Fastest 100m ever, World Records and the Tour de France...2006?

Hi All,

This weekend I got a chance to watch the US Olympic Track and Field trials, and was blown away by a few races.



On Sunday at the US trials, Tyson Gay ran the 100m faster than any man has ever done. However, because the tail wind was about double the legal limit, his time of 9.68s will not go down as the World Record. This run, just a few weeks after Usain Bolt of Jamaica ran 9.72 to set the current record, definitely sets up an epic race in Beijing. But dont forget about previous record holder Asafa Powell, who until Bolt broke the record, had the 4 fastest times in history. It should be an unreal 100m final!

A couple other interesting stories from the weekend in track. In the Womens 10,000m on Friday, the two favorites were on their way to easy Top-3 finishes by the time the race was half over. However, a story was developing. The 3rd runner in the lead group needed the US "A" standard to ensure that she would get to go to Beijing. At the 5000m mark, she needed to run 15:35 to get the A standard. And her 2008 best was 15:46! So the runner in question, Amy Yoder-Begley, went to the front and pushed the pace. With three laps to go, she needed to average 72 seconds per lap to go to Beijing. She ran 73.9, 73.9, and then an incredible 67.3 second final lap to make the team by 1.4 seconds. Congrats to Shalane Flanagan and Kara Goucher (4th place in 2004 Trials) for getting their spots in the same race.


Canada's Olympic Track trials go this weekend. Full preview coming Friday!



More world records were set Sunday night, but in the pool at the US Swimming Trials. Michael Phelps broke the 400m IM World Record by .97 seconds, which is simply incredible. The main reason he said he swam so fast was he was actually being pushed by a rival, Ryan Lochte. He also broke the world record but still got beat by almost .7 seconds. Amazing race.



Not to be outdone, Katie Hoff set her own World Record in the Womens 400m IM. She had previously held the record, but an Australia broke the record in March. Hoff was well-behind the World Record pace (and in 2nd place) at 200m, but used an amazing breaststroke and freestyle to break the record by 0.3 seconds. And she's only 19. Wow. More on the swimming events can be found here.


These two world records bring the total to 40 world records set in the pool since February. Not coincidently, the Speedo LZR was introduced in February. Yep, the $550suit is revolutionizing the sport. And rival companies are forced to compete or lose their athletes. Mizuno, Tyr, Nike, and Adidas, who sponsor either individual swimmers or entire national teams, are either being forced to let their sponsored athletes wear the Speedo suit, or try and come up with a competitive suit themselves. Easier said than done, but it appears that Team Canada (and Team US) will be LZR-equipped in Bei in Beigjin. You can read more on the controversy here.

And just in time for the US Track and Field trials, the USATF group and the US Anti-Doping Agency have announced plans to start drug testing with the Intermediate (15-16 years old) division. Yep, if that's not a sign of the apocalypse, I'm not sure what is. But you do have to give them credit for trying to avoid another Marion Jones/Tim Montgomery/Justin Gatlin fiasco(or many more ex-champions who have failed doping tests).

One more doping note...the US Track and Swimming trials both are taking blood samples to try and detect doping. It's the first time either of these events have taken blood samples. Here's hoping we don't hear another word about blood samples and doping in relation to either of these great events!

Speaking of doping, this morning the Floyd Landis scandal came to an end. The International Court of Arbitration for Sport denied Landis's appeal and ordered Landis to pay WADA $100,000 in legal costs. Costly loss. So after 100 weeks, we can finally put an end to this saga. Landis originally tested positive just after winning the 2006 Tour de France, but over the past 23 months there has been a lengthy legal battle. The whole timeline can be seen here.

That's it...later

Great Canadians and that Great Dane...

Hi All,

Quick recap of a busy last weekend before we get to some new stuff. And lots of videos below...so read on...



Some great news to report on the Bikey front! Ryder Hesjedal got named this week to the Garmin-Slipstream-Chipotle team for the Tour de France! Great news...and he becomes the first Canadian participant in 11 years. A pretty good two weeks for Ryder since he got named to the Olympic team last week...

