Clayton Murphy Where Do I Begin

This. Not sure why anyone would count him out when it comes time to make teams. With exception to 2017 when he tried to double (8/15) in super hot conditions - just didn't work out.

He clearly can handle rounds which is HUGE come championship season. Survive and advance. My money is on him to make the team.

His youtube channel is kind of cool, but he treats the tactics in the 800 like it's a game of Chess or Risk or D&D. It's not incredibly complicated, there's some tactics, like not getting boxed in late, not going to the front too early, saving a bit for the kick. It's more like a game of tic-tac-toe, strategy wise. And nobody watches youtube videos of tic-tac-toe tactics.

1:45 season opener FTW & a H2H against Saruini is solid. Beat the other Americans in that race handily. He ran 3:57-flat at Pre (3:38-flat @ 1500). What did you expect against that field? If he had run the international 1500 he probably goes 3:36-37ish & is right there in the mix of things. He's an 800 guy & looked good in his only 800 so far.

He's still a favorite to make the team at USAs. Maybe he hit that mile because he wanted to get in some strength work & mimic having to go through rounds.

kind of wild this happens year after year after year and then somehow it's all "he came out of nowhere!"

I really hope you are right. But again, is only america early season? Why is all of africa and norway and england peaking or close to it? Do we have different seasons? Its relative, we got smacked down badly by other people apparently still in "early season". I dont follow the early season logic.

Yes or the “haven’t touched speed work” logic lol

The new go to is to call someone a hater for having an opinion lol. Yeah he won a bronze medal but it's 2022 now. People are just stating his fitness now

IMO, if we saw any other 800m runner racing a mile or 1500m every other week, they would look just as bad, if not worse than Murphy.

Consider me unconcerned until he looks this bad in the 800m.

Yeah my take away is that he isnt really a 1500m guy. At his best he is a 335 type guy. Him running like a 339 isn't a shock. The 145 shows he is in decent shape and we shouldn't be shocked to see him around 144 in championship races.

He once was a pretty good hybrid guy, though his 1500/mile ceiling wasn't super-high. But he hasn't run a good mile or 1500 since 2019 when was just under 3:53 in Oslo. He runs the mile a lot on the roads or in meets but seems to be a 3:37/3:55 guy at best nowadays, so really his inclusion in this race was a stretch. They didn't have an 800m, and I guess he's got more name value than most of the guys in the 1500m (and he doesn't need a qualifier like Gourley or Tanner).

It's a talented field. Someone had to get last. Hard to call him a loser. Also, he might have been pulling up a little when he realized he wasn't going to get DL points.

And if it's not his year, it's ok, he's won some pretty good accolades

He is still a class athlete!!! Really enjoy is YouTube clips and I am sure we'll see him back to his best!

Murphy is fine. He's made every national team since he medalled in Rio with the exception of 2017 where he and his coach made the bad decision to double in two overlapping events. He had a bad race at a non-primary distance. Murphy hasn't even entered the 1500m at Nationals since 2017. What does that tell you?

Murphy's decison to double in 2017 really screwed him, he could have won the WC that year

No American will medal at the WC in the Men's 800m event.

That's the gap between being good and great. He has been a great 800m guy who is a factor in world class races. In the 1500m/mile he is a notch or two back. You don't expect him to break 350. And yes he was in the race for the same reason the HS kids make it. It is a good story angle and his is that he has an Olympic medal.

Him dropping 1.5-2s in the 800m over the next 3 months seems pretty doable. If he does that he has a chance to make the team and be in that WC final. And in 800m finals, anything can happen...

He also ran the Birmingham diamond league and came 7th in 1:47.23 in his second 800m of the season which wasn't a good performance. I agree it's likely he will make the team though. He started out last year with a 1:45, followed it with a 1:47 and than ran 1:43 in USA's. He runs mainly 1:44 to 1:45 in most of his races, occasionally drops a 1:43 on a good day and drops the occasional egg with a 1:46/7. Seems he has had some injury problems so hopefully he has enough background to carry him through to world's.