# Hayden Wilde Is A Pretender + Is Science in Training Overrated?!

An episode of [The Triathlon Hour](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1595443343), 21 Sep 2025, 1 h 11 min.

Audio: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2640942/episodes/19698024-hayden-wilde-is-a-pretender-is-science-in-training-overrated.mp3

The boys are back and we’ve got Hayden Wilde drama and T100 Spain to talk about off the top of the show. Lucy Charles Barclay is on the boys radar and then we dive into what actually happened between Olav Aleksander Bu and the Norwegians. Speaking of the Norwegians, we have some questions that need addressing about them including science in training and Kristian’s approach as head coach. Then the boys wrap up the show with some pledges for you all! Lever: Use the code TTH for 20% off your Lever system Lever Precision: Use the code TTH25 to get 15% off your first order with Precision at Precision Fuel & Hydration or subscribe to the Patreon and access the link that will save you 20% on every order, not just your first Patreon Patreon: We put a lot of time & energy into bringing you this podcast every week and have done for 4 years now. If you appreciate what we do, we would love your support and you can do so for less than the cost of a coffee per week on Patreon - Patreon link

## Transcript

[0:25] SPEAKER_00: Yes, welcome back, you pack of pretenders.
[0:29] SPEAKER_00: We're back.
[0:29] SPEAKER_00: It feels like it's been about three months since we recorded because we got so used to recording every single day for the Iron Man World Championships in Nice.
[0:37] SPEAKER_00: And this week break has it's honestly been hard.
[0:39] SPEAKER_00: I've been missing talking to the boys and missing the podcast.
[0:43] SPEAKER_00: Uh speaking of the boys, like always, we're joined by the most opinionated man in Trithlon, the third best swimmer in Trithlon, although that's dropping by the day, Greg Harper.
[0:55] SPEAKER_02: Thanks for having me, Jack.
[0:56] SPEAKER_02: Uh it's good to be back.
[0:57] SPEAKER_02: And I like I missed Apo a bit, but you not quite as much.
[1:01] SPEAKER_02: But I'm I'm happy we're back.
[1:04] SPEAKER_00: Well, you actually had a kid during the week.
[1:06] SPEAKER_00: Congratulations on that, Greg.
[1:07] SPEAKER_00: And I thought you were joking, but you legit named your kid Jack.
[1:12] SPEAKER_02: Well, I said four letters in a J, uh.
[1:15] SPEAKER_02: But uh yeah, Jane.
[1:17] SPEAKER_02: Jane over here, not Jack.
[1:18] SPEAKER_02: But Jack is obviously the nickname, obviously.
[1:21] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, of course.
[1:22] SPEAKER_00: Well, all Janes get their nickname Jack.
[1:24] SPEAKER_00: Well, that's just that's just comes with the terrorist for being called Jane.
[1:27] SPEAKER_00: And uh, as always, we're joined by the 20 time Iron Man 70.3 champion Sam Appleton.
[1:34] SPEAKER_03: Thanks, Jack.
[1:35] SPEAKER_03: It's good to be here.
[1:36] SPEAKER_03: Good to be back with you, Greg.
[1:37] SPEAKER_03: I've missed you as well.
[1:38] SPEAKER_03: Um the friendship is real.
[1:44] SPEAKER_00: Hey guys, funny story from during the week that I wanted to bring up off the top of the show before we dive into everything.
[1:49] SPEAKER_00: And we've got lots to talk about today, by the way.
[1:52] SPEAKER_00: Obviously, we've got Hayden Wilde, he's got to be talked about.
[1:54] SPEAKER_00: It's just it's just a ritual, uh, a rite of passage that Hayden Wilde gets talked about on the podcast every episode.
[1:59] SPEAKER_00: We've got T100 Spain, we're gonna talk about the Norwegians a little bit.
[2:03] SPEAKER_00: We're gonna make some uh make some pledges to you guys.
[2:06] SPEAKER_00: We've got we've got plenty happening on today's show.
[2:09] SPEAKER_00: But before we started, I had a barbecue during the week, and it was with you know one of the best friends of the show, Maxie Newman.
[2:16] SPEAKER_00: And we're just having a barbecue, normal stuff, not really talking about trifling at all.
[2:20] SPEAKER_00: And then he looks at me very seriously and he goes, You know what, Jack?
[2:24] SPEAKER_00: I really wish you guys mentioned me on the podcast more.
[2:28] SPEAKER_00: And I was just laughing.
[2:29] SPEAKER_00: I'm like, what wait, you're just you're joking.
[2:31] SPEAKER_00: Like, obviously, you you don't like anyone talking about you.
[2:34] SPEAKER_00: You wish that everyone assumed you were dead.
[2:35] SPEAKER_00: And he goes, No, like I just I feel like as friends, I I wish we talked, I wish I was talked a little about a little bit more.
[2:42] SPEAKER_00: What do you boys make about that?
[2:43] SPEAKER_00: Do you think we don't mention Max enough?
[2:45] SPEAKER_03: Well, he hasn't raced in three years.
[2:49] SPEAKER_03: What are we gonna talk about?
[2:50] SPEAKER_03: The man doesn't post on social media.
[2:52] SPEAKER_03: I know absolutely nothing about him.
[2:54] SPEAKER_03: I don't I don't know where to begin with Max.
[2:57] SPEAKER_00: Well, this this makes what I was gonna ask you a little bit tricky, but I thought, why don't we start today's podcast by all three of us giving Max Newman one compliment?
[3:07] SPEAKER_00: Greg, did you want to start?
[3:09] SPEAKER_02: Yes.
[3:10] SPEAKER_02: Uh I don't know Max personally.
[3:12] SPEAKER_02: I want to though.
[3:13] SPEAKER_02: And I thought he was dead for over a year.
[3:17] SPEAKER_02: But this is what I respect about Max.
[3:20] SPEAKER_02: Max only cares about ra racing and like winning big races, and that's it.
[3:24] SPEAKER_02: He doesn't even like pretend to do social media.
[3:27] SPEAKER_02: He gives zero fucks.
[3:29] SPEAKER_02: He trains hard and he just wants to like show up.
[3:32] SPEAKER_02: And he just kind of embodies what I think professional sports should be mostly about, which is performance first.
[3:36] SPEAKER_02: However, Max, if you're listening, your performance has kind of sucked for a while now.
[3:42] SPEAKER_02: So much so that maybe even I could beat you.
[3:45] SPEAKER_02: So get your shit together, mate.
[3:47] SPEAKER_02: Stop playing with your cockatoo and get out there and train.
[3:54] SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's that's a deep in joke.
[3:56] SPEAKER_00: Uh, for those who don't understand that, go back and find the Daniel Backard podcast in like 2023.
[4:03] SPEAKER_00: You'll understand that joke.
[4:05] SPEAKER_00: Apo, what about you?
[4:06] SPEAKER_03: I mean, despite being countrymen, Max and I, I don't really know Max that well.
[4:11] SPEAKER_03: Like I've seen him at a couple of races, we've exchanged words here and there, but I don't know him um that well.
[4:17] SPEAKER_03: He he he was kind of coming up through the program a few years behind me.
[4:22] SPEAKER_03: I'd progressed into long course, he was doing ITU.
[4:24] SPEAKER_03: Yeah, we were just kind of, you know, he was a step behind me.
[4:27] SPEAKER_03: Um but I do have a funny story, it's not really a compliment.
[4:31] SPEAKER_03: Um, so Max, don't take this the wrong way.
[4:33] SPEAKER_03: Um, but I can round it out with a compliment at the end.
[4:36] SPEAKER_03: But um, we were racing Iron Man Cairns in 2022.
[4:40] SPEAKER_03: Um, and on the bike, it was myself, Braden Curry, and Max um kind of riding pretty hard.
[4:47] SPEAKER_03: Well, Braden and myself were riding hard.
[4:49] SPEAKER_03: Maxie kind of sitting on the back a little bit.
[4:51] SPEAKER_03: And um Braden and I were pulling turns, and every time Braden or I would come through, we'd have a have a little chat and be like, oh, we gotta we've got to try and get rid of Max because he's you know, Max is such a threat on the run, or we gotta try and get him to pull through and do some work because we were pretty interested in just uh closing the door on the rest of the competition and making it a race between the three of us.
[5:12] SPEAKER_03: And I think after about 120k, um we finally got Max onto the front by basically Brayton and I both jamming on our brakes, slowing down to about 10 miles an hour, 15k an hour.
[5:24] SPEAKER_03: And Max is forced to come through, and after about 30 seconds on the front, he does the old trick um of looking at his back tire and you know, bouncing on the saddle as if to say, oh boys, I've got a I've got a flat tire.
[5:38] SPEAKER_03: And then Braden and I kind of fell for it, and we're like, Oh, Max has got a fr flat, and we were kind of thinking, ah, that's actually pretty good for us.
[5:44] SPEAKER_03: So we went around, resumed pulling turns, and then a couple of minutes later I look back, and fucking Max is just sitting in third wheel, riders rain, never had a flat, just absolutely swindled both Braden and I got off, absolutely delivered a masterclass on the run, ran a 238 or something in cans, which is a hot run, and took the win.
[6:06] SPEAKER_03: So um, yeah, not really a compliment, but a funny story nonetheless.
[6:09] SPEAKER_03: Um, good race, Max.
[6:11] SPEAKER_03: We uh we got swindled.
[6:14] SPEAKER_00: Okay, boys, I kind of have a confession.
[6:17] SPEAKER_00: So the barbecue story is true.
[6:18] SPEAKER_00: We were having a barbecue, but Max actually turned to me and he said, Can you stop fucking talking about me on the podcast all the time?
[6:29] SPEAKER_03: I was thinking, I was thinking that doesn't sound weird thing for him wanting to be um wanting to be brought up.
[6:36] SPEAKER_00: Suck shit, Max.
[6:37] SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna talk about you every episode.
[6:38] SPEAKER_00: There's nothing you can do about it.
[6:40] SPEAKER_00: All right, boys, let's dive into the most the uh well, I guess it's probably what a lot of people are looking forward to hearing about.
[6:47] SPEAKER_00: We're not gonna do too much on it, but we've got to talk about Hayden Wild because during the week, T100 obviously posted that video and then the water bottle, you know, gate started all over again.
[6:58] SPEAKER_00: And we really don't want to we don't want to go on about this too much.
[7:02] SPEAKER_00: We almost want to just close this conversation because it's getting kind of old and kind of boring.
[7:08] SPEAKER_00: But Hayden did do that and you know, like pointed at his haters, and it was directed at you two and the Pro Tri News boys.
[7:16] SPEAKER_00: I've gotten away with it somehow.
[7:17] SPEAKER_00: I don't know how, because this is my podcast, probably more than more than you boys, but for some reason it's it's you two that Hayden's uh Hayden's going after.
[7:26] SPEAKER_00: What where where do you reckon we should start with this?
[7:28] SPEAKER_02: I guess I'll start.
[7:29] SPEAKER_02: Um I just feel like my whole thought is Hayden Wild, he's a pretender, but unfortunately not the cool kind that we've couldn't uh come to love on this show.
[7:41] SPEAKER_02: You know, we and like you said, we don't need to beat a dead horse, but I mean it's clear Caden's apology and you know playing ignorance was it it was staged and he's still trying to be a little sneaky, and I don't think he's really learned anything from all this drama.
[7:55] SPEAKER_02: He's kind of still operating under the same way, but honestly, they're just being who he is, so I you can respect that.
[8:02] SPEAKER_02: But like all the post was just dumb.
[8:04] SPEAKER_02: Like, is T100 like dumb?
[8:06] SPEAKER_02: Like he obviously changed his setup and then like sent out to a message like message for the haters.
[8:10] SPEAKER_02: Like, I don't know, the whole thing was just cringe, and I don't even know why they did it in the first place.
[8:15] SPEAKER_03: I think the T100 maybe didn't know.
[8:18] SPEAKER_02: I think they tricked their asses too.
[8:20] SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I think this whole like clap back thing has blown up in both T-100 and Hayden's face.
[8:27] SPEAKER_03: Like, I mean, the transgressions are so small, right?
