Athletes head to Oceanside for the biggest race of the season so far. It will be the first chance to see several top athletes in action and features the long awaited return of Jan Frodeno. Will he kick off his return with a big win in California? Lionel Sanders has ruled himself out after struggling with illness since Clash Miami.

Men’s Contenders

Sam Long – he kicked off his season in Miami where he rode the fastest time of the day but didn’t have the fitness on the run to make the podium. He will benefit from the longer bike and run in Oceanside but the swim will be crucial as the race could already be up the road.

Jason West – dominated on the run in Miami to take the win. This is a performance that will have athletes worried about him on the run. He swam well in Miami and recovered from dropping his chain to run through the field to take the win. Another good swim and a smooth bike will set him up to be a threat for the podium.

Ben Kanute – Kanute finshed the 2022 season on fine form, finishing 2nd at the IM 70.3 World Championships and 3rd at IM Arizona three weeks later. With the calibre of the field for Oceanside I have to assume he is focused on opening his season here with a strong level of fitness. He will swim with the front and look to replicate his 70.3 world champs where he rode with the leaders and then had a great run.

Léo Bergere – he comes into this year as the reigning short course world champion, but having only raced one middle distance race before it will be interesting to see how he stacks up. He won IM 70.3 Lanzarote last year, beating now top 10 ranked athletes Leon Chevalier and Florian Angert. He is a strong all round athlete so expect to see him swim front pack, ride with the leaders and challenging for the win on the run.

Jan Frodeno – makes his return from injury in Oceanside. His only race last year finished with a DNF at Challenge Roth. Fingers crossed that nine months on he will be fully fit and back racing at a top level. It shows his level of greatness that he hasn’t finished a race since the 2021 Collins Cup but is still the likely favourite here.

Others to keep an eye on
Jackson Laundry – returns to Oceanside after taking a surprise win in 2022. He performed well in Indian Wells to close out his season and really pushed Sam Long on the bike and the run.

Miki Taagholt – with a good swim he should be able to stick with the front pack and be in with a chance with riding with the leaders. He will hope to replicate his performance in 2021 where he came 2nd to Ben Kanute.

George Goodwin – another athlete making their return to racing. Goodwin raced twice early last year, finishing 7th at IM 70.3 Mallorca and a DNF at IM 70.3 Marbella. His fitness is an unknown coming into this race but it will be great to see him back racing.

Preview
This is the best field of the year so far with a strength of start list of 40%. The SOF is only 84.8 which is lower than Clash Miami. The SOF does not account for Bergere and Frodeno due to their lack of ranking. As this is a silver tier race, the position points reduce by 8% meaning it is more important to place higher compared to higher ranked races.

With the strength of swimmers in the field the race will be split very quickly. Frodeno, Kaunte and Bergere are all contenders that will swim with the front. West typically loses time to Kanute in the water but he swam really well in Miami and could set himself up for a great race if he can do the same in Oceanside. Long typically lose 2-3 minutes to Kanute in the water so could find himself with a lot of work to do on the bike and no one to do it with.

Depending on how Frodeno is feeling he may want to push the bike early to break apart the field or he could chose to work with Kanute and Bergere to try and maintain the gap back to the chasers. Expect to see Long work his way through the field, closely followed by Jackson Laundry. If West can’t follow the leaders on the bike then he’ll likely get swept up by the other chasers.

I’m expecting Frodeno and Bergere to come into T2 close together and they could be joined by Kanute if he rides well. I think this front three will have enough of an advantage off the bike to battle it out for the podium. Despite his short course success, Bergere is still somewhat of an unknown over the middle distance. However his one race in Lanzarote shows he can run well off a tough bike, posting a 1:10:55. In spite of this it still feels hard to bet against Jan Frodeno even when he hasn’t raced in so long. I’m betting on the fact that he has had plenty of time to build into this race and will want to make a statement on his return.
1. Jan Frodeno
2. Léo Bergere
3. Ben Kanute