Ryder Hesjedal used to be a Canadian National Mountain Bike Champion. So while he trained for the Tour, his old teammates were representing at the World Champs. Last weekend the Elite's raced, and yep, another 6th place (Catherine Pendrel) and a 4th place (Marie-Helene Premont) for the women while the men could only manage 16th and 24th. Oh well, Canada had a pretty good week, no podiums, but plenty of top 6 finishes!

There were two big triathlons last weekend in the US (Des Moines and Coeur D'Alene). We'll start in Coeur D'Alene since Canadians kicked ass down there. Tom Evans from Penticton, BC easily won the mens race with his trademark swim and bike to give him a big lead off the bike. But unlike some of his previous races, he didn't need to worry as he ran a wicked fast 2h53m marathon to win by an easy 9 minutes. It was his third career IM victory (IM Canada and IM Lake Placid are the others). Good for Tom!

Another Canuck, Heather Wurtele, who is a first year pro triathlete, surprised the American favorites by blowing away the women's field with an amazing 5h16m bike split. She was so far in front she could have walked the marathon. Her 3h20m run still left her with a 12 minute win! Wurtele is from Victoria, is really tall (6'2") and took her Kona spot. Could she be this year's Chrissie Wellington?

And that wasn't it, as two others Calgary natives finished in 4th place (Scott Curry and Sara Gross). Great day for the Canucks!

Moving over to the Olympic distance guys and girls in Des Moines - the Canadians did not do so well. Despite a typically good finish by Simon Whitfield (5th place), no other Canadians finished in the top 10. Hmmm. Not so good. Pre-race womens favorite Emma Snowsill didn't let me down and won easily by almost 90 seconds over Emma Moffatt and World Champ Helen Tucker. On the men's side, Rasmus Henning from Denmark won this race by outrunning Bevan Docherty, Greg Bennett, Ivan Rana, and Whitfield. The last race Henning won was...way back...to Des Moines last year. So he has won both of the biggest money races for ITU guys. $200,000 and a Hummer last year, $200,00 and a Lexus SUV this year. Not bad for two days work. Oh yeah, Sarah Haskins and Hunter Kemper both finished as top American to qualify for Beijing. Canadians Paul Tichelaar, Lauren Groves, and Kyle Jones all DNFed while Brent Macmahon finished in 12th place.



Speaking of those lovable Danes, they are busy ruffling some antidoping feathers. Danish researchers just did a study where they gave volunteers EPO and then sent them to two IOC anti-doping labs and see if they got caught. One of the labs didn't find one positive test, and the other did but was only consistent if the volunteers were taking higher doses of EPO and not maintenance doses. I dont think the anti-doping folks are happy to hear this with only 40 days until the Olympics!

Dopers might have to start skipping another drug soon. The World Anti-doping Agency is considering banning Viagra since it acts as a blood vessel dilator. This has potential benefits in both speed and endurance events by aiding the delivery of oxygen to muscles. Very interesting. In the past, I thought that athletes only took Viagra at the Olympics so they could party with the coeds at the Olympic village? The link in this paragraph also includes a story that British officials are taking steps to prevent athletes from using "fake penises" during urine samples. That is one job I would not volunteer for.

Speaking of Brits, the ever-famous Paula Radcliffe is rehabbing slowly. It appears she is running on an anti-gravity treadmill, which uses air pressure to lift one's body weight so it makes it easier to run with less impact. However, some coaches claim anti-gravity treadmills don't really mimic real running. I'll keep you posted. Here is what those treadmills look like.



Ok, almost done...the US Olympic Track and Field Trials start this weekend. Pretty tough team to make it seems. In some events, the top 4 Americans could all make the Olympic final, but only top 3 get to compete in individual events in Beijing. The women's 100m could have 12 women that are considered "contenders". Should make for a great competition over the next 10 days. Nike has some very funny commercials that might get you into the mood...







