Heady guy wrote:
Are you all too young to remember Holman or Webb or Favor? All 3 could run a world leading time one week and then get 8th in a high stress race a week later.
...Brazier is a world champion. He can get it done in a high stress race.
Heady guy wrote:
Are you all too young to remember Holman or Webb or Favor? All 3 could run a world leading time one week and then get 8th in a high stress race a week later.
...Brazier is a world champion. He can get it done in a high stress race.
I haven't seen a lot of Brazier's races, but all those I have seen, he always looked totally comfortable, nothing on his face at all, like it was easy. For the final, he looked in real pain from 600m. He's not the same guy who bombed the 2016 trials, he's a World Champ and I doubt this was choking or bad tactics. Definitely an injury that he's been running through
Heady guy wrote:
Are you all too young to remember Holman or Webb or Favor? All 3 could run a world leading time one week and then get 8th in a high stress race a week later.
Well, none of those runners ever won a championship medal, let alone gold, but let's not deny that Brazier has struggled in championship racing before. He failed to make it out of the prelims in 2016 in the US trials and in 2017 he failed to make the WC final.
I'm not saying he wasn't injured yesterday but he probably had as much pressure on him as any athlete coming into the trials. Maybe it was a combination of injury/lack of fitness and nerves. In most races Brazier at 80% is good enough for at least top 3. But a race won in low 1:43 requires even Brazier to be at near his best to compete for a top place.
Heady guy wrote:
Are you all too young to remember Holman or Webb or Favor? All 3 could run a world leading time one week and then get 8th in a high stress race a week later.
BINGO!!!!!!!! He was fine in the heats. He was fine moving up to 2nd in the final. But...he got passed and it was over.
my two pennies wrote:
Heady guy wrote:
Are you all too young to remember Holman or Webb or Favor? All 3 could run a world leading time one week and then get 8th in a high stress race a week later.
...Brazier is a world champion. He can get it done in a high stress race.
He wasn't limping or favoring either foot. He got passed by one, then two, then...I'm not making it so I'll just end up last.
P.s. Had a friend who was seeded number 1 in the County and our Regional. Once he got passed he went into "something MUST be wrong mode". I pressed him when he was in College 2 years ago and he finally admitted it. It looked better to get passed by everyone than take 4th or 5th when there was no chance of top 3.
Before all of you PRO sub 14 minute 5k runners tell me that my friend is not in the class of Brazier, you will have proven that you completely missed the point. Good luck in Logic 101
migroc wrote:
Tar Heel Runner wrote:
Craig Engels Instagram story seems to indicate that Brazier is injured and based on what I saw in that race he is injured. A 1:42 world champ does not blow up like that if they are healthy.
He also looked like he was limping down the homestretch. But he was walking fine after the race.
I believe the stress fracture story.
I thought the exact same thing, and I thought he looked like he was limping when walking after the race as well.
100% agree. He even admitted after the race that he didn't have a plan. This is what happens when you just "wing it". Yes, you can argue that it has worked for him for many years...but eventually these things will happen when you don't have a race plan, or any sort of strategy. Very stupid race tactics that he executed.
A minor stress-reaction is nothing for an 800m runner. If this truly was the issue, then why didn't Julian have him let Jewett go & stay in the chase pack & just out-kick someone for 2nd or 3rd in the final 100?
The foot wasn't the issue. It was poor racing.
It’s all in Brazier’s head.
Just like it was in 2016 when he fell apart in the trials.
He’ll likely be back, good as ever, at some point. But he won’t be in Tokyo, and he was never a lock for gold. Amos was still a major threat. The event is now wide open.
I do agree that Brazier would be better off with his college coaches. Julian was just lucky with him in many ways in 2019. Hell, it was easy to see AlSal was ruining Murphy.
Lol at idiots thinking his injury issues this spring/summer "weren't the issue".
Bad race...it happens wrote:
P.s. Had a friend who was seeded number 1 in the County and our Regional. Once he got passed he went into "something MUST be wrong mode". I pressed him when he was in College 2 years ago and he finally admitted it. It looked better to get passed by everyone than take 4th or 5th when there was no chance of top 3.
Before all of you PRO sub 14 minute 5k runners tell me that my friend is not in the class of Brazier, you will have proven that you completely missed the point. Good luck in Logic 101
LOL. That extrapolation just doesn't work. Comparing your average good HS runner to Brazier is like comparing marshmallow peeps to a Bald Eagle. .
Bad race...it happens wrote:
Heady guy wrote:
Are you all too young to remember Holman or Webb or Favor? All 3 could run a world leading time one week and then get 8th in a high stress race a week later.
BINGO!!!!!!!! He was fine in the heats. He was fine moving up to 2nd in the final. But...he got passed and it was over.
No, he had a hitch in the semis too.
Just watch his head bob right off the start of the semis and especially the finals.
Re-watch the race and look closely.
Right before the start he's making some strange stretches and already looks concerned, not focused on the race but his body instead.
After the gun about 40 meters in, his head bob begins and he's got a noticeable hitch in his stride.
