Grant Fisher deserved to get beat

Oh got it. Yeah, Cheptegei didn’t seem too interested in it. Fisher I mean you would think he’d be basically able to sprint as fast as he’s basically capable of off the pace that was set. No offense to Joe Klecker but he’s not exactly Yifter the Shifter in closing a race. Fisher should’ve been at least a second and a half faster over the last lap or he should’ve gone 57-55 or something.

You called it. Fisher's been on a historic lucky streak, beating Klecker every time they raced. But tonight talent triumped, and Klecker finally beat Fisher.

Grant had a good run, but he had to know his luck was going to run out some day. Today was that day.

He was second in a trial where he needed to be top 3 to makeWorlds sorry where is the failure?

Agreed on Fisher's finishing kick. This makes the 5k trialsymuch more interesting. I certainly can see Chelimo and the Duck boys outkicking them.

It's a failure to meet expectations, which has led to fear that those expectations were not justified.

After his fifth in Tokyo and his AR, many fans hoped Fisher could compete internationally at a level Americans haven't in a while. They got spooked when he lost a slow race to a slower guy. They think given his superior talents, Fisher should have easily won tonight. They worry that if couldn't beat Klecker, he's got no chance against world class competition.

Some of these fans have taken to the LRC Message Board to express their dismay and disappointment.

I know BTC gets a lot of praise for how Schumacher controls all the variables before sending his athletes out to race, but maybe that's not a good thing. You don't get to control the variables in a meaningful race, you have to turn up and win, sometime in awful conditions. Time trialling has its place, but Mo Farah showed time after time that the best racer wins, not the guy with the best PB. Can Fisher medal at World's? I don't think so right now. Does he have a better final lap than Cheptegei, Kiplimo, Barega, Kejelcha, Kwemoi? Running 54 seconds off a 28 minute pace isn't good enough for a global medal. He has work to do and not much time to do it

Let's set up 600m race and give G. Fisher and opportunity to look good. Let's have G. Fisher race D-2 guys with 600m personal bests in 77.5 to 79.99 range. For G. Fisher's confidence, he needs a sub-80 600m personal best before W.C.

I tend to agree with the Statman here. Mission accomplished.

While I respect W.O.M.’s enthusiasm as a fan, I’ve said it before: he’s incredibly fickle. Guys like Fisher and Hocker put down a series of awesome performances and he’s ready to hand them Olympic gold. Then they come back to earth even once and he’s saying “What happened to our Olympic gold medalist??”

Fisher closed in 3:00 for the last 1200 and 54.x the last lap, qualified cleanly for the WCs and lost the U.S. title to a guy who’s likely in sub-13 shape (13:04.4 with a 1:57.9 last 800 3 weeks ago) by .1 seconds. That’s not that bad, especially considering that you don’t have your best day every day.

Thank you for the reality check. I’m simply expressing my sincere emotion as I watch these races and I realize I’m too up and down. Since my last post I was thinking about the state of my fandom. I’m even a bigger Warrior fan than USA track fan. I’ve watched Curry or Klay hit 3 after 3 and be unstoppable and then the next night, nothing, brick after brick. Do I get as down as I do with Fisher or Hocker? No, I don’t. Maybe because I know more about basketball. I see Fisher or Hocker at their best and I cannot conceive of a situation in which Fisher can’t run faster than Klecker over the last 100 or where Hocker cannot run down Sam Tanner! Ok, Im just naive and don’t get the rhythms of elite T&F. Well, my only excuse is that I care too much, but I’m ignorant. I’ll admit it.

You make a good point about the dangers of over-reacting to any one race.

I would point out that unlike Klecker, Fisher actually ran a sub-13 this year. Of course, that was indoors and a while ago, but it seems he should get some credit for that.

Yes, after Tokyo and Fisher’s TTs this March I was sure Hocker and Fisher were both ready to scare the sh-T out of Jakob and Barega et al. Definite gold, no, of course not, but serious threat, yes, definitely. Jakob is entering the last 200 of the wc 1500, and he’s thinking, ok, where is Hocker….got to be ready for him….Flash forward, Hocker cannot run down Gourley and Tanner. Fisher cannot run down Klecker, and yes, it’s not fitting my world view. You reassure me that these pre classic results are not that meaningful. I’m open to believing this with my head, but my heart is calling bs.

Klecker deserved to win

Of course he did. Klecker won, no debate. He was clearly the best tonight, but does anybody seriously think Klecker is 1/2 the talent of Fisher? Klecker is the guy who may make multiple US teams, but will never threaten for a global medal. Fisher has the potential to mix it up with the very best in the world. Given my perspective on this, Fisher’s run was deflating.

As for the women, Schweizer and Monson are female Kleckers. Super solid Americans, but doubt Gidey or Hassan know their names. I’m expecting for better for Fisher and that’s why tonight was more fail than win.

Doesn’t change the fact that he’s right lol. It’s like some of y’all forget the goal is to WIN.

The title of this thread is weird tho. He got beat. Of course he deserved to lose. Is it possible to not win yet deserve to win?

in six weeks he might be the better man but in the US champs he was not. Simple.

I don't think it's overreacting. If you run 26:33, you get in the conversation with the very best of the global elite. But if you can't win your national title in a 28 minute race, against pretty average competition (in global terms), then it's hard to take you seriously as a medal threat. You can say "job done, he made the team" but 1) I'm certain that wasn't his goal, he wanted a win, and 2) it's now a pattern with Fisher that he doesn't take the victory in big races. He got outkicked by Klecker over the last 30 meters in a slow race, that isn't talent, it's desire.

Agreed. Although in terms of Fisher's current condition, I wouldn't use this race as much of a gauge. No one pushed the pace which was unfortunate. Some races just play out that way, but it's not necessarily a representation of each athletes current level of fitness. I have confidence Fisher will still perform very well this season.

One way to solve this is by having a bit more respect for Jakob, Barega, Timothy etc. Its not like Cole Hocker suddenly becomes Jakobs biggest treath. Look how upset you are that Klecker ran down Fisher. Hocker doing the same with Jakob or Fisher doing it with Barega would be an even greater upset.

It's either a GREAT sign for Klecker, a horrible sign for Grant or somewhere inbetween. I tend to side on the great sign for Klecker side of the coin.

I agree with most of the sentiments so far. Fisher is either struggling to get back into shape or he should have been able to break the pack with 3 k to go.

Fisher ain’t no Mo. That tactic doesn’t work unless you have superior speed over the last 600. Fisher needs a fast a race with fast pace.