And oh yeah, Sunday is the Euro 2008 final between Germany and Spain. In honour of what should be a great match, here is a very funny Nike Football commercial on "A Day in the Life" of a Football superstar. It's directed by Guy Ritchie and is pretty clever. And yes, I do spend too much time watching Nike commercials...



Enjoy the weekend! And come back early next week for a special mid-week Bikey!

We're number 6! And a big weekend...

Hey All,

Leading off this week, some more Canadian cycling news. The World Mountain Biking Championships are on this week in Italy, and Canada is bringing it! Well, sort of. The first 3 races this week - the U23 Women, the Junior Women, and the Team Relay, Canada finished 6th, 6th, and 6th. Congrats to Bianca Adolf (JR) and Emiliy Batty (U23, picture below) for doing us proud. I just found out that in the men's U23 race, Canadian Raphael Gagne let me down and finished 7th. The Elite Men's and Women's Races are on Sunday. Updates next week! Go Canada.



One more Canadian cycling note - Canadian Cycling named our Olympic Team this week. Ryder Hesjedal (from Team Slipstream-Chipotle) will ride the time trial and the road race, and will get help from Michael Barry and Svein Tuft. The women's team only had 2 members - Leigh Hobson and Alex Wrubleski. Our teams are smaller than some countries (US, France, Germany) that have 5 men and 5 women. Too bad Dominique Rollin hasn't made the Olympic team after his epic performace at the Tour of California. The men's road race is 260km in Beijing by the way...crazy long day in the smog/pollution!

Hesjedal also leaked on his web site that he is part of Slipstream's training camp for the Tour de France. Although nothing is official, he is very close to becoming the first Canadian to race the Tour since 1997!

More Slipstream team news. First off, the team will not be named Slipstream-Chipotle but rather will be called Garmin-Chipotle next year. Hope they stick with the argyle though! Second, their bike sponsor Felt has brought out brand-new aero road bikes just in time for the tour. With an aero down-tube, head tube, and an aero wheelwell (normally only seen on tri/TT bikes), the designers think the new bike can be up to a minute faster over a one hour ride. They actually did the wind tunnel testing to prove it. I always laugh when i see a picture of a bike in a wind tunnel and there is no rider on the bike. Ummm, doesnt the rider impact about 99% of the aerodynamics? Anyhow, I like the look of the bike...stay tuned!





Cool new products this week...Leading off, we've finally seen the unveiling of our first 11-speed gruppo. Campagnolo has unveiled that its top 3 lines (Super Record, Record, and Chorus) will all be 11-speed in 2009. Especially nice (and probably super expensive) is the Super Record line, which is made of ceramic, titanium, and carbon fibre. Very nice.

And here is a gel holder that makes taping gels with electrical tape a thing of the past. Ok, on first glance this might be a gimmick, but at least it looks cleaner than many of the bikes we see in an Ironman transition zone.


And a big weekend ahead! Bacteria levels are down in the Iowa lake where the big money (and US Olympic Qualifier) Hy-Vee Triathlon is supposed to take place on Sunday. But outside of the US Olympic Trials, I'm looking to see if one of our Canadians can collect a big payday ($200,000 for the win). According to the ITU website, there are 11 US women in the 31 person field, plus some big names like Emma Snowsill, Lauren Groves, Hollie Avil, and World Champ Helen Tucker. Should be great women's race. The men's race could be even better, with huge names like Greg Bennett, Bevan Docherty, Tim Don, Alistair Brownlee, Peter Robertson, last year's winner Rasmus Henning, and the entire Canadian team (Whitfield, Jenkins, Tichelaar, Jones, and McMahon). As usual, you can watch live on triathlon.org on Sunday.

As well, we have Ironman Japan, Ironman France, and Ironman Coeur d'Alene. CDA will be followed most closely, as Desiree Ficker takes on Heather Gollnick and Calgary's (Ok, Penticton's) Sara Gross in the women's pro race. Should be a good battle.

