Ibiza and the T100's Talent Tension

TOGETHER WITH BLUESEVENTY

Good morning everyone,

No profound wisdom this morning - just a bit of housekeeping.

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Happy swimming!

In today’s edition:

• 🎲 Who’s in and who’s out at T100 Ibiza.

• 🧂 The interesting role(s) sodium plays in your body while training.

• 🏊‍♀️ And how to nail your swim stroke timing!

Thanks for being here.

-Matt Sharpe, newsletter editor

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With Key Athletes Absent, T100 Tour Hopes for On-Course Heroics

What is it: This weekend the fifth round of the T100 Triathlon World Tour touches down in Ibiza, Spain. And on the dynamic and honest course series leaders will be looking to pad their leads, while wild cards will be hoping to spoil the party!

Women’s Race

Nice noise: Kat Matthews (GBR), who just last week finished second at the women’s IRONMAN World Championships will be hoping to recover quick after a massive performance.

• Anne Haug (GER), on the other hand, will be fresh and looking for redemption after a devastating flat tire in T1 ended her day in Nice.

Favorites in form: They’ll have stiff competition from recent T100 London winner Ashleigh Gentle (AUS), T100 San Francisco winner Taylor Knibb (USA), and Paula Findlay (CAN) who recently finished in the top 10 at the UCI Time Trial World Championships.

Short course standouts: Recent Olympic silver medalist Julie Derron (SUI), previous gold medalist Flora Duffy (BER), and Taylor Spivey (USA) will be making their T100 debut. And with limited time on their time trial bikes it will be interesting to see how they stack up against some of the best long course athletes!

Men’s race

Contract contenders: The T100 Triathlon Tour has a number of six-figure contracted athletes, many of whom will be looking to take some serious points ahead of the final two races.

• Sam Laidlow (FRA) will be looking to back up July’s impressive T100 London win.

• Martin Van Riel (BEL), the winner of T100 San Francisco in that epic sprint finish will surely be absolutely smashing it from the gun.

• Rico Bogen (GER) should be in the mix at the front of the race after almost taking the win at T100 San Francisco.

• Daniel Bækkegård (DEN) had an impressive third in London and will be looking to move up the podium.

Worthy Wildcards: Although exceptional wildcard, Kyle Smith (NZ), who stands first in the T100 standings won’t be in attendance due to illness, there are plenty of exceptional wildcard athletes who will hope to boogie down on race day, and put their hand up for a contract to next year’s tour.

• Youri Keulin (NED) - the winner of T100 Singapore.

• Mika Noodt (GER) - a consistent athlete who’s is in his best form of the year.

Tempo’s take: Both races will have plenty of action on what is a fairly hilly course. But we won’t just be watching the athletes to see race-defining moves. The officials could play a key role in Ibiza after it was announced that the PTO would be switching up its drafting penalties.

Instead of the previous 5-minute penalty - the athletes will now face:

• First offense - 1 minute penalty

• Second offense - 1 minute penalty

• Third offence - DSQ

And after plenty of online chatter about the lack of enforcement by the PTO, expect the referees to be especially trigger-happy…

Who’s out: Of course, we couldn’t have another T100 event without discussing which of the contracted athletes will be skipping out.

Lucy Charles-Barclay - One of the T100’s marquee athletes, appeared to aggravate a calf injury on the eve of last week’s IRONMAN World Championship in Nice. Would she have missed Ibiza if Nice wasn’t on the table?

Laura Philipp (GER) - The athlete who is currently on top of the triathlon world after her spectacular win in Nice. Wouldn’t it make sense for the PTO to have her on the ground in Ibiza to soak up some of her goodwill?

Magnus Ditlev (DEN) - The perennial T100 podium pick won’t be on the island of Ibiza, but on the big island of Kona this October.

Sam Long (USA) - In a recent YouTube video Long revealed that although the T100 pays the athletes well, his sponsors aren’t exactly thrilled with him focusing on a lesser-known pro triathlon series. So, he’ll be racing at IRONMAN Chattanooga on Sunday, hoping to get a spot for next year’s IRONMAN World Championship in Nice.

• The T100 organization has been quick to improve its broadcast and drafting enforcement. But the ramifications of their contracts most likely won’t be resolved until 2025…

How to watch: Watch in Europe on Eurosport and the rest of the world on the T100 YouTube page. The races begin at 8:00 local time.

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FAVORITES

🏊 Nail your swim timing: Swim technique improvement can be an exercise in frustration as there are so many variables to consider. But this video from Dan Daly provides an incredible visual on how to time your kick with your stroke - which is crucial to staying buoyant! [Dan Daly]

🧂 Serious sodium: Sodium is one of the main electrolytes your body needs to perform in training and racing. But what role does it actually play during exercise? Will it help you absorb fluid better? Or help you prevent cramping? Find out here. [My Sports Science]

💡 Philipp’s process: From only learning to swim at 24 to becoming IRONMAN World Champion at 37. Laura Philipp has had quite the journey, and made great decisions we can all learn from on her road to becoming the best. [Triathlon Magazine]

🤺 Real science, effective training: Steve Magness is a coach of Olympians and an expert in endurance performance. In one of his first YouTube videos he goes deep on the real science behind effective training. The section of progressive overload and advanced training techniques was especially informative! [Steve Magness]

REEL TIME

This is waaayyy too accurate! 😆😭 Time to get back in the gym!

uniq_endurance

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QUICK NEWS

Hats off to Javi: After enjoying one of the most dominant periods of performance the sport has ever seen, including an Olympic silver medal and five World Championships, Javier Gomez announced that he would be retiring at the end of the year.

Champion on many fields: 2016 Olympic gold medalist in Tennis Monica Puig was able to once again push herself to the extreme as she competed at last weekend’s women’s IRONMAN World Championship in Nice! [TRI247]

Triconomic impact: The inaugural edition of IRONMAN 70.3 Tri-Cities was a success on and off the course as it was revealed that the event brought in over 7 million dollars to the communities. [NBC Now]

NCAA triathlon: This weekend some of the best NCAA triathlon teams will gather in Fort Worth, Texas at the Battle of the Fort Triathlon! [Sun Devils]

WEEKEND RACES

World Triathlon WTCS Weihei

An atypically hilly course had the athletes absolutely working to their limit. Alex Yee smashed the field in the men’s race while Lisa Tertsch brought home the gold for Germany.

Full results

IRONMAN Chattanooga

Due to Hurricane Helene, this race has already been turned into a bike/run. Heavy legs like Sam Long and Joe Skipper should thrive. While even without a swim Sarah True should take home the win.

Start lists

IRONMAN 70.3 Augusta

A strong start list that includes recent 70.3 Michigan winners Jackson Laundry (CAN) and Jeannie Metzler (USA).

Start lists

TEMPO EXCLUSIVE ARCHIVE

• How to nail your triathlon training nutrition!

• Yes, Spirulina will make you faster. So will these other (legal) performance enhancers!

• Are you making the four most-common nutrition mistakes?

LATEST EDITIONS

• Philipp prevails at IRONMAN World Championships. And fight inflammation with these 10 foods!

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• Triathlon’s latest doping sanction raises more questions than answers. And the six running mistakes you might be making!