Alan Webb AND Lukas Verzbicus in last World cup in korea this weekend

Thanks for posting. Any way to view this? That one coed relay they did was actually quite entertaining.

radkewich, didn't know you lurked around these parts. good to see you. still have radioactive symbols on your water bottles? I always wanted to steal one at swim practice just to see what your reaction would be, haha.

signed, a former teammate who lurks here too ;)

Webb got 10th. He tweeted that he was happy about it. Results with splits here -

http://www.triathlon.org/results/result/2014_tongyeong_itu_triathlon_world_cup/265211

Webb should move up to approx 160th, in the world rankings with this race. He had a sucky swim, however it didn't hurt him too much, since only 5 of the top swimmers were able to get away from the chase pack on the bike (1 of which DNFed in the run and another one was really weak in the run). The slow swim may have affected Webb anyway, as he may have been more tired on the run as a result (he was one minute slower than the fastest runner of the day)

On the other hand, LV had an even slower swim, a terrible bike and a very slow run. The positive thing is that he did finish however...

This is both a good and bad result. I think Webb should be pleased, but he doesn't have a ton of time to start separating himself from the other Americans, and though he was 10th overall, he was only the 5th American. From what I can tell, it looks like major championships are similar to track and field with one exception. Instead of getting 3 athletes with the 'A' standard in order to fill a full roster at a major championship, in triathlon, we need so many athletes above a certain level in the world rankings. As it is now, we can only qualify 2 athletes, and I think one of those positions is automatic...not sure how the other one is chosen (sometimes it appears to be discretionary, and other times it looks like there are trials).

There is a pretty complex system that awards spots per country. Americans are doing well right now (nobody in the top 10, but...). My guess is that the US will get 3 spots and not 2 (Kemper is moving up fast in the rankings and so is Kanute).

The US will then pick the 3 athletes (if they get 3 spots). Right now, they are thinking of selecting the top 2 and providing them with a "domestic" (a strong swim/biker. At this point either Kanute or Zaferes would be good choices (but there are other ones too). They have more than a year to think about how and who they will select. 2015 is all about earning these 3 spots.

What rank do you need to be to earn a spot for the US?

Pretty complex system. However, from the way I read it, if you have 3 guys ranked in the top 30, your country should earn 3 spots.

Ngnnhununhuhun wrote:

Webb should move up to approx 160th, in the world rankings with this race. He had a sucky swim, however it didn't hurt him too much, since only 5 of the top swimmers were able to get away from the chase pack on the bike (1 of which DNFed in the run and another one was really weak in the run). The slow swim may have affected Webb anyway, as he may have been more tired on the run as a result (he was one minute slower than the fastest runner of the day)

On the other hand, LV had an even slower swim, a terrible bike and a very slow run. The positive thing is that he did finish however...

Why on Earth did he just spontaneously decide to enter an event on the other side of the planet??

If his tweet is correct, then he left the US for Korea on the afternoon of the 14th for a race on the 18th... He effectively loses 14 hours due to a timezone change, and spent like another 14 hours on a flight. That means he arrives practically on the 16th and has less than 2 days to adjust to a huge amount of jet lag.

Seyta wrote:

Why on Earth did he just spontaneously decide to enter an event on the other side of the planet??

The ITU point/ranking system rewards athletes for racing their events often. Track and field could learn a thing or two from them. The IAAF Diamond League and the Marathon Majors have similar objectives but the incentives aren't as compelling.

You earn no points for coming in 64th... No point...

You are 100% correct. USATF can learn a lot from how USAT/ITU and the other NGO runs triathlon.First, I would standardize on singlets. Designated space for sponsorships and athletes name/country, etc. I know the marathon majors did this one year, not sure why they didn't continue it.

Citizen Runner wrote:

Seyta wrote:

Why on Earth did he just spontaneously decide to enter an event on the other side of the planet??