[8:30] SPEAKER_03: That it's like it was a molehill, right?
[8:33] SPEAKER_03: And now it's become this mountain.
[8:34] SPEAKER_03: Like the transgressions were small.
[8:36] SPEAKER_03: The best path forward was to just say nothing or own up, apologize, and people would have forgiven and forgotten, and it would, you know, this wouldn't have dragged out for the weeks and weeks that it's dragged out.
[8:48] SPEAKER_03: But I just feel like I don't know, like Hayden, I got another shovel in my um in my garage.
[8:53] SPEAKER_03: If you want to keep digging that hole, you can borrow it from me.
[8:56] SPEAKER_03: But I just feel like, bro, come on.
[8:59] SPEAKER_03: Just like we put this to bed.
[9:01] SPEAKER_03: I was actually really like I was singing Hayden's praises when he came out and sent out that email to all the um competitors um offering up a disqualification.
[9:12] SPEAKER_03: You know, I was like, yeah, that's a good move.
[9:14] SPEAKER_03: And um I was singing his praises, and now this this has just been re-litigated with this clap back, and it just hasn't worked out like no one looks good in this situation, right?
[9:24] SPEAKER_03: And I was ready to put this to bed, but it just I don't know, man.
[9:28] SPEAKER_03: It just it just keeps rising from the ashes.
[9:31] SPEAKER_00: I just kind of have been realizing more and more that the biggest drama of the year in Trithon is about a fucking drink bottle and a pair of shoes, and it's just made me think this is so lame.
[9:44] SPEAKER_00: Like, yes, okay, I understand that there's like layers of people think Hayden's a liar, and people think Hayden's being shady and dodgy and sneaky, and they're the issues, and the drink bottle and the shoes are just the like vehicles, and yes, talking about a drink bottle and making a big deal out of a drink bottle is lame, and I think everyone can appreciate that that it's like it's not that big a deal, but it's that there's this underlying sense that Hayden is being a little bit manipulative, a little bit sneaky, a little bit um a little bit of a liar.
[10:13] SPEAKER_00: Is it have I got that right?
[10:15] SPEAKER_00: Or do you think that it's just a case of it's just become a pylon?
[10:19] SPEAKER_00: Like it just became fun to like hey, Hayden, this guy who's a champion, who's winning everything, who maybe our closet didn't really like.
[10:26] SPEAKER_00: I've now got this opportunity to come on and just talk shit about it, and it just turned into a massive pylon.
[10:32] SPEAKER_02: No, I I think you're right on that.
[10:34] SPEAKER_02: And the the thing is he's clapping back, but then it blows up, so it's like it we would be done with this if he hadn't send that video, but then it's another layer.
[10:43] SPEAKER_02: So, like Apo said, Yes, we all like piled on a little bit and we could have put it to bed, but now he he's still out there digging.
[10:52] SPEAKER_02: So let's see, round three is coming up this week.
[10:54] SPEAKER_02: Let's see, let's let's see what he says about it because you know it's just gonna pop something's coming, something's coming, it's never gonna end.
[11:01] SPEAKER_03: Do you guys think the T100 like this drama?
[11:04] SPEAKER_03: Um, like there's that saying any publicity is good publicity, regardless of uh whether it's good or bad.
[11:09] SPEAKER_03: Do you think this is negative, like a net negative for the T100?
[11:15] SPEAKER_03: Or do you think they don't really care?
[11:17] SPEAKER_03: They're getting clicks, people are talking about Hayden, their star athlete, and the T100.
[11:22] SPEAKER_03: What do you think that they're thinking about this whole situation?
[11:24] SPEAKER_00: I'm kind of annoyed at the T100.
[11:26] SPEAKER_00: I've been a T100 fan forever.
[11:28] SPEAKER_00: I loved the PTO when it was the PTO.
[11:30] SPEAKER_00: I obviously worked for the T100 last year.
[11:32] SPEAKER_00: I think Trithlon is so much worse off if the T100 disappear.
[11:36] SPEAKER_00: I think they're the reason why the professional sports in the space it is, obviously with the Pro Series.
[11:40] SPEAKER_00: But with that being said, they're just starting to annoy me right now.
[11:44] SPEAKER_00: And I've got good relationships with a lot of people at the T-100, but they're being so weak on this, and they're letting Hayden be their fall guy, but then at the same time pumping him up to support their own business.
[11:55] SPEAKER_00: Like it's starting to piss me off because think about what's happened.
[11:58] SPEAKER_00: Hayden got left to like hung out to dry because the T-100 refused to do anything.
[12:04] SPEAKER_00: Any good sports league would have DQ'd him, they would have fined him, they would have done something, but they did nothing.
[12:10] SPEAKER_00: And so they have their star athlete who they promote and who they sell things based off, just copping it from all angles.
[12:17] SPEAKER_00: And I've talked to Hayden, they didn't do shit, like they weren't doing anything behind the scenes to make him feel supported or anything like that.
[12:24] SPEAKER_00: So clearly they love it, and then they've hidden behind, oh, well, we're partnered with World Triathlon and it's all it's got everything to do with them.
[12:31] SPEAKER_00: Like it's your races.
[12:33] SPEAKER_00: You're just hiding behind Hayden and you're hiding behind World Triathlon.
[12:36] SPEAKER_00: Like, come out and like take a stand on it, make a statement.
[12:39] SPEAKER_00: And then to top it all off on the weekend during the race, Matt, the commentator who knows nothing about triathlon, is new to it this year.
[12:46] SPEAKER_00: He's the one who reads out the statement, this pre-prepared crap statement that said nothing.
[12:52] SPEAKER_00: Basically said, Hey, we're gonna wait and see what happens.
[12:54] SPEAKER_00: And like maybe pending this result, we'll see what we do with the result of it.
[12:58] SPEAKER_00: And and again, through World Triathlon under the bus.
[13:01] SPEAKER_00: Like, you're the ones who decided to partner with World Trithlon.
[13:04] SPEAKER_00: Don't act like you don't have any say in what happens.
[13:07] SPEAKER_00: Like it's a pretty small group of people, and this like hiding behind this world, people didn't protest in time.
[13:12] SPEAKER_00: Who cares?
[13:12] SPEAKER_00: You can do whatever you want whenever you want with your series.
[13:15] SPEAKER_00: Like, that's it's just such a stupid excuse.
[13:17] SPEAKER_00: So I found it pretty weak by the T100.
[13:19] SPEAKER_00: I think they've kind of um both thrown Hayden under the bus and also been just completely soft in not coming out and and making a decision on anything, not not standing for anything.
[13:30] SPEAKER_00: Sam Renoof yet again hasn't come out and made a statement.
[13:33] SPEAKER_00: You're the CEO, Sam.
[13:34] SPEAKER_00: Like you gotta come out and be more of a voice in a situation like this.
[13:38] SPEAKER_00: And if I was Hayden, like yeah, they're paying him a lot, he's the biggest star in their company, but like I don't know, I'm considering not signing up again next year because I I just think it's been bullshit what's happened.
[13:49] SPEAKER_00: And yes, Hayden's lied, Hayden's handled it poorly.
[13:52] SPEAKER_00: I mean, it it's been a a shit show in public relations, but I don't know, like, where's his support, you know?
[13:59] SPEAKER_03: I mean, yeah, I do feel like there has been a bit of a witch hunt, and we have definitely, myself included, been a part of that.
[14:06] SPEAKER_03: But yeah, I think there just needs to be some clear rules um moving forward because uh that video that T100 posted, right?
[14:15] SPEAKER_03: It's like they're almost making fun of their own rules, right?
[14:20] SPEAKER_03: They're almost like advertising that, oh, it doesn't matter if athletes break our rules, um, we'll just tell them to fix it for next race, and then we'll all have a laugh um on a fucking Instagram reel, right?
[14:34] SPEAKER_03: It's just like it's not like the rules are there, the rules are written, and athletes are breaking them.
[14:40] SPEAKER_03: They need to be held accountable.
[14:41] SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
[14:42] SPEAKER_03: It's it comes across as a little bit strange.
[14:44] SPEAKER_02: Well, I like what you said, Jack, about just being a little annoyed.
[14:48] SPEAKER_02: It's like it's like this drama.
[14:50] SPEAKER_02: I feel like they're always trying to like fake this drama.
[14:53] SPEAKER_02: But it like from the outside in, it looks so forced, and it's like it's just getting old, and it's like, man, are they are they pulling at straws or pulling teeth here, like trying to milk some excitement about the series that you know we just did a whole world champs, and then this T100 race comes back.
[15:12] SPEAKER_02: I mean, we've harped on it all year.
[15:15] SPEAKER_02: Like, this was probably the most one I I didn't care about.
[15:17] SPEAKER_02: Like, I was just like, oh, T100s this weekend?
[15:19] SPEAKER_02: Like, we just had Nice.
[15:21] SPEAKER_02: I mean, that was intriguing, that was exciting.
[15:23] SPEAKER_02: It's it seems like they have really nothing left to talk about in this series, so it's it's almost like Hayden's in the driver's seat.
[15:31] SPEAKER_02: You know, if they if he doesn't sign with them or he's annoyed with them for for next year, it seems like he can kind of do no wrong.
[15:37] SPEAKER_02: I mean, obviously he's doesn't seem like he's gonna be decued or anything at this point, and you know, it's kind of their last ditch effort to salvage some s fun storyline that in a series that is clearly lacking some momentum at the moment.
[15:51] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and Hayden is obviously their biggest star.
[15:54] SPEAKER_00: And I think like the women's race on the weekend, it was a really good race.
[15:57] SPEAKER_00: Lucy Charles Barclay, she in her own right, is an absolute star in the trython world, but the chat just goes to like, oh, how good's this for Kona?
[16:05] SPEAKER_00: You know, like the the chat is just straight away about Iron Man World Championships and and you know, we we did all that stuff about Nice last week.
[16:12] SPEAKER_00: The crowd at Nice was insane, it's the biggest crowd I've been to in a trython in a long time.
[16:17] SPEAKER_00: And then, you know, I've been to T100 races, there's no one there.
[16:20] SPEAKER_00: And just the vibe and the excitement from the public about Iron Man races and the big Iron Man races, I I it's never been clearer that they're still the big dog, and that the T100 is struggling this year, and people still care a little bit because there's some of the biggest names, but I I kind of feel like the T100 is is slipping a little bit and they've got to they've gotta do something differently because it's not exciting.
[16:44] SPEAKER_00: I think everyone's quite bored of uh you know of the series.
[16:47] SPEAKER_00: We saw like examples of it on the weekend, you know, like Fred Funk and Rico Bogan to a degree and um Kyle Smith, Dan Fing, and Vincent Louis finishing 12th.
[16:57] SPEAKER_00: Like a lot of people are just ticking off what they have to for the contracts, and uh yeah, the viewership numbers are pretty low as well.
[17:03] SPEAKER_00: So I like it's um it's not a again, we don't want to change our pylon from Hayden to the T100, but I mean it's been it's been poorly handled by the T100, in my opinion, just like it has Hayden.
[17:14] SPEAKER_00: And I don't know, I feel like every opportunity they get to do something that might earn them respect, they kind of go the cheap way.
[17:21] SPEAKER_00: Like, hey, let's build some cheap hype out of this, let's try and milk Hayden and this situation for everything, rather than focus on you know, creating integrity in our series and and making people respect us as an organization.
[17:32] SPEAKER_00: I think just another missed opportunity in my eyes.
[17:35] SPEAKER_00: Maybe I'm being harsh, but yeah, uh, I do have high expectations for them given that I think in 2022 and 2023 they were they were doing everything right, and right now I kind of feel like they uh they're doing most things wrong.
[17:47] SPEAKER_00: Um maybe that's too critical, but that's my view.
[17:50] SPEAKER_02: I'll say one last thing about Hayden before maybe we kind of dive into the race.
[17:54] SPEAKER_02: I think he was 17th at World Triathlon, a minute and a half off the pace in the swim.
[17:59] SPEAKER_02: So, Hayden, it's my plea to you throw away that shovel, head to the pool, keep working on that swim, buddy.
