Leer blames Lagat

Here are the official rules for selecting the U.S. team for the world championships. If you can figure out a way that the fifth place finisher at the national championships can get on the team (assuming, as is true in this case, that none of the first four has a bye as the defending world champion), let me know.

My own best guess is that Centro gets a B standard, no one gets an A standard (unless Lagat has a 1500 in his schedule during the next six or seven weeks), and only Centro competes in the 1500 in the world championships. But Manzano and Wheating are obviously capable of getting under 3:35.00 when they're fit and sharp, and Centro would seem to be capable of 3:35.00 (despite having come nowhere near it in the last couple of years). So who knows? Lots of possibilities. But I don't see how those possibilities include Leer on the team, unless there's a change in finishing order or a disqualification that bumps him into the first four finishers at the national championships.

And yes, I agree that limiting team eligibility to the first four finishers at the national championships could result in having fewer U.S. participants at the world championships than might be the case if eligibility were extended to lower finishers in the national championships or others who have met world championship qualifying standards but did not run the finals in the national championships. If that happens, then there may be some people who will be upset.

Ok, looking at the USATF website, pretty much everything they say they use the words top 4 "finishers". They say that if the top 4 don't have the B standard then:

"Subject to the reigning World Champion exemption, if no athletes achieve at least the IAAF “B” standard in a given event during the qualifying period, USATF will enter no athletes in that event."

"In each event, the rank order of the finish at the 2011 USA Track & Field Championships shall determine whether an athlete competes or is designated an alternate at the World Championships."

Basically everything I'm reading makes it seem that what I said originally is the truth, if you're not in the top 4 you don't go period. And if that means we end up sending no one cause the top 4 all decline, then I guess we send no one.

BUT...I'm sure there's some loop holes in there were "USATF reserves the right to blah blah blah..." So if top 4 don't want to go and 5th place is a sub 13 guy, I'm sure we'd find a loop hole to send him. I mean, how else are we talking about Bryan Clay going in the Decathlon?

"Since Clay didn't finish the full 10-event slate, he will still have to petition USA Track and Field officials for the Daegu nomination, but that's considered a formality."

But all of this is pretty pointless for Leer as he doesn't pull the same weight as a defending Olympic champ like Clay. In the unlikely scenario that Wheating and Leo don't hit the A, I bet we'd still just send Centro.

The Saint wrote:

If Will Leer cannot finish in the top 4 at USA's with or without Lagat in the race he will not be competitive at Worlds. The U.S. doesn't need to pay to send guys to Worlds so they can finish dead last in their heats.

Agreed. Whichever of this cast of 1500 Bozos actually gets there, it will be fun to see if any of them doesn't finish last in their heats. The U.S. will pay for at least one, unfortunately.

Some letsrun tool (wejo, rojo or #2) wrote:

Memo to Will Leer: What you said happened did not happen. Rewatch the race. Bernard Lagat did not keep going to the front and slowing down the race. One guy cannot slow down a race. If he goes to the front and slows it down, you can go right around him.

You are not going to Worlds because you ran a horribly bad tactical race. In a slow race, you were in tenth place with 400m to go. You did have the fastest last lap of the race and might have run even faster, but you had nowhere to run. The other thing that you said that was correct (besides speculating you had the fastest last lap) was "It's a tactical rut I have to get myself out of."

He could be right, he could be wrong. You assholes have no right to speak like that about him. You call him out for not saying that to the cheater Lagat, but you would never say that to his face.

I'm tired of you crying about what is good or bad for the sport when you yourselves are trash.

You do way to great of a job on some aspects only to fritter away credibility with ridiculous statements like those above.

Look, Leer may not have been diplomatic about it but he chose to vent where no one else would.. there is clearly resentment towards Lagat from the other athletes.

No one can take it away from Lagat, he is very gracious and nice on camera post race. And he is very very good at racing.

But it clearly irks these guys that he ran the 1500 despite having no intention to make the team and affected the race. No matter what you might think, having Lagat in the race affects how alot of the athletes approach it.. they have only themselves to blame but basically, torrence, wheating, leer etc etc all keyed there race off where Lagat was, because they expected him to be the man to beat. Lagat is the big swinging d*** of the field and the others race in awe of him.