The ITU point/ranking system rewards athletes for racing their events often. Track and field could learn a thing or two from them. The IAAF Diamond League and the Marathon Majors have similar objectives but the incentives aren't as compelling.

he prob didn't. he (before today) was nowhere near worth sending to a world cup (though his last race *did* show great promise), so it's likely that he was not one of the intended usatriathlon entrants (usa tri enters the athletes for world cups- you don't just call up the race director and enter/ask to enter yourself, you have to get usat to do it- and they only get 6-8 slots per event).most likely story is that one of those original 6 became sick/injured/etc, thus opening a spot, usat offered it to webb, and he jumped on it. in the process, he showed he can actually be a true medal contender in Rio, which is unreal. I really don't think people have any idea how huge this was for webb. wow, just wow, well done kid!

Seyta wrote:

Why on Earth did he just spontaneously decide to enter an event on the other side of the planet??

If his tweet is correct, then he left the US for Korea on the afternoon of the 14th for a race on the 18th... He effectively loses 14 hours due to a timezone change, and spent like another 14 hours on a flight. That means he arrives practically on the 16th and has less than 2 days to adjust to a huge amount of jet lag.

No, Webb is not remotely a medal contender in Rio. At least not yet. In truth, no one in yesterday's field is a medal contender either. Coming 10th is a good result for Webb but it flatters to deceive. At the moment, Webb has shown that there is a chance he could make the US Olympic team, but it is still a small chance. And frankly, no USA athlete is remotely a medal contender unless someone really moves up to the next level. The gulf between the top 10 ITU world series guys and the World Cup level seen yesterday is vast.

to an extent, you are very valid....*right now*. however, IF the swim trajectory continues upward, then he realistically makes the front pack, or at least has a chance when the brownlee's/et al try to break away. He will still certainly struggle to run with the brownlees and gomez, but there are typically about 10-15 actual contenders (there's always that surprise medalist from outside the normal favorites) and, IMO, webb can certainly make his way into the back of that group. getting to the front, well that IS a different beast and time will tell if he has a real chance of that.

story in the NYT today about Webb

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/19/sports/alan-webb-grinds-out-a-bumpy-transition-to-triathlon.html?_r=0

[quote]not my real name. wrote:

he prob didn't. he (before today) was nowhere near worth sending to a world cup (though his last race *did* show great promise), so it's likely that he was not one of the intended usatriathlon entrants (usa tri enters the athletes for world cups- you don't just call up the race director and enter/ask to enter yourself, you have to get usat to do it- and they only get 6-8 slots per event).

most likely story is that one of those original 6 became sick/injured/etc, thus opening a spot, usat offered it to webb, and he jumped on it. in the process, he showed he can actually be a true medal contender in Rio, which is unreal. I really don't think people have any idea how huge this was for webb. wow, just wow, well done kid!

[quote]Seyta wrote:

I think you are confusing everything here.

Webb knew that he was going a couple of months ago. LV was the last minute entrant.

I also don't think that you are right about the entry process. It's my understanding that athletes register and they then get "accepted" based on their world ranking. I also believe that the race organizers have a few wild cards, which they can select arbitrarily. Somebody in the know can confirm this.

Also, the top entrant in this race (who didn't get a flat during the race) was ranked 27th in the world. Only 2 of the finishers were ranked in the top 32. In track talk, nobody in this race would be favoured to make an Olympic semi final. Yet alone a final. Even less a medal.

It was a good race for Webb, however, at this point, I give him about 25% chance of making the US team and 0.0000001% chance of winning a medal in Rio.

It was a non wetsuit swim yesterday, so it's tough to compare this swim performance with the others that he did with a wetsuit earlier in the season. It was not a good swim performance however. He needs to cut at least 1 minute (in a 17 minute race) on his swim to increase his consistency in races (not constantly hope that the chase pack will comprise of the whole field). I haven't seen any big improvement on his swim since July, but maybe he is working on subtle things right now, who knows...

BTW: non wet suit swim, means the "end" for LV every single time... Even before his accident.

not my real name. wrote:

to an extent, you are very valid....*right now*. however, IF the swim trajectory continues upward, then he realistically makes the front pack, or at least has a chance when the brownlee's/et al try to break away. He will still certainly struggle to run with the brownlees and gomez, but there are typically about 10-15 actual contenders (there's always that surprise medalist from outside the normal favorites) and, IMO, webb can certainly make his way into the back of that group. getting to the front, well that IS a different beast and time will tell if he has a real chance of that.

Last Olympics went Brownlee/Gomez/Brownlee.

Still looking for that surprise medallist.