Countries greatest triathletes

joey100

Slowtwitch have been running a few articles over the last while about the best individual athletes from different countries. I know the site leans more towards Ironman racing and this can be seen in the athletes they chose for a lot of countries. Going for long course winners from the US and Switzerland when I would have though Gwen Jorgenson and Sven Riederer would have been up there. For Ireland they chose Eimear Mullan, but is she better than Gavin Noble or Bryan Keane. I would have thought the competition at ITU level is tougher than at some of the Ironman and Challenge events. Anybody else see the articles, think Mr Kern commented on one of them. I know these things are really hard to decide on too, just curious what other people thought about them.

http://www.slowtwitch.com/Opinion/Top_Triathletes_of_50_Countries_5680.html

http://www.slowtwitch.com/Opinion/Bermuda_to_Czech_Republic_5683.html

http://www.slowtwitch.com/Opinion/From_Denmark_to_Israel__5688.html

http://www.slowtwitch.com/Opinion/Top_Tris_-_Ireland_to_New_Zealand_5693.html

http://www.slowtwitch.com/Opinion/Top_Tris_-_50_Countries_wrap-up_5701.html

mossym

if considering gavin or Bryan, i reckon Aileen Reid has had a more successful ITU career to date than either of those.

joey100

True Mossy and was actually thinking about her too but forgot to put her in!

mossym

aye. no offence to Gavin or Bryan, both of whom i think are fantastic triathletes, had the pleasure off seeing them both do hell of the west on separate years. amazing to see the level they are at when neither of them probably went above 2nd or 3rd gear when rolling home in record breaking times.


Aileen though has delivered a top notch performance in the finals a couple of years back, to do it on a big occasion like that is something special.

Eimear, Slowtwitch always long course biased, so not surprised to see them gravitate there. superb performances in the IM UK races she did, to retain the title is impressive. tough call really.

bopperr

A Reid is our number 1... no doubt about it for me. Top 10 in the world for the last few seasons. No one betters that

bryangiggsy

mossym wrote: »

if considering gavin or Bryan, i reckon Aileen Reid has had a more successful ITU career to date than either of those.

Right don't want to open up a can of worms here but if you are talking success medals yes Aileen is no 1 but greatest triathlete am not so so sure given the massive gulf in depthness between male and female fields. ?

shotgunmcos

bryangiggsy wrote: »

Right don't want to open up a can of worms here but if you are talking success medals yes Aileen is no 1 but greatest triathlete am not so so sure given the massive gulf in depthness between male and female fields. ?

I'd argue that Tri unlike a lot of sports has the depth of competition on the women's side. Not the same but closing. USA, Britain and Australia could field 5 or 6 each for Rio if they were allowed. Bryan Keane, with all due respect, coming 20th of 60 is not even close to Reid getting a podium at a Grand Final

mossym

would agree with Mike. look at the battle for the UK third slot on the womens side. standford and holland are in, and you have stimpson/jenkins basically having to win a one off race to get in, both of who deserve to go. the US have the machine, and a decent backup cast, and that's before you consider sprieg and the like.

sure, on the mens you have the brownlees, and gomez and mola, as well as others, but i don't see that as being hugely more competitive than the womens.

a 3rd place in the grand final is pretty impressive, more so than a result in a standard race where not all the top guys are

bopperr

bryangiggsy wrote: »

Right don't want to open up a can of worms here but if you are talking success medals yes Aileen is no 1 but greatest triathlete am not so so sure given the massive gulf in depthness between male and female fields. ?

this is not womens boxing we are talking about here! There is excellent quality and depth at the top of the womens game.