Gwen Jorgensen ... Marathonwomen

[PhilleusPhogg]

Fairly surprising announcement that Gwen is ditching tri for marathon running. Seems a big call, particularly given the amount of effort she must've made to get her swimming (and to a lesser extent cycling) up to front pack ITU standard , but fair enough for trying something else. Staying with triathlon would've been a safe option.

https://www.tri247.com/triathlon-news/elite/gwen-jorgensen-quits-triathlon-marathon

So, who do you think will do better in 2020, Gwen at the Olympic Mara or Talanasky at Kona?

[fat buddha]

maybe this is her warm up before she turns to IM?? get some decent marathon experience under the belt and then switch
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And the lord said unto John; "come forth and receive eternal life." But John came fifth and won a toaster.

[Roscoemck]

According to Slowtwitch, she posted a teaser on Instagram suggesting a comeback.

There was apparently lots of product placement for Roka, suggesting a return to triathlon.

[JeffB]

The slowtwitch massive seem fairly excited by this.

She's a good runner and a low 2:4x marathon with little training or taper is impressive, but turning that into sub 2:20 to compete with the Africans will be a big ask.

She's also fairly tall and probably has considerable upper body muscle compared to the Africans although some of that might be shiftable.

Fair play to her though, it will be interesting to watch.

I also wondered if she'd fancy long course and might in a few years.

Jeff

[fruit thief]

I think she may have a shout. Quick google shows ran 32:21 for an open 10km in Sydney in 2014 - US record is 30.22 set in 2008. World record 29.31. It would be nice to think that sacrificing biking and swimming to focus on running might bring her into the same sort of orbit. And something about her physique reminds me of Paula Radcliffe, except with a more developed upper body.

But... have any other elite triathletes gone on to become elite runners? I cannot think of any, Mark Allen gave it a shot as I recall, but did not qualify for US olympic team?

Interesting to watch & good luck to her

[WhittleFit]

The big thing for Gwen will be how her body deals with the increased impact and her resistance to injuries. I wish her the very best, she might be close but I doubt she'll be quite good enough to make the team for Tokyo (I hope she proves me wrong!).
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[awildt]

[explorerJC]

[mattsurf]

On one hand you have Andrew Talansky wanting to get into Triathlon / IM, primarily because he wants to spend less time training and travelling for an individual sport, on the other hand, Gwen Jorgensen is looking to get out of Triathlon and focus on a single sport in order to spend more time with her family. Is it a case that the grass is greener on the other side, and the reality is that to compete at a world class level in any sport means sacrificing almost everything else, family included?

I know Nick Dempsey, who competed at the Olympics for Windsurfing 3 times (2 Bronze and Silver), even though he lives 2 miles from the training venue, he moved away from home for 9 months and lived at the training venue so that he could focus 100% on training

[stenard]

I think the sports are different though, for both situations.

For long course tri, you can fundamentally train in a single location and might only race a handful of times a year. For pro cycling, the World Tour teams have compulsory events they need to send a team to most of the year, so a pro rider might be on the road a large part of the year. Especially a domestique, compared to say a Chris Froome who will be held back for specific key events.

On the other hand, with Gwen, the ITU circuit is also a pretty manic affair with races all over the world for a large part of the year. That's a serious amount of travel as well. Again, with marathon training, she might only target a handful of events a year, and much of her training can be localised to one place. She can probably do non-key warm up events in and around her home in the US.

Fundamentally, the ITU circuit and long course tri are very different in terms of travel requirements, so comparing the two situations and saying both people are viewing "triathlon" in different ways is not really comparable.

[Jorgan]

I see the 2016 Women's Olympic Champion has been banned for EPO; yet doesn't appear to have lost her Olympic Gold In all inevitability she's doped for years. Joke.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/athletics/41903500
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26 Years since it all began....

[Tony Stark]

Put a pic of Gwen next to the top-ten of most major marathoners and I reckon she can lose close to 10% on unnecessary muscle, paunch etc.
10% off a 2:41 = a 2.25 which at least gets her close to the front. Throw in some more specific training and a few months residence at altitude and that will help too.

Definitely better for family life as can just live in one location, train less and sleep more and just take a few days away to race when required.

The harsh realities of marketing are that USA/Can market-focused sponsors will pay big money for a good-looking home-continent athlete of the target audience ethnicity who is a good prospect in a mass-appeal fashion&fitness sport. Running ticks that box much more than any distance of tri.

Lord Seb is a bit quiet on this 2nd-time offender (Sumgong) and the Kenyan situation in general. 40+ recent offences and counting - they are starting to look worse than the Russians, and don't have as much money to bring to the trough either.

At least this guy seemed to know what was going on in 2016 and was obviously trying to make a citizen's arrest. The other runners had already tripped her up once in the race. Security is going after the wrong person as usual though. Probably G4S

[TriSam]

[Buzz_]

[explorerJC]