Have a good weekend everyone!

...the 2nd part this week...

Lots more this week...sorry you had to wait for it...



We talked about Oscar Pistorius a while ago, and I never did update you on his progress. He did win his appeal with the CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport) a couple of weeks ago, which means he would be allowed to compete at this summer's Olympics in Beijing. But as some of you know, he's not fast enough (needs to improve about 8/10ths of a second over the 400m) to qualify. So he's stuck as the world's fastest Paralympic athlete. Which isn't too bad...

Moving on to triathlon and Olympic team stuff... The absolute last date for nations to name their Olympic team is next weekend's ITU (and huge money) race in Des Moines, Iowa. Unfortunately, this area is pretty much in the epicentre of the recent catastrophic flooding, and the swim venue might not be ready for the athletes due to flooding and dangerous bacteria levels. So the organizers are already contemplating running the $200,000-for-the-winner race as a duathlon. Plus this race is supposed to be the final US qualifier and if this race is run as a duathlon then it doesn't count, which means Andy Potts and Sarah Haskins would get the final spots, leaving Hunter Kemper (#1 in the world in 06) home.

Two more quickies about Team Canada in Beijing...this year Canada managed to get all 6 spots. We are one of only 5 countries to have both a complete mens and womens teams of 6 athletes heading to Beijing! First time ever for Canada (we join Germany, Switzerland, the US, and New Zealand) while superpowers like Russia, Spain, and Australia do not have full Olympic squads. Ha ha...go Canada!

And last thing, the women's team for Canada (Groves, Murray, and Tremblay) appear to not have to worry about team goals in Beijing. Unlike the men, who have to help Simon Whitfield win a medal, the women are being allowed to compete for themselves. This is probably because all 3 women are capable of having a great day. A medal might be unlikely, but all 3 women could sneak into the Top-10...

And just because I love watching them do this...here's another look at that epic treadmill video featuring Whitfield, Jenkins, and Tichelaar from this winter.



Thought this was interesting...on the same week that the UCI claims their "biological passport" is helping to eliminate doping from cycling (most of us are still skeptical but...), there is now news that the next generation of doping might be around the corner. Gene doping, or altering one's DNA to improve performance, is getting close to reality, and WADA is starting to get ready. They allegedly have 22 projects on the go to prepare for gene dopers, but since they still have problem catching steroids, HGH, and EPO, I doubt that the jails will be full of gene dopers anytime soon. But interesting nonetheless...

Two neat cycling stories to end with this week...one, check out what a million dollars buys you in the Netherlands...



Ok, not that impressive. But that's what it cost to test, design, and develop this bike for Theo Bos (Dutch track cyclist) for Beijing. Supposedly the bike is so stiff that "normal people cannot ride it". Sounds like a challenge...



And yes, despite my personal misgivings, I have decided to link to a great article about the little bike company that could, Canada's Cervelo. This article appeared last week in the Globe and Mail, and i thought you might enjoy it.

Next week i'll update everyone on what's happening in the Track and Field world, and updates on some weekend Ironman races...see you Friday!

Friday...part 1

Most of you by now will now that Triathlon Canada named their 2008 Men's Olympic Team. In addition to Simon Whitfield (who qualified in 2007), Paul Tichelaar and Colin Jenkins earned the two discretionary spots. Originally, I assumed that Tich got his spot due to his 4 Top-10 finishes at World Cup events this year, but now it appears that I was mistaken. In the Edmonton Journal this week, Tichelaar admitted that Triathlon Canada has asked him to delay his medal dreams and instead act as a "domestique" for Simon Whitfield. He is not too thrilled about that, which you can understand since he has consistently been in contention throughout the 2008 season. As a Canadian Olympic fan, I'm a bit torn. Whitfield is the most consistent racer we have, with a chance to podium in every race he does, while Tich has really only proven that he can be a Top-10 contender. Should he be asked to sacrifice that potential top-10 in Beijing to help Simon win a medal? Interesting to follow going into Beijing...

