Triathlon - olympic drafting

I understand that drafting is now allowed in the ITU triathlon series for the elites. Does this apply for the olympics as well? Does this then change the situation for triathletes who may not be accustomed to riding in a pack -in countries where this is not allowed. I have noticed, watching the Iowa ITU race, that most of these triathletes dont ride closely in the pack and they dont work well together (ie. take turns).

I watched the iowa race, and they are terrible at drafting. They looked like the didn't even have a rudimentary knowledge of group racing.
During that Iowa race if 3 guys were to get together and work well, they'd have run off and left the rest of those guys.

The elites have been draft legal for several years now. Along with that, the junior elite races are also draft legal. The races I have seen - they know what they are doing.

Triathlon in The Olympics has always been draft legal.

I would add that the drafting in most of the ITU races is usually pretty good. In fact, I find those races pretty boring. The key is to be a good enough swimmer so you can get into the main cycling pack and wheel suck for the whole ride, then have a great run. Draft legal pretty much marginalizes the cycling leg IMO.

Draft legal pretty much marginalizes the cycling leg IMO.

It doesn't help for really strong swimmer like Andy Pott either. There's no point coming out of the water first when a whole pack of riders will eventually catch up to you.

how about keeping fresh while in the pack...saving energy for the run? Isnt it an advantage to wheelsuck and just try to recover and save your legs for the run? I noticed that there are quite a few guys who do that and the minority of people do the work. There might be like 4 or 5 guys who take really long turns to chase down a break.

I watched the iowa race, and they are terrible at drafting. They looked like the didn't even have a rudimentary knowledge of group racing.
During that Iowa race if 3 guys were to get together and work well, they'd have run off and left the rest of those guys.

Yeah, and most of 'em were on standard road bikes with aero bars, as opposed to TT style bikes! :wtf:

From my perspective, that format is a travesty. Non-ITU triathlons forbid drafting for very good reasons. Allowing drafting takes a lot out of the competition, and makes the bike leg more or less superfluous.

It doesn't help for really strong swimmer like Andy Pott either. There's no point coming out of the water first when a whole pack of riders will eventually catch up to you.

I suppose...but the pure swimmers get their butts kicked in non-drafting events too. :innocent:

I suppose...but the pure swimmers get their butts kicked in non-drafting events too. :innocent:

Yes, no one can win on swim alone. But Andy Potts is not just a pure swimmer though. He could bike and run with the best by winning many non-drafting events from Olympic distance to half IM. It'd be interesting to see how well he does in full IM at Kona this year.

Yeah, I know...I was just trying to stir things up :D

Yeah, and most of 'em were on standard road bikes with aero bars, as opposed to TT style bikes! :wtf:

Because you don't want a group of cyclists with bar end shifters drafting. TT bikes are illegal for ITU racing. Your aerobars also can't extend past the end of the brake hoods.

...Draft legal pretty much marginalizes the cycling leg IMO.

+1

I hate it.