What Does Lionel Sanders Need To Do To Compete At Arena Games Triathlon Montreal?

Just what does it take to excel at Arena Games Triathlon powered by Zwift? And what kind of performance level will Lionel Sanders need to hit in order to compete in Montreal?

They are the big questions heading into the World Championship Series opener on Saturday, so we asked data man Graeme Acheson to break down the keys to success in Super League’s unique hybrid format.

Transitions

For example, a good swimmer, biker or runner can perhaps make up 10 seconds (at most) on the rest of the field if they really pushed hard. However, a good transition can easily gain 8 seconds, without the lung busting effort! 

Justus Nieschlag is the best transitioner we have seen, while Alex Yee and Marten Van Riel are also good transitioners in the men’s field. Aurelien Raphael, who is racing in Montreal, is usually athletically very close to the top guys, but loses out on transition.

It should be noted that all but Nieschlag are a very distant second to Beth Potter. She was 12 seconds faster in total than Georgia Taylor-Brown in 2022, who was the next fastest woman.

Swim

Raphael and Max Stapley are the joint fastest swimmers in AG history with 2:02s. The average male time is around 2:16. Lionel Sanders says he is looking at possibly 2:25 as a 200m pb. So the gap to the front of the race could feasibly be around 20 seconds.

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2:12 is the women’s swim record set by Jess Learmonth in 2020 in Rotterdam, but matched by Lucy Charles-Barclay in London in 2021. Average swim time is usually around 2:22.

Bike

Generally the men averaged around 5 w/kg on the bikes last time out, although Jeremy Briand, who goes into Montreal as a home favourite, set the highest power output last year, and the fastest bike split, at 5:08 and a truly monstrous 6.2w/kg. This is the first time we’ve seen anyone put out over 6 w/kg in a race. His split of 5:08 was over 10 seconds faster than anyone else. The average male time is around 5:30-5:35.

Beth Potter hit the highest power last year, reaching a peak average of 5.2 w/kg in the first stage of the final. This equals the record of 5.2w/kg set by Jess Learmonth in Rotterdam ‘20. The average power output for the women is around 4.1w/kg, with a time of 5:50-6:00.

Run

Alex Yee holds the fastest run time, set in London last year (2:34). However, plenty of men ran quickly last year, with Justus Nieschlag, Takumi Hojo, Briand, Stapley and Simon Henseleit all running 2:41 or quicker at some point of the day. The average male time is around 2:50.

Cassandre Beaugrand set the fastest run splits for the women last year, recording an average run time of 2:52. However, Potter also dipped under the magical 3 minute barrier with a 2:58 in the final. The average time for women is around 3:10 for the run.