When the cannon sounds in Melbourne on Sunday morning, hang on because it’s going to be a fast race.
While it’s an inaugural event - so the course is untested and the weather may prove a challenge, there’s every reason to expect the pro women to set a blistering pace.
The pro women’s field is one of the deepest ever outside of Kona for reasons I wrote about in an ironman.com story several weeks ago: In short, prize money and Kona qualifying points.
The ‘other other’ reason is because there are seven Sub Nine Ironwomen in the field, including the world’s second fastest pro woman, Australian Rebekah Keat.
Who else is among the speed demons?
There’s Mirinda Carfrae, Leanda Cave, Gina Crawford, Belinda Granger, Jessica Jacobs and Jo Lawn.
Each of these women has shown that they have the ability to dominate a race.
I have argued that with Chrissie Wellington taking this year off, we should expect a number of records. It’s a reference to a belief that a dominant athlete tends to lead rivals to compete below their potential.
There’s no doubt that the level of competitiveness within the pro field is rising. It’s great for the sport, especially in Australia, the birthplace to many of the sports most accomplished athletes for the last two decades.
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