The only guy who truly ran his own race was Centro and to a lesser extent McNamara although he didn't have a hope in hell of winning. Centro ran about the same split as everyone else for the last lap, but he was just in the best position when the sprinting started, he had a head start and clear track.

If the race goes out at 4min pace, you can't sit at the back of the pack and expect to come around everyone in the last 200m Not at NCAA level and not at World level.

I only hope Centro can get himself back up for August cause I worry that he will be the guy getting last in his heat with such a drawn out season. He needs to be able to close like that off 3.40 pace to get through the rounds.

The Saint wrote:

If Will Leer cannot finish in the top 4 at USA's with or without Lagat in the race he will not be competitive at Worlds. The U.S. doesn't need to pay to send guys to Worlds so they can finish dead last in their heats.

Yep.

Leer is a complete PoS in this interview. First, he says that he has been bumped to 5th for "political" reasons. (I guess the FAT likes Wheating?)

Then, he says that Lagat kept going to the front and slowing down the race? "If you're tired, get out of the way." Lagat weighs, what, 125 pounds in a soaking-wet snowsuit? You're a big boy, Leer, GO AROUND HIM. Jordan McNamara did so. You could have, too.

Leer, for you to denigrate Lagat for un-"sportsman"-like conduct is hilarious when you just showed yourself to have the worst sportsmanship I've recently seen in a runner over 12. Leer, you are a complete embarrassment to yourself. Go back and watch the interview, watch the race and see why. The best thing you can do now is APOLOGIZE to your COLLEAGUE Bernard Lagat, before you catch more blowback from this. (Lagat has never had anything bad to say about anyone's tactics, Because he is what's called a "competitor." Get it? Next time pay more attention to getting yourself out of 10th place at the bell and less attention to the biography of the guys in front of you running a smarter race.)

You know, you may just be the "smartest let's runner."

Leer really screwed the proverbial pooch in both the race and the post race comments.

Lagat is clearly more American than Leer.

If their is a nation of deluded whining poor sports, Leer should apply for citizenship there, he can run for them.

Leer should beg, NO, PAY CASH to have his interview pulled from all the sites it is on -- cos it is gonna live forever on the Interweb and he is gonna regret it forever.

And where the hell was his coach/manager/handler telling him to stfu?

Memo to Mr. Leer: "What happens on the Internet, STAYS on the Internet."

Now go get a shave and a clue.

I agree that he should apologize to Lagat. I also agree with the people who think this was blown out of proportion. It's a guy venting whose dream was shattered yet again. He just wants to blame someone or believe that he really could have done something differently to qualify. The tragic fact (for him) is that if Lagat or anyone else would have made this a fast race, Wheating would have beaten Leer by 10 meters. If Wheating had tucked in behind Leer, he would have beaten him handily, too. Lomong would have beaten him too if they had run the same distance.

Wheating spotted the winners 10 meters over the last 600 by running in lane 2. That's a lot when you are all running 52-second pace.

Leer actually ran a pretty good race tactically. He conserved his energy and moved into decent position without ever having to leave the rail until some very minor weaving on the home stretch. The guys who beat him are just faster, as are one or two guys who didn't beat him.

Am i wrong in remembering that Leer was dead last in the first 400? You are absolutely right; if he wanted a faster pace he could have done more to make it so...

adrenaline makes every stupid

what ever

fagedabouit

Leer clearly was frustrated by his 5th place finish and unfortunately vented to the camera regarding his feelings regarding the race (and Lagat). He seemed to realize this right away and placed the blame on himself for the race.

If U of Oregon, USATF, and FinishLynx are rigging the places (as clearly would have to happen to follow Leer's argument), the sport will go the way of professional wrestling.

I'm sure these 1500 guys are not happy with Lagat running the event with apparently no intention of running the 1500 at World's but everyone knows that the leader of these races never wins (see McNamara, Jordan and Wurth-Thomas, Christin). Lagat is a competitor. Why would he set up a time trial for the other guys in the field?

I'm insulted that Leer called T&F a 'gentleman's game'. When i think of gentleman's games i think of golf and tennis...

