- What's up Trainiacs.
With 2018 coming to an end I've started thinking about
which pro triathletes had the best season.
So we are going to go through our annual three best male
and three best female triathletes
over the course of the 2018 season.
There might be some surprises in there
and there might be some letdowns
that I was hoping we could fit in more females
from the ITU circuit but didn't happen.
Anyway, today here it is, best pro triathletes of 2018.
(energetic electronic music)
Alright, let's get into the best pro triathletes
over the course of the 2018 season.
Now, there is nothing official about it.
Frankly, I just start thinking and going back
in to some of the bigger races,
the more competitive races and I'm sure you have
opinions on all these so whether you agree with them or not,
let me know what you think of this list
in the comments below and who you think
were the best pro triathletes of the year.
So let's get into this starting with
the third best male triathlete of the year.
In my opinion, that was Terenzo Bozzone.
Now, he started off 2018 winning
and setting a course record at the IRONMAN New Zealand,
going 7:59:57 on a course that is known
for being very, very slow.
He then went on to rattle off three wins in three weeks
at very competitive half IRONMAN races
being Bariloche, Campeche, then Busselton.
Unfortunately then, Terenzo's season was sidelined
when he was swiped by a car in a hit and run,
nearly losing his life.
But what solidified why this is
the third best season of the year is
because when Terenzo came back,
just at the end of November, he still won.
He won half IRONMAN Western Sydney
and this wasn't a duck of a race.
He went up against the fifth place finisher
at Half IRONMAN Worlds, Sam Appleton,
who is a phenomenal racer and Terenzo still won
showing just have fit he was this year,
even after being sidelined for five months.
So, congratulations to Terenzo.
Looking forward to seeing what you can do
with a, hopefully, crash free 2019.
Now, let's get into the third best female of 2018
and I think that that was Anne Haug.
Since she has stepped up to the longer distance races,
she has been on a tear in half IRONMAN's
and she started off the year just like she ended 2017,
winning Half IRONMAN Oceanside
against some of the stiffest competition of the year.
You ever heard of triathletes like Holly Lawrence?
Maybe Heather Jackson?
Maybe Jeanni Seymour?
Maybe Sarah True?
Well, Anne Haug beat all of them in Half IRONMAN Oceanside.
She then debuted at the long distance
IRONMAN distance races,
coming into Frankfurt only placing fourth.
And at this point, I was thinking
well maybe she has a lot to learn at the full distance races
with Sarah Crowley, Sarah True,
that was her first full distance race,
but it seems to be like that performance
going into Frankfurt might have just been
holding back a little so that she can come out
and have the best end of the season
of anyone besides the next two best women on this list.
Anne Haug went to Half IRONMAN Worlds,
clocking the best run, finishing third.
Then went to IRONMAN Kona, clocking the best run,
finishing third again, showing that
she had lots left in the tank
and there was no fade in her whatsoever.
I think she might just need to get some
bike miles in her legs to see what she can really do.
She is small, she is very light, she is an excellent runner.
All things that put her in contention
of being a really serious threat to win Kona someday.
The position of the second best overall male,
I'm gonna give it to Mario Mola,
the Spanish running sensation lit it up on the ITU circuit
with wins in Montreal, Edmonton, Hamburg and Yokohama.
Now if you follow ITU racing at all,
you know how utterly competitive these races are
and if you are off just the slightest little bit,
you aren't gonna win.
If you don't have the depth of fitness enough
to race week after week after week
with travel on top of it, you aren't gonna win.
And to see just how dominant Mario Mola was,
seeing his year end points total being
1500 points ahead of the second place male
when second, third and fourth were all
just separated by 150 points
shows a lot of serious dominance.
Of the races that Mario Mola didn't win,
his average finish about 2.4.
Pretty, pretty good.
The position of second best overall female,
I got to give it to Lucy Charles.
I think that she had an incredible breakout year,
even more than 2017 where she came out
and did phenomenally in Kona
but this was a year where from start to finish
she established herself as probably
the next best triathlete out there in the world
and that might even be at the shorter ITU distance.
We just don't know because Great Britain
won't actually let her race the ITU distance.
So she started out the year,
winning Full IRONMAN South Africa.
She won Challenge Samorin.
