1989 Triathletes Of The Year

I’ve already looked at the 1986 and 1988 Triathletes Of the Year. So here’s 1989. Mark Allen this time. And Erin Baker again. Both raced 10 times and won 10 times that season. Note that Triathlete Magazine’s most important criteria when making their selections was:

Performance at major international events of all distances.

There’s a bit of a renaissance of this. Knibb, Iden, Charles-Barkley. Blummenfeld. After many years of elite athlete specialisation.

I’m definitely going to have the Best Season Ever debate on here one day. Mark Allen’s and Erin Baker’s seasons below are contenders.

I also rate Simon Lessing’s and Karen Smyers’s 1995 seasons. Lessing won short-course worlds, long-course worlds and the Iron Tour. Smyers did the short-course worlds / Kona double. Like Allen in 1989.

Images: Triathlete (USA) March 1990