Just watched the interview. What a whiny biatchkins! Blames Lagat for his poor performance? It was shitty that Lagat took it to the front and slowed it down? There was nothing stopping Leer from taking the lead and running a fast pace.

When / where I was racing, it only matter where you finished if you didn't qualify before the meet. If you failed to q, you needed to win the race. Second or third didn't matter. This is almost athletic welfare, when 3 non-q's can get a gernsey.

If you are coming to a championship, and want to make the world team, and haven't reached the standards, you sure as hell better use the added competition to run fast. As someone pointed out - it's the US championship. Lagat had every right to run, despite him saying he's focused on the 5 K.

You have too many whiners in the event. No wonder you are weak on the world stage. You don't have enough hard men. And when you have them, you soften them.

Lagat ran the first 1100 meters in the ideal position, on the leader's right shoulder. Every time someone else took the pace, he moved up to that same position. Lagat never cut anyone off and never actually passed the leader, so he couldn't have gotten in the leader's way. No one pushed the pace because either a) they didn't want to lead or b) they were stuck in a box and didn't force their way out. Based on his comments, seems like Leer was the latter.

Watch the finish of the 1500 again.

Does it not look pretty clear that Leer crossed the line before Wheating? How the hell did they give Wheating 4th and Leer 5th?

Plus, I love the Brojos. Leer ran a terrible tactical race -- while not saying the same of Wheating, who is said to have finished .01 ahead of Leer.

Sometimes things don't work out. It is not always that someone ran tactically poor, or choked or whatever.

Hell, I bet they had Leer picked for lower than he finished -- but still the need to go with a narrative explaining his placing. Life usually does not fit simple story lines.

Like him or not, the Will Leer you see on interviews is the same Will leer that you would find hanging with his boys at the Bar.

Lagat on the other hand is 100% the nicest guy in the world on camera, always saying the utmost encouraging statements, and claiming all modesty. Is this the same Lagat we would find behind closed doors? Is this the same Lagat we would find if he was not always winning races (or finishing close behind)?

what was Lagat's main purpose for doing this race? I would have to think that running 3 hard races in 3 days is not preparing him for anything like the schedule he will face in Daegu. Instead the most likely motive was $$$.

Leer is not out there to make everyone like him. He is who he is, and is happy for those that like him for that, and for that I applaud him.

I think it's fine to have lagat and any one else that might be in his situation in the race. Granted I do think the rules should change so that leer would be eligible. If we had a really talented and deep group of guys wanting to qualify for worlds then a guy in the race who isn't focusing on the 15 (and in lagat's case raced the 5k the night before) shouldn't be a big deal. The fact that lagat is influencing tactics in an event he is not focusing on while being way less fresh than everyone else shows that 1 lagat is really good, and 2 our 1500 field doesn't have much depth and isn't tactically smart. Lagat couldn't run a huge negative split 13:20 and then place in the 15 final 20 hours later in kenya or ethiopia. If you're going to be.competitive at worlds, you should be able to beat a tired 5k runner even if it's lagat.

Avocado's Number wrote:

And yes, I agree that limiting team eligibility to the first four finishers at the national championships could result in having fewer U.S. participants at the world championships than might be the case if eligibility were extended to lower finishers in the national championships or others who have met world championship qualifying standards but did not run the finals in the national championships. If that happens, then there may be some people who will be upset.

By my interpretation of the selection process, Leer is indeed ineligible for the world team. The rules explicitly state that eligibility is based on finishing place at the USA outdoor champs. No mention of declaration of intent to run.

I'm okay with this. I like it. Because what it says is that making the US team is hard. Really hard. You need to be among the top 4 best Americans in your event to have a shot at the world team, period. Being among the best who intend to run at worlds is not good enough.

Great rule. I think this is the appropriate attitude to ensure a competitive US team at worlds.

A question was posed earlier in this thread that went something like, "What if runners from the 10k and 1500 were to sweep the top 4 spots of the 5k at nationals with no intention of running the 5k at worlds? Would we send no one to run the 5k worlds?" Indeed I think we wouldn't and my response would be, "What does such an occurrence say about the rest of the 5k field?"