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Where triathlon meets real talk. Hosted by two seasoned triathletes Lockie Jones and Lleyton Wall, this podcast takes a deep dive into the controversies, challenges, and triumphs of the triathlete world.
00;00;05;27 - 00;00;09;27
Speaker 1
She goes in front would help the younger.
00;00;09;29 - 00;00;11;09
Speaker 2
Of courage.
00;00;11;11 - 00;00;20;13
Speaker 1
Unbelievable. There's nothing but. Racer man. World championship title.
00;00;20;16 - 00;00;22;24
Speaker 1
And we are back.
00;00;22;25 - 00;00;46;27
Speaker 3
Thank you very much for listening. Wherever you're listening, we're just happy you are. This is the unfunded podcast episode 12, season two. Completely guessed that I am professional triathlete Lachlan Jones. He was my good friend. Layton Wall, freshman triathlete did that on the occasion? Yeah, did that occasion. Well, you'll be confident in one day. Yeah, yeah. And we've had a big week.
00;00;46;27 - 00;01;07;08
Speaker 3
We've had a big week. We've got a big week coming up. Two week, two weekends in a row of racing. Yep. And I'm keen I'm more keen for this weekend. I don't know why I think. Well if you don't know, Yokohama is on. Yeah. I think it's because I'm just going to Japan after the fact. World series just also have a bit of a different ring.
00;01;07;09 - 00;01;25;13
Speaker 3
There's obviously a bit more of an emphasis on them. There's more at stake. There's more on the line with with a with a World Cup. They are kind of just one off races. Yeah. Yeah. That it doesn't really go to anything does it. Doesn't go to the series points. Realistically, a World Cup is good for advancing into a World Series.
00;01;25;15 - 00;01;48;10
Speaker 3
Yeah, that's the goal. Yeah. Do you think maybe they should have on that topic? Should they have like a World Cup? No series. No no no no no no. You know like no no no. Like we have enough series going on. We've got the series. The Pro series. Are they bringing in like a Contender Series? Yeah, but I'm pretty sure I'm pretty sure the Contender Series is just like a.
00;01;48;10 - 00;02;06;03
Speaker 3
Oh, actually, you know what? Second thought. I actually don't mind that idea. Yeah, well, it's called the Contender Series, but will it actually be a series where then you move up and if you get a certain. No, because it's, it's it's not up to World Triathlon to determine whether you're ready for the world for a World Series. That's true.
00;02;06;05 - 00;02;23;04
Speaker 3
It's up to your individual national federations. So it's not like you can go get top five in the Contender Series and then World Triathlon, or all of a sudden here is here's your slot. Yeah. Because it's not up to them. Yeah, that'd be cool. It's a cool concept. Cool concept I don't I don't see it working. I don't see it working anyway.
00;02;23;05 - 00;02;41;26
Speaker 3
Anyway. Yeah that's just a little bit of a dribble. But yes, like you said, we've just had Chiang do World Cup and we got to experience the first mixed team relay for the season. So obviously we got a couple more of them. They're always exciting. Look forward to them. And this week we will be talking about the showdown.
00;02;41;26 - 00;03;02;06
Speaker 3
We've got another showdown. It was between Matt Hauser and the Falcon Hayden Wild a couple of weeks ago in the T 100. Alex. Alex. He's back. Returns returned from running his little side quest back racing. Triathlon. Yep. So we'll preview that. Preview that. We'll see how it goes. Also, a couple of debuts going on which we're excited to announce.
00;03;02;08 - 00;03;22;02
Speaker 3
First off Chengdu World Triathlon. I was going to say, how are you going? Oh, yeah. Oh, sorry. Sorry. I'm jumping into the business. Yeah, yeah, that's what we usually do that, don't we? I'm going. Well I'm going well, I stopped cry myself to sleep at night, so I passed that point of the injury. Just feels like a counseling session.
00;03;22;04 - 00;03;38;00
Speaker 3
Shouldn't have asked. Maybe I will start crying again. No. No, honestly, fine. Like, just just used to it. That's good. Now I feel like you kind of get to that point where you're two weeks in and it's like, well, look, there's there's nothing I can do. This is just life at the moment. So do all the right things.
00;03;38;06 - 00;03;59;18
Speaker 3
I'm trying to do all the right things. I'm. I'm eating so much food, counting my calories. I'm counting sleep hours, eating while some training, like, it's just. Yeah, doing shovel and food in, shoveling food in, limiting step counts. I'm sitting down all the time. I'm working from my bed. It's just. Yeah. The injured life, the injured life.
00;03;59;18 - 00;04;21;03
Speaker 3
And had a couple of beverages. That's good. Good injured good cars. Yes, yes. Kira Hotel was very good on the weekend. Oh. Was it? Yeah. That's the new place. So, Yeah, but no, life's good if you racing's coming up. Yeah. Racing coming up in, I think again in two weeks. Three weeks, end of May. Nice job.
00;04;21;06 - 00;04;27;21
Speaker 3
Japan. Love that place, Mr. Asia, over here. The group chat is going off.
00;04;27;23 - 00;04;31;09
Speaker 3
And I am somewhat convinced to be there.
00;04;31;15 - 00;04;32;08
Speaker 1
Oh.
00;04;32;10 - 00;04;51;28
Speaker 3
I, I had my I had my piggy bank saved up for Europe. Yep. So I you know what? What's the point of just keeping it there? Japan. Boys trip. Japan boys trip sounds pretty good. So somebody said come on the Sunday. And I'm like, oh, do you guys race Sunday? No, no, we raced Saturday. Like, if I'm going all the way to Japan, I'm going to come and watch you boys race.
00;04;51;28 - 00;05;10;15
Speaker 3
I'm not just coming for the three day festivities after it. Like I'm coming for the trip. I'm coming for the race. It's probably the first time we, have booked a couple days after a trip. After a race and I. We never usually do that. Usually it's back home. Back to it. Yeah. Might as well. Might as well this time.
00;05;10;15 - 00;05;29;25
Speaker 3
Yeah, yeah. That's cool. It's. And Japan's a beautiful, beautiful country. I think we're, we're too keen for Japan. Is it a soccer? Soccer. Yeah. Cool. Just trying to figure out where I'm going. Good race, good race. Oh, I race the soccer back in 2019. Was it at the castle or at universal? Out the castle? Yeah, yeah, at the castle.
