Faith K. 3rd in mile at Riga World Road Champs - Did she ruin her GOAT season?

The record that got broken was the one she wasn't aiming for so a complete surprise to her because she merely outkicked Gidey who paced her the whole race.

This performance is a complete anomaly for Kipyegon, so it just gets thrown out when evaluating the season. She was obviously not mentally or physically prepared to run. Welteji on the other hand would have had a significant boost mentally just from being able to hang on to her. She would also have come into the race fired up to compete again against Kipyegon, while Kipyegon was not prepared. This kind of thing happens all the time, especially at the end of a season. Even the most dominant athlete can lose when not prepared. Losing once in a while is probably a good thing. It keeps you on your toes.

Yes, Rudisha used to lose his races at the end of the season.

Faith is the coolest and doesn't afraid of anything. Even morans passing judgement on a random race out of peak season she could've easily passed up.

I think it's great for the sport that a runner in the GOAT conversation isn't so afraid of being beaten that she skips all races she isn't in top form for.

Means VERY LITTLE she either have taken time off from training OR she is already back into heavy training. Yes she lost but her season is still one ELITE ATHLETES DREAM OF...

Sounds like she was sick based on Cathal Dennehy's observation. Welteji is about 3 seconds off her in a paced race, less so in a race where she has to lead the whole way. Welteji would be a worthy World Champ in most eras.

maybe the road doesn't suit her . not every track runner thrives on the road.

I would say she didn't exactly look comfortable. In a road mile, you either want to run up front but not lead outright or create a gap that forces the opponent to work hard to catch up. You want to run the shortest distance, and if you make a move you want to create clear separation. I couldn't really tell what Faith's strategy was vis a vis Welteji because merely making the race "honest and hard" does almost nothing in a race with a ton of space and no jockeying in the pack. You either create a gap like Muir did at 5th Ave last year, lurk and then make a hard move (Kessler/Kerr this year), or wait until the bitter end (Wightman/Willis). But I suspect if she was feeling 100% she might've had the extra gear in the last 100 that makes her tactics pretty irrelevant.

This question would not have been crazy when I was young, due to the fact there were multiple decades when the so-called world's best at any event was not selected on the basis of a world champion. T&F did nor have a world championship event. Every fourth year, there were the Olympics, but political considerations screwed this up for many Olympics. (The so-called world championships are international events, not world events, no matter what they call themselves.)

Look up the (Roberto) Quercetani - (Donald) Potts formula for selecting the world #1 according to Track & Field News. It rewarded avoiding tough opponents when one was not fully ready. IIRC, head-to-head results was the #3 criterion, after "honors won" (championships) and "marks" (time/distance). But, without top championship events, and marks often condition dependent, head-to-head was often the prime distinguishing criterion.