In the World Triathlon Series, everything is always a question of balance. We’ve noticed over time that the bigger the host city’s international reputation is, the more limitations it has when it comes to offering an original and spectacular race course. Chicago’s Grand Finale which will take place in Grant Park is a perfect example.
The WTS has never been shy to admit it prefers metropoles to host its events as they usually bring more visibility to the sport. However, olympic triathlons in the United States, however big the host city, remains enigmatic. Chicago is likely to suffer the same fate as previous American cities to host WTS events such as Washington and San Diego. We can only point the finger to a cultural incompatibility. For the time being, let’s just be grateful that Chicago has been willing to take us in.
The Race Course?
The race course will prove to be nightmarish for the athletes, but ironically enough, it should be quite interesting for on site spectators since they will be able to see the athletes time and time again on the very same lap.
Specificity is the name of the game…
A race’s result is often influenced by its course since it usually demands certain specificities from the athletes. In the case of this course which includes 5 hairpins per laps (40 over 8 laps), it should prove even more difficult for some of the athletes as their strengths do not all cater to this type of racing. Accelerations will wear many of them down over the course of the race.
The Ol’ Yoyo Phenomenon…
Athletes have a tendency to hang near the back of the pack to conserve energy. In Chicago, however, using this tactic could easily backfire. It’s quite simple : the leaders will be able to make their turns without being impeded by the others while the ones at the back will have to slow down quite a bit entering the turns to give time and room to the ones ahead of them. The result is that they come out of the turn at a much slower speed and will have to generate a much bigger effort to get back up to speed and remain with the group coming out of the turns. That, is the ol’ yoyo phenomenon. It should be even more of a factor in the Junior and U23 categories.
Different Courses For Different Categories. Or Not?
Race courses for Juniors, U23 and Elites have been different over the last few years. As a result, we can never compare times between the categories. We had hoped that Chicago would bring us a change in this recent trend. Sadly, the state of one of the roads forced the organizers to change the course. They appear to all be identical, but they are in fact all different.
The Juniors will see their 4 lap bike circuit slightly lengthened on E Jackson Drive. As for the U23’s and Elites, the difference in their circuit will be on the first lap : the U23’s swim features on long lap instead of two shortened laps (Elites) which means they have two different transition zones.
Luckily, all three categories will be using the same run circuit.