00;05;29;27 - 00;05;49;03
Speaker 3
Geez, that was before Covid. Wow. That's a lifetime ago. I am a veteran. Yeah, back in 2019, I raced that as a junior, and it's just so cool. Yeah, it's a good event. It's a cool city. Yeah. They come alive for it. Yeah, it's probably my favorite one that I do. I mean, I've this is my third year in the saga.
00;05;49;04 - 00;06;07;11
Speaker 3
The swim there is pretty intimidating, don't you reckon? Like with the big castle walls. Right. Next year. Yeah. You're in the moat like you're in the Colosseum. And then you have this massive age group event. Yeah. Anyway, we'll get into this later, but yeah, it's packed full of, like, the Japanese on this moat wall. And they're all, like, looking down at you, aren't they?
00;06;07;14 - 00;06;24;29
Speaker 3
The whole swim, you're like, the only exit is back there. Like, because the whole thing is just massive fenced off around, like, if you wanted to get out over there, you couldn't get out over there. I haven't really thought about that, but. Yeah. Yeah. See, my, my kind of like, You're trapped in this pool. Not in the moat.
00;06;25;00 - 00;06;46;29
Speaker 3
Yeah, my kind of, claustrophobic sort of feeling that that kind of got to me the first time. And I was swimming. They're like, oh, this is. I'm literally like, kind of trapped in here. I think about, like, are there any because it's, a soccer castle if people don't know, it's like where the cemetery was invented, kind of or something like that.
00;06;46;29 - 00;07;08;15
Speaker 3
So I wonder if there's, like, dead bodies, like they've summarized, sorted, like, you know, people in two and they've jumped them in, dump them into the bottom of this life. Samurai sword and some people. Well, I didn't want to say the head off. Well, I have now, but yeah, it's where the summarize like where I guess originated. Weird.
00;07;08;22 - 00;07;27;05
Speaker 3
I reckon it's like something's under there. Like there's like these old, like, you know, summarize some. Yeah, I don't know. That's that's kind of creepy to think of actually. Anyway, I think of that when you're swimming down there. They're in Japan this next weekend. Yep. Okay. The second biggest city in Japan, apparently. You know too many facts about Japan.
00;07;27;06 - 00;07;55;03
Speaker 3
Yeah, that's my my Instagram has been just Japan. All right. Well he's a meme though. So it's like at 25 to 30, you're either like having a kid getting diagnosed with autism or going to Japan. My my sister actually said this to me the other day. So like for those that my, my sister is married, has a child and owns a home, she's 22, 23 my age.
00;07;55;05 - 00;08;23;09
Speaker 3
Yeah. Pretty young. Yeah. She looks at me like I'm like wasting my life away. Like I'm wearing lycra, traveling the world, making no money. But hey, we're having fun. Hey. Yeah, it's much more fun. Yeah. All right, let's get back to it. Chengdu World Cup. Honestly, a little bit boring. The bike was boring. Yeah, I was a little bit like.
00;08;23;10 - 00;08;40;16
Speaker 3
And our picks were wrong again. Our predictions were completely off prediction of how the race was going to go down. Completely off, completely off. I'm very proud of my picks and I'm very proud of my dark horse pics of Brayden Mercer and Aspen Anderson, because they stood up and both got seventh. Yeah, I'm very, very proud of that.
00;08;40;18 - 00;08;59;16
Speaker 3
But yeah, the way we predicted the race to go was just I don't know what it is about that because I, it's a looped course. I would think that, that a breakaway would stay away there. I think the bike is just so fast in those like the bigger pack, because you're not going to have too many in that front breakaway.
00;08;59;17 - 00;09;25;10
Speaker 3
There's going to be five or so, but then you have a pack of 20 that's just moving at such speed. It's always got like King about it. It is always going to catch. And I think like abilities are just so much closer than what they used to be like. Like you don't have people on the bike just so much better that they're able to just drop and ride a 32nd deficit, like 32nd gap into another pack.
00;09;25;10 - 00;09;41;12
Speaker 3
Now, like you used to have that back in the the we obviously talk about it all the time, the golden era. But you just can't do that anymore. People are just developed and everyone's everyone's come along so quick. Technologies come along so quick. The bikes are all so fast. Yeah. Like there's only so fast it's going to be able to get.
00;09;41;13 - 00;10;02;29
Speaker 3
But like, yeah, we are kind of at that point where we haven't really seen a lot of breakaways, especially in the World Cup. Like yeah, I'd say Haiku in China. That was probably the closest thing to a breakaway. I think there was like three packs of 20 maybe, but then still like big packs. Big packs really. Yeah. Hopefully, hopefully, maybe was the year of the breakaway this year.
00;10;03;05 - 00;10;26;18
Speaker 3
Maybe not people a bit more conservative. Yeah. But rapid, absolutely rapid thing round. The thing we have seen and I know you've got it in here is how fast they're running. Yeah. At the moment we had Luke Wilson have the fastest run of the day in a 14 035K. I look at that and think of course is short.
00;10;26;20 - 00;10;47;14
Speaker 3
That was my first thought. I was of course is short. Yeah. I mean you can look at that. But then the course is short. In the last three World Cups it's all been very, very close. Exactly. Yeah. They've all been 14 lows. Yeah, yeah. And ridiculous. And in the women they're so just comparatively it's a 1620 is very fast as well.
00;10;47;15 - 00;11;15;06
Speaker 3
Yeah. Which is we just haven't seen Thomson and that's all been within all of the Women's World Cups as well. It's been 1620 to win it. Yeah. We just haven't seen times like this I don't think I think this is the biggest jump in season to season in comparative times that we've ever had. Like it just is insane how fast they are running now because you look at some, like World Cup results before and a 1430 was winning it I think.
00;11;15;14 - 00;11;39;07
Speaker 3
And then there was a gap. Luke Schofield ran a 1430 or 1440 and he got 20th. Ridiculous. I was incredible. Like we were talking before my 10-K last year, 31 minute 10-K obviously not so set in the world on fire. I think it's pretty good. It's still pretty good. I mean, 18th or 17. No, 17th last year, like I reckon a few years ago that at a World Series.
