Triathlon Hamburg

The Hamburg Triathlon has many things to teach; it is like many things in Europe. Hamburg Triathlon is a subject to study because we can have a longitudinal study in real life.  As researchers we do not want to accept that these real life longitudinal studies give more information than the ones done in a laboratory. Knowledgeable researchers are needed to know the variables and the importance of the variables on performance.  We are in the game and we are pretty sure about the variables.

Are our triathletes improving after they turned 18?  I think so, but not to the degree that people want to believe: and it is more difficult to improve for females.  Alistair Brownlee and Mario Mola have improved after they turned 18 based on increasing mileage running and biking when training.  Gwen Jorgensen is the exception as female triathlete; she improved her biking and automatically improved her running ability after improving her biking, very fast.  Alistair and Gwen were similar in that regard.  Ashleigh Gentle is a good example of what happens to triathletes practicing triathlon as a sport.  Since the age of 16 her swimming ability is quite similar.  Her running ability improved a little as well as her biking; the bicycle course is different now than 10 years back in Hamburg. 

Ashleigh is the only one left from the 2007 junior championship where she was second.  Flora Duffy has the same progression athletically since she was second in 2006 at the Junior World Championship; the rest of the field from that time is gone.  Nicola Spirig is in the same situation; her running ability was similar since she was 18, her biking improved over the years and her running stayed almost the same.  Persistence and tactics have made the different for these females athletes. 

Ashleigh during the Junior World Championship in Hamburg:

1      Hollie       Avil  1990 GBR 56   00:59:43  

00:09:38   00:00:42    00:32:29    00:00:30   00:16:17

2      Ashleigh   Gentle      1991 AUS 53    00:59:54

00:09:57     00:00:47   00:32:14     00:00:24         00:16:30

3      Rebecca   Robisch    1988 GER         01:00:10

00:10:01     00:00:45    00:32:08        00:00:23         00:16:51

10 years later:

1      Flora Duffy        1987 BER 5      00:59:00  

00:09:25   00:00:41   00:31:57   00:00:27   00:16:32

2      Ashleigh   Gentle      1991 AUS 3      00:59:31

00:09:51   00:00:42   00:32:28   00:00:24   00:16:10

3     Laura      Lindemann     1996       GER       33   00:59:41

00:09:28 00:00:46 00:32:47 00:00:23 00:16:22

What is the moral of this research? If we want a top elite triathlete, we need triathletes who can learn from experience tactics and be persistence accumulating mileage biking and running until the others leave.  Podium as juniors is important to be at the elite podium ten years later.  Researchers would be reluctant to accept this fact but it is not a “fake news.”  We, as coaches, should believe in what we see and work on it.  Bob Bowman said regarding Michael Phelps:  “if the swimmer is not at the top ten when appears at the international scenes, chances are that he/she is never going to be a champion.”  It is not "physical" at the end; persistance and experience (ability to learn and tactics) make the difference.  Are you looking for talent?  Look for somebody who can learn from experience and could last learning for ten years at least.