[18:08] SPEAKER_03: And for those the audio listeners wouldn't see this, but Greg actually just winked at the camera when he said keep working on that swim.
[18:19] SPEAKER_03: As though we've got a live audience.
[18:27] SPEAKER_00: Perfect segue.
[18:29] SPEAKER_00: Uh okay, Spain T100.
[18:31] SPEAKER_00: Um, Hayden dominated.
[18:33] SPEAKER_00: So I think this is the thing about Hayden.
[18:35] SPEAKER_00: As long as he can keep winning, he can do whatever he wants.
[18:37] SPEAKER_00: And, you know, I think he's probably more popular than ever right now.
[18:40] SPEAKER_00: He's definitely got more people who dislike him than ever, but I actually also think he's probably got more people who like him now.
[18:46] SPEAKER_00: And um, I you know, I don't want to get in the habit of disclosing private messages, so uh, but there is one that Hayden sent me during the week.
[18:54] SPEAKER_00: He he sent me a message and he said that he's going to ride with the group and have a run battle with Yalla to show people that it's not just that Yalla's a better runner than him and he gets off the front.
[19:05] SPEAKER_00: And he did it, the bastard.
[19:06] SPEAKER_00: He literally rode with the group.
[19:08] SPEAKER_00: Yes, Yalla crashed, got back up.
[19:09] SPEAKER_00: It was courageous by Yalla, by the way, like absolutely ballsy effort by Yalla to just go out and go, Yep, I've crashed, my body's probably beaten up, I weigh about 48 kilos, but I'm gonna go out there and be the only one who goes head to head with Hayden on the run.
[19:22] SPEAKER_00: And he he did it until he cracked, and he did crack in a big way.
[19:25] SPEAKER_00: But Hayden, to his credit, he wanted to shut people up and say, I'm not just the best, you know, overall T100 athlete, I'm the fastest runner and no one can beat me.
[19:34] SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and I mean fastest run by quite a way, wasn't it?
[19:38] SPEAKER_03: Like two minutes to um to Yeller.
[19:41] SPEAKER_03: Um so yeah, 55.
[19:43] SPEAKER_03: I don't know the accuracy of the course, but if it was the true 18k, like 55, that's I think is that the fastest runtime we've ever seen over a T100, that 18k distance?
[19:52] SPEAKER_03: It's got to be close.
[19:54] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, um it is.
[19:55] SPEAKER_00: And Yeller was 5837, so he beat him by two and a half minutes.
[19:59] SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
[20:00] SPEAKER_03: So yeah, and I think Greg a month or so ago said that Hayden will go undefeated um for the rest of the year at these middle distance races, and it's shaping up to be that way.
[20:10] SPEAKER_03: Like he's just yeah, how do you beat this guy, right?
[20:14] SPEAKER_03: He's um his swim is good enough to be where it needs to be in these middle distance races.
[20:19] SPEAKER_03: While it might not be there for the WTCS races, it's just shows that the level up to these middle distance T100 races is just a little bit down from those IT races, and he can hang.
[20:30] SPEAKER_03: And um Yeah, interestingly, I noted that both Rico and Hayden swam with no swim skin.
[20:37] SPEAKER_03: Um, so yeah, it's just interesting.
[20:40] SPEAKER_03: Um yeah, I think Hayden is probably gonna remain undefeated, like Greg said, uh, for the rest of the year.
[20:45] SPEAKER_02: Are these companies like did are they have prototype suits that are basically swimskins and arrow as well?
[20:52] SPEAKER_02: Because it's like a swim skin takes six seconds to get off or less, and it's 100% like a second faster per 100, like in in in swimming.
[21:03] SPEAKER_02: Um, so I I'm just curious about the decision.
[21:06] SPEAKER_02: Like, uh is it a heating thing?
[21:07] SPEAKER_02: I mean, how how much heat can that really add?
[21:09] SPEAKER_02: Like you go sleeveless, it's like the same amount of material that covers your body, it's just a little bit thicker.
[21:14] SPEAKER_02: So I'm I'm kind of curious what's what's happening with that.
[21:17] SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
[21:18] SPEAKER_00: Me too, Greg.
[21:19] SPEAKER_00: I was like, does he find them uncomfy?
[21:20] SPEAKER_00: Like, is it just too tight, too thick, he doesn't like it?
[21:23] SPEAKER_00: Is it that it was too hot there?
[21:25] SPEAKER_00: Like, was the water a bit warmer than maybe what what we thought it was?
[21:28] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, probably more the heat thing, but he had probably the best swim of his year of his year.
[21:32] SPEAKER_00: Jonas Schomburg, Sam Dickinson, and Vincent Louis and Rico Bogan were all at the front of this swim.
[21:37] SPEAKER_00: Like they're front pack ITU swimmers, they're front pack no matter what swimmers.
[21:41] SPEAKER_00: And Hayden was like he was there in the who's dropping any of them in any race in in middle district.
[21:46] SPEAKER_02: Dickinson's not a front pack ITU consistent swimmer.
[21:49] SPEAKER_02: Vince.
[21:50] SPEAKER_00: No, but he has been in front packs.
[21:52] SPEAKER_02: That's true.
[21:52] SPEAKER_02: I just think the T100 swims are soft this year.
[21:54] SPEAKER_02: Like, no one's going to the front and driving the pace.
[21:57] SPEAKER_02: Like, I don't know.
[21:58] SPEAKER_02: Like they're they're just coming out.
[22:00] SPEAKER_02: Altogether, I don't know.
[22:02] SPEAKER_02: I just I'm kind of disappointed.
[22:03] SPEAKER_02: Like we don't have Aaron there like to get after it and stuff this year.
[22:07] SPEAKER_02: So yeah, I would I would like to see it a bit more.
[22:09] SPEAKER_02: But like you said, Hayden does whatever he wants.
[22:12] SPEAKER_02: He can bike with the pack and then run 55 or go off the front and run 57.
[22:16] SPEAKER_02: Like, where's the motivation for these guys to even do that?
[22:19] SPEAKER_02: Knowing that, like, guess what?
[22:20] SPEAKER_02: Like, you're gonna get dominated at this race no matter what.
[22:24] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but to only swim like 10-15 seconds below them, the the day was over, then, wasn't it?
[22:29] SPEAKER_00: Like you're watching it and you go, Yep, Hayden's won, which you already knew going in, but it just like solidifies it, and he's so dominant that it's boring almost.
[22:37] SPEAKER_00: He's like he's kind of like Taylor Nibb two years ago, you know?
[22:40] SPEAKER_00: Like it's just you show up to races, Hayden's winning, who's finishing second today?
[22:45] SPEAKER_03: I think interestingly, Greg, as well, you said that they're not swimming hard enough.
[22:49] SPEAKER_03: And I think halfway through the bike, the top 16 men were separated by 45 seconds.
[22:55] SPEAKER_03: Like that's pretty tight, right?
[22:57] SPEAKER_03: Um, so I think I don't know, Greg, you need to send an email to T100, get on the start list for Woolungong and just really rip that swim and see and see what happens.
[23:06] SPEAKER_03: I mean, yeah, it was a really close race, I think, throughout most of the day um on the bike.
[23:13] SPEAKER_03: And yeah, I think that was the closest I've seen a T100 race be halfway through the bike.
[23:18] SPEAKER_03: So I think I think this is uh also a um what's happening with the 20-field limit, right?
[23:25] SPEAKER_03: Like in ITU races, there's 60, 70 guys, so you've got a big pack um and you've got 15 to 20 really good swimmers.
[23:34] SPEAKER_03: Whereas in T100 you might only have three or four, and it's just not enough to do the damage, I think.
[23:39] SPEAKER_03: So yeah, you're just not seeing these races break up, and that's playing into Hayden's favor.
[23:44] SPEAKER_02: You mentioned Yella.
[23:45] SPEAKER_02: How uh how are we rating him?
[23:47] SPEAKER_02: Uh you think it's uh, as we say on this pass fail, you think it's a pass that he got a second, or is he he seemed to be keen for a win?
[23:55] SPEAKER_02: So how do you uh how do you guys rate his performance on the day?
[23:59] SPEAKER_00: In my opinion, a huge win.
[24:00] SPEAKER_00: I think Yeller's had a massive season.
[24:02] SPEAKER_00: I think he's solidified himself as probably the second best guy over this distance.
[24:06] SPEAKER_00: But we're just dealing with someone in Hayden that's so much better than everyone else.
[24:10] SPEAKER_00: Like Yalla crashed hard on that bike.
[24:12] SPEAKER_00: He's so skinny that it would have beat him up.
[24:15] SPEAKER_00: And he just went to the front in the run and he goes, you know what?
[24:18] SPEAKER_00: I'm either gonna beat this guy or I'm gonna explode trying.
[24:21] SPEAKER_00: And he was trying so hard to drop Hayden.
[24:24] SPEAKER_00: Hayden put in a surge, like a big one, and Yalla went with it.
[24:27] SPEAKER_00: Then ultimately, the next time Hayden put in a big surge, Yalla couldn't go.
[24:31] SPEAKER_00: But Yalla tried to drop him as well.
[24:32] SPEAKER_00: So he's the only guy who is actually able to compete with Hayden.
[24:37] SPEAKER_00: Like everyone else was well gone, you know.
[24:39] SPEAKER_00: So I think hats off to Yeller for being being brave enough to have a crack and for coming back from that crash.
[24:45] SPEAKER_00: And at some point in a sport like this, there's nothing you can do about losing.
[24:49] SPEAKER_00: Like sometimes there's just someone who's better than you, and I think that's what we're seeing.
[24:53] SPEAKER_00: Um, I I like the balls on Yeller, though.
[24:55] SPEAKER_00: I think he's um I think he's having a crack.
[24:57] SPEAKER_03: Yeah, for sure.
[24:58] SPEAKER_03: And he's riding, he's riding great.
[25:01] SPEAKER_03: Um, you look at Heller as uh Yeller as one of the best runners, but he's just always consistently riding, you know, maybe not right at the front of the race, but definitely within that striking distance.
[25:12] SPEAKER_03: And this is what his fourth podium in a row.
[25:14] SPEAKER_03: So yeah, great season by Yeller backing it up um after winning 70.3 worlds.
[25:19] SPEAKER_03: So it shows that that just wasn't a one-hit wonder.
[25:24] SPEAKER_00: If you're training for any triathlon or running event, you should 1000% start using precision fuel and hydration as your training and race day nutrition.
[25:32] SPEAKER_00: Their best products, in my opinion, are their gels.
[25:35] SPEAKER_00: I love the PF90, PF-30, and PF30 caffeine gels, and I also love their flow gel for the bike.
[25:40] SPEAKER_00: All four of those are just amazing products.
[25:42] SPEAKER_00: The thing that separates precision gels from other brands is that they taste great.
[25:46] SPEAKER_00: They just have this really simple, sugary flavor that you don't get sick of.
[25:50] SPEAKER_00: Um, and in combination with that, they also have this texture that goes down really, really easily and doesn't leave you feeling gross and nauseous after taking it.
[25:58] SPEAKER_00: And I know for me, they're kind of two of the biggest factors that I've struggled with in other gels, but with precision, just a really simple, nice, sweet flavor, and they go down so so easily.
[26:08] SPEAKER_00: Um, they've also nailed their packaging, which can be a bit of a bugbear of mine, but they've made a really um practical and simple packaging that that doesn't spill out and get everywhere in their smaller gels.
[26:19] SPEAKER_00: And the PF90 literally has an easy-to-use on-race day screw top and in training, the PF90 is just absolutely incredible if you're doing a long run or if you're out on the bike.
[26:28] SPEAKER_00: Like there's no better jail uh on the market than the PF90, in my opinion.
[26:32] SPEAKER_00: It's just the best.
[26:33] SPEAKER_00: Um, they also make electrolyte tablets that have become a staple in the trython world.
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[26:53] SPEAKER_00: Um, it's over on the Triton our Patreon.
[26:56] SPEAKER_00: So the link to the Patreon is in the description of this episode.
[26:58] SPEAKER_00: And there's a 20% off every time you shop at Precision Link if you do sign up for Patreon that you can take advantage of.
