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What happened to Barrie Shepeley?
Does anyone know why Barrie isn't doing the commentary for the WTS any more? His Twitter bio still says he is "Lucky to be Voice of the ITU." but he hasn't been on the WTS broadcast yet this season. Instead they've had a few different injured/retired female pros. How am I supposed to know when a Canadian is 27th out of the water without Barrie to point it out?
Comments
Hard to know though if it was also a budget decision and/or ITU wanting to mix it up a bit and have former/current racers.
I am a Lisa Norden fan so I liked her commentary. A bit rough with English being her second language and not being a polished broadcaster but I really appreciated her insights. I believe she is on an ITU committee as an athlete representative so I think she was an easy choice for ITU to get her on the coverage since they would know her personally and she is an Olympic medalist. She's also trained with so many of the top athletes that she also has interesting stories to tell.
I have no idea why Kirsten Sweetland was chosen for Hamburg. Not sure if she is an ITU athlete rep or not. She seems nice but didn't offer much. So many painful, awkward silences and Trevor basically had to serve up questions to her the entire time.
I think in the past when it was both Trevor and Barrie and they had guest commentators it worked well but that was because they had an extra voice just adding commentary with the original two. Trying to go with just Trevor and an athlete is tough unless they luck out and get someone like Alastair Brownlee to do it. His work "in the booth" on the Superleague finals last season was amazing. One of the best sports commentators I've heard in a long, long time.
It will be interesting to see if Barrie returns for the next two races in Canada.
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Let ITU know via social media or sending an e-mail. Sweetland was painfully awkward.
@Jennifer Post It's not a literal "Whitfield name drop" when Whitfield is literally on camera.
I think I read somewhere that Barrie is doing Montreal. Not sure about Gold Coast though. The broadcast is so much better with him so I really hope he is there for the final.
"I had the honour of working WTS Edmonton and will also be in Montreal WTS working on the TV production commentary team. Always a privilege to do any ITU race that I am asked to work. ITU has an incredible product, and a great commitment to providing racing at the highest level."
Sounds like a budget issue. At least I hope it is budget. I'd hate to think ITU doesn't understand Barrie is far superior to the other commentators they've had this year.
Like I said before, let ITU know how you feel on social media. Then maybe next year, they'll carve out budget from somewhere else.
And I have a lot of time for Trevor, he does a great job. Every time he says "statement of intent" I smile.
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