00;11;39;14 - 00;11;57;00
Speaker 3
Yeah. Maybe not a World Series, but like maybe a World Cup was a top five. Top ten. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like it's just incredible how much it's advanced and how fast our athletes are running. Now. I know the athletes, the athletes I think. Yeah a 14 minute five K is the new norm. Yeah. To podium at a World Cup it is.
00;11;57;02 - 00;12;14;09
Speaker 3
If you're not running that don't expect to be on the podium. But then you know what I also think is like we said it before and when we were when we were previewing Chengdu last week, we sort of said, oh, there's actually not that stacked of a field. Luke Wilson and Tyler Mischka putting up some of the fastest runtimes also in World Series events.
00;12;14;14 - 00;12;45;03
Speaker 3
So we're also seeing the trend where like, is it because the athletes are getting faster or the top guys in the World Series more frequently coming down? We've had Cantero race it too. Well, well, cups. Now we had Hugo Milner race at one. We had Ollie Conway race at one. Like we had some of the best guys in the World Series also come down and race World Cups, which I don't think we've really seen that much of before, that often you think of like who won it last year, it was race in such as The Give, and Brendan Coughlin, who was raised for series race World Series.
00;12;45;03 - 00;13;07;06
Speaker 3
But they're not like Luke Wilson or Tyler podium in World Series. Yeah that's true. So I think maybe athletes are more forced down to race. Yeah. Now I think people are being smarter with their season where they're not going to race every single World Series. They'd rather race a World Cup. Yeah. And then go back up to the World Series when they think it's a course that they're going to really perform it.
00;13;07;07 - 00;13;28;14
Speaker 3
Yeah. And then also I think now with the Olympic points starting again. Yeah, World Cups still matter. Do they. Yeah. They don't feel like world ranking is significant still. Yeah for sure. So like someone like a Laura Lindemann or a Kate WAF Kate Wolf 100% for a great, great example here. Might not be able to go out and get a third place in her first World Series.
00;13;28;15 - 00;13;44;16
Speaker 3
She might be a bit further back. However, she can go run. You know what? She did come a third place because she's had a whole year basically out of the World Series, so her world ranking would be pretty far back right now. Yeah, but Tim Hellwig did the same. Kate was clearly doing it right now. Race and World Cup level races.
00;13;44;17 - 00;14;01;23
Speaker 3
Get your points up and then be able to go compete at the World Series because I mean, like Laura Lindemann, she's done too well. Cups now like okay, what's gone and done one. So yeah, we're seeing a lot of those. I think I think come back maybe later in the year because a lot of the World Cups are stacked at the end of the year.
00;14;01;24 - 00;14;29;08
Speaker 3
Yeah, especially in Asia. There's not many World Cups in Europe. No, there's a fair few in South America, in Americas. But I think these early ones before the World Series really kicks off, because these guys are mainly thinking about Pontevedra, that back end block of the year. I think they'll race a few more World Cups now. The ones that are open, there's only been three, and then they'll go back to the World Series.
00;14;29;15 - 00;14;40;27
Speaker 3
And then I think the World Cup, will slowly dilute from here. Yeah, throughout the year. I think it'll progressively hopefully. That'd be nice because.
00;14;40;29 - 00;14;41;18
Speaker 1
When.
00;14;41;18 - 00;15;00;09
Speaker 3
I, when I get back to World Cup racing at the back end of the, I really like for these guys to not be a part of it. They'd be really helpful for me. To recap the results. Obviously we had Lukey Wilson, we both had him picked. He took the dub in fine form, good sprint finish we had going to get this wrong, Nils said.
00;15;00;11 - 00;15;28;08
Speaker 3
Sarah Gary, Frenchman, Frenchman, French. So forgive me. And we had Tyler miss the real veteran from Canada rounding out the podium in third and he's just always there. Mr. consistent in the women's race, Laura Lindemann, the German took out in even better fashion. What a comeback to take over Valentino receiver, the independent nation athlete. And Kate, welcome back to the blue carpet.
00;15;28;08 - 00;15;45;28
Speaker 3
Kate Worf in third spot. Exactly right. I think the you had a bit of a I was blown up. Actually. You had a bit of a bone to pick with this one. You had a bone to pick with the winds. And it's not like we haven't spoken about this as well. I think even the news guys Pro Try news spoke about this as well.
00;15;45;28 - 00;16;23;18
Speaker 3
And I was watching it. So I had a vested interest. It was lucky. And I both obviously picked Luke Wilson to win. And I thought I'll get one up lucky here. The women's if you watched it Valentina over. She was leading the five K run the whole way literally until the last meter. Anyway, I was thinking, well, while they were running back from that last U-turn coming back, if you see there was a motorbike going in between, Valentina and like the Chase run pack and it was like drifting in and out and then also sitting right in front of that chase pack.
00;16;23;19 - 00;16;46;26
Speaker 3
And I was like, do you really? It then closed, like, I don't know whether she just died, but also a bike should not be within ten meters of the first runner. Ten meters back is the second group and then a motorbike in the middle. Okay. I thought you were talking about there was. There was some motorbike interference on the bike.
00;16;46;27 - 00;17;08;20
Speaker 3
No, on the run I'm talking about. Do you really think there's that much of a. I reckon it's like a little carrot though. Beneficial. But I think what, what this bike was doing was wrong. It was like literally sitting between like two packs within 10 to 15m. It's almost like you said, that's some kind of benefit. Yeah. There.
00;17;08;22 - 00;17;26;18
Speaker 3
Even on the bike, though, even on the bike, you saw it. I was I was watching it distinctively like trying to find if they were going to slip up in any way because there has to have been pro try and use put out a I'm not sure it was a new rule based on how the bike the motos have to be positioned within short course.
00;17;26;25 - 00;17;47;19
Speaker 3
One of the American athletes made a really, really good point on the Pro news post, and it was about is this the motorbikes fault to be a certain distance away, or is this the athlete's fault to be a certain distance away? Common sense comes to mind and says that's the motorbikes. Yeah, because we're athletes, we're there to we're not going to slow up.
00;17;47;20 - 00;18;06;17
Speaker 3
No, to let the motorbike. It's not like, a draft legal race. No. Exactly. Like if the, if the motorbike is in the way that is up to the motorbike to get the fuck out of the way. Yeah. Like if there is that gap there, I'm sorry, but like the, the, the good camera angle doesn't come before the athletes.
