Triathlon and the Evolution of a Champion

The first champion who trained triathlon as the only sport was Alistair Brownlee.  Jonathan Brownlee followed as well as Mario Mola.  The junior who won the championship in New Zealand (2012), Wian Sullwald started to appear in the international scene, two years after winning the Junior Championship.  Resistance to speed is what followed in these juniors who were champions in order to be at elite level.  It took longer for Mario Mola and needed to leave Spain to improve (trains most of the year with Joe Filliol´s squad).  These four samples help to understand the evolution of a champion.

1	Javier	Gomez Noya	ESP		01:44:52	00:16:51	00:01:07	00:56:11	00:00:22	00:30:23
2	Jonathan	Brownlee	GBR		01:45:11	00:16:49	00:01:04	00:56:15	00:00:23	00:30:41
3	Dmitry	Polyanskiy	RUS		01:45:35	00:16:55	00:01:00	00:56:17	00:00:22	00:31:02
4	Mario	Mola	ESP		01:45:44	00:17:31	00:01:02	00:56:55	00:00:21	00:29:58
5	Richard	Murray	RSA		01:45:57	00:17:53	00:01:00	00:56:38	00:00:21	00:30:07
6	Aaron	Royle	AUS		01:46:05	00:17:00	00:01:01	00:56:09	00:00:24	00:31:33
7	Aaron	Harris	GBR		01:46:06	00:17:31	00:01:05	00:56:52	00:00:22	00:30:18
8	Vincent	Luis	FRA		01:46:10	00:17:02	00:01:00	00:56:08	00:00:23	00:31:39
9	Joao	Pereira	POR		01:46:12	00:17:39	00:01:02	00:56:52	00:00:22	00:30:18
10	Ryan	Sissons	NZL		01:46:17	00:17:50	00:01:00	00:56:39	00:00:21	00:30:28
11	Aurelien	Raphael	FRA		01:46:23	00:16:48	00:01:03	00:56:19	00:00:22	00:31:54
12	Ryan	Bailie	AUS		01:46:29	00:17:33	00:01:04	00:56:54	00:00:24	00:30:36
13	Gregor	Buchholz	GER		01:46:34	00:17:48	00:01:01	00:56:41	00:00:21	00:30:44
14	Richard	Varga	SVK		01:46:35	00:16:45	00:01:03	00:56:22	00:00:23	00:32:05
15	Wian	Sullwald	RSA		01:46:44	00:17:00	00:00:56	00:56:16	00:00:21	00:32:13

http://www.triathlon.org/results/result/2014_itu_world_triathlon_cape_town/265341

1	Henri	Schoeman	RSA		02:00:15	00:17:24	00:00:25	01:09:21	00:00:27	00:32:38
2	Richard	Murray	RSA		02:01:49	00:20:22	00:00:27	01:08:40	00:00:26	00:31:54
3	Wian	Sullwald	RSA		02:02:26	00:18:58	00:00:22	01:09:40	00:00:27	00:32:59

http://www.triathlon.org/results/result/2014_troutbeck_atu_triathlon_african_championships/264278

It takes at least three years to be able to run below 30:00 when starting at 20 years of age and riding the bicycle in a course like the one in Cape Town.  At 20 years of age, the legs to ride the bicycle with great margin over the others are not there, so the running segment also suffers.  Alistair improved his running while the peloton was running around 31:00 and riding the bike slower compared to today´s riding.  The peloton improved the running segment, but Alitair´s improvement was greater.

1	Kris	Gemmell	NZL		01:51:53	00:19:14	00:01:23	00:58:10	00:00:28	00:32:35
2	Alistair	Brownlee	GBR		01:51:57	00:19:07	00:01:26	00:58:31	00:00:28	00:32:23
3	Courtney	Atkinson	AUS		01:52:20	00:19:15	00:01:26	00:59:42	00:00:24	00:31:29

http://www.triathlon.org/results/result/2007_rhodes_bg_triathlon_world_cup/3383

1	Javier	Gomez Noya	ESP		01:56:25	00:18:00	00:01:22	01:05:29	00:00:34	00:31:01
2	Ivan	Vasiliev	RUS		01:56:44	00:17:56	00:01:29	01:05:24	00:00:30	00:31:25
3	Alistair	Brownlee	GBR		01:56:53	00:18:03	00:01:22	01:05:30	00:00:28	00:31:32

http://www.triathlon.org/results/result/2008_madrid_bg_triathlon_world_cup/3756

Is Sullwald going to be able to run with the winners?  It all depends on well-educated he is.  Please read our previous post so you could be able to understand what we mean: Triathlon and Jack Daniels II.