Sam Tanner denied entry to the Oslo 1500m - Should DL meets have defined entry criteria?

Dumb take. He has taken enough scalps and run fast enough in the last half a year - it is silly to not let him into big DL fields until after the next World Championship cycle.

Nuguse:

1) 3.47.2 mile this year (okay it's indoors on the worlds fastest surface but that doesn't matter, it's a 3.47 mile)

2) Has already finished 2nd in a DL meet this season (sure, it was Rabat not one of the major DL meets, still a 2nd at a DL meet)

3) Represented by Ray Flynn. Highly respected agent, ran in Oslo frequently in the golden era of track and ran 3.49 there back in 1982. Put two and two together.

This is why Nuguse is starting in Oslo. I don't really think the Bislett Games management cares even if he was "dodging" Cooper and Hobbs.

You are right and we can go even further and say the essence of this shows just how hard it is to make it in this sport. Because imagine you aren't from a nation that has a big meet that can leverage you into others - it's a total catch 22 situation. You have to be a super talent (I mean like the top 1-2%) to just rock up in mediocre meets and run performances that get you into DL meets on merit alone otherwise you need these level of meetings (DL) to reach that level of performance to begin with. 90% of athletes that run in Europe never really get close to their ceilings purely because of opportunity. In the mens MD races (say 800 to 5000m) it's absolutely brutal.

A classic example from the past was Andre Bucher - lucky to be born with a high level of talent but also born in Switzerland. He was starting in the 800m A race in Zurich from the age of 18 - getting crushed but gaining experience vs guys like Kipketer, Rodahl etc. Not only that, because Barbara Brennwald was his agent and she was on the LOC of Weltklasse, he was getting these reciprocal starts in meets in Europe that really by pure PR/World Ranking he wouldn't be in if he was say from Australia, or Ireland or even the US. But eventually because of his exposure and opportunity the guy starts running 1.43/1.42 and can then make meets purely on his own merit. Those early opportunities allow him to ascend to the "auto start" category of athletes.

1000%. This is a hugely problematic part of the sport, all the more so now that WA points are so crucial for qualifying and DL/Gold meets are worth so much more. Run 3:35 and coming 12th in a Diamond League would be worth the same as someone running 3:31.8 at Stumptown Classic. That's a massive disparity. The fact that those crucial qualifying points are gate-kept by agents and meet directors creates a fundamental inequality within the sport.

At the same time meets often are put in tough positions because of athletes being flakey. I know an athlete who wanted to race in Rabat but was rejected. 4 days before the meet the director contacted them begging them to come race as multiple people had dropped out of the meet last minute to do other races. The athlete I knew was literally in the process of flying somewhere else when that happened so had to say no.

Give each meet , say 3 discretionary wildcards for a field of 15. The rest of the time you have a ranking list - that is worked down with athletes either accepting or rejecting their spot by a certain deadline, working down the list until the field is filled.

If you accept a spot and no show with less than 1 weeks notice you forfeit your spot on the start line of remaining DL's for that season.

If you are in a ranking spot for a Diamond League spot but do not race at least one Diamond League meet in a year you forfeit your spot on the tour for the following year. Use it or lose it - individual athletes should not be bigger than the sport.

Each meeting needs to do what’s best for their own product. It’s no mystery why, after becoming World Champion in 2007, Christine Ohuruogu and Sanya Richards Ross only raced once over 400m at a Diamond League in the UK. It was better for their product to have a British star win rather than getting beaten by a foreigner.

By that same token, do you imagine that Maggie Vessey merited a spot in the Prefontaine Classic in 2009? Her season’s best put her outside the top ten in the world and she went up against a field that was entirely women with PBs at least two seconds quicker than hers and included the Olympic Champion. There were certainly faster and more accomplished 800m women that could have taken that spot in her place. But Vessey got it and it made her career.

The real lesson here is that the World Rankings don't mean anything this early in the year. Tanner is ranked high because he has run a lot of races this year compared to his competition. If I had to guess, I'd say that he played the system, running a lot early to inflate his ranking.