00;18;06;18 - 00;18;25;11
Speaker 3
Yeah. The ability to be able to perform it and the race dynamic. Exactly. So get out of the way if you're in the way. Again I'm not sure how much of a I mean maybe maybe if someone's just sitting behind the camera, I don't know whether it would have changed the win or not. Yeah, but I still believe that, like, is this your excuse for not getting one up?
00;18;25;17 - 00;18;46;17
Speaker 3
Yeah. Well, it's only because I had a vested interest. Yeah, I would I wanted you to win. Even though she's very controversial. Yeah. Very good. I refuse to pick one of them, but. Yeah, but, you know, they're always going to be good. Yeah, I wonder why. But yes, I just think, like, the way that that motorbike was between the two packs, it's just like, just move.
00;18;46;18 - 00;19;03;13
Speaker 3
You don't need to be there. They could have sat behind that chase pack. Yeah. And filmed from above. It would have been just as. And guess what? We didn't even see that camera angle. Yeah, because it was a front on angle. So we saw the motorbike just weaving in and out. Yeah. So it didn't make sense to me.
00;19;03;13 - 00;19;25;15
Speaker 3
They also there is so much room in those roads in Chengdu. Like if you if you're running on one half you can just jump to the other half. Yeah. Where the athletes aren't. They were all in a string of line. They were all in line. They're all in one road. The other thing is just like poor, like, you know, maybe it was just a Chinese photographer that wasn't very, you know, knowledgeable about what was going on.
00;19;25;16 - 00;19;43;01
Speaker 3
I don't know, you never know. Are they? How much I think how much triumph on sense they really have. Yeah, exactly. Are they just. Are they just brought in as a volunteer worker? Yeah. Come help. Yeah, I think so. I think some of them. But I think the motorbike drivers should be told like this is what you have to do.
00;19;43;02 - 00;20;04;15
Speaker 3
Yeah. Well yeah. You got to help. You gotta not interfere in any race dynamics. One more thing before we move on to the mixed team relay. And I think I know you know what I'm about to say. One of the boys in the squad actually spotted this in the post race press conference. And obviously it's a little bit controversial.
00;20;04;16 - 00;20;30;05
Speaker 3
It's a little bit controversial. But you had the Russian athlete Valentina receiver. Yep. As we all know, a convicted drug cheat. Yeah. Got convicted back in 2021. And her translator was there. We know it wasn't the brother that got convicted, but it was one of the poly brothers. I can't I can't remember which one it was. But one of them was he did confess to taking EPO back in 2020.
00;20;30;07 - 00;20;57;07
Speaker 3
It's not a great look, is it? Make that make that make sense. Yeah. Like, doesn't make sense to me. Like, I just think. How many chances do you get before we go? All right. Like, because it's it's dirty laundry. Especially when you have said translator still within the sport. Yeah. You know, like, clearly like that kind of dirty laundry lingering around still so much.
00;20;57;09 - 00;21;20;29
Speaker 3
I just think it's so like, yeah, sure, it might be controversial and people might like say, oh, they've done their time. But you know what? They did their time. And like you, for me as an athlete, if you've been convicted of doping, yeah, you've served your sentence. Unfortunately, I don't think you come back clean. I just don't I don't believe I will, I will never and I think a lot of athletes are the same.
00;21;20;29 - 00;21;38;00
Speaker 3
You won't be able to come back and athletes be able to look at you the same way that I think it's the athlete respect the athlete space. I don't think we'll ever be there. No, no, not at all. Like you've already like I'm sorry, but you've already tarnished the sport. Like you've done a dishonor to the sport of triathlon by cheating your way to the top.
00;21;38;02 - 00;21;58;10
Speaker 3
The polish did the same. Like. Like they're they're out of the sport now because of, like they were convicted and they confessed. Yeah. Yeah. So I don't know when you've got your has been or it might not have been him but his brother convicted and confessed to taking EPO. You've got the athlete who served a two year ban.
00;21;58;10 - 00;22;21;10
Speaker 3
What? She finished her ban last year. This time last year, March last year. March last year. Finished her ban literally a year ago and is now out running off the front of Kate Wolf and Laura Lindemann for a whole five K looking like his nose breathing with her absolute eight pack on that is the most ridiculous thing is her inbuilt eight pack is like they are so ripped insane it's insane.
00;22;21;17 - 00;22;45;06
Speaker 3
Honestly. Like, yeah, I don't know. Say cause you say I'm being unfair, whatever. But I just don't see, I don't see I don't have much respect for athletes that have been convicted and try to. Exactly. Exactly right. I actually didn't know when I picked up that she was convicted. Doper. I mean, Major Sergio name is the first thing that comes up on Google.
00;22;45;08 - 00;23;06;16
Speaker 3
It is not hard to find. I know, I know, I know and anyway, that was that was my little pick. That was my second. I still came second. And do you get me the window? Yeah. Well maybe. No, I'm not gonna say on to the mixed team relay first one of the year and a big one. A little bit disappointing for us as Aussies.
00;23;06;17 - 00;23;33;28
Speaker 3
Not Australia's day. And I think we had this conversation before. Like we had all of, all of these four athletes in our teams had great races in the individual. All of them are in the top ten. I think top eight. I think Sophie was eighth. Was she ninth, eighth or ninth, eighth or ninth? Everyone was in top. So if you had the technically the worst result of that relay team and it was an eighth or ninth in a relay, which is in a individual, which is a great day.
00;23;34;02 - 00;23;55;27
Speaker 3
So we had a great team and I honestly thought we could be on the podium here, and if not, if Cal McCluskey is in the right spot, we could take the win. Yeah, I genuinely thought we could win that. And speaking to Daniel, our coach, who Aspen Anderson, is obviously in our squad, he was commenting on how she just she was really flat, like she was really tired.
00;23;55;27 - 00;24;18;27
Speaker 3
And when you've got athletes like we saw Braden Mercer just put the pedal down in that first lap of the run. So Sophie and Aspen obviously just go to the well as well to get those individual results. At what cost is that obviously going to come to the relay the next day when you had the Brits, who it shows a fresh athlete, as you said, like, Jess just fully came in as a fresh athlete.
