It depends on the format and length of the races, but for USAT rules I think cyclists make the best triathletes because that is always the longest leg of the event. The bike leg can sway the results more in either direction since it takes about half of the race. By the same thought, swimming is the least important because it is always the shortest leg.

The exception would be in draft legal races which greatly reduce the importance of a cycling background. A strong swim is needed to get into the bike pack, but then you can draft during the majority of the bike. The athletes are packed much closer together going into the run, so being a strong runner is key in those races. But draft-legal races are rare for age group athletes so I'll stick with cycling as being the most important leg.

I think you can have either. It seems like Normann Stadtler is a cyclist, and McCormack was a runner. It seems to me though that the runners have somewhat of an edge. Stadtler is extremely probably a few points beyond what we'd consider "strong on the bike."

I probably make the best Triathlete, but I will have to wait to prove that until my kids grow up.

Swimmers! Ok, I'm a bit biased.

It did take me a while to get the hang of running without injury. That's really more due to my incredibly awful biomechanics that limit me to 20mpw (25 max during a run focus week). But, I use my miles wisely and can run reasonably fast. It also took a while to build strength to bike fast and I still lack a lot of strength there.

Swimmers have the advantage because they have the technique and understand the importance of training technique. A runner or cyclist is likely to approach swimming like they approach their sport - swim lots. Many of them never get it. That doesn't exactly work. If only the swim were a bit longer, we'd leave all the land animals in the dust.

However, there are some pitfalls that swimmers may encounter. Typical swim team training is all high intensity once your technique gets pretty good. Intervals Intervals Intervals. No such thing as LSD. If that approach is applied to running and cycling, overtraining is very likely. The other thing is that swimmers are particularly prone to running injury because we have no experience in weight bearing activity. The mindset that need to be applied is bike and swim for fitness, run to eventually be able to run without injury.

Per Sully and tsilcyc, the answer depends on the format.

LOL I like your take on this question, but I think Mark Allen's Mom and Dad have the edge on you based on current results.

Good luck with your breeding program though. heh.

PoC

For anything over an olympic distance I'd have to say the prize goes to the cyclist. In any short distance the fastest swimmer can get out of the water while barely getting wet and off to the bike before the rest of us get our shoes on. When the distance on the bike is less than 40 miles it's very difficult to reel someone back in even if you're going 2-3 mph faster on average than they are ( if they have 5 or more minutes head start on you ). On the other hand if the distance is HIM to IM, swimmers get less of the advantage and as long as the athlete comes out of the water some place mid pack they're setup for the bike/run.

bikers/runners for long courses - hilly olympic+
swimmers for short - sprint/olympic

:: don't taze me bro ::

Yes indeed!!

The East Germans were the first to realize the potential of steroids and hgh on Olympic swimmers, I bet they or someone else is already conducting a breeding program for triathletes etc.

Remember GoldenGirl, Susan Anton's movie?

Maybe you could get a berth as a stud?
Maybe we could syndicate you, like Seattle Slew, and make some money.
PoC

Susan Anton

for those who didn't know. The premise was that she had been bred for Gold in a eugenics program. Great footage of a non-athlete looking good in hotpants, sort of Hooters meets Personal Best

cf, Mariel Hemingway

another way to interpret "longhair's" question is who would make the best triathlete from a photogenic perspective, in which case I vote for swimmers every time. I mean, compare, l-r below, Jeannie Longo - world's best female cyclist all time, Mizuko Noguchi - 2004 Gold medalist marathoner, and Dara Torres US Gold medalist swimmer(below)

Okay, sorry longhair, don't mean to hijack your thread.

PoC

Thanks for the golden girl photos. Ha, brings back memories when we had quality televison;) At least in "Personal Best" they had some real athletes in there. Wasn't Kenny Moore one of the stars? He was a top notch Olympian.

As far as the question goes, I think a long time swimmer with a huge aerobic engine has an advantage. Swimming is the most difficult sport to master. If a swimmer has the appropriate running biomechanics it can become a scary combination.
I had the opportunity to train with Scott Molina a few weeks ago. This guy is incredible. He was a fast AG swimmer, 16 min 1500, and by 15, was running 120 miles a week. That's the kind of guy who is going to excel, and he did!!