2024 Slowtwitch Awards: Product of the Year

Well, now that we’ve finished our Athletes of the Year series, we figured it would be fun to come up with a “Product of the Year” to add to the mix, too. 

Kevin: Ryan, in addition to your thoughts, let’s bring Eric Wynn into the discussion, too – I think he has some very strong feelings on this subject.

I’m not sure if we need to have any specific parameters for this topic, other than it should be endurance sport oriented, and available in 2024. I don’t think said product necessarily needs to have been released in 2024, that way we can take into consideration products that might have been launched in 2023, but weren’t widely available until last year. 

Ryan: I think that makes sense – if a product “launched” in 2023 but was largely unavailable to the general public until 2024, I think that fits our criteria.

Kevin: To get started, here are a few products that caught my attention in 2024 that I would happily throw into the mix: 

There were a few bike launches that caught my attention last year. Cervelo’s new P5 is a great ride, and innovative in a particularly “Cervelo way” – the big changes were around comfort and adjustability. The new P-Series was probably more of a breakthrough – it really is all the bike most triathletes could ever need for a lot less money. In that vein, Argon 18’s new E117 was another mid-range bike that offered a ton of high-end features. You can add Factor’s new Slick and Van Rysel’s new XCR to that “lot of bike for the money” group. My guess is that none of these will fit the bill as our award winner – the bike world seems to move in such tiny increments these days. 

One product that was released in 2023 that remained almost impossible to find for much of 2024 was Profile Design’s 43 ASC Carbon Extensions. (The company added the 52 ASC last year that offers an “increased grip angle.”) For $300 you got the extra support and aero features seen in bars with a much, much higher price tag, which is no-doubt why they were in such demand. A more affordable way to get into the world of the aero-cockpit was hugely appreciated by many in the sport.

On the electronics front, there’s been a lot going on over the last few years. The Apple Watch Ultra has been a game changer for many, allowing serious triathletes to track their training with a smartwatch that does all they want on that front. There were no changes to the Ultra last year, but the new Apple Watch Series 10 offers almost all the same features for half the price, making it a viable option for triathletes who aren’t gearing up for a full-distance race. I haven’t had a chance to play with Garmin’s Fenix 8, but that AMOLED screen with decent battery life sure looks good.

I’ve purposely left out a few categories here, knowing full well that you’ll have some running shoe options to throw out, Ryan. Eric, I’ll let you throw your two-cents in, too!

Eric: I think the most important product of the year is FORM Swim 2.0.

As triathletes, what do we struggle with the most? Outside of the overall price tag of the sport of triathlon, it’s the swim. The swim is by far the biggest hurdle of the three disciplines we have when it comes to getting and keeping athletes in the sport. It’s the least natural thing for the masses to wrap their heads around. And it takes the most consistent effort to become and stay efficient in. It’s the biggest problem we see when it comes to safety in the sport.

What I love about the FORM goggles is that it’s the first product to truly help the newbie be able to manage some of the biggest hurdles they face in a consistent way without costing a lot of money. Some examples: 

#1 Measure stress and effort.

With heart rate and stroke count visible in the goggle display, athletes can now focus on effort at the start and during a race and for the first time really doing a race like they have trained. For years we have been able to do this on the bike and run. And it’s one of the main reasons why athletes are getting so much faster. They know what is going on with their body and they can match that effort on race day and know what limits they can push. Up until FORM came out, measuring that in the water just wasn’t really available to the masses in the way FORM has presented it, with a visual display for athletes to be able to calm themselves as they measure true effort within the swim. 

#2 Directional help aka swimming straight.

I’m sorry, but I don’t care who you are. You don’t always swim straight. We have seen everyone get lost or mess up a line on a swim at some point. Does that mean this device will make you perfect? No, but it will make your swim path better at a much less expended effort (AKA a lot less sighting required.) If I’m the average swimmer I can spend way less time focusing on lifting my head out of the water and focusing on stroke, heart rate and breathing. 

The masses worry about the swim the most. Race directors worry about the swim the most. Insurance companies care about the swim the most. FORM 2.0 is the biggest and most influential product in my opinion for 2024.

Ryan: Eric raises some really good points on the FORM 2.0, especially with the integration for open-water sighting.

That said, I think most innovation and impact happened in the run space over the past year. For me, it comes down to three potential products.

I’ll get the two running shoes out of the way first. I think ASICS and the MetaSpeed Sky Paris has done something that no other shoe has been able to do, which is supplant Nike as the shoe of choice for non-sponsored athletes. Having done a fair amount of testing in that shoe last year in my build-up to Lake Placid, it is shockingly quick for someone with a longer stride length. As I build back up into my running, that’s probably my default choice for a racing shoe. It’s everything you could want in a carbon racing shoe, and it’s selling extremely well.

The other shoe innovation comes from On, and it’s the Cloudboom Strike LS (seen above on Paula Findlay at 70.3 Worlds). Although the midsole and outsole construction are shared with the standard Strike, it’s the upper that sees all the innovation. It’s a single thread of filament, 1500 meters long, spun by a robot to turn it into a mesh-like upper. It’s both significantly lighter than a standard shoe upper, and it reduces carbon emissions during the build by 75% versus a standard upper. Considering the environmental impacts of our sport, generally, any kind of cut during product construction should be seen as a boon.

But I would argue that the greatest innovation came for indoor training, and that’s Wahoo’s KICKR Run treadmill. You first have the run free mode, where the treadmill senses your pace and adjusts the belt accordingly. No more playing around with the speed toggle for interval training; it’s just done. But then there’s the smart connectivity – whether it’s in Wahoo’s own ecosystem, Zwift, or others, the treadmill can be fully controlled for terrain or intervals. It brings the gamification benefit of indoor training apps to running, which has always been what hampers indoor run training.

In my opinion, being able to really unlock the gamification of indoor running for the millions of indoor training users is the biggest innovation of the year.

Voting is now open at the forum thread for this article.

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