00;24;18;29 - 00;24;36;04
Speaker 3
Yeah. Max stapling, I don't know, like he didn't have a great day. I don't know if he may be. We may go conservative. Yeah. Jack Willis did the same. Like maybe did they get to a point in the run where it was like, okay, we're not in the good spot. It pull up stumps in this. It shows that some of these federations are all in on these relays 100%.
00;24;36;05 - 00;24;57;13
Speaker 3
Especially like Britain. Like, yeah. You're bringing in athletes specifically for a World Cup relay race. Jess Fuller was training in Hong Kong to get ready for Yokohama. So she was based in Hong Kong getting ready for Yokohama, and was specifically flown to Chengdu to just do the relay. Yeah. So yeah. What what? And again, like Australia probably had our best team there.
00;24;57;13 - 00;25;21;16
Speaker 3
I do think that was probably one of our best teams there. Yeah. With what Sophie's been producing lately and what Aspen has been producing lately, I think that is one of our best teams. However, we just weren't able to make it click on the day. Yeah, I think that's a fatigue factor. I know I think the same 100% of fatigue factor, but it does show, what these some federations are thinking about is out.
00;25;21;17 - 00;25;46;29
Speaker 3
Some of our athletes are our best athletes. Yes, but they're going to be absolutely buggered from digging themselves in such a hard race the day before. But then how? I guess maybe it's a it's a weight in, in these more higher ups thinking it's like, do we want to all these athletes have good individual results, or are we going to throw more eggs into our relay basket?
00;25;47;05 - 00;26;13;04
Speaker 3
Do we sacrifice their individual results for us as a country, being able to get a relay? Exactly. Medal. And is that fair? I'm not too sure. Yeah, it's a tricky, tricky one. Yeah. It's a catch 22 I think. Yeah, yeah. It's like you have a race with tired athletes, or you maybe bring in athletes that have lesser and you have athletes that don't race as hard or told not to race as hard to then race a really hard relay.
00;26;13;05 - 00;26;37;18
Speaker 3
Yeah. I don't know what the what the right system is. And I think that's the beauty of this whole relay year, is the fact that we don't know what these nations are doing about, because the first quota spots go to whoever wins Hamburg this year. I was about to say when we were talking about it before, when athletes are prioritizing what I definitely think federations are prioritizing Hamburg.
00;26;37;22 - 00;27;08;07
Speaker 3
I want to think, I think a guarantee in two if a country wins in Hamburg, LA. Like we said, America has already got their relay spot. Yeah, if Great Britain, Spain, Germany, Australia, whoever wins in Hamburg this year, that's a that's a relay spot. Right. Exactly. So and then then the federation only has to think about getting a third person in that top 30, male and female for that third spot.
00;27;08;08 - 00;27;33;07
Speaker 3
Save so much work down the line and that's all that they would think about then after the fact. Yeah. Anyway anyway Spain first and second okay. The third Canada. Yeah. Third I mean for me that was quite impressive for Canada. Yeah I did two. For me, the scariest thing about watching this relay is seeing how much depth Great Britain have.
00;27;33;10 - 00;27;53;13
Speaker 3
Yeah. Like I Great Britain. You look at their team that they had and look at the team that I'm sure there was some there's obviously some Spanish, there's some Canadian maybe, maybe that might have been Canada's best team right there. But in Spain you haven't got a Kantaro there. And I'm not too sure about the women, but Great Britain, you didn't have an Alexa there.
00;27;53;13 - 00;27;56;27
Speaker 3
You didn't have a.
00;27;57;00 - 00;28;22;26
Speaker 3
Holy Conway, Sam Dickinson like that. None of those guys were in their Olympic bronze medal team. No, like George Taylor Brown wasn't there. Beth Potter wasn't there. So for Evans wasn't there Kate waw wasn't it like the waffle is in it? Not not in that really. Oh no it wasn't. Yeah. So like the talent and then Great Britain also had their British national champs the same day you had Michael.
00;28;22;27 - 00;28;31;10
Speaker 3
Michael GA Beth Cooke take that out. Yeah. That's another two athletes that could potentially in the next two years time like Alex Robin you see their national champs.
00;28;31;11 - 00;28;33;29
Speaker 4
The national champions over a SuperSprint distance.
00;28;34;00 - 00;28;41;05
Speaker 3
Is it. Yeah. You sure I believe it was. I don't think so. Wasn't it pretty sure it was an Olympic distance. Oh, it's just.
00;28;41;05 - 00;28;42;06
Speaker 4
Called the Super Series.
00;28;42;07 - 00;28;53;18
Speaker 3
Isn't it? Yeah, it's the super series that got me. Yeah, British. So I was like, fuck. That's like they're putting it all into this. No, no, because I remember watching Michael GA go after the Aussie exit and jump back. Yeah. They wouldn't have.
00;28;53;18 - 00;28;55;09
Speaker 4
300m twice.
00;28;55;11 - 00;29;22;27
Speaker 3
No. But yeah, honestly, for me the scariest thing is just like, we just we just. We had the Brownlee brothers leave. Alex. Alex Yee stepped up to take his place. And for a little bit it was like, oh, who's going to replace Alex? Yay! Oliver Conway just steps up and take the plate and then you've got, oh, I could just rattle off so many 15 names right now of like he when he goes, Alex, Robin.
00;29;22;27 - 00;29;38;15
Speaker 3
If he's not there Alex Robbins is going to take his place. Michael. Guy and then you've got all the boys like the Jack Willis. Oh they're just they're endless. There's the. And the women. The women are just women. Call them the women. The women are the same. So yeah, honestly, it's scary fun. Got an Aussie passport? Yeah. Surely.
00;29;38;17 - 00;29;54;07
Speaker 3
Surely. Now we've got our own. Yeah. We don't need. Yes. But yeah, that's, That was, that was my take from the mixed team relay. And it was good. You know what? Best part of it? We got to watch Chengdu together. Yeah. We did. How was that? I told you we had to send the girls away.
00;29;54;12 - 00;30;09;20
Speaker 3
Yeah, it was pretty funny because we literally said it on the pod last week that we were going to have a watch party at my house about ten minutes before the race, one of the boys calls you and says, what are you doing? You're like, oh, well, are you going to lock his? Well, I was actually doing uni.
