Earlier this week, we asked who would win in a head-to-head between the past three Olympic champions in the men’s and women’s fields.
Of course, it is hard to say exactly what would happen. A myriad of factors, including the exact course and the other athletes on the start line, would influence the outcome. In some instances there may also be an element of recency bias, with the performances of a decade ago now fading in their memorability.
The challenge in any hypothetical race would thus likely come down to who could control the race and find support from other athletes.
Nevertheless, the results were fairly clear-cut. The most popular choices were Flora Duffy in the women’s event and Alistair Brownlee in the men’s.
54% of voters picked Duffy while 39% voted for Gwen Jorgensen. Nicola Spirig received a 7% share.
Meanwhile, an overwhelming 82% voted for Alistair Brownlee. Kristian Blummenfelt and Jan Frodeno tied on 9%.
As the only athlete to defend an Olympic title, Brownlee might just be the best single-day racer we have seen yet. In his peak condition, he would be incredibly difficult to bet against. Notwithstanding their Olympic golds, it feels a little like Frodeno’s and Blummenfelt’s greatest achievements have actually come in the realm of long distance rather than short distance.
Frodeno did not have a short course career comparable to Brownlee. Blummenfelt, too, has only had one great year in short course. In 2021 Blummenfelt won two WTCS races to go with his win in Tokyo, the combination of which earned him his world title. Meanwhile, Brownlee was a leading player in the WTCS for almost a decade. Moreover, the fact that Brownlee was able to ascend to such career heights not once but twice really puts him clear of his fellow Olympic champions.
The outcome of the women’s vote may be the more interesting point. In 2016, Jorgensen had the better of Duffy. Although Duffy repeatedly tried to launch long-range attacks and push the pace on the swim and the bike, Jorgensen always seemed to have the answer.
Still Duffy tried though and the consequence of her tactics was a change in the paradigm of the women’s race. By racing more aggressively, Duffy set the tone for what was to come and now the style of the women’s race is notably different to that of the 2014-2016 era when Jorgensen was so strong.
With Duffy having improved her run drastically in the past few years, a match-up between the two champions would be fascinating. Fortunately, we will get to see this soon as Jorgensen has confirmed her return to triathlon.
Spirig received the smallest vote of the women and perhaps suffered a bit from the slightly contentious way in which her Olympic gold was awarded. Her gold came via a sprint finish that had to be separated only after much deliberation, whereas Duffy and Jorgensen won by comprehensive margins.
That being said, Spirig remains the only woman to have won two individual Olympic triathlon medals and on her day was a dynamic cyclist and runner.