She went second in Challenge Roth
and then on top of that she came in
to the most competitive fields of the year
being the World Championships and not only
did she place second in both Half IRONMAN
and Full IRONMAN World Championships,
she placed second only in behind Daniela Ryf
and was well ahead of the rest of the field.
Two and a half minutes ahead of Anne Haug
in Half IRONMAN Worlds.
Five and a half minutes a head of Anne Haug in IRONMAN Kona.
She was obviously dominant out of the water as she always is
but that bike fitness seems to be coming along slowly
and she's holding off Ryf more and more
with every race that she gets into
and her run seems to be improving more and more
every quarter or so.
So I got to say, she's probably
the next biggest thing to be in triathlon.
She already is, she's it.
Now the greatest male triathlete of 2018,
it might surprise you that it doesn't go to
Patrick Lange, our World Champion.
I have to give it Jan Frodeno.
Nobody throughout the course of the year
on the men's circuit, whether it was ITU Triathlon
or Half IRONMAN Triathlon or a Full IRONMAN Triathlon,
struck fear into the heart of competitors
like Jan Frodeno did and with the performance
that he put out in Half IRONMAN Worlds, rightfully so.
That may go down in history
as the greatest Half IRONMAN ever,
perhaps the greatest triathlon race ever.
For him to do a 3:36 on that course,
which was not a fast course and run a 1:06 half marathon,
that is one of the best performances
of any triathlete in history.
So dominant that it shook Lionel Sanders to the core,
made him cry and doubt whether he would
ever be able to beat Jan Frodeno.
In addition to that, Jan won Oceanside
against Lionel Sanders earlier in the year.
And albeit it, it wasn't a really big dogfight
in IORNMAN Frankfurt, he also won IRONMAN Frankfurt,
capturing the European title.
If it weren't for that stress fracture in his hip,
we may have seen one of the greatest peaked athletes
to ever race triathlon.
He was incredible this year and that performance
just went to show how fit he got
and how close he came to the edge,
suffering that stress fracture.
So you might be saying, well hey Taren,
you gotta be able to finish to come out on top.
So, if you have a better idea
for who is the best male triathlete of the year,
I want to hear that below.
Now let's get into the best female triathlete of the year
and that should be no surprise to anyone, it's Daniela Ryf.
If I were to say anything else besides Daniela Ryf,
Daniela Ryf, Daniela Ryf for the best female triathlete,
if not...You know what I will say,
the best triathlete start to finish of 2018,
male or female, hands down.
Now while Jan may have been
the best triathlete at a point in time,
having the best race at a point in time,
Daniela Ryf won IRONMAN Kona in a record breaking time,
she became the first female, or male I think,
to win four Half IRONMAN World Championships in 4:01,
she set the Half IRONMAN distance female world record
going 3:57 in Gdynia, she won IRONMAN Frankfurt,
placing seventh overall even amongst the men,
top that off with a win at Half IRONMAN Zurich
and she was the most dominant triathlete of the year.
Basically when people would say,
who do you think is going to win this?
It wasn't even a question that Daniela Ryf
was going to come in.
It was basically, how far into the men's field
is she going to get?
And who is even going to be able to try to tangle with her?
So a few things come out of this
that lead to discussion that I really do want
to hear about from you in the comments below.
One, unfortunately there were no real
ITU female athletes that stood out.
Katie Zaferes was on top of the points list
but it's not like she really won a whole lot
or was dominant, she was just kind of
the most consistently good
and while there were a lot of athletes
that did have good performances
Radke Vodickova, Mirinda Carfrae, Sarah True,
all of these athletes having
good performances here and there.
I don't think there was anyone as good
as our women's world championship podium
in both Half IRONMAN and Full IRONMAN distance.
If there is somebody else, I'd like to hear that below.
And then also, it was unfortunate
that we didn't get to see just how fit Jan Frodeno could be.
My question to you is,
do you think that he would have beat Patrick Lange?
Also, I think Cody Beals deserves an honorable mention
for winning his first two full IRONMAN distance races.
I think a lot of people deserve honorable mentions here
and I want to hear from you,
who I missed out and who you think should be on this list.
Let me know all of your thoughts in the comments below.
This should be a fun little comment section.
Congratulations to all the racers.
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Mix it up.
Later Trainiacs.