Yes it was a rather fast mile and good effort by him. But this was built up as an attempt to get the US mile record and he fell well short of that, so people withheld their praise and credit.
Yeah. It was a better display of fitness than it was an actual performance. This is because the pacing was so bad. To be off by 2 seconds on the first lap is pretty bad, and then they went 300 meters fewer than intended. 3:49.26 isn't a big-time performance, but done in this fashion it showed great fitness.
To the guy pointing out that Ches & Gregorek were in actual races...well not really any more than Teare/Hocker. In Gregorek's, Kejelcha was a billed record attempt. Cheserek had 2 pacers and no serious racers. So, I think you are wrong. I'd put all these races in a similar category except for the Centro race having the pacing all wrong.
He ran 3:49 with a blazing first 800 by the pacer. They also dropped out too soon and he was solo the last 600-700. I realize he bonked at the Olympics soon after, but just focusing on this race alone and you have to give more credit.
I couldn't agree more here and I wrote this at the time.
For Centro to publicly put himself out there with talk of the AR is the first underrated aspect of this - to do this knowing he was going to attempt it at a high school track on a Friday night in the 'burbs of Portland takes a lot of guts.
As we all know the race was horrendously paced. Bartolsmeyer should have been slapped for that effort - for a guy who has run 1.46 and 3.35 to not be able to run 1.53 even paced is incomprehensible. Centro was totally out on an island after 800m and it's even remarkable he was able to hold on the way he did.
As for 3.49.26 - it made him the 40th fastest miler in history and was the 86th fastest mile ever run. To put it into context with the Bowerman mile - the premier mile run here annually in the US, in the 20 times it had been run since and including the year 2000 (it was cancelled in 2020 because of covid), 3.49.26 had only been bettered 5 times by the winner of that race (I'm not including Jakob in 2021 as that happened after). That is pretty crazy to me knowing the quality of athletes that run the Bowerman mile ever year.
Yes he flamed out in Rio but this effort was actually astounding. Sub 3.50 is not easy and it's not as regular an occurrence as perhaps we think it is. This was right up in terms of guts and execution for me - I gained a lot of respect for Centro and you are right, he get's nowhere near enough credit for this effort.
He ran 3:49 with a blazing first 800 by the pacer. They also dropped out too soon and he was solo the last 600-700. I realize he bonked at the Olympics soon after, but just focusing on this race alone and you have to give more credit.
I couldn't agree more here and I wrote this at the time.
For Centro to publicly put himself out there with talk of the AR is the first underrated aspect of this - to do this knowing he was going to attempt it at a high school track on a Friday night in the 'burbs of Portland takes a lot of guts.
As we all know the race was horrendously paced. Bartolsmeyer should have been slapped for that effort - for a guy who has run 1.46 and 3.35 to not be able to run 1.53 even paced is incomprehensible. Centro was totally out on an island after 800m and it's even remarkable he was able to hold on the way he did.
As for 3.49.26 - it made him the 40th fastest miler in history and was the 86th fastest mile ever run. To put it into context with the Bowerman mile - the premier mile run here annually in the US, in the 20 times it had been run since and including the year 2000 (it was cancelled in 2020 because of covid), 3.49.26 had only been bettered 5 times by the winner of that race (I'm not including Jakob in 2021 as that happened after). That is pretty crazy to me knowing the quality of athletes that run the Bowerman mile ever year.
Yes he flamed out in Rio but this effort was actually astounding. Sub 3.50 is not easy and it's not as regular an occurrence as perhaps we think it is. This was right up in terms of guts and execution for me - I gained a lot of respect for Centro and you are right, he get's nowhere near enough credit for this effort.
Excellent post, I was going to say 3:49 on its own is worth about 3:32, nothing crazy, but the awful pacing and the public declaration of an attempt do elevate this quite a bit.
His mile converts to about 3:32.5, so ya pretty good. But he was in peak shape right before the olympics. A dozen guys in the world could have probably run the same time last year in a good conditions time trial with a pacer. I think he ran exactly what you'd expect for someone who ran 3:33.69 in a slightly tactical and crowded olympic semi final.
He ran 3:49 with a blazing first 800 by the pacer. They also dropped out too soon and he was solo the last 600-700. I realize he bonked at the Olympics soon after, but just focusing on this race alone and you have to give more credit.
Mainly because he'd finish 50m behind the best with that time.
Does centro really need more of an ego. he doesnt get chastised enough for dating a doper and being part of two sketchy groups.
Dating a doper? Haha I mean he was one of three guys in the "elite" NOP group that was directly handled by Salazar - you know the guy who first was suspended from coaching for practices in and around performance enhancing drugs. The others of course were Rupp and Farah. With respect to Shelby I think it's more likely that she got her "advice" from Centro than the other way around.
His mile converts to about 3:32.5, so ya pretty good. But he was in peak shape right before the olympics. A dozen guys in the world could have probably run the same time last year in a good conditions time trial with a pacer. I think he ran exactly what you'd expect for someone who ran 3:33.69 in a slightly tactical and crowded olympic semi final.
I'd go with exactly 12: Jakob, Tim, Kerr, Mechaal, Hocker, Simotwo, Kipsang, Mechaal, Katir, McSweyn, Wightman, Hoare.
All but Katir (ran 5,000 only) and Simotwo (first man out of slower semi) made it to the Final. The bigger issue with Centro's semi performance was not him finishing 8th in that semi, it's that Heyward and Grethen beat him handily. No offense to those guys, but they couldn't have done what Centro did in this time trial or even what he did at USAs.
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