[27:06] SPEAKER_02: Before we segue, and I got something I got bone to pick with Jack because he said Yella's the second best.
[27:10] SPEAKER_02: I I'm gonna throw someone else in the nair.
[27:12] SPEAKER_02: But before that, we had we did this segment on the show, like what annoys you this week.
[27:18] SPEAKER_02: And you know what annoyed me this week was Yella's Instagram post after the race.
[27:23] SPEAKER_02: And Pro Tri athletes are always doing this shit.
[27:25] SPEAKER_02: They're like, Yeah, you know, they made a move and I let him go.
[27:29] SPEAKER_02: You got fucking dropped, man.
[27:31] SPEAKER_02: Like everyone's saying I let them go.
[27:34] SPEAKER_02: You didn't let shit go.
[27:35] SPEAKER_02: Like, you got dropped, alright?
[27:37] SPEAKER_02: That's what happened out there.
[27:39] SPEAKER_02: It's okay.
[27:40] SPEAKER_02: He's a great athlete, so are you, but no one in their right mind let him.
[27:44] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I race with Apple and oh, I'm gonna let him go.
[27:46] SPEAKER_02: I'll see him later.
[27:48] SPEAKER_02: Like, no, dude, you're not gonna see him later.
[27:50] SPEAKER_02: He dropped you.
[27:51] SPEAKER_02: So anyway, guys, just stop with the excuses out there.
[27:54] SPEAKER_02: Like, let's just call it for what it is.
[27:57] SPEAKER_02: Um, third place.
[28:00] SPEAKER_02: I don't know if you guys have you guys heard of this guy?
[28:02] SPEAKER_02: I haven't brought him up on the show that much.
[28:04] SPEAKER_02: His name's Jonas Schomberg.
[28:06] SPEAKER_03: Uh six days after Nice.
[28:09] SPEAKER_02: Was that the most impressive performance?
[28:10] SPEAKER_02: That's a that's a serious question.
[28:12] SPEAKER_02: It w it was cool.
[28:13] SPEAKER_02: Happy to see.
[28:14] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think that Hayden's performance was expected.
[28:17] SPEAKER_00: I think that Yalla's performance was brave, but expected.
[28:20] SPEAKER_00: Whereas Jonas Schomburg, six days after the Iron Man World Championships, where he was good, by the way.
[28:26] SPEAKER_00: Like he didn't he didn't crack and then jog it in.
[28:29] SPEAKER_00: Like he was competing for a top five all day, um, ran the best marathon I think he's ran in his career, just turns around and podiums a race, leads the swim.
[28:37] SPEAKER_00: You know, wasn't quite as aggressive as he would usually be on the bike, but you know, had the fifth fastest run, like ran pretty much the same as Yala Geans.
[28:46] SPEAKER_00: I think it's gotta be performance of the day, you know.
[28:48] SPEAKER_00: It's got it's gotta be.
[28:49] SPEAKER_00: And he's a robot, you know, Schomburg.
[28:51] SPEAKER_00: He's an absolute robot.
[28:53] SPEAKER_03: Bro, every Iron Man I've done, I don't think I've run, like taken a st a jogging step with like in that first week after an Iron Man.
[29:00] SPEAKER_03: And he's just come out and got third at T100 six days.
[29:04] SPEAKER_03: So it wasn't even the full you know week, it was six days.
[29:07] SPEAKER_03: It's kind of like what Martin Van Riel did earlier this year with South Africa and then into Singapore, right?
[29:12] SPEAKER_03: It's a very similar situation, but uh yeah, man.
[29:16] SPEAKER_03: Kudos Jonas.
[29:18] SPEAKER_00: You boys have heard about Jonas Schomberg's training, though, right?
[29:20] SPEAKER_00: You realize this probably isn't even the hardest thing he's done this year.
[29:24] SPEAKER_00: Like the way other professionals talk about Jonas' training is funny to bear at.
[29:29] SPEAKER_00: He trains legitimately 40 hours a week.
[29:32] SPEAKER_00: He just trains all day, he doesn't stop, he does intensity and volume, he gets injured, he just trains through it.
[29:39] SPEAKER_00: Like he can have Achilles tendonopathy and run 150k a week.
[29:42] SPEAKER_00: He's like training so insane that this is just normal for him.
[29:46] SPEAKER_00: It's just him and his dad just going, like, how do we make training as hard as we can this week?
[29:51] SPEAKER_00: And they just go and do it.
[29:52] SPEAKER_00: So this was actually probably quite a light week for him because he probably only trained 25 hours between worlds and and Spain.
[29:59] SPEAKER_03: It's the old school method, the more is more approach.
[30:02] SPEAKER_03: Um, so he's coached by his dad, is that right?
[30:05] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think so.
[30:06] SPEAKER_00: I know he he's had different coaches, but I think it's just a little team, him and his dad.
[30:10] SPEAKER_00: I'm not, I'm not, I don't really know much about him.
[30:12] SPEAKER_00: He's kind of a mystery to me, other than gr that Greg brings him up all the time.
[30:16] SPEAKER_00: He did, I did talk to him at the Iron Man World Championships at Nice, and he's moving to Andorra just down the road from me.
[30:21] SPEAKER_00: So I'll get to know him more soon.
[30:23] SPEAKER_03: You gotta get him on.
[30:24] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, 100%.
[30:25] SPEAKER_00: When he moves here, I'll get him over, we'll have a coffee, and I'll I'll get him on for 10, like a little 10-minute segment, like we did Benjamin Zorg and notti.
[30:34] SPEAKER_03: By the way, Zorg Notti's Instagram count has gone up like over a thousand people.
[30:39] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, good job, pretenders.
[30:41] SPEAKER_02: Good job.
[30:42] SPEAKER_03: Um, what about Carl Smith?
[30:44] SPEAKER_03: He's having a rough year, isn't he?
[30:46] SPEAKER_03: The um the penalty into the DNF and um I watched his uh Instagram post and he said that he's not sure, but he's just not he just can't find that top gear in races.
[30:57] SPEAKER_03: So um yeah, a bit of a shame for Kyle because last year was almost like a breakthrough year for him, and he was kind of hoping well, obviously hoping to build on that and be one of the main main competitors in this T-100, but this year it's just kind of been yeah, almost disastrous for Kyle, and I yeah, I feel for him a little bit.
[31:14] SPEAKER_02: Can I defend the T-100 quickly?
[31:16] SPEAKER_02: And I didn't watch the beginning of the bike and I didn't see the penalties, but like people have been shitting on the T100, like Mickey Mouse races, they don't give out penalties.
[31:26] SPEAKER_02: Then they try to give out penalties, and then everyone shits on them again.
[31:30] SPEAKER_02: They're like, you gave out stupid penalties.
[31:33] SPEAKER_02: It's like damned if you do, damned if you don't.
[31:35] SPEAKER_02: So I mean, yeah, maybe it wasn't the best calls out there, but it it was apparently chaos kind of in that first first bit.
[31:42] SPEAKER_02: So I mean, uh the they're probably trying their best out there to to give out they they felt like they had to give out some penalties, and it just happened to be Kyle Smith and everyone loves Kyle, and Rico, who's one of the fastest cyclists, and obviously rides very clean most of the time.
[31:56] SPEAKER_02: I mean, they both do.
[31:57] SPEAKER_02: So yeah, I mean, people just love people love picking apart the T100, and yep, we're uh we we do as well, unfortunately.
[32:07] SPEAKER_00: This isn't the first time it's happened to Kyle though.
[32:09] SPEAKER_00: Kyle's been the victim of a bad penalty multiple times now in the T100, and I I think it's good.
[32:15] SPEAKER_00: I think you've got to enforce the rules, but watching it, I was like, that could have gone to any one of the guys.
[32:21] SPEAKER_00: Any like I I didn't see anything that Kyle did that looked egregious.
[32:25] SPEAKER_00: I think I think Kyle wasn't that happy about it from how it looked.
[32:30] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but he just can't catch a break, really.
[32:32] SPEAKER_00: And you called it like probably a month ago, Greg, you said that you were worried about Kyle Smith and that you thought his results hadn't been that good.
[32:39] SPEAKER_00: And he at that stage he'd come fourth at San Francisco, fifth at Vancouver.
[32:43] SPEAKER_00: Uh he I think it was just around the time he DNF'd at London.
[32:47] SPEAKER_00: And it's like on paper, it doesn't look that bad.
[32:49] SPEAKER_00: But that comment from you has aged really well because he went on and finished 12th at French Riviera and then this DNF here.
[32:55] SPEAKER_00: Like he's having a rough run of it.
[32:57] SPEAKER_00: And whether it's a health thing, whether it's a love for the sport thing, whether it's an environment thing, whether it's just the T100 races aren't doing it for him, I don't know.
[33:06] SPEAKER_00: But Kyle Smith can't catch a break, and this is nowhere near the level of Kyle Smith that we saw at say London last year, when you know, I I thought he looked like he was gonna become one of the guys, like one of the guys who was always competing for the win and he only just lost to Sam Laidlow in that race.
[33:21] SPEAKER_00: And and obviously, you know, coming fourth at the grand final last year and then fourth at 70.3 worlds.
[33:26] SPEAKER_00: I thought, yeah, 2025 could be Kyle Smith's year, but it's kind of gone the other way.
[33:30] SPEAKER_03: And momentum is a fickle thing, right?
[33:33] SPEAKER_03: Momentum, it's hard to shift both ways.
[33:35] SPEAKER_03: Once you've got momentum, it's kind of you know, you find that the momentum keeps coming and the other way around.
[33:42] SPEAKER_03: When you're kind of in a bad patch, it can be hard to shake that and get out of it.
[33:45] SPEAKER_03: And um Yeah, hopefully for uh for Carl and the and the fans of Carl that um and the T100, he can get out of that and yeah, shift the momentum.
[33:54] SPEAKER_03: But um shall we move on to the uh to the women's?
[33:57] SPEAKER_03: I mean, Lucy Charles Barclay.
[34:00] SPEAKER_03: Did she put the others on notice for Kona?
[34:02] SPEAKER_03: She's looking pretty, pretty good.
[34:05] SPEAKER_02: Again, right?
[34:06] SPEAKER_02: I mean, she did last the last time.
[34:08] SPEAKER_02: But it's it's like Jack's point he said earlier.
[34:10] SPEAKER_02: Oh, Lucy and T100.
[34:12] SPEAKER_02: Okay, what about Kona, right?
[34:14] SPEAKER_02: I mean, that's what we're all thinking.
[34:15] SPEAKER_02: Like, we're we're ready for that showdown.
[34:17] SPEAKER_02: So yeah, it's funny.
[34:19] SPEAKER_02: Didn't we do predictions like two months ago and none of us put Lucy on our podium?
[34:23] SPEAKER_02: Like, we'd probably do predictions at the end of the show.
[34:24] SPEAKER_02: All of us can be like, yeah, Lucy, I've been calling it all year first place for sure.
[34:28] SPEAKER_02: So that's Lucy's my dark horse.
[34:30] SPEAKER_03: Lucy's my dark horse for Kona.
[34:34] SPEAKER_03: Smoky.
[34:34] SPEAKER_03: And there's there's no way that she hasn't been focusing on Kona, right?
[34:39] SPEAKER_03: Like, she hasn't been on I mean, I don't know, but I would very much highly doubt that she's been focusing on this T100 distance.
[34:47] SPEAKER_03: She wants Kona, that's her main goal.
[34:49] SPEAKER_03: She's made it pretty clear on social media.
[34:52] SPEAKER_03: So I'd imagine most of her training is tailored for Kona and she's coming out in some of the best middle distance form that she's ever had, in my opinion.
[34:59] SPEAKER_00: Her manager came out and said that they only decided last minute to go and do the race for a bit of fun.
[35:05] SPEAKER_00: They didn't taper into it.
[35:06] SPEAKER_00: They wanted to do the race as like the the end of the training block and then taper after it.
[35:11] SPEAKER_00: So if that doesn't scare you, I don't know what does.
[35:14] SPEAKER_00: And we we talked about it last week during the daily pods.
[35:17] SPEAKER_00: We had the skinny boys, the Ozempic boys, Gustav, Christian, and Kasper.
