If you want to find the last time either Vincent Luis or Márk Dévay did not lead out the swim at a WTCS race, you would have to go back to Hamburg in 2021. That day, only Takumi Hojo of Japan was able to beat Dévay out of the water and he did so by a solitary second.
For the better part of two years, Luis and Dévay have been close to untouchable in the water. Even when there have been small wobbles, such as Dévay’s first lap at WTCS Cagliari, they have still come through. (It will not surprise you to learn that Dévay ended up with the fastest swim split in Cagliari).
Armed with the knowledge that they are the fastest swimmers on the circuit, there is an important question to ask. How do they train?
Fortunately for triathlon fans and those aspiring to lead the field into T1, we can answer that question in this article.
As to be expected, Dévay is no stranger to knocking out some classic distance sets. One particular session he noted was 3x(10×100 freestyle). In that session, he would swim the first round with “turtles” on a 1:30 turnaround. The second round would be off 1:25 without equipment and then the third round would be with paddles and leaving on around 1:20-1:25.
“I would do most of my sets with equipment,” explained Dévay. When it comes to equipment, though, the most pressing question is what are turtles.
A Hungarian invention, as per Dévay, they are named as such as they are made in the “shape of a turtle and make you swim slow”. For a better idea of what the device looks like, take a look at the image below.
Beyond the frequent use of equipment, there were two additional points that stood out about Dévay’s training. His sessions are built simply. He gets his warm-ups done quickly, with the use of a couple of drills but nothing too extensive. The bulk of the session is taken up by the main set (such as the 30×100) and then he finishes with a quick cool down.
Dévay is coached by his father and the sessions are tight and to the point. In addition, from a distance perspective, he seldom hits 5km in a session. Instead, his “base” comes from elsewhere. The work in the pool, then, is designed primarily around race tolerance with work in and around threshold levels to cover the 1500m swim (or 750m as it may also be) as efficiently as possible.
By contrast, the two-time world champion Vincent Luis takes a different approach.
Whereas Dévay is a big proponent of paddles and turtles, Luis noted that his group never swims fast with equipment. Rather, “all our fast sets are done swimming”.
In Luis’ set-up sessions are a maximum of 5.5km, which is slightly higher than Dévay but not an significant increase, giving the Frenchman a weekly total in the region if 25-30km over the course of six swims.
Another slight difference can be found in the construction of the sessions. Dévay’s approach is simpler, preferring to crack on with the session at hand, including perhaps two drills in the warm up. In Luis’ group, the athletes are free to do whatever they want for the warm up.
“I like to do at least 25% of it as drills and 25% as a different stroke than freestyle,” said Luis. His warm-ups, then, are a little longer and a little more varied than his Hungarian counterpart. Similarly, Luis also tends to utilise more of a secondary set between the main set and the warm down which tend to be more focused on pulling and swimming with paddles.
When it comes to the sessions themselves, below you will find three sessions from Luis’ recent training camp.
Friday June 9th 5.4km
1.6km warm up
24×100 on 1’30 as 1 easy – 2 steady – 3 solid
Avg : 72” – 67” – 63”
800 pull paddles (9’45) on 10’15
400 pull paddles (4’40)
200 cool down
Tuesday June 13th 5km
1.6km warm up
3x:
(3×100 solid on 1’30
200 steady on 2’50
3×50” solid on 55”
250 easy)
Average paces for the main set:
set 1 : 64” – 2’17 – 31”
Set 2 : 63” – 2’16 – 30”
Set 3 : 63” – 2’15 – 29”
2×400 pull paddles as 1 cruise (4’40) – 1 neg split (4’25 (2’15/2’10) on 5’
200 cool down
Friday June 16th 4.5km
1.6km warm up
12×50 as 2 solid – 1 easy on 50” (avg 30”)
100 easy
10×50 as 3 solid – 1 easy on 55” (avg 29”)
100 easy
8×50 “solid” on 60” (avg 28”)
200 easy
3×200 pull cruise on 2’50 (avg 2’25”)
200 cool down
The above sessions were all done long course metres and at altitude (1850m to be precise). You will see that Luis still uses paddles; the difference comes in how and when he uses them.
For the swimmer looking to break into the front of the World Series, there are a couple of takeaways to learn from the current best in the world.
To start with, the classic threshold work of 100s on a short interval remain a staple of the elite scene. There is realistically no escape from the tyranny of plowing up and down the pool. Moreover both Luis and Dévay tackle such sessions at speeds above that of race pace.
Classic aerobic work, though, is not the only piece of the puzzle. In that respect, Luis’ use of fast 50m intervals are important to note.
“Get out” speed has become a crucial element of the swim at the elite level and is often overlooked in favour of distance.
At the end of last year, Hayden Wilde identified that a lack of such speed was holding him back in the first discipline and moved to address his vulnerability. Although he felt he had the fitness to contend in the water, his speed deficit was putting him into trouble and often forcing him to fight in the midfield around buoys.
To be at the front, an athlete does not simply need to be able to sit at a fast average pace; they require an extra gear to take on the full challenge of the swim.
Furthermore it is worth paying attention to how Luis’ fast sessions are spaced throughout the week. Not every session has to be a super effort at race pace or better. With a lighter physical toll than running, it can sometimes be easy to fall prey to the assumption that more work in the pool will exact a lesser toll. However that is rarely the case.
In Luis’ training insight, he had three harder sessions across eight days. Quality, rather than quantity, therefore remains as important as ever. Swimming will always be one piece of a larger puzzle in triathlon and with time at a premium, well-spaced high level sessions can pay more dividends that mindlessly churning out metres.
When it comes to the swim, Dévay and Luis are the two best exponents in the sport right now but their example can easily be transferred. Even with the small insight into their work above, there are plenty of lessons that triathletes of all levels can absorb.
At the same time, there is a large concentration of men gathering behind the two swim leaders in the WTCS. Although the Hungarian and the Frenchman remain on top, the rest of the world are closing in on them.
