Will be breaking into people’s backpacks to go through their stuff before or after the race?
Will be breaking into people’s backpacks to go through their stuff before or after the race?
rhimby wrote:
Ghost1 wrote:
How is he overrated? - he’s a legitimate world-class runner right now. 3:35.97, 7:39.71 (indoors), 13:08.99, 27:43 (10km).
True, Gressier does not have the same level as Cheptegei, Kiplimo and a few others, but he’s in the next pack of runners to challenge, especially for medals at the European level.
JG - Already faster than Wanders at 1500, 3000, 5000, but Wanders has a better time at 10,000 m track with an incredible 2717 in 2019.
https://worldathletics.org/athletes/france/jimmy-gressier-14694062Interestingly I popped into my local sports shop this morning, Sports 2000, and the vendor in the running shoe section is a former friend of Jimmy and used to play soccer with him when they were around 14 to 15 years old, in Boulogne-sur-Mer. He told me that despite his relative thin build Jimmy Gressier was an absolute beast on the soccer field and fought for every ball and tackled for every occasion without fear. They both grew up in the projects low cost housing area of Boulogne-sur-Mer, in an area called “ Le Chemin Vert » Notorious for crime and drug dealing. Fortunately Jimmy Gressier was able to find a better way to continue his life with running. This is what makes him so tough.
The only super shoe in the sports store was the ASICS meta magic, an inferior model to the meta speed, and priced at €160 here in France. The carbon plate in this inferior model is only included in the front forefoot part of the shoe, not the entire length of the shoe to the heel explaining the cheaper price.
Gressier is incredibly overrated on these boards by some people including yourself. He's a mid-level pro. He's worse than all the North American Olympic runners (Fisher, Knight, Kincaid, Ahmed, Chelimo) and wouldn't be able to make an American world champs or Olympic team. 24 years old is also not young. His only relevance was in Europe's silly U23 category
Calling Gressier incredibly overrated is a bit ridiculous at this point in time. First, most Europeans develop late and what he is doing at 24 may just be the beginning. More importantly, he's improved every year. What he did in Huelva this year really opened my eyes. I just dont see Fisher, Knight, Ahmed, Kincaid, or Chelimo running 13:08 on a windy day running the last mile by themselves. Please check your facts.
got it here wrote:
Calling Gressier incredibly overrated is a bit ridiculous at this point in time. First, most Europeans develop late and what he is doing at 24 may just be the beginning. More importantly, he's improved every year. What he did in Huelva this year really opened my eyes. I just dont see Fisher, Knight, Ahmed, Kincaid, or Chelimo running 13:08 on a windy day running the last mile by themselves. Please check your facts.
Is this a troll post? That last sentence made me LOL.
Right, cuz those guys have run sub 13:08 mulitple times in bad weather and were not paced to basically the last lap or even to the finish line in Knights and Chelimos case. Talk about troll posting.
got it here wrote:
Right, cuz those guys have run sub 13:08 mulitple times in bad weather and were not paced to basically the last lap or even to the finish line in Knights and Chelimos case. Talk about troll posting.
Yeah you're right, Gressier is better than all of those guys despite losing to all of them (aside from Kincaid) at the Olympics and having a much slower PR than all of them.
Honestly it's amazing how overrated Gressier is on this board by a handful of posters.
Jimmy Gressier fan club in Boulogne-sur-Mer, Pas de Calais. The people in this part of France are very fanatical about sports. Interestingly his town, Boulogne-sur-Mer, is just a couple of hours by boat to the English coast and southern counties but I don’t think he’s ever been there, unless I’m mistaken.
This gritty, industrial port city has also produced other world class sports people including Frank Ribery and N’Golo Kanté, two World class soccer players.
This video was taken when Jimmy qualified for the Olympic 5000 m final in Tokyo this past summer. Pure northern French grit.
color me shocked wrote:
Will be breaking into people’s backpacks to go through their stuff before or after the race?
You are right and you are referring to the scenario which occurred a couple of years ago when Makhloufi was training in South Africa and prevented (because of Covid 19), from returning to the Paris National Institute of sports (INSEP) where Jimmy and other top/sports people are based. On that fateful day, Jimmy and a friend of his decided to look in Makhloufi’s bag to see what kind of spikes the Algerian icon was using, and then they found what they believed were drugs paraphernalia but which were never proven to be so.
This was a black mark against Jimmy for breaking into someone else’s room and bag but the story is no longer relevant.
I do agree that Jimmy lost some credibility in people’s ( including mine/my ) eyes with that scenario but I try to focus on the positives and his extraordinary courage as a runner.
You do realise that Europe's U23 category is attempting to imitate the NCAA XC Championships? And I don't think that many people on this site hate NCAA athletics. Let Europe have their own things, America has copied so many stuff from other countries after all.
Again, your logic baffles me. So we shouldn't have U18 races, 18 is so close to 20 in terms of development of the human body?
rhimby wrote:
In my opinion U23 is redundant because U20 exists. Either have one or the other, not both.
This is like claiming college athletics is redundant because high school and Pro athletics exist.
The whole point of introducing u23 was to give (roughly like college in the US) athletes just above 20 who are not yet fully competitive with all the professionals a chance to develop and get some success in such a restricted class. Often the best u23 forego u23 championships if they collide with (the preparation for) more important events.
(I agree that there is no obvious necessity for the u23 in the Euro XC but it's consistent with having a track&field u23 Euro every other year.)
Um, what? wrote:
You do realise that Europe's U23 category is attempting to imitate the NCAA XC Championships? And I don't think that many people on this site hate NCAA athletics. Let Europe have their own things, America has copied so many stuff from other countries after all.
Having U20 and U23 in the same meet is like having NCAAs for freshman and sophomores, and then a separate race for the juniors and seniors. Madness.
I have no problem with U23. I have a problem with U23 and U20 in the same meet. It just waters down the field in both races. Wouldn't it have been more interesting to see Jakob vs Gressier, or Gressier vs the Senior men? Choose one or the other.
Um, what? wrote:
Again, your logic baffles me. So we shouldn't have U18 races, 18 is so close to 20 in terms of development of the human body?
I think U18 is too close to U20 as well. I would be in favor of something like U18 + U23 + Senior or just U20 + Senior.
If you're not having success as a 23 year old vs older athletes, just wait a year or two. What's the rush?
U23 prevents a Conner Mantz from racing against 20 and 21 year olds. Or you could just be 21 year old Jakob and race all comers regardless of age.
Jakob undisputed champion
Then Gressier, Spain's Oukhelfen and reigning champ Kaya
In women's race: Can, Koko and Grovdal 1-2-3
Bet the house on JI
overseas McDonald's are not like American McDonald's, that actually have healthier food (because of high standards)
Jacob FTW.
Gressier third.
Gressier better than expected. Kudos.
Crippa DNF from a stich.
Guess that Gressier hater goes home devastated. Did really well. Crippa just couldn't keep up with the pace of top three.
French team did really well. Who the heck are these guys...Hay, Schrub, Bour?? All top 10