Moving on to Bikey stuff, some surprisingly bad news out of the Pro Cycling World? Who would have guessed that Pro Cycling would have a scandal? Ok, i'm only sort of kidding, but one of cycling's golden boys is in trouble this week. Tom Boonen got caught using cocaine in a doping test, and is thus banned from the Tour de France. This is a huge deal in Belgium, in pro cycling, and for Team Quick Step. Boonen is their biggest star, and as a Green Jersey contender will be sorely missed this July in France. Here's hoping it gets sorted out and Boonen returns clean in the near future.

Good news for Canada and Perdita Felicien. While she may not be ready for Canada's Olympic Trials (July 4-6) due to a foot injury, she may get a medical exemption and still be eligible to compete in Beijing. She is obviously a huge medal contender (Silver Medal at Worlds last year) and this is great news for her. She would be the third high profile to be eligible for Olympics without going to Nationals, with Alex Despatie and Kyle Shewfelt having already been given Injury Exemptions this year.

gotta run...more later...

Sweetland out...Murray and Tremblay In...

Breaking news this afternoon...

Kirsten Sweetland has a broken bone in her foot and will thus be unable to compete for Canada in Beijing. It thereby comes to reason that Carolyn Murray (from St Albert!) and Kathy Tremblay will join Lauren Groves at the Beijing Olympics. I'm not sure how the women will strategize to win a medal, but Carolyn Murray did have the 5th fastest run on Sunday of all the women, so if they can get her off the bike in good shape...

More tomorrow...

ITU Worlds Update - Men's Version

The men's Elite Race also went this afternoon. 2 Canadian men can stamp their ticket to Beijing with a Top 8 finish, Paul Tichelaar and Kyle Jones, while Colin Jenkins and Brent McMahon want to impress the selection committee with a solid race.

The race started with a super-competitive swim. Two big surprises: the first swimmer and the last swimmer came out within a minute of each other AND the first swimmer to transition was Simon Freaking Whitfield. His swim improvement gives all of us crappy swimmers proof that you can improve in your 30's!!

So with so many top cyclists in the main pack, it was expected that someone tried to break away from the field. Greg Bennett, who needs a top finish from either him or Brad Sexton to ensure Australia the 3 male spots in Beijing, got away on Lap 6 (of 8) but it was 48 cyclists (and almost all the contenders) who got off the bike at the end of 40 km.

Everyone expected Javier Gomez to go out fast, and he did, but at the end of one 3.3km lap, there were about a dozen guys all in a big pack. Including medal contenders such as Matt Reed, Reto Hug, Bevan Docherty, a trio of fast Russians as well as Simon Whitfield and Paul Tichelaar! It was shaping up to be a great finish.

Lap 2 the inevitable happened. Javier Gomez just ran away from the field. He is unbelievable. His break stretched out the field, with only Bevan Docherty and Reto Hug trying to go with Gomez. But Gomez still had 20 seconds at the end of lap 2. His "Crush Their Spirit" run strategy was working well.

Lap 3. Since the online coverage was fairly brutal, we had to wait until a km to go to see the finish unfold. Gomez still had a huge lead, and coasted to a 24 second win. Docherty ditched Hug for silver medal, while Hug held off South Africa's Hendrik De Villiers for Bronze. After these 4, there were 9 or so runners in a big pack, including Top-8-or-bust Paul Tichelaar. There was no separation across the finish line. Matt Reed was 5th, Whitfield 6th, Sysoev 7th, Moulai 8th, Tich 9th! 5th thru 9th was less than 5 seconds. And the difference between 8th and 9th was 7/10th of a second!! For the second time today, no Canadians got the automatic bid.





The other Canadians finished 17th (Brent McMahon), 55th (Colin Jenkins), and 61st (Kyle Jones). And now we wait, as Triathlon Canada will announce the Beijing team on Monday.

Maybe this picture shows that Whitfield is trying to get Gomez to compete for Canada?