[35:22] SPEAKER_00: And now we've got skinny Lucy.
[35:24] SPEAKER_00: And skinny Lucy is a problem.
[35:26] SPEAKER_00: She is just the Kasper Stoyners like of Kona this year, I think.
[35:29] SPEAKER_00: I I like as long as she doesn't break down because she's walking that line too much.
[35:34] SPEAKER_00: I think that she I don't know.
[35:36] SPEAKER_00: I don't want to say anything too crazy, but I think she's my favorite for Kona.
[35:41] SPEAKER_00: I've never seen Lucy look this good over middle distance before, and we know that historically, as long as she doesn't break down, her form over middle distance translates to long distance.
[35:51] SPEAKER_00: The better she is over middle distance, the better she's gonna be over the full distance.
[35:54] SPEAKER_00: So as long as she isn't too skinny, too fit, and this race didn't push her over the edge or she does anything crazy in these next three weeks.
[36:02] SPEAKER_00: I I think I've got her above Cat and Laura.
[36:05] SPEAKER_02: Well, I don't like commenting on run form like that much, but like when I watched her run, she just seemed poppy, like springy.
[36:13] SPEAKER_02: And like she doesn't always look that way, too, when she's running.
[36:16] SPEAKER_02: Like sometimes she just goes out there, she runs really solid, but I'm like, this like if this chick came from five minutes back and took the win because she's a crazy runner, I'd be like, yeah, for sure, look at her run.
[36:25] SPEAKER_02: Like, she's amazing.
[36:26] SPEAKER_02: So she's looking fresh, she's looking strong.
[36:28] SPEAKER_02: Obviously, kind of just went there and dominated.
[36:30] SPEAKER_02: So uh yeah, like I've been saying all year in every podcast, my pick for the Iron Man World Championship is Lucy.
[36:38] SPEAKER_00: I I definitely didn't come out and say that it was a two-horse race between Kat and Laura, and everyone else was fighting for third.
[36:45] SPEAKER_00: I never said that.
[36:46] SPEAKER_00: I said the whole time that Lucy Charles Barclay will probably lead most of the day, and it's just whether Kat and Laura can run her down.
[36:51] SPEAKER_00: So you don't have to go and fact-check that.
[36:53] SPEAKER_00: Uh that is what I said.
[36:55] SPEAKER_03: Um, Kate Warr, another great race in second.
[36:59] SPEAKER_03: I mean, she's kind of like the yellow geans, just really consistent podium at most of these middle distance races.
[37:06] SPEAKER_03: She's really announced herself at this distance, and um I know she's still doing a bit of WTCS, but it would be hard for her to not consider making um yeah, T100 and middle distance racing her next kind of jump in her career because she's proven that she's just really, really strong across all three swim, bike, and run.
[37:26] SPEAKER_03: So shout out Kate War.
[37:27] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, Kate Wolf's just such a badass.
[37:30] SPEAKER_00: Like, she just came out of nowhere this year, she won Singapore, she's backed it up, she gets in these battles, she just fights super hard.
[37:37] SPEAKER_00: I I have huge respect for her because what what she she came third at San Francisco, now second at London and second at Spain.
[37:44] SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't know.
[37:45] SPEAKER_00: Last year I would have said, if you had said to me last year, hey, when Taylor Nib and Kate Waff are on a T100 start line, you're gonna be saying that Kate Waff is the favourite to beat her.
[37:55] SPEAKER_00: I would have called you an idiot.
[37:56] SPEAKER_00: You don't know anything about the sport.
[37:58] SPEAKER_00: That's the dumbest take I've ever heard.
[38:00] SPEAKER_00: But now I'd be like, hey, that's a pretty fair take.
[38:03] SPEAKER_00: Like, Kate Wolf's about her, she probably she she actually probably will beat Taylor Nib, you know, like and that that's just insane.
[38:09] SPEAKER_00: So it speaks volumes to how far she's come in in 12 months' time.
[38:12] SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and you missed out her win in Singapore, Jack, in that when you were just uh kind of going through her results, win in Singapore as well.
[38:19] SPEAKER_03: So fantastic year for Kate and uh shout out Jess Liermonth.
[38:23] SPEAKER_03: Uh that's probably the best race of her career.
[38:26] SPEAKER_03: And um I also want to give a shout out to the hot mic in the penalty tent.
[38:30] SPEAKER_03: That was just classic British, like Jess just going off.
[38:35] SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I just loved it.
[38:36] SPEAKER_03: And uh yeah, great race from Jess in third.
[38:38] SPEAKER_00: What did she say, Apo?
[38:40] SPEAKER_03: Oh, it's just the classic.
[38:42] SPEAKER_03: You know, I don't know.
[38:43] SPEAKER_03: My mum and dad are both British, so I I know a lot of the British lingo and uh both from uh the north in the similar area where Jess is from.
[38:52] SPEAKER_03: So yeah, I just kind of couldn't help but laugh when she was, you know, that British.
[38:57] SPEAKER_03: I'm not I'm not I'm not gonna do a British accent, but I don't know.
[39:01] SPEAKER_03: You just have to go back and watch the clip.
[39:03] SPEAKER_00: Apple, do a British accent and tell us what she said.
[39:06] SPEAKER_00: Come on.
[39:06] SPEAKER_00: It's the same as Australian, dude.
[39:09] SPEAKER_00: No, it's not.
[39:10] SPEAKER_00: It is all you've got to have a crack app though.
[39:12] SPEAKER_00: It'll be too funny not to.
[39:14] SPEAKER_03: Did you did you see it?
[39:15] SPEAKER_03: They're having an absolute laugh, aren't they?
[39:22] SPEAKER_00: Oh, if I couldn't see you saying it, I would have sworn that was Jess, Jess Leamont saying.
[39:28] SPEAKER_02: If I ever go to a race with Jess, like I want to like have a beer with her after.
[39:32] SPEAKER_02: She seems like like freaking funny.
[39:34] SPEAKER_02: And like just like Apo said, uh, those British people, they'll have a beer and and crack a few laughs, just like Jess did in the penalty set.
[39:42] SPEAKER_03: The top three, um yeah, with Lucy, Kate, and Jess, they kind of the whole race was decided in that swim, really.
[39:52] SPEAKER_03: And Sarah Perisala got out of the swim with them, but then faded.
[39:56] SPEAKER_03: Um like no one else was ever getting back into that race, were they?
[40:00] SPEAKER_03: It was it was kind of all said and done in that swim.
[40:04] SPEAKER_03: Um but yeah, shout out to Ash General.
[40:07] SPEAKER_03: She had a great run.
[40:08] SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, really fast run.
[40:10] SPEAKER_03: Run of the ran quite a bit quicker than everyone else, too, uh to get the chocolate medal in fourth.
[40:15] SPEAKER_03: Um, but yeah, just uh a little bit below on that.
[40:19] SPEAKER_02: What is the chocolate medal, dude?
[40:22] SPEAKER_02: That's fourth place.
[40:23] SPEAKER_02: I always heard that, Greg.
[40:24] SPEAKER_02: No, I don't know that.
[40:25] SPEAKER_02: You guys just throw it, you guys just make shit up over there in Australia or whatever it is.
[40:31] SPEAKER_00: Uh great.
[40:32] SPEAKER_00: I actually I agree with you, Appo.
[40:34] SPEAKER_00: I think it was a good performance from Ash because I think we're now seeing that this dynamic doesn't suit Ash when all the best are there.
[40:40] SPEAKER_00: Like that front swim group has done it to her multiple times now.
[40:43] SPEAKER_00: They did it to her in London, they've done it to her again now.
[40:45] SPEAKER_00: And then, like we saw at the French Riviera, when that dynamic isn't there, she wins the race.
[40:49] SPEAKER_00: But the the Kate Waff, Jess Liamonth, Taylor Nibb, Lucy Charles Barclay group has just made these races, I think, impossible for Ash to win.
[40:57] SPEAKER_00: I don't think she can win it when they're there.
[40:59] SPEAKER_00: They get off on the swim, they work together on the bike, she can't compete, and then she has to run so much faster than them to try and get on a podium.
[41:06] SPEAKER_00: She runs 30 seconds faster than Lucy, who finishes second.
[41:09] SPEAKER_00: It's good enough for fourth, but you know, it's not good enough for the podium, or it's definitely not good enough for the win.
[41:14] SPEAKER_00: So I didn't think it was a bad performance by Ash.
[41:16] SPEAKER_00: I thought it was a good performance for what she's got, the tools she's got at her disposal.
[41:20] SPEAKER_00: But the dynamic of the T100 just not working for her at the moment, that that front group's so strong.
[41:25] SPEAKER_00: And yeah, I thought Jess Leamonth's race was her best one of the season.
[41:28] SPEAKER_00: That minute penalty kind of cost her, but the best run I've seen her do of the season.
[41:32] SPEAKER_00: And I I tell you what, I think she's a real threat for the 70.3 world championships in Marbella as well, with that bike course.
[41:38] SPEAKER_00: I think she qualified at Nice, right?
[41:40] SPEAKER_00: If I don't have that mistaken.
[41:42] SPEAKER_00: Pretty sure Kate Wolf won't be there.
[41:44] SPEAKER_00: So I I just think watch this space with Jess Leamonth.
[41:47] SPEAKER_00: Her best performances might come at the end of this year, I think.
[41:49] SPEAKER_02: That comment about the swim, we we brought it up like a month ago.
[41:52] SPEAKER_02: So I just I'll pose a question.
[41:55] SPEAKER_02: If the T100 went back to these four races, right?
[41:58] SPEAKER_02: Four races, no contract, big money, and you get the Laidlow, the Schaumburg, the Riddle, and you get some guys to send the swim.
[42:05] SPEAKER_02: You get Aaron out there on the front, and then maybe Hayden gets distanced and they can work together, like to change the dynamics.
[42:12] SPEAKER_02: It almost means like that dynamic has to come to the men's race for it to be more exciting, right?
[42:17] SPEAKER_02: Like you have to get a small group that's select that can ride super well to put Hayden under pressure, maybe.
[42:23] SPEAKER_02: Um so yeah, that would be that would be a fun dynamic for for the men.
[42:27] SPEAKER_02: Um, so it just got me thinking about that.
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[43:58] SPEAKER_00: All right, boys.
[43:59] SPEAKER_00: I want Move on to our next topic today.
[44:01] SPEAKER_00: It's kind of a two-parter, and it's got to do with uh two factors the I Man World Championships in Nice that we saw, and then the podcast I did with Harold Tweyton during the week about the Norwegians.
[44:13] SPEAKER_00: I just I just want to ask you some questions about the Norwegians.
[44:16] SPEAKER_00: So, my first part of this topic is boys, what the hell happened between Olav Alexander Boo and Gustav slash Christian?
[44:26] SPEAKER_00: Can we like can we talk about this?
[44:28] SPEAKER_00: Because this has just not been talked about this year, but I got the vibe when I was talking to Arl that there has been more gone on behind the scenes than the Triton World's aware of.
[44:38] SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I mean, Arl didn't really dive into it too much, did he?
[44:42] SPEAKER_03: But he did kind of indicate that there was something that brought them apart.
[44:48] SPEAKER_03: I don't know if we'll ever find out.
[44:50] SPEAKER_03: Maybe if uh Gustav and Christian do a tell-all book or something, we'll find out.
[44:55] SPEAKER_03: But something I think clearly has gone on.
[44:58] SPEAKER_03: I don't know whether it was an amicable breakup.
[45:01] SPEAKER_03: Um Arald kind of indicated that OLAV is very science-driven, um, lots of testing, lots of data.
[45:10] SPEAKER_03: And perhaps Gustav and Christian wanted a little bit more um kind of discretion to use uh, you know, feelings and vibes in in training, which I think is actually r really important.
[45:22] SPEAKER_03: I think I think data and science is important, but when it that becomes part of every single session, it be it can become a little bit tiresome, right?
[45:30] SPEAKER_03: So I think I think they wanted a bit of a blend of both.
[45:33] SPEAKER_03: And Jack, you did touch on it a little bit um that they kind of wanted a mix of the Harold and Olav training plans that had kind of both the science-driven and a little bit more of the um you know perceived exertion or feelings-driven approach, which yeah, I'm a fan of.
