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Grinaker and Parish Are "Triathletes of the Year!" ...

Sunday, 08 December 2019 23:10

MINNESOTA MULTISPORT HONORS – Today we reveal our final honors category, arguably the most prestigious one: “2019 Triathlete of the Year.”

Female TOY Nominees: GABY BUNTEN, HANNA GRINAKER, CATHY YNDESTAD, BECKY YOUNGBERG

2019 Female Triathlete if the Year – HANNA GRINAKER

Hanna won all four of the multis she finished in 2019, though one of those was an aquabike, the performance standards of which are still unestablished. Two of her three triathlon efforts earned POY nominations, one of which won the honor. The non-nominated performance, her win at Ironman Canada 70.3, also received serious POY discussion.

Because her resume had limited volume, and included a DNF, one of the Selectors favored Becky Youngberg for TOY, noting that her resume also featured three wins, all of which were part of the POY discussion, but also included four other podium finishes in major races.

In the end, the majority of the Committee leaned heavily on Hanna's POY-earning 2^ndUS amateur finish at the Hawaiian Ironman World Championships, believing it overrode the “volume” comparison. Bolstering this argument was the fact that Grinaker handily beat Youngberg in their only head-to-head confrontation in 2019 (Buffalo Olympic).

Male TOY Nominees: JOSH BLANKENHEIM, SEAN COOLEY, JOSH MORK, PATRICK PARISH

2019 Male Triathlete of the Year – PATRICK PARISH

While Hanna's selection wasn't quite a slam-dunk, Patrick's was. Parish, whose career resume now boasts 40 multisport wins and eight national titles, was not beaten by a fellow Minnesotan in 2019. Two of his three tri wins (he won two dus, too) were in our state's most competitive races (Minneapolis Olympic and Heart of the Lakes).