One of the main talking points ahead of the World Cup races in Rome and Brasilia was the presence of Jason West.
The American athlete previously raced in short course triathlon however he traded it in for the longer distances a couple of years ago. Earlier this season, he won medals at the PTO Asian Open and PTO US Open and has made a name for himself as one of the fastest runners in the middle distance realm.
In light of his PTO success, the question was open to be asked as to how he would translate it in the shorter formats.
The intrigue of West’s presence was further heightened by his talk of wanting to claim a place on the 2024 US Olympic team. Both World Cup events offered points towards the Olympic qualification rankings and served as opportunities to put himself in the selection shop window.
In his first international short distance race in three and a half years, West finished 39th in Rome. Over the Sprint distance affair, he lost almost half a minute to the leaders in the water and conceded further ground on the bike. However, on the run he rallied with a 15:03 split over the 5km.
The leading split was shared by Vasco Vilaca and Arnaud Mengal (14:26) as they hunted the win. Racing much further down the field, West did not have quite the same dynamic to draw out the same kind of speed. Nevertheless, it represented a solid return.
Having tried his hand at the Sprint distance, next up came the Olympic distance in Brasilia.
This time, he limited his losses in the swim to under 20 seconds. Yet he subsequently lost a minute on the bike as the lead group pulled away from his chase pack.
Again, though, he bounced back on the run. He crushed the second fastest split of the day (32:29) to rise through the field to 5th.
Before Rome, his last World Cup came in 2019, where he finished 13th in Lima. Prior to that, he had recorded a best World Cup finish of 6th; he achieved that in 2018 in both Lausanne and Sarasota.
As such, West’s Brasilia performance was the best of his career.
In terms of pure racing, then, West has shown his abilities and vulnerabilities in equal measure in his two displays. While his running is formidable, he has not quite cracked the change in style on the bike. Being used to non-draft cycling, the shift to draft-legal racing has seen him lose time at both events.
Overall, West can be more than satisfied with his return, especially with a personal best finish.
Indeed, his 5th place will likely entice him to continue his short course experiment. Two questions thus need to be asked. How far will West’s test go and can he make the Olympic team?
The two questions are interlinked in many respects. At 30 years old, he might not be around for the 2028 Olympic cycle which could make 2024 his last shot. Equally, with the next Games being a home one for Americans in Los Angeles, he could stick around.
Whether he chooses to also pursue Los Angeles will also influence the extent to which he tries to race in the short course world.
Looking to 2024, it will be a stern challenge for West to make the American Olympic team. As things stand, America is in line to earn two men’s slots at the Games.
To get a third, they will need to put a third man inside the top-30 of the Olympic qualification rankings. As things stand, Matthew McElroy is the only man in the top-30, although Morgan Pearson and Seth Rider are in the top-50. Realistically, though, a third slot is not the likeliest outcome.
Of the two likely slots, one has already been allocated. Morgan Pearson earned the first with his performance at the Paris Olympic Test Event.
As a result, it will be West versus the rest of the American squad for the final place.
With both the Paris Test Event and the WTCS Final in Pontevedra concluded, two of the three US selection races has passed. One selection race is yet to come; it will be an Olympic distance WTCS to be confirmed in 2024. Logically speaking, the options are either WTCS Cagliari or WTCS Yokohama, both of which will be in May.
To secure an Olympic place, West or another man will need to medal at the designated selection race. However, outside of Pearson, the last American man to medal was McElroy back in 2019. Although it could happen, recent history therefore does not suggest that any of the American men will medal.
Even then, it is not certain that West would get onto the start list of the selection race. With so few points towards his world ranking, his only way in will be a substitution. That is to say, another American man will need to be entered and then switched out for West.
The American women have done that for Katie Zaferes this year. That being said, Zaferes is a former world champion and reigning Olympic bronze medallist. By contrast, the men entered might not want to give up their shot at qualifying for the Olympics.
The question of how far West wishes to pursue short distance racing thus becomes pertinent. If he wants to race in the WTCS, numerous steps and races will be required.
Should no one medal at the selection race, the American selectors will fill any remaining slots on a discretionary basis. Most significantly, the priority shifts to the Mixed Team Relay.
A new question emerges here. Can West drop from long distance triathlon to a Super Sprint as part of a relay? If he can make the jump, it remains to be seen whether he would add any more value that the current roster of American men.
The likes of Rider have been important relay players in the past few years. Furthermore, Rider and others have literally qualified the American relay. A case could be made that they will not be jettisoned at the last minute.
There are some performance guidelines for a discretionary pick. A WTCS top-8 finish or how an athlete has fared in Super Sprint races (which could help the relay) will be viewed favourably.
Notably, McElroy has a top-8 result. He finished 8th at WTCS Abu Dhabi this year. Moreover, West has no evidence of performing in Super Sprint distance events to point to. By contrast, both McElroy and Rider raced at WTCS Hamburg which used the Super Sprint eliminator format.
All in all, then, West has an uphill battle on his hands. Part of the problem is that he has left his move too late in the game to make a big enough splash to turn the heads of the selectors.
He likely won’t get onto WTCS start lists in the near future and has no recent relay experience. For those two reasons alone, his 2024 Olympic hopes are a long shot. As much as he impressed in Brasilia, just has he has in the longer form of triathlon, when it comes to the Olympic Games in 2024, he may have left his charge too late.
To look at the bigger picture, though, while West may not qualify in 2024, he could set himself up for a tilt at the 2028 Olympic Games. In that regard, the question is not whether he can qualify for the Olympics but how much of his remaining career he is willing to devote towards making it.
