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NarcissusLovesEcho t1_ivc2tf4 wrote

As a former college swimmer, triathlons always seemed rather unfairly tilted towards the bikers and runners. Not that I could have ever finished one regardless.

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swim-bike-run t1_ivc6udr wrote

They 100% are. I ran in college and I’m one of the better triathletes in my area. I’m typically way behind after the swim, but have plenty of time to pass all the collegiate swimmers during the bike and run.

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Chickensandcoke t1_ivdad5s wrote

Yeah swimmers have an easier time getting into triathlons but at higher levels the advantage is quickly outweighed

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timbasile t1_ivccspa wrote

Not if you're a pro trying for a championship. There's a class of poor swimmers, but with awesome bike/run skills who clean up at the smaller races but who repeatedly flounder at the big races because the race gets away from them. Lionel Sanders, Sam Long, Joe Skipper, Sebastian Kienle, Cam Wurf.

The difference is at the big races there are group dynamics (notably a legal distance bike pack but also a swim pack) which don't form to the same degree in the small races, where a poor showing in one sport can be made up in another.

On the men's side, the last person to win Kona or the 70.3 world champs without making the front pack swim was Sebastian Kienle in 2014. The last person to have a decent chance was Lionel Sanders in 2017 (who came second in Kona).

If you're a pro and want to do well, you absolutely can't win big without being a top tier swimmer.

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_The_Real_Guy_ t1_ivcofbq wrote

I couldn’t swim (at least not past trying to stay afloat), and I somehow ended up in the top 50% of a triathlon I did. So I’m gonna go ahead and agree with you.

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i_cant_turn_1eft t1_ivcsvx0 wrote

As a former swimmer and now bad runner, it's because swimming is so freaking hard.

If it was "even" the true swimmers would win out hard

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frantic_cowbell t1_ivdi2nt wrote

Cycling coach at my uni helped the triathletes train, and he always like to say this:

“You can lose a triathlon anywhere on course, but you win on the bike.”

Looking at time spent on each leg and speed differential between a high level and mediocre athlete at each individual sport- seems legit.

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Crio121 t1_ivegg70 wrote

Reminds me: hippos run faster than humans on land and swim faster than humans in water. So in triathlon your only chance is the bike

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city_guy t1_ivf9quv wrote

Many shorter triathlons are a little more balanced with the swim distance. Olympic-distance triathlon has a 1.5 km/.93 mile swim, followed by a 40 km/25 mile bike, finishing with a 10k/6.2 mile run. Ironman owes its particular distances to a quirk in how it came about. The original race was a mashup of three events local to Honolulu/Oahu at the time: The Honolulu open water swim, the 'Round Oahu bicycle ride, and the Honolulu Marathon.

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Nalemag t1_ivfbd9e wrote

agreed. i know there is a lot of tradition around the distances chosen but would be very interesting to see a tri where distances were based around an average time spent in each discipline.

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