00;30;09;27 - 00;30;24;23
Speaker 3
We spoke about having a watch party in my house, and then you said you didn't know that we were having a watch party at my house. Make that make sense? We happened to watch party this weekend. Yeah, probably. Yes. I've said it again. Don't forget. I'll be there. Don't forget. I'll lock it in. Oh, pencil it in. This time this weekend.
00;30;24;24 - 00;30;46;28
Speaker 3
Yokohama w t s Yokohama. Like we said, a little bit more. Just a little bit more umph on the back of a World Series, isn't it? Yeah. There is, especially off the back of summer. Can I feel as if we've got some new names for new names? Jumping in summer can doesn't have that ring. It doesn't have that, the history of the race.
00;30;46;29 - 00;31;09;14
Speaker 3
There's some prestige behind Yokohama. Yeah. Yokohama is a is a cool, cool race. Here's a fun fact, big guy about my fun facts. Here we go. Well, try put this up. So anyway, from 2014 to 2021, every men's winner in Yokohama went on to win the world title. No way. And then in 2025, there was a little break between 2021 and 2025.
00;31;09;15 - 00;31;30;23
Speaker 3
So 22, 23, 24. But then Matt Houser restored that in 2025. That's a really cool start. That's an omen. That is a really cool big stat. And that's probably around that. Oh no, I was about to say Covid time. Those were 2022 2022. Yeah, yeah I mean with the brake band there that that kind of mucks things up a little bit.
00;31;30;24 - 00;31;49;01
Speaker 3
But if I'm a betting big, that's a big if I'm a betting man and I am a betting man, that's something I'd put a bet on. That's something I would put bet on. I would wait wins Yokohama. Yeah. And World Series I'm putting out at. I'm putting 100 bucks. I'd put 100 bucks on that. Yeah. Unfortunately, we don't have that.
00;31;49;01 - 00;32;11;16
Speaker 3
But anyway, to our preview of Yokohama. Usually. Usually very, very wet. Very, very slippery. Yeah. Rains. Kisses down, crashes. It's in Cassandra Bay. Grant coming out a couple of times. It just seems like a tough, tough course. Like a harbor swim. It always seems to be strung out a lot. It's a really, really long way to that first can.
00;32;11;18 - 00;32;31;11
Speaker 3
Like, I remember Maddie Houser just stringing that out a couple years ago. You usually have like a marked of a or someone really quick. Hendry and Vincent. Louis usually came around the outside and would just put a charge in, and it would just always string out. I remember seeing people nearly two minutes down, like it was just a really strung out and then a massive bike pack.
00;32;31;12 - 00;32;52;10
Speaker 3
Yeah, usually you'd have around like the technical course. Yeah, yeah. Which is surprising for, for a course like that. You think you think you'll stay away breaks. Yeah. But it never really does. Maybe people are being cautious on the wet roads I don't know. And it comes together. I'm not I'm not too sure but. Yeah. For a for a corner heavy sort of punchy course.
00;32;52;13 - 00;33;09;15
Speaker 3
Yeah. It does tend to come together. Yeah I think between that first and second pack anyway they tend to come together usually see three distinct packs. Yeah. Number one and two come together in number three. Sorry. They are. It isn't one massive pack. It's like a decent group of around 30, 20, 30 in the front. Yeah, I would say that.
00;33;09;15 - 00;33;32;00
Speaker 3
And then you have you're probably like another or what is it from there. 20 people off the back. Yeah. Yeah. In their groups. And then run flat fast. Yeah. It's just rapid. Yeah, it is rapid. That's Yokohama going into the, start list. Start with the women. Yep. Go on. We're missing a few. We're missing a few big names from from both the men and the women's side.
00;33;32;02 - 00;33;54;00
Speaker 3
We're missing quite a few big names. We've obviously got. We've got the big, big hitters. Beth Potter, Jean Le here, Taylor Spivey. We've got Laura Lindemann there. You got Jess Fuller, Sean Rangeley. Gwen Jorgensen, your your favorite Kate Racing still. And I think the two big ones is going to be Lisa. And for me, Emma Lombardi.
00;33;54;01 - 00;34;11;20
Speaker 3
I think ML and Bardi coming in for the first one of the year. And Lisa, hopefully to try and regain a little bit of, a little bit of, I guess, yeah, bit of say she needs to have a, she needs have a bit more of a say this week because a few weeks ago, obviously she, she probably let herself down.
00;34;11;20 - 00;34;29;04
Speaker 3
She had a crash like yeah we understand that. But get some confidence back. Yeah. Yeah. You have to have that far as the reigning world champ as the reigning. Yeah. As the reigning world champ, you need to probably go give it to Beth Potter a little bit here. Yeah, I think it's Beth Potter's to lose at the moment.
00;34;29;04 - 00;34;48;16
Speaker 3
After her, after her recent form 100% is Beth Potter's to lose. She just looked effortless. Like she looked like she did it effortlessly with no Cassandra there. Yeah. I don't think many people are going to challenge her on the run. I think like John Le has. Good, yes. I don't think it's also not there. Yeah. I just don't think she's going to be one to.
00;34;48;17 - 00;35;09;03
Speaker 3
Yeah I think. Do you reckon her in Cassandra. Almost like it's almost like the Hayden and Alex where when they're together, they don't focus on anybody else but each other. Yeah. Because they have just had so many ding dong battles over the years that they almost like everybody else, is irrelevant. It's just you and me. Yeah. I feel as if that is probably the case.
00;35;09;03 - 00;35;29;25
Speaker 3
So Beth Potter is probably best. Yeah. Beth Potter's probably gonna have to get a while. It's tough to say that when Lisa does go and become a world champion. Yeah, but the in one. But yeah, we're talking about like, history of multiple races a year. Who's there multiple times a year. It's those two fighting it out on most podiums.
00;35;29;27 - 00;35;48;20
Speaker 3
So I tend to agree. Who who could throw a spanner in the works. We also don't have a Georgia Taylor Brown. Yeah, that's a good point. I mean, I think Jasper spat everywhere. Yeah. We'll, like, replace that voice. I think Jess is going to be that replacement there. I think Emily and Bardi as well. She's a great Suma.
