Move aside Gwen, former female triathlete nails 2:32

I read the title as “former female” not “former triathlete”

Fairy Tales wrote:

So how is that different from Gwen? Wasn’t Gwen a runner in college then triathlete and then marathoner?

Even when Gwen ran NCAA, she also swam competitively too. So she has never been a pure runner. Also lets compare the two

Gwen:

Triathlon - word record holder/Olympic champion.

Running - Mediocre NCAA runner with PRs of 4:21, 15:52, and 33:38 respectively, while simultaneously swimming competitively at the NCAA D1 level.

Malindi :

Triathlon - mediocre, best finish was 3rd in some random local US triathlon.

running - Olympian at 1500m, Stanford school record holder for 800/1500, 5-time all American

It's pretty clear that Malindi is a runner who has dabbled in triathlon (her wikipedia page doesn't even mention triathlon at all), where as Gwen is a triathlete who started out with a strong running background.

IM distance and Olympic are very different events.

I would imagine most Ironman Triathletes could transition better to a stand-alone marathon due to the huge aerobic base.

analogy man wrote:

No Gwen was a swimmer first when she was 9 years old , then runner , then triathlete , then marathoner.

WRONG

She was crawling first, then walking, then running, then gymnastics, then swimmer, then runner, then triathlete, then mommy, then marathoner!!!

At Wisconsin

MatthewXCountry wrote:

Gwen:

Triathlon - word record holder/Olympic champion.

Running - Mediocre NCAA runner with PRs of 4:21, 15:52, and 33:38 respectively, while simultaneously swimming competitively at the NCAA D1 level.

Um...no. She was more competitive on the track than in the pool in college. She finished 7th in the 5000 at the 2008 NCAAs; she beat out Ashley Higginson for the last qualifying spot in her prelim. As a swimmer, she made it to the Big 10 championships, but never qualified for the NCAAs.

Just the facts, ma'am wrote:

MatthewXCountry wrote:

Gwen:

Triathlon - word record holder/Olympic champion.

Running - Mediocre NCAA runner with PRs of 4:21, 15:52, and 33:38 respectively, while simultaneously swimming competitively at the NCAA D1 level.

Um...no. She was more competitive on the track than in the pool in college. She finished 7th in the 5000 at the 2008 NCAAs; she beat out Ashley Higginson for the last qualifying spot in her prelim. As a swimmer, she made it to the Big 10 championships, but never qualified for the NCAAs.

All I said was she simultaneously competed at swimming at the NCAA D1 level, perhaps mediocre is a bit strong for an NCAA finalist, Gwen was good, but nothing Stellar. On the other hand, Malindi Elmore was exceptional, a 5-time all American, and the reigning Stanford record holder in both the 1500m (4:10) and 800m (2:04). She lowered those PRs to 4:02 and 2:02 as a pro.