Webb's Semi !!!!

He made it though. Don't worry. Close, yes but he made it. We've got a good final on our hands.

You doubters can all go to hell. - Scott Raczko

news flash to america: there are other runners out there!!!

webb cant win no championship. just like pre. hahahahahahaah

Huh?! wrote:

What the hell was he doing?

he had the advantage of being in the second heat... Saw that the first heat was slow, meaning as long as the pace was quicker than the first heat, he would only need to be in the top 7 to move on... Perhaps he waited a tad too long to move up, but he did grad the last auto qualifier, which is all that matters. And he was able to conserve energy for the final...

Ok, I can buy that, but even though Lagat ran slower in his semi, he looked better than Webb.

He looked like he was working hard even before they sped up. He's not going to beat Ramzi.

did anyone else think he looked a little tired? seemed a little like the Pre2M

it seemed like the pace rocketed out from the start. everyone wanted to make sure they had "the heat". he got bumped around and seemed fine to sit at the back out of the way. When it went through in 57 mid, i am sure he was all too content to sit back and watch.

at the bell he began to move as he knew all he needed was 7th or better and on the home stretch slowly made his way by. i'd say he looked fine and made it by easy.

I dunno...the Webb of old is starting to creep back. This will be such a huge blow if Webb tanks in the final. All the American distance guys have been bombing so far. Let's hope we have at least one medal hope!

This could possibly be one of the worst outings of our distance guys, albeit it is hot and humid. Maybe a good lesson for Beijing.

wannaknowsdsds wrote:

I dunno...the Webb of old is starting to creep back. This will be such a huge blow if Webb tanks in the final. All the American distance guys have been bombing so far. Let's hope we have at least one medal hope!

This could possibly be one of the worst outings of our distance guys, albeit it is hot and humid. Maybe a good lesson for Beijing.

Besides Kara Goucher?

what are you talking about? Abdi did pretty well in the 10000m. and Ritz also in the top 10...

shizzy wrote:

i'd say he looked fine and made it by easy.

Nonsense, he very nearly screwed it up.

Ramzi might well be drugged to the eyeballs, or not, but at least he knows how to run a race.

American distance tanking so far... what does that include... 2 events concluded?

Mens marathon, we send our weakest squad, internationally speaking, in years and they put up a 4th in the team standings.

In both steeples we send an incrredibly young team, but they all run respectably and give themselves a shot at the finals but come up just short, what do you expect from this event without our big guns in it?

Womens 10k, we have all 3 finish in the top 12 or so, and one medal and one place 6th!

Mens 10k, we have Abdi go after it and end up 7th running a very respectable race and ritz and rupp both in the top 11!

In the 1500, we have 2 of our 3 in the final... both with a great shot to medal.

The womens 800 didnt go so great, but when does it ever?

We still have a strong 5k squad on both sides, a good 800m mens team, the 1500 final, etc etc. I think things are going well now considering the strength of certain teams.

The worse showing ever for US distance running at either the WCs or Olympics is probably 2003, when Torres was the only American to make the finals. I am not sure of the year exactly, but I r4member Torres being the only US distance finalists. Ok, the US 10k guy do all right then, but their were no heats. Lunn just missed the finals by a fraction of inch.

He got bumped early and settled in last, if you noticed the entire pack was so bunched until 100 to go. Problem was going into the last lap he would have had to swing 4 wide to get position, thats why he didn't move up until the 2nd to last straightaway; by that point everyone was in top gear. He made a tactical error, he was sprinting fast but so was everybody else...When running a 3.40 in a world championship semi, everyones got the legs to run 25 the last 200.

Dont worry gang.

All Webb needed to do was place 5th or higher to get into the final. He stayed out of traffic and like in major champs prelims, put himself in a place to where he was the attacker and was able to work himself into that 5th place position. In Championship races you do not want to get out kicked you want to be the kicker. Remember its not the prelims that matter it's the final, and after looking at Webbs first 2 races I would say he is still probably fresh.

IF he runs like he did when he set the US mile record he is in medal city.

It just seems like Alan has a greater chance of winning if he runs all out. Similar to every win he has had this year.

Why change now just for one race?

Am I the only one concerned that the minor injury from earlier in the season is bothering him? It seemed to me like he was running extremely cautiously, almost as if he was afraid something was going to pull if he opened up too soon.

Granted, I watched on a video stream of marginal quality, so maybe I am reading too much into it.

Lagat's tactics were equally horrible, we just aren't overanalyzing his race because he had the extra gear to demolish everyone in the last 100. If Webb had blown by everyone, no one would take issue with his tactics.