00;35;48;21 - 00;36;11;21
Speaker 3
You're missing a few. You're missing utility animals to stretch out the swim, the Bianca Sarojini ceremony, the Italian. So we are missing quite a few big, like, swim headers to stretch it out in the water. And like you said, the Georgia Taylor Brown's not there. Did I see, did I see I might have missed it. I might have actually got that wrong.
00;36;11;21 - 00;36;34;26
Speaker 3
But, the American. No, she's not there. Taylor. Taylor nearby. Taylor. NIB. I thought Taylor Knibb was there. She was racing it. She was. Taylor is pulled out. She's pulled off. Okay, I thought that I thought she was going to throw a spanner in the works, but she's not there anymore. So. I mean, you, Taylor Spivey. Yeah. Who else can ride a bike?
00;36;34;26 - 00;36;52;28
Speaker 3
Really? Well, Jess. Vulgar. I think they will. But honestly, I do have a feeling that this could be a big role around bike come back together. Yeah, especially in the women's especially. Like, there's just. You just don't have that firepower at the front. No. Yeah. Need a few more in saying that. All. Who's your picks? Three for the women.
00;36;52;29 - 00;37;22;19
Speaker 3
As I said, hard to go past Beth Potter. Yeah. Number one. Now I've gone. John the hair. Okay, so number two. I've gone ranked number one and two. Yep yep yep. And I've gone Lisa terse think she'll pull it out. She's a good 10-K runner. She's back. Yeah I think she's back okay. I think she'll probably outdo like the likes of, Jess Fuller and the other big hitters in that, in that to get more lost name came off.
00;37;22;21 - 00;37;41;00
Speaker 3
Yeah yeah yeah yeah. So it's gonna be tricky, but I think she's going to be under a bit of fatigue after. Yeah that's yeah. The racing on the weekend especially at this level okay I've got hang on. Oh yeah. Sorry. Sorry. Not just me. Yeah I've got Beth Potter as well. Again, like you said, I just don't think she's going to be beaten.
00;37;41;06 - 00;38;01;02
Speaker 3
I've got Emma Lombardi. I think she's going to replace Cassandra again. She's fourth at. She's got fourth at the last Olympics. So you just can't go past her. And John here, I think she's going to come third. I was tossing up between Kate and Lisa, but like we said, the course is wet. Rains a lot. Slippery. Lisa Turner crashed two weeks ago.
00;38;01;05 - 00;38;20;22
Speaker 3
Is that going to be a bit timid? Is that going to be in the back of her mind? And I think she was already a little bit of a weak, timid cyclist. What is the forecast this weekend? Yeah. I'm not I just don't think it's going to be that great. So that's kind of why I've gone more in the direction of who's going to who's going to not be as ruined coming off the back end of a bike.
00;38;20;22 - 00;38;39;17
Speaker 3
And it's a 4K standard distance, so it's a long way. It should be sunny 27 degrees. Yeah okay. Apparently that's from Google. Weather weatherman does lie sometimes. So if it's sunny that'd be great. But I just know a lot of times I've seen it's been very wet and carnage. So that's my picks, Beth Potter, Emily and Bardi John here.
00;38;39;18 - 00;39;07;00
Speaker 3
Okay, the big one. Well, not not the. Oh, don't get us canceled. I didn't mean it like that. Don't get the person coming back is Alex. Yeah. We're going to say that's probably the storyline of the weekend. Yeah. That's exciting. And it's just the fact of the matter. The madhouse, Miguel Hidalgo, Alex. Yea. Alex. Showdown. I think that's I think that's going to be that's that's probably the, the big draw of this weekend.
00;39;07;01 - 00;39;25;29
Speaker 3
It's like how is Alex going after 18 months out of the sport running. Well like like probably out of the way. He obviously dabbled last year. But I think I think now that he's kind of he's left that marathon. He's back. He's he's all in. He's all in again. This this is obviously missing some big hitters though.
00;39;26;01 - 00;39;39;28
Speaker 3
I think this is actually going to end up very similar to the women's race. And I think this is going to be a I think it's going to be a roll around for a little bit on the bike, like Maddie Hauser doesn't have he doesn't have Henry Graf, he doesn't have the lens of Croce Ani. He doesn't have a we spoke about him.
00;39;39;28 - 00;39;59;02
Speaker 3
Crocco. Vasco Vilas is not there like those big hitters on the bike. Just. I don't think they're there for him this time. No, I think he'll get swamped up. Yeah. Altogether. Yeah, it'll be about, I think. I think the same. It's like 20 to 40. Yeah, I can that'll be the. Oh there might be a couple off the back.
00;39;59;03 - 00;40;18;23
Speaker 3
Yeah. Because again like that he will he definitely will play to his strengths. And I can see. How's that really putting down some some swim swim speed there. Yeah. Go to Max chase McQueen there to sort of back him up there. Hellwig is obviously a great swimmer. Kenji Dean, Braeden Mercer there. He could he could lead it out for him 100%.
00;40;18;23 - 00;40;40;26
Speaker 3
So yeah, I think it's going to be interesting, but I do think it's all going to come together. Alex. Yeah, yeah, I think it was from there as well. Like he's not going to get dropped I and that that is the worrying part. I think for someone like a Houser and a Hidalgo is I don't think there is enough swim bike power there for Alex to not be in this race.
00;40;40;26 - 00;40;59;03
Speaker 3
Come, come the run. Yeah. Where they've kept him out of the race in previous races last year where I don't think they're going to be able to do that this year. Oh, sorry. In this race, in this race in the Australia particularly. No I don't think so. Like it will stay together. Like I think he might have a bit of time put into him like 30 40s.
00;40;59;04 - 00;41;16;23
Speaker 3
Yeah. But I think with the people and then it'll be around him, I think he'll be able to work his way. People will work with Alex to get to the front and then and then it'll be looking at each other. They'll be looking at each other, be like, fuck, this guy's just run a 206 marathon. Yeah. Far out.
00;41;16;26 - 00;41;35;10
Speaker 3
Can we outrun him? What do you reckon? They're going to run? Oh 29 2929 low. Yeah, I think so. I don't know if it's a overly fast course, but I think it would be a 29 low. It's loops isn't it. Yeah. It's not just out of back. I could be wrong there. I think it is an out and back.
00;41;35;11 - 00;41;54;13
Speaker 3
Oh is it. Think so. But I do think there is a there's a hilly aspect like it's undulating. So maybe 29, mid 29, mid to 29 low. They are the front guys anyway the front guys anyway. Yeah. With all that who's your picks. My picks I have I have the man coming back. Alex you. Yeah I think yeah.
