What’s up with Joe Klecker and Kincaid?

Woody is 5 pounds heavier in a package that's 3 inches shorter. You can work on the BMI index in that. Kincaid is the least robust of the three Americans, so logical he may end up best. By far.

Klecker likely not better than these guys if it was colder? Maybe not. We'll never know. But I would bet anything he wouldn't be more than 10 seconds behind the winner on a 60 degree night

I think Cheptegei and co. could punish Klecker at any temp

Lol. Not by 1-2 minutes they're not. Maybe beat him by 50 meters but he's never going to resort to a jog midway in the race. This is all just so silly

What non Africans routinely make indents in championship races? Kincaid was the third non African. Making an indent (isn't that supposed to dent?) is an issue for distance runners that goes way beyond the US.

When you talk about choking to a massive degree relative to their potential I imagine you mean running so much slower that their best times. It was something like 90 degrees. No one is likely to run nearly as fast as they have in better conditions. But the other thing that comes into play here nearly all US distance guys with impressive times is that those times are achieved in events that are really glorified time trials. (I'm sure someone can think of exceptions but those aren't the norm.)

Championship events are actual races. Racing well requires a different skill set than simply being able to run fast and US distance running has really never been structured in a way that puts runners into settings which help develop that skill set so we consistently see what happened today, i.e. US runners with fast times in championship events running nowhere near those times and placing far from the medals.

This not anything new. If someone asked me how to change this I would say that US runners need to go to Europe and race frequently throughout July and August, to take their lumps in international races while learning how to place well eventually in such races. That's not going to happen consistently. Making it happen would require an organized effort by USATF, maybe requiring it to spend some money for it to happen. Distance running is not a high enough priority.

Seen through neutral glasses:

You are expecting too much. Neither Woody, Klecker or McGorty are in top international class.

Fisher was close in 2022.

Klecker was just bad today. Probably the heat. He was out of the race before 5000.

Kincaid has to be in good enough shape for his kick to matter and he normally isn’t. This is just his peak right now.

American 10,000M men’s running is pretty weak right now compared to 5000 and 1500. As others have said they are good at running time trials on perfect running conditions neither Kincaid nor Klecker are capable of being within shouting distance of a championship 10,000. And at 30 I’m not sure it’s ever going to happen for Kincaid.

Hopefully Fisher comes back strong next year and is healthy for USA’s and the Olympics next summer.

Regarding the weather LOL meanwhile
Mohammed Ahmed comes from
St. Catharines Ontario Canada who gets more snow than Buffalo NY & Erie PA put together lol #snowbelt #OFSAA

Sean O’Malley >>>> Joe Klecker

Yeah, that is the downside of training/living at altitude. It's never hot and humid. When they have to race under those very unfamiliar conditions, those athletes melt.

When was Dathan ever a medal threat? You know, other than the world medals he had.

What's up with them? They've never been great in the first place. A couple of sorta fastish 5k/10k times once ir twice but well off the current world standards.

Sorry to say, but a lot of US athletes are way overhyped - and the fall off grace is always uber painful (or delightful depending on your point of view).

They just suck, they were never in contention.

Only two medals he ever won were a bronze medal in the “World Half Marathon Championships” 2009 Birmingham and a bronze in as an Individual in the World Cross Country Championships 2001 Ostende Junior race. Hell of a slew of World medals you're alluding too

Stupid because the Americans can’t hack it?

For distance runners the system with qualifying through US championship is quite devastating (assuming you have to peak the form to secure a top 3 spot)

would be interesting to test another model , I am sure they would improve

Funny Woody and Joe (and Sean would’ve if not hurt) spent the first weekend in March running a 27:07 10k in California on a perfect night and the rest of these guys were out in the Australian summer tearing up World XC.

Doesn’t Ethiopia or Kenya also have a trials for the 10k, but not the 5k?

The trials doesn’t seem to hurt Chelimo and Fisher’s performances at Worlds.

I think if you’re a world level talent you should be able to make the team and perform later at worlds. If you’re peaking to just make the worlds team, then your ceiling might just be top USA talent.

Woody, Klecker and Sean, this year, are not top 10 10k guys. I think you’d have to be in shape for like 26:30 or faster in a perfect conditions race, to hang with those guys and sniff the medals in the championships. Also the people complaining about the heat - it’s worlds, if you race worse in not ideal conditions, suck it up

You don't go to Kenya and Ethiopia to adjust to heat and humidity.

Has there been any research on skin pigment & heat tolerance?

Darker shades absorb more heat - over 10 years of training I would expect there to be a degree of heat adaptation.

Mcgorty said the pace was fartleky. Surging, slowing,surging,etc..

I don't think Klecker does well in those types of races. It's the same story over and over...Americans rip a fast time early in the year in a rabbited race and then sh*t the bed in a hot, fluctuating-paced race.

I still stick to my belief that if you can do well at World XC you are the type of runner that could perform well in the type of race that went down today.