timbasile
timbasile t1_ivcdl5y wrote
Reply to comment by Capitan_Dave in [OC] An Ironman Triathlon, by the minute by ptgorman
As much as the swim is smaller in terms of time, at least for the pros, the time gaps are reasonably close in terms of what constitutes a good swim vs a good run.
The last male to win without making the front pack swim was 2014 (Sebastian Kienle) and the last time someone had a decent chance to do so was 2017 (Lionel Sanders in 2nd).
If you're a pro and you want to win, you need to swim well.
(On the women's side, there isn't yet the same dynamic)
timbasile t1_ivcd7ei wrote
Reply to comment by justlooking128 in [OC] An Ironman Triathlon, by the minute by ptgorman
Sodaro won by running 2:50. The crazy part is that she gave birth only 18 months ago. Crazy as this was, she didn't break the women's marathon record (she was close).
By contrast, the men's winner, Gustav Iden of Norway, ran a 2:36 marathon, beating the previous men's record by 3 mins.
timbasile t1_ivccspa wrote
Reply to comment by NarcissusLovesEcho in [OC] An Ironman Triathlon, by the minute by ptgorman
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.
timbasile t1_iyo7dr9 wrote
Reply to comment by SolemnLoon in [OC] Birth months of FIFA World Cup players. The top three are January, February and March, possibly due to the "Relative age effect" by desfirsit
BMX just uses your current age to set cohorts. If you're 8 and it's your birthday later this week, you race the 8 year olds since you're still 8.
Next week, you'll be 9, so then you'll race against the other 9 year olds.
There's still an effect - since at least here in Canada the sport shuts down for the winter, so people born late fall would spend the most race days in the cohort as an older athlete, but I'd imagine it's muted vs other sports using a calendar approach.
Though with an individual sport like BMX, it's easier to do this since it doesn't have the same team forming process . You just show up at races and race whoever happens to also show up.