[45:51] SPEAKER_03: Um just one thing I was a little bit disappointed with, Jack, is that he didn't ask Harold how to pronounce Kasper Stoines.
[45:59] SPEAKER_03: I was really hoping that was going to be on the podcast.
[46:02] SPEAKER_03: Just to just to clear any doubt.
[46:04] SPEAKER_00: Do you know how many Norwegians have messaged me in the podcast saying that I actually say it right?
[46:09] SPEAKER_00: And so suck that, boys.
[46:10] SPEAKER_00: There's like 50 at this point.
[46:12] SPEAKER_02: That's just untrue, dude.
[46:14] SPEAKER_02: That's untrue.
[46:15] SPEAKER_00: I've sent you screenshots, you've seen them, you know they've been coming in.
[46:19] SPEAKER_00: Um, you say it like the the bogans that you are or the rednecks that you are.
[46:23] SPEAKER_00: I say it like a sophisticated Norwegian man.
[46:26] SPEAKER_00: Um, you know what's funny is that we talked about Max Newman at the start of the show.
[46:30] SPEAKER_00: And Max Newman, when he won Ibiza, crossed the line and he said, Fuck your bullshit science, you know, it's all hard work, baby.
[46:37] SPEAKER_00: And then Christian kind of popped back at him and he kept making like a joke, you know, like what happened to fuck your bullshit science guy?
[46:43] SPEAKER_00: And it's all turned out that Max was right all along.
[46:47] SPEAKER_00: Max knew that Christian was sick of the bullshit science and wanted more of the Max Newman method.
[46:53] SPEAKER_03: Maybe they just got sick of all the uh thermometers up the uh up the schwinkter, and uh that's what drew them away from Olav.
[47:02] SPEAKER_00: Imagine that appo one day they were in the lab with Olav and Olav puts the glove on, like he you know, flicks the glove down and he has the thermometer in his hands, and Christian just turns to Gustav and says, Fuck this, we're not doing this again, are we?
[47:16] SPEAKER_00: And that was the tipping point where they they said, Olav, we've got to go separate ways, mate.
[47:20] SPEAKER_02: We can't take any more thermometers up the unless Well and you know I I kind of speculate, you know, if you're Christian and Gustav, you're the best athletes in the world on this planet, you've proven it over many years, and your coach started taking on more responsibilities, more responsibilities elsewhere with businesses, with high performance.
[47:43] SPEAKER_02: Are you like feeling like, hey, maybe coach doesn't have the bandwidth to give to me, you know, being number one priority?
[47:50] SPEAKER_02: I've kind of wondered this with Dan Lorang myself because you know, he's like involved in Bora Hansborough, or not hands, I don't even know how to say it.
[47:58] SPEAKER_02: Hands grow.
[47:59] SPEAKER_02: Haribo?
[48:00] SPEAKER_02: No, I'm just kidding.
[48:01] SPEAKER_02: Um and I I'm just I'm wondering how they balance it too.
[48:06] SPEAKER_02: And like, you know, obviously high-performing athletes, they they they need a lot and they they take a lot of effort too.
[48:12] SPEAKER_02: So, you know, if if my coach was out there doing just everything that it seems like Olaf's doing and being involved in his fingers and a lot of pies, as they say, uh maybe you're like, hey, maybe not just in the pies.
[48:28] SPEAKER_02: Fingers and a lot he's putting on a lot of gloves for a lot of people.
[48:31] SPEAKER_02: I would not feel special anymore, is what I'm saying.
[48:35] SPEAKER_00: He got to the point he didn't even take the glove off.
[48:38] SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
[48:42] SPEAKER_00: Oh my days.
[48:43] SPEAKER_00: I think that there's an element of them just being tied up financially, right?
[48:47] SPEAKER_00: And they've got so many businesses together, Olav and Christian and Gustav, but Christian and Gustav kind of just needed a change.
[48:52] SPEAKER_00: They'd had the worst years of their career.
[48:54] SPEAKER_00: Maybe it wasn't even that personal, and and it's kind of we're reading too much into it.
[48:58] SPEAKER_00: Um, and and they just thought like, hey, we've had all this experience, we've won this many world titles, we've, you know, we've done different systems our whole life.
[49:06] SPEAKER_00: Let's let's mix it all together and try and get the best out of ourselves and get Caspar Stoyners back into the fold and get the crew back together, and it's all it's all worked out, hasn't it?
[49:15] SPEAKER_00: Um, I think you made an interesting point, Apo, that is that maybe Olav complicates training a little bit, like it's very science-driven.
[49:22] SPEAKER_00: You're in that lab a lot, you have to do a lot of lactate testing.
[49:25] SPEAKER_00: Maybe it just isn't for you after a while.
[49:28] SPEAKER_00: Like maybe after a while you just want your training to go back and be a little bit more fun and a bit more simple, like it used to be, rather than it becoming this monotonous chore of being like a science experiment.
[49:40] SPEAKER_00: You know, like I I know you've talked about that.
[49:42] SPEAKER_03: Yeah, for sure.
[49:43] SPEAKER_03: And I think to be the best, you're always pushing boundaries, right?
[49:49] SPEAKER_03: Um, the data-driven approach is important, but it can, like you said, Jack, take away the fun.
[49:55] SPEAKER_03: And there's oftentimes I'll have sessions in the week where I ride my gravel bike, which doesn't have a power meter or anything, and I'm just going out for a three-hour ride.
[50:04] SPEAKER_03: It doesn't really matter what you know, if I'm just doing an aerobic ride, I'm not looking at numbers, I'm not looking at data or anything like that.
[50:10] SPEAKER_03: Because it can get a bit tiresome, right?
[50:12] SPEAKER_03: Um, all that testing, it takes away the fun of the sport.
[50:17] SPEAKER_03: And I think everybody got into the sport of triflon because it's it's fun, they like exercising, and when you take that fun out, I think you're at the risk of burnout.
[50:26] SPEAKER_03: Um, and then with when you're not enjoying training and burnout, your results are declining as well, right?
[50:31] SPEAKER_03: So, you know, it's hard to say if that is what happened to the Norwegians last year, but I don't think we can forget that Gustav had one of his best races in his career at Kona when he won.
[50:42] SPEAKER_03: Um, and that was under the guidance of Olav.
[50:45] SPEAKER_03: So, yeah, I mean, I don't think there was a case of it not working for them, but maybe they were just after a change, and I think as the sport's evolving, they're also pushing the boundaries to evolve and adapt with the sport as well.
[50:58] SPEAKER_02: Well, it's an interesting point, and you know, we've seen you post those shirtless pictures riding your gravel bike on your Instagram story appo.
[51:05] SPEAKER_02: So we know that you like just to chill out, like enjoy trading.
[51:11] SPEAKER_02: That's not how you play.
[51:12] SPEAKER_02: People are probably putting the thumbs down on that, so it's not going to get shown.
[51:16] SPEAKER_02: Uh okay, let me ask you a question.
[51:17] SPEAKER_02: And you know, Jack, you could answer too.
[51:19] SPEAKER_02: I know my answer.
[51:20] SPEAKER_02: If Olaf offered to coach you for free, would you say yes?
[51:25] SPEAKER_00: Uh I wouldn't.
[51:26] SPEAKER_00: I wouldn't.
[51:27] SPEAKER_00: I'd be looking for someone who was a little less scientific personally, so that's my take.
[51:31] SPEAKER_03: I'm 35.
[51:32] SPEAKER_03: You can't teach an old dog new tricks, Greg.
[51:34] SPEAKER_03: Um I'd probably decline.
[51:36] SPEAKER_02: At 28.
[51:37] SPEAKER_02: You're 28.
[51:38] SPEAKER_02: And like, uh, I've had a year that's not so good, and Olaf's like, hey, I'm gonna coach you for free.
[51:42] SPEAKER_02: And it's he has the same credentials as he does now.
[51:45] SPEAKER_03: I'd have to sit down, have a chat.
[51:47] SPEAKER_03: I don't know enough about the training.
[51:50] SPEAKER_03: I'd probably say no, though.
[51:53] SPEAKER_03: I would say no.
[51:53] SPEAKER_03: I'm off the fence.
[51:54] SPEAKER_03: No.
[51:55] SPEAKER_03: There you go.
[51:56] SPEAKER_00: Apo, I I want to say this to you, Apo, because this is something I think that you've nailed in your career.
[52:01] SPEAKER_00: Now, am I saying that I think you have the world's best coach?
[52:04] SPEAKER_00: No, I don't think that.
[52:06] SPEAKER_00: But I think something you've done well is you've worked with the same person for a long period of time, and I think that is such an underrated aspect of success in a coach-athlete partnership.
[52:16] SPEAKER_00: So, like, I think that Christian and Gustav and Kasper's success comes from the long partnership they had with Harold and training together, and they just did so much good work together over like a decade that it just put them in this position where they're they're best in the world.
[52:29] SPEAKER_00: And Olaf could have been multiple people, you know, anyone really could have come in, and if they knew half of what they were talking about, they probably would have done pretty well.
[52:36] SPEAKER_00: I think you've nailed that.
[52:38] SPEAKER_00: You know, like you've had multiple opportunities, Apo, where you could have gone and tried to get Dan Lorang to coach you or some big flashy name at that time, but you've stuck true to the one team, and I think you're actually getting success now, late in your career, because of that, because you know each other really well, you've figured out what works for you over time, you've you've been able to do things poorly and have like a bad year or two, but then learn from that and come back.
[53:01] SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, I think that's one thing you've nailed in your career, actually.
[53:04] SPEAKER_03: Thanks, Jack.
[53:05] SPEAKER_03: I'll pass that on to Tim.
[53:07] SPEAKER_03: Um I think there's a lot more that goes into coaching than just writing a program, right?
[53:13] SPEAKER_03: And I think where Tim's strength is he knows me as a person, he knows my ins and outs, my anxieties, and things like that.
[53:22] SPEAKER_03: So I think that plays a huge, huge role.
[53:26] SPEAKER_03: It's not just writing the plan and executing, that's that's balancing everything around life, you know, working wife, kids, and and things.
[53:36] SPEAKER_03: And I think, yeah, we're on a good balance.
[53:38] SPEAKER_03: And uh yeah, I've been with Tim for a long time, and uh I'll probably retire with Tim, to be honest.
[53:44] SPEAKER_03: So yeah, thanks, Jack.
[53:45] SPEAKER_02: Wait, so he knows your ins and outs.
[53:46] SPEAKER_02: So you guys do glove stuff as well?
[53:48] SPEAKER_00: Or don't comment on that at all.
[53:54] SPEAKER_00: Don't comment.
[53:55] SPEAKER_03: What happens behind closed doors stays behind closed doors, Greg.
[53:59] SPEAKER_02: Uh yeah, you know, it it would be interesting.
[54:01] SPEAKER_02: I think I would get really tired of doing the overly science stuff.
[54:04] SPEAKER_02: I mean, especially coming as a swimmer, it's like effort and a clock, and that's how I grew up.
[54:10] SPEAKER_02: So I think I could be like swindled and convinced like this is the way, but I think over time, you know, like remember how Lactate exploded?
[54:17] SPEAKER_02: I'm sure 90% of the age groupers that got very into that do it very rarely now, too.
[54:22] SPEAKER_02: You know, it's just another metric.
[54:24] SPEAKER_02: So you know, if I had to like drive myself down to some lab and you know, Olaf was in across the world coaching me.
[54:31] SPEAKER_02: I I it seemed like it could get pretty annoying when in the end it's like if you feel good and you have intervals that are like, hey, like be solid on these and you want to go a little extra hard, go extra hard.
[54:42] SPEAKER_02: It's probably gonna benefit you.
[54:44] SPEAKER_02: Like, we can't shy away from that.
[54:45] SPEAKER_02: Maxie Newman shout out, hard work and no bullshit science.
[54:50] SPEAKER_00: And we know Max loves being mentioned on the podcast, so shout out again, Max Newman.
[54:54] SPEAKER_00: Um, part two to this topic.