ITU Worlds Update - Women's Version

Hi All,

I was going to live blog, but I figured no one will be reading this blog live, so figured that would be a waste of time. So I'll go with a Canadian-heavy race recap. The Canadians have three women who would qualify for Beijing with a Top-8 finish - Kirsten Sweetland, Kathy Tremblay, and St Albert's Carolyn Murray.

Womens race - Americans led the swim, with 4 of them making the first bike pack. Top Canadian was Sweetland, 13 seconds back of the leader out of T1. Tremblay was 48 seconds down, Murray 75 seconds back of the leader. Sweetland managed to miss the first bike pack by a few seconds.

After 10 km, Sweetland was 13th (72 seconds back), Tremblay was in 24th (86 seconds), and Murray was 38th (2m06s back). The two bike leaders were Helen Tucker (GBR) and Sarah Haskins (US), who actually rode away from Vanessa Fernandes, who might not like the cold weather.

After 20 km, the groups starting joining into big packs, with 26 women in the third group about 80 seconds down (including Tremblay and Sweetland). Murray was about another minute back and things were not looking good for her.

Thru 30 km, the two leaders were still ahead by 100 seconds with a huge chase group of 35 women getting ready for the run.

Getting to T2, the ladies in front (Tucker and Haskins) must have been thrashed since they pulled away from their chasers, ending with a 2 minute lead over the giant pack of 34. Everyone was frozen from the chilly conditions. Carolyn Murray was over 4 minutes back...

At 3.3 km on the run, the top 2 women were still together and still leading by 100 seconds, but the fast runners started making their charge. Shockingly, Fernandes wasn't there. Tremblay ended the first lap in 9th place while Sweetland was in 23rd place (32 seconds between them). The girls need to pick it up! Fernandes was 31st! I have never seen her struggle like this.

After 6.6 km, the two leaders still had 80 seconds. The race was theirs for the taking. Tremblay had dropped to 12th place but was only 9 seconds out of 8th place. Sweetland appeared to grab her stomach as the camera passed over her, and had dropped way back into 29th place and was over a minute behind Tremblay. Murray (33rd)had actually almost caught Sweetland despite starting 2 minutes behind her.

Who cares who won? How did the Canadians finish? Well, it appears the selection committee has some tough decisions to make. Despite good efforts, Tremblay couldn't do it down the stretch and finished 21st, while Murray had a great run to finish in 25th place. Groves also had a good run to finish 33rd , while Sweetland only managed to finish 37th and collapsed at the finish line. Decisions, decisions, decisions...

Ok, I'll tell you who won - Helen Tucker and Sarah Haskins ran the 10km side-by-side. With about 200 m to go , Tucker brought Great Britain yet another Worlds title! Unreal. Haskins was second by 3 seconds. The best was the race for third with Sam Warriner out-leaning Erin Denshaw at the absolute last second. Emma Moffatt was 5th. Kate Allen (04 Gold Medal in Athens) had an absolutely great race to finish 8th and probably will get to go back to the Olympics again. Fernandes, who was 30th place after 2 laps, absolutely hammered the last 3 km to finish 10th. 4 Aussies in the top 12 to win best country of the day!

ITU Worlds Preview

Hey All,

Only 2 days until the big boys (and girls) race in Vancouver and there is a lot on the line. For some, like Simon Whitfield, being World Champion would complete his triathlon resume. For others, this is the last shot at making an Olympic team (more below). For still others, they are working hard at solidifying their country's 3-person team for Beijing.

Ok, let's start there. Right now, 3 countries are fighting for spots 7 and 8 on the men's side. A reminder that only the top 8 nations get 3 spots at Beijing. 9th only gets 2. So Russia, the US, and Australia are all fighting hard for that third spot. Australia is currently 9th, but things are so tight that it will basically come down to who finishes where between Matt Reed (US), Brendan Sexton (Aus), and Dimitry Polyansky (russia). Right now Matt Reed is fighting for his own spot while Sexton is trying to get Greg Bennett to Beijing. This should be a sweet fight!

