Day one of the Vets & New Threats final has come to a close, and the veterans aren’t putting on a good show. Olivia hasn’t crumbled yet, but Theo is huffing and puffing on the ground and Michaela is hobbling along on an injured ankle. Then, we have our first place team: Sydney & Turbo.
Sydney had a phenomenal first day, and she’s moving at such a strong pace that she’s had long rest periods. However, she’s forcing Turbo through the course. His legs are in pain, he hates the cold, and he can’t read English well.
Sydney likely knew she’d need to be Turbo’s translator, but she seems a bit shocked that she’s literally pulling her partner and walking him like a dog.
This isn’t the type of performance you’d expect from the winner of War of the World 1’s “most brutal final” ever, but we have to remember that he didn’t have the best performance on the first day. He finished that day in third place, behind Theo and Wes, and went on to take the first place spot on the second day.
But Turbo was in much better physical shape after finishing that 24-mile day one course. He was actually checking in on Wes, who seemed gassed out at the end of the day.
From the looks of it, day two of the Vets & New Threats final is just going to get tougher. The preview showed us an uphill climb in the cold, which really isn’t a course built for Turbo’s abilities, even when he’s in great shape. Now that he’s feeling sore, it will be a bigger struggle.
Assuming Sydney is still his partner, she will definitely need to continue pulling Turbo along. As much as Turbo wants to brag about his ability to push through pain, he seems to get awfully whiny as soon as he feels mild discomfort.
We can also assume, based on other finals, that Sydney & Turbo’s day one lead won’t give them much heading into day two. Production usually makes it so the day one winners only get a small advantage.
Turbo does not seem to be in good shape going into day two, but luckily, most teams are also in rough shape. And it’s not like Turbo’s injuries appeared at the end of the day, he and Sydney completed over half of the first day while his legs were cramping.
But Sydney had to do most of the hard work, like the stair machine checkpoint and the final swim, even if Turbo takes credit for it.
If Turbo wins this final, it will likely be because Sydney pulled him across the finish line. It’s entirely possible that he’ll get another win, but it will only come with a fraction of the glory he got on War of the Worlds 1.
Stop Being Polite 