[54:56] SPEAKER_00: If we pause and Apple, look, you're just gonna have to get off the fence here, okay?
[54:59] SPEAKER_00: So just you know, build yourself up, mate.
[55:01] SPEAKER_00: You can do it.
[55:02] SPEAKER_00: Part two of this, if we pause the year right now, is Christian Blumenfeld leading the coach of the year at end of season awards?
[55:10] SPEAKER_03: You'd have to say yes, right?
[55:12] SPEAKER_03: He won, he got first, second, and third.
[55:15] SPEAKER_03: All his athletes first, second, and third at Nice.
[55:18] SPEAKER_03: So undoubtedly, yes.
[55:20] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean that's that's as clear of a case as you want, you know.
[55:25] SPEAKER_02: And I think one, two, three in the pro series currently, and maybe uh possible to stay that way.
[55:31] SPEAKER_02: Um, so I mean, consistent they've been all consistent all year, too.
[55:35] SPEAKER_02: I mean, pretty solid, right?
[55:37] SPEAKER_02: And then they stepped up on the biggest stage, went one, two, three.
[55:40] SPEAKER_02: I mean, consistency and performing at the biggest level, that's a good season.
[55:45] SPEAKER_02: And obviously, Christian Blumenfeld is the greatest coach in triathon history.
[55:50] SPEAKER_00: There's there's definitely bigger trython historians than me, but I've been racking my brain.
[55:55] SPEAKER_00: I can't think of an example of a coach who's ever came one, two, three on the podium at a world champs.
[56:02] SPEAKER_00: Can can can you guys think of one?
[56:04] SPEAKER_00: Like obviously, Dan Lorang won it.
[56:06] SPEAKER_00: Um he had he had Aaron Hague and Jan Fredino win it in the same year, which is probably equally as good an achievement.
[56:12] SPEAKER_00: But a podium clean sweep as a coach, that's that's uh yeah, that's unheard of.
[56:17] SPEAKER_00: That's never happened before.
[56:18] SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's impressive.
[56:20] SPEAKER_03: But uh Christian also didn't build these athletes up, right?
[56:26] SPEAKER_03: Caspar and Gustav and Christian were already really good athletes before Christian started coaching himself and them.
[56:35] SPEAKER_03: No, but think about this app though.
[56:37] SPEAKER_00: Think about this though.
[56:38] SPEAKER_00: They weren't good last year and they weren't that good the year before.
[56:41] SPEAKER_00: So Christian gets a hold of the program and he takes these athletes who in 2022 looked like they were never gonna lose a race again.
[56:48] SPEAKER_00: Every time Gustav started a race, he was gonna win it.
[56:51] SPEAKER_00: Christian was gonna be there in the battle for it.
[56:52] SPEAKER_00: And if Gustav didn't show up, Christian was gonna win it.
[56:55] SPEAKER_00: Kasper wasn't on that level though, he was good, but he wasn't winning an Iron Man World Championships, and Christian takes the program and he just turns it around.
[57:03] SPEAKER_00: And now suddenly, like Greg says, they're gonna finish first, second, third, the pro series.
[57:07] SPEAKER_00: They fight for every win that they get, like every start line they get onto now, they fight for the win, and they've just dominated the Iron Man World Championships.
[57:14] SPEAKER_00: Like that is a huge turnaround for from where things were looking like they were gonna go if they stayed with Olav Alexander Boo.
[57:22] SPEAKER_00: He brought the team back together and he's made them better than ever.
[57:26] SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
[57:27] SPEAKER_03: You make a compelling argument.
[57:28] SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
[57:29] SPEAKER_03: I think he is the best coach, yes, undoubtedly, this year.
[57:33] SPEAKER_00: Greg, you think yes as well?
[57:35] SPEAKER_00: There we go.
[57:36] SPEAKER_02: And athlete.
[57:37] SPEAKER_02: He's uh yeah, honestly, it's just a crazy year for them.
[57:40] SPEAKER_02: Like what they chose to do this year, like forego the T100 and then just like execute flawlessly?
[57:47] SPEAKER_02: And like maybe one more.
[57:48] SPEAKER_02: They all are they all racing 70.3 worlds?
[57:51] SPEAKER_02: I'd imagine so.
[57:52] SPEAKER_00: Harold just said that basically he thinks Christian's gonna be like a possessed zombie trying to win 70.3 worlds.
[57:58] SPEAKER_00: I don't see a world where Casper doesn't want to go and try and do the double.
[58:01] SPEAKER_00: And look, that Marbella course I think suits Gustav more than any course that he's probably gonna race this year.
[58:07] SPEAKER_00: So I wouldn't be I would not be that shocked if we saw another podium clean sweep.
[58:11] SPEAKER_03: I'm kind of upset that Hayden won't be in Marbella to race Christian.
[58:15] SPEAKER_03: That would be a race for the ages.
[58:17] SPEAKER_03: Um, but it will be interesting to see the all the T100 athletes and all the Iron Man athletes come together and race at My Baya.
[58:25] SPEAKER_03: Should be a great race.
[58:27] SPEAKER_00: Okay, let's move on to the last topic of today's podcast, and it's so good to be back after the week's break uh following our daily pods.
[58:34] SPEAKER_00: We wanted to do something that's kind of serious, kind of silly, got elements of both to finish up the podcast.
[58:39] SPEAKER_00: We wanted to make some individual pledges to all of you pretenders out there listening, and we want you to hold us accountable to them.
[58:47] SPEAKER_00: So don't let us forget about them.
[58:49] SPEAKER_00: Don't let us just say these and then they just become, you know, some relic of a podcast we once did.
[58:54] SPEAKER_00: Hold us accountable to all of these.
[58:56] SPEAKER_00: I'll give a pledge first, then Apo can give one, then Greg can give one, then I'll give one again, and we'll just go through until we've given all of our pledges to you guys.
[59:04] SPEAKER_00: So starting us off, I pledge that I will never question Christian Blumenfeld's climbing ability again or just his ability to compete for the win at a race ever again.
[59:16] SPEAKER_03: Alright.
[59:17] SPEAKER_03: I pledge to race Greg in a 100 meter freestyle swimming race.
[59:23] SPEAKER_03: We can organize it at a race that we're both competing at, you know, maybe probably after the race.
[59:28] SPEAKER_03: We could do it before.
[59:29] SPEAKER_03: I don't know, we'll see.
[59:30] SPEAKER_03: And this is my pledge.
[59:31] SPEAKER_03: If he beats me by more than two seconds, I will forever refer to him as the greatest swimmer Trithon has ever seen.
[59:39] unknown: Yes.
[59:40] SPEAKER_02: Can't wait.
[59:40] SPEAKER_02: Not Morgan Pearson.
[59:44] SPEAKER_02: I will never refer to Casper as the forgotten Norwegian.
[59:49] SPEAKER_02: Now I have a side quest on this.
[59:51] SPEAKER_02: What do you think the most like Norwegian, those three?
[59:55] SPEAKER_02: Top three best performances ever.
[59:57] SPEAKER_02: You know, because we're already we always talk about Norwegians.
[1:00:00] SPEAKER_02: Casper's the forgotten Norwegian.
[1:00:02] SPEAKER_02: Rank any performance out of all three of them, one to three.
[1:00:06] SPEAKER_02: What's the best?
[1:00:06] SPEAKER_02: What's the second?
[1:00:07] SPEAKER_02: What's the third?
[1:00:08] SPEAKER_00: I like this a lot.
[1:00:09] SPEAKER_00: I'll start um I'll do it three to one, Greg.
[1:00:12] SPEAKER_00: Fill the suspense.
[1:00:13] SPEAKER_00: So I think uh the third best performance of by a Norwegian of all time is Gustav Eden's 2019 70.3 worlds at Nice, where he beat Alistair Brownley.
[1:00:24] SPEAKER_00: He was on a road bike, he wasn't expected to win it.
[1:00:27] SPEAKER_00: Alistair was the big favourite that day, and Gustav Eden dominated him.
[1:00:31] SPEAKER_00: You could argue that his 2021 70.3 worlds at St.
[1:00:34] SPEAKER_00: George was a better performance, but I think just for the surprise factor, announcing yourself factor that his 2019 worlds would be the third best performance by Norwegian ever.
[1:00:43] SPEAKER_00: And then at number two, I would probably say Gustav 2022 at Kona.
[1:00:47] SPEAKER_00: That was just a clinic.
[1:00:49] SPEAKER_00: He did exactly what you knew he was gonna do.
[1:00:51] SPEAKER_00: Um, yeah, that was a robotic performance.
[1:00:54] SPEAKER_00: And uh yeah, I do actually have the the number one performance by Norwegian of all time being Kaspar's win on the weekend at Nice.
[1:01:01] SPEAKER_00: So shout out Casper.
[1:01:03] SPEAKER_03: All right, but I'm gonna say the best performance by Norwegian was that 2021 by Gustav at St.
[1:01:09] SPEAKER_03: George 70.3 worlds.
[1:01:11] SPEAKER_03: I was in that race, and I was just I was dumbfounded by the execution of Gustav in that race.
[1:01:19] SPEAKER_03: It was incredible to witness and behold.
[1:01:22] SPEAKER_03: So that was my number one.
[1:01:24] SPEAKER_03: Number two, I'm gonna do Casper at Nice last week, and number three, I'm gonna do the combined Norwegian podium of the Bermuda WTCS race.
[1:01:35] SPEAKER_03: I like that.
[1:01:36] SPEAKER_02: What's crazy how both of you are just 100% wrong.
[1:01:39] SPEAKER_02: Christians Olympics.
[1:01:42] SPEAKER_01: I'm totally gonna get Christians Olympics.
[1:01:45] SPEAKER_02: Obviously, Christian winning the Olympics is number one.
[1:01:48] SPEAKER_02: Okay.
[1:01:49] SPEAKER_02: I know you guys don't care about short course, but don't forget, it's actually the most competitive form of triathon.
[1:01:54] SPEAKER_00: He beat Alex and Hayden too.
[1:01:56] unknown: Yeah.
[1:01:58] SPEAKER_02: Number two, I'm gonna go uh I I I'll say Casper for this one for 2025, and then Gustav and Kona 2022.
[1:02:07] SPEAKER_02: Those those would be the top.
[1:02:08] SPEAKER_02: Obviously, Christian winning the Olympics.
[1:02:10] SPEAKER_02: Olympics is the highest level of sport on a single day.
[1:02:13] SPEAKER_02: If you win the Olympics, that's better than a Kona World Championship.
[1:02:15] SPEAKER_02: It's the most competitive race.
[1:02:17] SPEAKER_02: That can't be uh debated.
[1:02:18] SPEAKER_00: So I left it out literally to trigger you, Greg, and I was just sitting here waiting, hoping that you were gonna say something.
[1:02:24] SPEAKER_00: And then I did, I gotcha.
[1:02:26] SPEAKER_00: Okay.
[1:02:27] SPEAKER_00: Uh my next pledge is that I pledge that we will have pretender casual shirts and the triathlon hour training shirts ready for all of you pretenders and wannabe contenders or delusional contenders before Kona 2025.
[1:02:42] SPEAKER_00: So before the women's race this year.
[1:02:44] SPEAKER_00: Uh, and actually, in fact, to add on to that, I'll get the designs happening this week and I'll put them on my Insta story this week and I'll like let you guys decide which one is best.
[1:02:53] SPEAKER_00: So keep an eye out for that.
[1:02:54] SPEAKER_00: The pretenders merch will be here before Kona.
[1:02:58] SPEAKER_00: What's my cut?
[1:02:59] SPEAKER_00: We're not making money on them.
[1:03:00] SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna sell them cheap.
[1:03:02] SPEAKER_00: That's my goal at least.
[1:03:03] SPEAKER_00: Okay.
[1:03:04] SPEAKER_03: My pledge, simple and efficient, to never sit on the fence ever again.
[1:03:13] SPEAKER_00: That's just not important.
[1:03:14] SPEAKER_02: I will say you've you've done better.
[1:03:16] SPEAKER_02: I I'm I'm proud of you, little guy.
[1:03:18] SPEAKER_02: Like you're really you're really you're really getting it.