Team Canada will be decided. 5 Canadians have Part 1 of the Qualifying done (3 women - Carolyn Murray, Kirsten Sweetland, Kathy Tremblay and 2 men - Kyle Jones, Paul Tichelaar) by finishing in the Top 8 so far this year in a World Cup race. By finishing Top 8 on Sunday they are supposed to guarantee themselves a spot in Beijing. What if all 3 women finish in the Top 8? Hmmm, the rules dont really take that into account. So I'm thinking that if you want a spot, you better beat the other Canadians and finish Top 8. I'm predicting Tichelaar will finish in the Top 8, and Sweetland and Murray both making it on the womens side, with Sweetland just outrunning Murray for the automatic spot. We'll see what happens!! There is also room for a "discretionary spot" so athletes who don't make it on Sunday still have some hope. It will be fascinating to see the results but Team Canada should be super-competitive at Beijing.

1,1, DNF, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 3, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2. What the heck? Those are the results the last two years for Vanessa Fernandes. 15 wins in 19 races, including last years Worlds. She is simply amazing. And with Emma Snowsill, her only real competition, not participating at Worlds this week, Fernandes should be a shoo-in for the title on Sunday. And she's still only 22! From the triathlon.org website, here are some numbers on Fernandes...
- Most world cup titles (20) of any ITU triathlete in history
- Has won 10% of all world cups ever staged
- Had made the podium in 77.4% of the world cups she’s entered
- Won 64.5% of the world cups she’s entered
- More world cup titles than all of France and Switzerland combined
- If Fernandes was a country, she’d rank 6th for most world cup wins by a country
- Only triathlete to win at least one world cup for 6 consecutive years (2003-2008)
- One of 3 triathletes (Emma Carney & Brad Beven) to win 6 world cup titles in a single year (all have done it twice)
- Only triathlete to win the same event for 6 straight years (Madrid 2003-2008)
- More European championships than any other athlete (5)
- Last year became the 2nd triathlete to win triathlon and duathlon world championships in the same year (Jackie Gallagher was the first in 1996)
- As an 18-year old, she finished 8th at the 2004 Athens Olympics, making her one of the youngest in the competition
- Introduced to triathlon 1999 by her father Venceslau, a former cyclist and winner of the 1984 Volta a Portugal




Ok, time to make some predictions. On the men's side, my faves for the podium are Whitfield, Gomez, and NZ's Bevan Docherty. But a rising star to watch for is Alistair Brownlee. Only 20, this Great Britain youngster already has two ITU podiums, and won the World Juniors in 2006 before finishing 2nd in 2007. His brother also podiumed yesterday in the World Juniors! Pretty fast family. He looks to follow in the recent successes of British triathletes, including Tim Don, Chrissie Wellington, Leanda Cave, and this year's super-rookie Hollie Avil.

On the women's side, if anyone beats Fernandes, i'd be stunned. But I'm picking Laura Bennett and Ms. Sweetland to round out the podium, just beating out one of the Aussies. We'll see what happens!

Races start at 1 pm on Sunday for the women, 4 pm for the men (Vancouver times). Enjoy the race live on triathlon.org!

Junior Worlds!

This morning Edmonton's Paula Findlay did us proud. Out of the water just behind the leaders, she quickly caught up with a group of 3 other ladies on the bike, leading the chase pack by about 40 seconds thru 2 and a half laps. Unfortunately, she had some bad luck (either flat tire or bike problem) and ended up being swallowed up by the chase pack. Finishing the bike about 55 seconds down, she used her great running (she represented Canada at the World Junior XC Championships) to move up quickly through the field. However, it wasn't meant to be her day on the podium. She finished in 9th place. Kristy McWilliam from Great Britain just dominated the run to become the 2nd straight Brit to win the World Juniors (Hollie Avil won last year and this year should make the Olympic team). An Australian and a Hungarian rounded out the podium.

Congrats to Paula Findlay for a great race today! With a bit more luck she would have been right there at the end.

