anything positive in his performance.

Others on the board got further info however.

It seems that he got kicked in the swim leg. This probably explains why it looked like his swim didn't progress in the past month

When he got on the bike, not only did he have to compose with the pain from being kicked in the eye, but it seems that he didn't have the right set of wheels.

Furthermore, it seems like he led the chase pack for a long time, before getting gapped by the leaders of the chase group.

Leading on the bike affected his run after bike.

All and all, it might just be a race to forget and not necessarily an indication that he didn't progress in the last month.

I guess that his next race will give us a better indication of his progress.