[1:03:21] SPEAKER_00: Hey Mappo, say something, say something now.
[1:03:23] SPEAKER_00: Give a strong opinion now that you've just made that pledge.
[1:03:27] SPEAKER_03: Greg's had Greg's been a dad for one week and thinks he's uh you know, thinks he can start calling people little guys.
[1:03:36] SPEAKER_00: His first off the fence is fuck you, Greg.
[1:03:42] SPEAKER_02: Alright.
[1:03:43] SPEAKER_02: I vow, this is a kind of a selfish personal one.
[1:03:46] SPEAKER_02: I vow to do whatever it takes to be on the 2026 Kona start line.
[1:03:50] SPEAKER_00: I like that one.
[1:03:51] SPEAKER_00: That's a good one.
[1:03:52] SPEAKER_00: Yep.
[1:03:53] SPEAKER_00: Um speaking of Kona Greg, I pledge that we, that is me, Apo Greg, and Joe Skipper, if he wants to come, will go to Kona in 2026 for the men's and women's races and we'll do daily pods, we'll do a week of pods, we'll fly everyone out there, and we'll do the live show every single day that people can come along to and watch for that week.
[1:04:14] SPEAKER_02: It's really gonna mess with our race prep, but yeah, I'll be all right.
[1:04:20] SPEAKER_03: We'll have to we'll have to put something into the contract.
[1:04:26] SPEAKER_03: Okay, my next pledge.
[1:04:29] SPEAKER_03: Chat GPT tells me that Lionel Sanders has won 29 70.3 races.
[1:04:36] SPEAKER_03: I pledge, and you gotta hold me to this.
[1:04:39] SPEAKER_03: Win nine more races and claim that title off Lionel, starting with Augusta 70.3 this weekend.
[1:04:47] SPEAKER_00: Oh, he's racing, he's made the decision.
[1:04:48] SPEAKER_00: Going for four from four since you started hosting the podcast.
[1:04:52] SPEAKER_02: And Lionel is 100% racing.
[1:04:54] SPEAKER_03: I mean, yeah, he's on the list.
[1:04:56] SPEAKER_00: No, I think he's pulling out, isn't he?
[1:04:58] SPEAKER_00: He I think so.
[1:04:59] SPEAKER_00: You reckon he'll be there?
[1:05:01] SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
[1:05:01] SPEAKER_00: I heard that he might be pulling out of Augusta.
[1:05:03] SPEAKER_00: What do you you haven't you thought you've heard he's racing?
[1:05:05] SPEAKER_03: Oh, I don't know.
[1:05:06] SPEAKER_03: I mean, I just saw him on the start list and got excited.
[1:05:09] SPEAKER_03: I always like racing Lionel.
[1:05:10] SPEAKER_03: He's I'd be disappointed if he's not there.
[1:05:12] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I reckon he would want to be there.
[1:05:14] SPEAKER_00: I reckon he would want to be there.
[1:05:15] SPEAKER_00: Don't you reckon?
[1:05:16] SPEAKER_00: It kind of seems like the the kind of race he would love to go and do and come back and race, I think.
[1:05:21] SPEAKER_00: Um hey Apo, you do realize that that means that Lionel has to not win another race.
[1:05:26] SPEAKER_00: Like, what if he wins?
[1:05:27] SPEAKER_00: He's gonna win, he wins four a year, like clockwork.
[1:05:29] SPEAKER_00: So it's not gonna be normal.
[1:05:31] SPEAKER_00: You're actually gonna have to win like 14 more to take the record.
[1:05:35] SPEAKER_02: No, Apo says he's gonna he's gonna copy Lionel's race schedule and he he's calling Lionel, he says, I'm better than you.
[1:05:41] SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna prevent you from winning and win myself.
[1:05:44] SPEAKER_02: So Apo, I love the confidence and the non-fet sitting.
[1:05:48] SPEAKER_02: You are really living up to your first vow.
[1:05:50] SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
[1:05:50] SPEAKER_02: Uh speaking of Apo, my next vow is I vow not to get dropped by Apo in a race before he retires.
[1:06:00] SPEAKER_00: Oh God.
[1:06:02] SPEAKER_00: By the end of the year, I pledge that we will announce who our official enemy of the show for the 2026 season is.
[1:06:11] SPEAKER_00: So we won't sit on the fence, we won't bring multiple options.
[1:06:14] SPEAKER_00: By the end of this year, we will announce who our enemy of the show is for the following year.
[1:06:19] SPEAKER_02: Alright.
[1:06:20] SPEAKER_02: A vow for me, and this one I feel really confident in it because it's just so so unlikely that I won't have to follow through.
[1:06:27] SPEAKER_02: If an Aussie wins a major race in 2026, I will always refer to Australia as the greatest country on earth.
[1:06:35] SPEAKER_03: What classifies as a major race?
[1:06:37] SPEAKER_02: I mean, I'm gonna say pro series.
[1:06:39] SPEAKER_02: Wait, did you win a pro series race this year?
[1:06:41] SPEAKER_02: No.
[1:06:42] SPEAKER_03: No, absolutely not.
[1:06:43] SPEAKER_02: I feel like a pro series or T100 are like a world champs.
[1:06:46] SPEAKER_02: You know, I was gonna just say world champs, but the depth in Australia is lacking if Apo is one of the best of all time.
[1:06:53] SPEAKER_02: So I I feel confident that um they won't execute.
[1:06:57] SPEAKER_00: Nick Thompson will win a pro series race next year.
[1:06:59] SPEAKER_00: I reckon Ash Gentle will as well.
[1:07:01] SPEAKER_00: I can't see her doing T100.
[1:07:03] SPEAKER_00: I reckon she could do the pro series next year and win one.
[1:07:05] SPEAKER_00: Uh and she also already won a major one this year.
[1:07:08] SPEAKER_00: She won um T100 French Riviera.
[1:07:10] SPEAKER_00: So I think you're in trouble there already.
[1:07:12] SPEAKER_00: Oh shit.
[1:07:13] SPEAKER_02: All right, it's out.
[1:07:13] SPEAKER_02: I'm talking about world champs and grand final now.
[1:07:16] SPEAKER_02: It's new.
[1:07:16] SPEAKER_02: I just changed it.
[1:07:17] SPEAKER_02: It's now changed.
[1:07:19] SPEAKER_03: What about WTCS?
[1:07:20] SPEAKER_03: Matt House has been flying the flag.
[1:07:23] SPEAKER_02: This is the major I've ever made, dude.
[1:07:24] SPEAKER_02: I'm actually out.
[1:07:26] SPEAKER_02: I'm just taking back the vow.
[1:07:28] SPEAKER_02: All right, Australia's the greatest country on earth.
[1:07:30] SPEAKER_02: All right, I just said it.
[1:07:32] SPEAKER_00: Okay, on that, I'll I'll I I like this.
[1:07:35] SPEAKER_00: I like the country versus country stuff.
[1:07:37] SPEAKER_00: So I'll put one on the line as well.
[1:07:39] SPEAKER_00: If an American female wins Kona this year in 2025 or an American male wins Kona in 2026, I pledge that I will run from one side of America to the other in a pair of budgie smugglers.
[1:07:54] SPEAKER_02: That is dude.
[1:07:57] SPEAKER_02: There's a legit chance Taylor Nibb wins Kona.
[1:08:00] SPEAKER_02: You realize that, right?
[1:08:01] SPEAKER_02: That's not like I've made the pledge.
[1:08:02] SPEAKER_02: She's been in the we haven't even we haven't even talked about her.
[1:08:05] SPEAKER_02: She's sitting in the background, not racing T100, preparing.
[1:08:09] SPEAKER_02: Yo, dude, I I can't wait.
[1:08:11] SPEAKER_02: I can't wait for that.
[1:08:12] SPEAKER_03: And she listens to the show.
[1:08:14] SPEAKER_03: So she loves the show, actually.
[1:08:15] SPEAKER_03: Jack, you better prepare that marble bag for you know that's a lot of miles in the uh in the budgies.
[1:08:21] SPEAKER_00: Um on that, how about this appo?
[1:08:24] SPEAKER_00: Whoever it is, let's say Taylor wins Kona or next year Lionel wins Kona, I'll let them pick which pair of budgie budgie smugglers I wear.
[1:08:31] SPEAKER_00: Lionel's not American.
[1:08:32] SPEAKER_00: He is, he's North American now, he's not Canadian anymore.
[1:08:35] SPEAKER_02: Is winning a swim count?
[1:08:40] SPEAKER_02: No.
[1:08:40] SPEAKER_02: There's a finish line there, right?
[1:08:43] SPEAKER_03: Okay, I've got a pledge.
[1:08:45] SPEAKER_03: If I get a T100 Wollongong um wildcard call-up, I pledge to extend the olive branch to Hayden Wilde and share a beer with him after the race, and we'll get photographic evidence of us having a good time together.
[1:09:01] SPEAKER_02: I like that.
[1:09:02] SPEAKER_02: Greg won't like that though.
[1:09:04] SPEAKER_02: I thought he was our enemy of the show for 2026, so it's kind of weird.
[1:09:08] SPEAKER_02: All right.
[1:09:09] SPEAKER_00: He literally lives 400 meters away from me.
[1:09:11] SPEAKER_00: I'm not even joking.
[1:09:12] SPEAKER_00: It's 400 metres.
[1:09:14] SPEAKER_00: Um I got a few quick ones and then we'll finish out the show.
[1:09:17] SPEAKER_00: I pledge that I, that is the trifle now, will not get blocked or unfollowed by a single big name pro for the rest of the year.
[1:09:24] SPEAKER_00: That one seems quite hard, actually.
[1:09:26] SPEAKER_00: Um I will find Hayden Wilde in Andorra just like Apo will in Wollingong, and I'll try and convince him to follow us again.
[1:09:34] SPEAKER_00: And I might even kind of word him up to not fight Apo in in the streets of Wollingong.
[1:09:40] SPEAKER_00: Um I'll finally get Jan Fredino to come on the podcast and do a tall-all interview, give us all of his secrets, all of his training, all the non never heard before like uh stories.
[1:09:51] SPEAKER_00: That will happen, I pledge, and I'll make it happen within I'll make it happen within three months.
[1:09:56] SPEAKER_00: How about that?
[1:09:57] SPEAKER_00: Uh and this this one, I've got a little list written here.
[1:10:00] SPEAKER_00: I didn't actually write this one, so one of Greg or Apo's gone in and written it on my list to finish the show.
[1:10:06] SPEAKER_00: I pledge to fly the boys out to Marbella for the 70.3 worlds to bring boots on the ground content for all of the pretenders out there.
[1:10:14] SPEAKER_00: I won't fly them business class, but a nice mid-morning economy flight and decent accommodations plus a trifling out a t-shirt.
[1:10:21] SPEAKER_00: All right, we can try and make that.
[1:10:23] SPEAKER_02: Damn, that's well written, dude.
[1:10:25] SPEAKER_03: Why do you write business class, Greg?
[1:10:28] SPEAKER_02: You know, I don't want to want to shoot for the stars here, you know.
[1:10:32] SPEAKER_02: I want Jack to follow through, you know.
[1:10:35] SPEAKER_00: That would be fun, though, if all if us three could get to the Mah Bay 70.3 words and we did daily pods and could do them on the ground.
[1:10:41] SPEAKER_00: That would be fun.
[1:10:42] SPEAKER_00: Let me talk to some people and see if we can make that happen.
[1:10:45] SPEAKER_00: All right, uh, Apo, the second greatest triathlete of all time.
[1:10:49] SPEAKER_00: Greg Harper, the third greatest swimmer in Trithlon as it stands currently, although that is getting worse and worse by the day.
[1:10:54] SPEAKER_00: New dad and the most opinionated man in Triton.
[1:10:57] SPEAKER_00: So good to be back.
[1:10:58] SPEAKER_00: I'm already missing the daily pods.
[1:11:00] SPEAKER_00: I wish we were doing this again tomorrow, but uh we're not.
[1:11:03] SPEAKER_00: Uh so we'll see you next week.
[1:11:05] SPEAKER_03: Bye.
[1:11:06] SPEAKER_02: Thank you, Jack.

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