When he pushes hard at 300 (not typically a good place to spend too much effort!) and hits his fastest pace of the race, his stride looks more balanced, but his face tells he's working too hard.
Once Jewett surges again from 400 to 500 Brazier's stride form falls apart again and his head is bobbing way more than the others and he's completely asymmetrical in his stride.
By the time he's coming off the final turn his face is in complete agony, he falls apart even more, and he shuts it down to jog in.
His asymmetry and head bob is very telling of a foot issue.
His form was definitely off as was apparent in the heats and the final.
Pete Julian most definitely carries some blame here. Poor coaching on tactics (DB even said they had no plan!), health and form.
Covid disruption has something to do with his peaking in the wrong years but damn!...He should have gotten DB to the line healthy!!
Wise Old Man wrote:
He did not lose this race because of a foot injury, at least not directly, he lost it because he ran a dumb race and could not handle the pace set by Jewett through 600 in the 95 degree heat. Honestly, at the end he had the look of our hs runners at the end of a hard race, not the look of a world champion. Whether or not an injury this year drastically impacted his prep and led to this disaster, that is certainly plausible. He may be too cool to say this and may be asking others to keep it to themselves. This is the sort of information best released after he wins the next WC or the gold in Paris.
Complete bs.
Brazier doesn't look stressed at all before his races, so I do not think that had anything to do with it.
zcxvzxcv wrote:
Brazier doesn't look stressed at all before his races, so I do not think that had anything to do with it.
B.S. Now the sub 14 pros are so smart that they can tell the look of stress at the start of a race...wow!!!!! Geniuses!!!!
Fasterer wrote:
Bad race...it happens wrote:
BINGO!!!!!!!! He was fine in the heats. He was fine moving up to 2nd in the final. But...he got passed and it was over.
No, he had a hitch in the semis too.
Just watch his head bob right off the start of the semis and especially the finals.
Re-watch the race and look closely.
Right before the start he's making some strange stretches and already looks concerned, not focused on the race but his body instead.
After the gun about 40 meters in, his head bob begins and he's got a noticeable hitch in his stride.
When he pushes hard at 300 (not typically a good place to spend too much effort!) and hits his fastest pace of the race, his stride looks more balanced, but his face tells he's working too hard.
Once Jewett surges again from 400 to 500 Brazier's stride form falls apart again and his head is bobbing way more than the others and he's completely asymmetrical in his stride.
By the time he's coming off the final turn his face is in complete agony, he falls apart even more, and he shuts it down to jog in.
His asymmetry and head bob is very telling of a foot issue.
His form was definitely off as was apparent in the heats and the final.
Pete Julian most definitely carries some blame here. Poor coaching on tactics (DB even said they had no plan!), health and form.
Covid disruption has something to do with his peaking in the wrong years but damn!...He should have gotten DB to the line healthy!!
He had NO hitch in the semis, grow a pair and use your brain. He had a terrible race and he knows it.
nikeman wrote:
It’s not a stress fracture from what I heard. Basically he needs to have arthroscopic surgery on his ankle. Thankfully that’s a pretty quick surgery to recover from.
It's a stress fracture, top of foot lateral side. Very common with athletes that run/on have planta-fasc issues because they tend to favor away from the medial/inside of the foot and compensate by putting way too much pressure on the outside (lateral side) of the foot.
I was sitting 30ft from the finish line - I could see him visibly limping. On the coverage you can see the same.
I believe that they never really fixed the issue that took him out of 2020 and hoped it wouldn't flare again. My guess is that it was never really fixed he was just trying to manage it and part of that management was what I said above - compensating by tending towards that outer edge of the foot. Look when it's as hot as it was yesterday you are simply closer to the edge by default - it tends to exacerbate even the smallest of issues let alone the bigger ones. It's so hard to be in those positions when you have something like this in the back of your mind - he just cracked and I don't fault him for that at all.
I do put considerable onus on Pete Julian - he's the coach here and the mentor. It's ultimately up to him to make certain that these sorts of things are fixed (the 2020 issues) before you start throwing work at guys in Olympic year. Lack of experience? Tough way to acquire it.
He seems like a smart and sensitive guy and somebody who really feels the pressure and he let it get to him. Yes, he was world champion, but the "yips" can happen at any time, even to a previous champion. From golf and baseball, does anybody remember David Duval or Chuck Knoblauch? He may be injured and not as fit as he would like, but he panicked during this race. I hope he overcomes the psychology issues, but I suspect they are real and played a role yesterday.
Wise Old Man wrote:
He seems like a smart and sensitive guy and somebody who really feels the pressure and he let it get to him. Yes, he was world champion, but the "yips" can happen at any time, even to a previous champion. From golf and baseball, does anybody remember David Duval or Chuck Knoblauch? He may be injured and not as fit as he would like, but he panicked during this race. I hope he overcomes the psychology issues, but I suspect they are real and played a role yesterday.
If anyone has the yips it is you and they occur right before you hit the post button.
Whoa whoa whoa…who ever called a Pete a genius coach?