TIL elite swimmers don’t kick their legs the whole race.
2024 Summer Olympics (Paris)
- Thread starter Samid
- Start date
I meant the time he swam yesterday in the final. It was also nearly 1 second faster than Scott himself swam in the final yesterday.
Probably picked that tactic up from those weirdo cyclists who start off barely pedalling.
Ah that. Yeah it's also fairly normal. There's generally a pretty huge difference in reaction time between a flat and a diving start, and the nature of the relay means the anchor might swim in relatively "cleaner" water(opponents aren't neck and neck so less interference from their waves)
Only in the long distances!
Marchand doing 2 finals tonight. Not sure he beats the Hungarian in the butterfly though, that guy looked dominant.
Seems the swimming portion of the triathlon is good to go ahead now
Yup, what a relief although still disgusting how the athletes have been treated.
Women swimming now, men up at 10:45am local time. Blummenfelt's last dance in the Olympic distance, or maybe triathlon in general even.
Van Riel in with a big chance for a Belgian medal as well.
Women's triathlon is on the cycling section now. Damp course seems to be making for a lot of slides and falls.
Duffy comfortably ahead in the swim but has just been pulled back into the pack now. About a dozen of them riding together in that leading group.
Duffy comfortably ahead in the swim but has just been pulled back into the pack now. About a dozen of them riding together in that leading group.
Argh, let's go Duffy! She got caught on the cycle : (
After all the issues with the Seine it seems like it’s the slippery roads which are causing the problems in the triathlon. I wish Eurosport would give us a list of who’s in this leading group. It’s pretty difficult to understand what’s happening if you’ve just tuned in.
Looks really slippery out there with a few women coming off their bikes.
I don't understand why drafting is allowed in the Olympic distance (I guess because it would be too many athletes in a lack of space otherwise?), it does make the cycling part quite useless. Surely as an athlete you just max out on Swimming and Running because if you arrive with the first group out of the water you can just sit in the wheels chilling on the bike.
One risk today was getting caught up in someone else's skid or fall - so I guess that's the down side. I suppose you might also get a strong cyclist who reserves enough energy to really make a break - though how often that happens in practice I don't know. Maybe different on different courses, or between the men's and women's events?
The way the run is unfolding, looks like the medalists are going to come from the group clustered together as a front four now.
Going to be a crazy finish to this womens triathalon. 4 women within a second of each other with a 1km plus to go
You'd be gutted if you were the only one of that 4 not to medal
The men's race is going to be brutal in the heat
The men's race is going to be brutal in the heat
Potter really struggling.
Potter hangs on for Bronze!
Worst interviewer ever here
It's simple enough, it's so that when the first person crosses the line it's clear it's the winner. Staggering a start doesn't work so much in an event like the triathlon from both a logistics and competition point of view.
Just running, actually. If you look at the top 10 running times in Tokyo, it's the same order as the overall top 10. If I remember correctly there were a few breakaway attempts but it also jeopardizes your own chances in the end and the chasing pack was too big to stay away.
Not talking about staggering just disallowing drafting in the cycling like they do in the Ironman and other triathlon races.
With the speeds they're doing drafting in the wheels takes about 20-30% less effort so there's no point at all being a good cyclist because everyone will just suck your wheels. Even breaking away with a huge effort most likely just means you're killing yourself while everyone behind you is rolling turns in a big group slowly crawling you back.
Yes, I think the event would lose a lot if it was more like a time trial. The race feeling adds an extra tactical component as well as providing extra spectacle to the watchers.
Incredible finish to the handball game
Norway score in the final moments to beat Hungary
Norway score in the final moments to beat Hungary
Yeah, make sense. Still a good spectacle but from a balance point of the 3 sports kinda meh.
Whoa! Last 10 seconds vs Hungary. Sensational @Catt
Fantastic!! Lets see how far they can goWhoa! Last 10 seconds vs Hungary. Sensational @Catt
I know what the benefit of drafting is with cycling, the point is about the spectacle of the race and the winner being declared as they cross the line. It also makes for a strategic race as it bunches the quickest participants together.
My point is that if you're disallowing drafting, then you'll need to stagger the start to ensure the gaps are there. Different for races like Ironman where the time to complete is 3-4hrs and 7.5-8hrs plus for the full distance where the order will naturally sort itself out.
It also doesn't really make a difference for the competitors either, ITU knew that they had to concede on their drafting rules in order to get it into the olympics.
Can someone explain what drafting is please?
Cycling directly behind someone, when you are close.
Slipstreaming. Being behind someone else is favorable because of reduced air resistance.
Yee in the lead now? And his best bit is the running.
Yeah, I mean I don't want to repeat myself but the mens race makes the format issue even more obvious. Shit runners desperately trying to get a gap while the majority of the pack is just chilling in the wheels doing 150 watts.
Isn't this the whole point of the event though, that some athletes are better at one of the three events and therefore approach it tactically to suit them? I must admit I am totally clueless as you may have seen about my drafting question but happy to be educated, as none of the cyclists seem to really be racing or trying to overtake each other!
It's terrible.
So many athletes in this leading group on the triathlon
That was perfectly executed by Dickinson and Yee from what I can tell.
Yee and Wilde, almost a repeat of Tokyo this.
Also another potentially stupid question - why are there 'packs' i.e. the chasing pack on the bikes came in then a good 10 minutes after the leading pack? Surely as soon as you are consigned to the chasing pack then that is it and you don't have a chance at winning so why would they even bother finishing (besides personal pride etc.)?
The problem is, if lets say two athletes are the same level in swimming, one is 10% stronger in cycling and the other 10% stronger in running the running guy always finishes ahead, zero chance for the cycling one to make that difference in the cycling because the draft is so huge while its (almost) irrelevant in running.
So because the swimming margins are very slim due to the nature of the sport everything then gets back together in the cycling and then simply gets decided in the running.