Who will have a better 'second act'? Will Greg Rutherford be a better cyclist or Gwen Jorgensen a better runner?

Rutherford will compete in track cycling on a velodrome with a fixed gear bike (the equivalent to T&F 100m and 200m) not road cycling and the likes of the Tour de France.

Velodrome wrote:

Rutherford will compete in track cycling on a velodrome with a fixed gear bike (the equivalent to T&F 100m and 200m) not road cycling and the likes of the Tour de France.

So did Bradley Wiggins. Is Rutherford really just going to limit himself to the short sprints?

Speaking of Wiggins let's not forget his second career as a doper, I mean rower.

Rebecca Romero did pretty well when she took up cycling serious at 26.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebecca_Romero

Row your dope, er boat wrote:

Velodrome wrote:

Rutherford will compete in track cycling on a velodrome with a fixed gear bike (the equivalent to T&F 100m and 200m) not road cycling and the likes of the Tour de France.

So did Bradley Wiggins. Is Rutherford really just going to limit himself to the short sprints?

Speaking of Wiggins let's not forget his second career as a doper, I mean rower.

I imagine Rutherford will stick to the shorter events on the track (sprint of keirin). Wiggins was a pursuit rider. Kipchoge and Wiggins could both transfer from the track to the road, Bolt and Rutherford can't. (Rutherford also won't be able to transition from jumping to cycling).

On the note of triathletes switching sports, Lisa Norden (silver, London 2012) just won her second Swedish cycling time trialchampionship whilst still focusing on triathlon.

Jorgenson she us actually doing it he just said he may.

She is an endurance athlete already running.

He's basically a sprinter could do cycling sprints but you still need good endurance and much more power in legs. Maybe if he was 24

He'll be keeping up his profile and moving to presenting

Ian Stuart who beat Pre gave it a go.

6'2", 192 lbs will be challenging. It will all depend on how well he can get his body into an efficient aero position on the bike, while generating maximum power. Some athletes can generate their best power from this collapsed position, some can't. There are few guys that size that can do it, but there are some. Taylor Phinney comes to mind at 6'4" 185. Gregis going to have to have an off the charts aerobic engine to move that kind of weight, and the ability to put his head down and suffer. Not sure long jump developed that. For example, Bradley Wiggins is 6'3" 152 lbs which gives him an amazing power to weight ratio, and of course he has a one in a million aerobic capacity.

ukathleticscoach wrote:

Ian Stuart who beat Pre gave it a go.

Ian Stuart wasn’t a long jumper.

I honestly think they both have pretty good shots at doing well. Both top level athletes who clearly are gifted. My one big question is why isn't Gwen focusing on the 10k this Olympics? It is obviously where her strengths are at this point and her best shot at success. If transitioning to a new sport, why not start with what you're best at? Then, if her heart is really in the 'thon, move up once she has some experience as a pro runner and can make a smoother, smarter, and more natural transition. I just think going straight to the marathon is too much too soon. It is already clear that she can immediately mix it up at the top level in the 10k.

Mike woods.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Woods_(cyclist)

Jorgensen > Rutherford by a landslide.

Rutherford is retiring because he's too beat up to train anymore. That's not someone who is going to switch sports late in the game and start dominating. Just not gonna happen.

Gwen will end up being better. The guys in Cycling have YEARS of doping under them, at least top end runners are "somewhat" tested that way Gwen can compete.

Gonna have to go with Gwen having a better go of it. Now if Rutherford was going to try to make a go of it in bobsled I would give him my vote, but not gonna happen for him in track cycling

I don't know anything about Greg Rutherford but there are a lot of track events out there and with some training a decent sprinter might become good at one of them. He'll have to change his body type a lot and gain some leg bulk but that's not as hard as teaching your body to survive a fast marathon.

The Fap Scientist wrote:

Gwen will end up being better. The guys in Cycling have YEARS of doping under them, at least top end runners are "somewhat" tested that way Gwen can compete.

God you're dumb, you realize cycling is by far the most tested sport in the world? The issue of if it works is a different discussion entirely. Anybody worth anything is doping to some degree in every sport. You're kidding yourself if you think that just some of the top runners aren't doping, or that there are exceptions.

You know Michael Woods.

Is a canadien sib four miler who started cycling at 24 after injurie. He now is a very solid pro tour rider. Excellent at climbing.

However, track sprinting is a whole different thing.

Yulanka wrote:

Mike woods.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Woods_(cyclist)

He posts on here sometimes

Jorgenson as a "runner" (she was already a runner) and it's not even close.

LennyZ wrote:

6'2", 192 lbs will be challenging. It will all depend on how well he can get his body into an efficient aero position on the bike, while generating maximum power. Some athletes can generate their best power from this collapsed position, some can't. There are few guys that size that can do it, but there are some. Taylor Phinney comes to mind at 6'4" 185. Gregis going to have to have an off the charts aerobic engine to move that kind of weight, and the ability to put his head down and suffer. Not sure long jump developed that. For example, Bradley Wiggins is 6'3" 152 lbs which gives him an amazing power to weight ratio, and of course he has a one in a million aerobic capacity.

He's almost certainly going to do track sprinting. All the guys you are talking about were pursuiter or other aerobic event guys. I'd be shocked if he tried anything aerobic.

For track sprinting, that size is utterly fine. Chris Hoy weighed 200+ lbs...he was pretty good ;)