The truth is that's he's a youngster who showed some promise last year, but so far has not delivered much. He's run under 3:34 twice -- a 3:33 high and a 3:31 low. Both were at the end of the season last year, in fast races, where was well beaten.

He hasn’t raced since March, it kinda surprises me that he thinks that wouldn’t be taken into consideration. Feels like he could’ve bolstered his case in Rabat/LA/Europe in May to bolster his case.

Was Jurgen Straub invited to 1979 Oslo Mile? I believe J Straub later summer, 1979 earned a silver medal, 1500m World Cup.

What is the T&F Superbowl, 2023? World Championships.

Encourage S Tanner to stay focused for World Champs.

Everyone is writing Grethen off as though Tanner should obviously be in the race over him.

What hasn't been mentioned is Grethen is an Olympic finalist. He's also competitive at European championships, indoor and out, which has large mainstream coverage in every European country - ie, the countries with the biggest audience for Oslo. Meanwhile Tanner has run marginally faster than Grethen, but most of the audience wouldn't have seen him race, and he hasn't made a major championship final yet. For the "lane fillers" Grethen is much more marketable than Tanner.

Habz just ran 1:43 a few days ago and finished 4th in the Rabat diamond league in front of Garcia Romo and Abel Kipsang. He’s in the form of his life and seems ready to run 3:30 or even dip under it and there is absolutely no reason he shouldn’t be in the race.

Nuguse dodging Cooper Teare 😂😂😂

The Diamond League is a commercial event series, it is simply naive to expect them to have these kinds of criteria. That would be like asking a festival to make criteria on how many albums to sell or visitors/show to be invited to play there. Or a private company to set up a process of what you need to do to be entitled to become a supplier...

I was in pro track for years, and the reality is that the meet directors will call up a handful of big shot agents, say "who you got" and then put together a field. It is up to them and their job is to make exciting action. Yes, Sam Tanner is a good runner, but it's not like a meaningful amount of people will come to the stadium or turn on the TV because he is there. You can call that politics, but I think it is just part of running the business properly. The meet's job in this case is to market the Ingebrigtsen show. I understand that people who run for PRs themselves want there to be entry standards, but it is simply naive to expect a transparent, open process that caters to an athlete's chance of running a PR from a commercial event.

Barely heard of him. His 2nd best is 3.33 and his times at all other distances suck (1.48, 7.54 etc). He could do some Gold label races and blow everyone away, maybe that would help?

They should have B and even C races for the prestigious events such as the 1500m, as they used to in the 80's.

I mean look at tonight, you have 5 or 6 track races that people would tune in to watch, spread over 2 hours, and four of them are over in less than a minute.

It should be possible to have two 1500m races, and two 800m races, with even the B races being high quality. You can even have a promotion and relegation system, so that the first 3 in the B race automatically get added to the next DL A race, and the 3 at the back get demoted to the next B race.

I don't see why it is not possible to have two 1500m races in the space of 10 minutes. Keep the action flowing, instead of 5 minutes of the high-jump and shotput, and athletes warming up.

Completely agree with you and I reckon one of the best posts you’ve ever made on this site

The selection process for Diamond League fields involves various factors, including performance rankings, event invitations, and considerations by event organizers. While the rankings and personal best times of athletes play a significant role, other factors such as previous performances, event objectives, and athlete availability may also be taken into account. Political considerations can sometimes influence the selection process, as different stakeholders may have their preferences or priorities. However, the specific extent of politics involved in assembling Diamond League fields can vary and is not always explicitly disclosed. As for Sam Tanner's case, his ranking and impressive personal best times suggest he has a strong case for inclusion in the race. However, without detailed information on the selection criteria and the specific circumstances surrounding the Oslo 1500m, it is difficult to definitively determine whether he deserves a spot in the field. Factors such as event objectives, athlete availability, and other considerations could have influenced the decision. Ultimately, the final decision on the composition of Diamond League fields rests with the event organizers, and they strive to create competitive and compelling races while considering multiple factors.

Indoor times dont count for much.

Yet thats all the nuguse fans can talk about. Tanner has a better entry time than him