Phenom Man wrote:
Also, Lagat isn't running at worlds, so what he did today really doesn't factor in to anything. No one has the A standard yet, so Leer should focus his energy into getting that. Quite honestly, Manzano hasn't been racing well this year. Centro hasn't shown he can go 3:35 yet because he has won all of his races in a kick (though I suspect he can). There is still lots of room on the worlds team for Leer is he mans up and runs the qualifier.
I could be wrong, but as I read the selection process, only the first four finishers in the U.S. Championships are eligible for the team, even if the guy in fifth is the only one who gets an A standard time. So the issue of who finished fourth and who finished fifth would seem to make a difference. Right now, assuming that the finishing order stands (and I agree that there seemed to be legitimate grounds for review), Wheating is on the team, subject to being bumped by Centro and Manzano.
But all of that is really beside the point of the thread, which I think is a good one. In my view, Leer's statements about Lagat were childish, unsportsmanlike, wrongheaded, and just plain rude. He seemed to be suggesting that it was somehow unfair for a 3:26 1500 guy to run a tactical race with a bunch of "3:35" guys (which actually exaggerates the quality of the field, since most of those "3:35" guys, including Leer himself, have never run 3:35, and Lagat isn't likely to get anywhere near 3:26 ever again). I also didn't see anything that Lagat did to interfere with anyone else. It seemed that a number of those purported "3:35" guys were simply afraid to assert themselves in a championship race with a bona fide world-class runner. So instead, they ran most of the race slower than Christin Wurth Thomas did in the women's race, giving Centro a golden opportunity to steal the race (and possibly the only U.S. entry in the world championships) with a fast finish.