[eitally]

The flip side to this (triathlon gear) is ITU draft legal racing, where it's basically like a criterion and requires the same UCI compliant bike setups as a road race would. This solves the problem in one way but creates a new one. Take a look at the world standings (for women, especially). Gwen Jorgensen is a beast, for sure, but she wins because she's a ridiculously strong runner who managed to get her swim good enough so she could hang with the leaders. On the bike she just has to ride with the pack. ... then, like Mirinda Carfrae in Ironman, leaves everyone in her dust on the run. I'm not sure this is fairer or not.

[ska]

Haven't (particularly longer distance) triathalons always been a runners race?

[eitally]

Not really. Exceptional cyclists who are average runners still do very well on full iron distances. "Average runner" meaning they can crank out a 3:15-3:30 marathon after the first two events (so not really "average at all).

That said, people who come into triathlon from a running background do tend to do better than swimmers or cyclists who have to learn the other two events.