More updates...

Hi All,

A couple of follow-up items that have been sitting in the inbox a bit too long...

Crazy story out of Mexico, in which a drunk driver apparently fell asleep and crashed into a peloton during a cycling race, killing one cyclist and injuring at least 10 others. If you can't be safe during a race, when can you be? The most remarkable part is that someone was able to take this picture at the moment when the car ran into the cyclists. So sad.



Moving to the Olympics for a second, there was initially some excitement over a Canadian breaking the National 10,000m record and qualifying for Beijing. Alas, due to a lap-counting error, Simon Bairu only ran 9,600m. Whoops. It seems as though too many athletes entered the event (32 runners!) and lap-counters messed up on the counting of laps. So Simon Bairu is not going to represent Canada at the Olympics...too bad for us.

A few more updates on Usain Bolt and his record breaking 100m run this weekend. He is apparently still undecided on running the 100m in Beijing. What is there to decide? It is THE marquee event of the Olympics. He will be there. I can't imagine he lets someone else steal the spotlight by winning gold without a fight.

It's too bad that once Bolt set the 100m record, everyone's first thought is "Is He Clean?" But since sprinting has a longer list of proven cheaters than any sport except maybe Pro Cycling, I guess we have to have some doubts. On one side, Bolt has run the 100m only 5 times in his life. On the other, he was a world junior champion at 15 in the 200m, and his height (6'5") has led him to work almost exclusively as a 200m and 400m runner as a senior. Hmmm. You can read more here, here, and here if you care to know more. And no, i don't just read websites from England, but they obviously care much more about track and field than the North American websites...

One more track note, and this one should come as no surprise. Kenya has another fast runner. Pamela Jelimo who is only 18 years old - ran 1:54:99 for 800m at the first Golden League event in Berlin this weekend. It is only the 5th time she has raced the distance but only 5 women have ever run faster, and is the fastest time in 11 years. She is legit and a future middle distance star. Does anyone know if she has any family members in Canada she wants to come visit?

The last story is a nice one. This weekend it is expected that Sheila Taormina will be named to the US team for modern pentathlon. For those of you who don't know her story, Taormina won a gold medal in 96 as a member of US 4X200m swimming team. Then she became a ITU star, making the podium ten times in World Cup races, then making the US Olympic team in Athens. She then switched focus again, and now, at age 39, is the first athlete since 1936 (and first woman ever) to make 3 Olympics teams in different sports. Amazing. For those of you who have no idea what modern pentathlon is, it is a 1 day competition encompassing shooting, swimming 200m, equestrian, fencing, and a 3000m XC run. I really have no idea how they ever came up with that list. Maybe they could add shotput and trampoline to round it out even more strangely? Anyhow, Taormina is an unbelievable athlete, and here's hoping she does well in Beijing.

See you soon...

Worlds...4 days until the big race...

Hey All,

Well i thought i'd get rolling this week by talking about the schedule of events for ITU Worlds this week in Vancouver. The Junior races go Thursday morning, with AG Sprint races on Friday and AG Olympic races on Saturday before the pros (and the U23's) go on Sunday. The big races are 1 pm and 4 pm Vancouver time on Sunday afternoon, with the women preceding the men as usual.

I will be paying special attention on Thursday to Paula Findlay from Edmonton, who has improved from 13th at 2006 Junior Worlds to 6th at 2007 Junior Worlds. This year? We shall see, but a podium finish is surely within reach. Let's go Paula!

I was shocked to find out that there is NO LIVE TELEVISION coverage...how is this possible? They do have live webcasts but they will only be showing static images with live audio. This is brutal...how does the World Championships have no video? Every single ITU race seems to have video but not Worlds? Hmmmm....

Lots more updates from Vancouver to come this week...check back tomorrow for more, including stories on Vanessa Fernandes, the US vs Russia vs Australia battling it out for the third Olympic spot, and the Canadians trying to qualify for Beijing!

Running faster than anyone ever has...