00;41;54;14 - 00;42;14;18
Speaker 3
As we said the run pedigree is going to come together. Alex. Easy, man. You can't not back him even though he's been out. He's like clockwork. And you see with that Federation they have everything dialed. Yeah. Like he's going to be dialed. He was dialed in the marathon. He'll be died. Yep. In the trough on. We did forget about talking about one person there though.
00;42;14;20 - 00;42;34;09
Speaker 3
It's Luke Willian I've got him in third though okay well you skipped second. Yep. Houser in second okay okay I feel as if you can't knock back the reigning world champ. Yeah. And it's his first one back for the year. Absolutely not. So it may be a shock to the system, but I don't think so. Luke William is going to be.
00;42;34;11 - 00;43;01;22
Speaker 3
Yeah I think he'll be firing for me. There was three three so I, I picked the same first two. So we've gone the exact I've gone Alex. Yay Matt Hauser in first and second. Yep. Alex first. How's the second. Obviously there was three for me Tim Hellwig, Miguel Hidalgo, Luke William for me, they're the three that I'm really tossing up between because Willian obviously just raced incredibly well on the weekend.
00;43;01;23 - 00;43;20;27
Speaker 3
Yep. How's that going to affect him racing next weekend? Miguel Hidalgo did not race that well and it didn't race well. And Sam can how's that going to play into his confidence maybe. Is he going to come out for redemption. Come back and show his form Tim Hellwig been racing really well. Is he back into that World Series top three?
00;43;20;28 - 00;43;23;09
Speaker 3
I don't know whether Hellwig got.
00;43;23;09 - 00;43;24;11
Speaker 2
It over the 10-K.
00;43;24;16 - 00;43;24;26
Speaker 3
Yeah.
00;43;24;27 - 00;43;25;21
Speaker 2
I think.
00;43;25;23 - 00;43;28;05
Speaker 3
Go against like a.
00;43;28;05 - 00;43;30;18
Speaker 2
Hauser and a Yi.
00;43;30;21 - 00;43;49;07
Speaker 3
I think off the back of having a kind of shit result. Confidence like. Yeah confidence low. I've got him. I think you have to be steaming. See I think I'd probably back a Vasco in between. Maybe a year in a horse are a if he was racing just because he won the weekend before a couple of weeks ago.
00;43;49;07 - 00;44;11;11
Speaker 3
Sorry. That's the only reason. Because he's like, yes, I've got that first win. Sometimes I, I'm, I can beat everyone here. So far these two have just come in so. Well I went ahead go for third okay I think I don't think he's going to get it over Hauser. And yea, I think, I think Hauser and you are more than likely going to be in their own realm.
00;44;11;16 - 00;44;28;22
Speaker 3
I think you're going to have Alex run off the front. Hauser try to go with him for about five K. I don't think he's going to be able to. Houser will come second, not comfortably, but he'll come second. And then you're going to have Adele go. Not brimming with confidence, obviously because of the race, but he's still like that form doesn't go away.
00;44;28;24 - 00;44;50;12
Speaker 3
Yeah. Like he'll probably he's probably going down a couple big run sessions and going okay, no I'm still good. I'm still here we go. Okay. Yeah, exactly. And still Miguel, Im still McGill. Yeah. Very good. That's it for me. I mean, we've got very similar picks this week, so. But it's. I, like you said, the big one, the one we're all excited for is to see the Matthaus Alex Clash again.
00;44;50;12 - 00;45;07;11
Speaker 3
How would that play out is Hauser did a very good job last year of keeping him out of the race. And will he be able to do that again for a second year in a row? Who knows? On another note, here we are. We have a few debutants for Australia. We do. It's big. When was the last time?
00;45;07;14 - 00;45;28;09
Speaker 3
Oh, not too sure. Last year. Yeah. Brandon Mercer, Charlotte Derbyshire. Yeah I was going to say those two. Come on mate. So in the men we have Bradley course and I've actually I've got Corsie in my fantasy team. What for the transition transitions I reckon. Even have a crack a bike as well, because yes, I just think they'll have one of the quickest bikes.
00;45;28;09 - 00;45;46;18
Speaker 3
I think there'll be some quicker ones out there. Yes. I think I could see him in the top five on quickest bikes. But I can see Corsie needing a ten second, like, almost being just 10s off. Absolutely. Flying through transition, getting onto the back of that bike path. Yeah, yeah. He's going to be just off it special.
00;45;46;23 - 00;46;07;26
Speaker 3
Yeah. And he would just make it. It would just make it. It'll get there. So straight on to the front. Yeah I've got it's it's funny seeing my fantasy teams. I've got Tim Hellwig, Miguel Hidalgo, Alex Yee, Matt Hauser, Brad course. Oh my God, that's that's a funny sight. So Corsi. And then we also have the under 23 reigning world champion Rachel Hill.
00;46;07;26 - 00;46;23;17
Speaker 3
And man, she could throw a spanner in the works because she is one of those athletes that at that age, with that development level, she could throw a spanner in the works. So so first one. Yeah. Good luck to those two. Yeah, I'm sure they'll race. Well, we'll be watching. Yep. We will be watching. Oh, jeez. Oh.
00;46;23;17 - 00;46;27;11
Speaker 3
Aussie is.
00;46;27;13 - 00;46;38;21
Speaker 3
Yeah. No, we can't wait. We can't wait to watch it again. Like we said, watch party back mine. Nobody's invited. Except. And that's what we did this last time. And 77.
00;46;38;23 - 00;46;41;15
Speaker 1
Whoa.
00;46;41;18 - 00;46;58;21
Speaker 3
You know, what are you going to do? Is you're going to drop something every week and people are going to listen to all of them. And the run straight last time. Yeah. You did. Yeah. So it's Bermuda straight all the way. All the way at the end. At the end. 77 straight. Dude. That's enough. You gotta stop okay.
00;46;58;22 - 00;47;13;09
Speaker 3
Alrighty. Once again, thank you very much to everyone who listens and continues to listen every week. We love it. I hope you love it. Thank you. And we will be back next week to give you a recap of the weekend's events. Sounds good. All right, get your.