Letesenbet Gidey was supposed to be the future.

When was she ever superhuman in the 5k?

she's mid tier in the 5k and has been for a long time. She has only ever won 2 5ks and those were non-competitive.

Its hard to be an effective 5k runner with 1500m people on your shoulder.

in her earlier career she had to compete w Obiri and Hassan and now has Tsegay and Kipyegon plus Hassan

even Chebet (a former jr world champ) has suffered this fate twice.

It was already known on this date last year

Seems like there should be some sort limit on how many generational talents we have per generation.

What are we up to about a half dozen now?

christ some people just throw out opinions without looking at the facts...

Women's 5000m All Time:
1 - 14:00.21 Tsegay 17/09/23 (WR)
2 - 14:05.20 Kipyegon 9/6/23 (ex WR)
3 - 14:05.92 Chebet 17/9/23 (2nd behind #1)
4 - 14:06.62 Gidey 7/10/20 (ex WR)
5 - 14:07.94 Gidey 9/6/23 (2nd behind #2)
6 - 14:08.79 Gidey 3/9/23

That means Gidey holds 3 of the 6 fastest 5000m's ever ran, at one point held the WR and was only beaten in one of those races by another WR (Kipyegon in Paris).

In Eugene 2022 she came 5th in the World at 5000m when already doubling back from winning the 10,000m, and in London 2017 yes she came 11th.. after making the final at 19yo.

heck, maybe you don't mean times, so let's look at her 5000m record to see how competitive she is vs. other athletes:
3 Sept 23 - ISATF Berlin - 1st
9 Jun 23 - Paris DL - 2nd
23 Jul 22 - Worlds Final - 5th (*3rd Worlds race, doubling from Gold in 10,000m)
20 Jul 22 - Worlds Heats - 1st
16 Jun 22 - Oslo DL - 3rd
27 May 22 - Pre Classic - 2nd
11 Apr 21 - National Champs - 2nd
7 Oct 20 - NN Running Event - 1st
14 Aug 20 - Monaco DL - 2nd

Going back further in 2014 at just 16yo she came 3rd in the Ethiopian Senior National Champs

When is Gidey not competitive, on the podium, or a major threat? I'm more than willing to admit that the 5000m maybe isn't Gidey's best event but when you look at the times she's ran, having held the WR, placing 5th when doubling, her podium record etc etc it's absolutely ludicrous to suggest she's "mid tier"

Fine, she's run fast 5ks

but where are the 5K medals? I'll wait.

I said what i said

without any in the distance she is Mid-Tier.

The god level athletes are on the podium with alarming regularity and also doubling from marathons 1500s and 10ks.

Agreed that Gidey is doing well. She won the 10K worlds in '22, and has a decent marathon under her belt. I was surprised at her ferocious kick to win that World's title.
Let's see how she does going forward in the 10K and marathon. She is good enough to run under 14 in the 5,000 on the track, but might not be the quickest finisher against the big three.

OK so the only athlete in the world that you rate is Sifan Hassan. Ridiculous.

By your logic Yomif Kejelcha, Jakob Kiplimo, Berihu Aregawi, Paul Tergat, these are all men who have run some of the fastest 5000m times ever + won World/OLY medals in other events, but you think they're mid-tier too.

I think I understand what you are saying. There are Kenyans appearing out of nowhere and setting world records. Are they on drugs? Only time will tell. (Maybe)

shes beautiful though

Yes. They too are mid tier in the 5k

they have nothing to show for themselves in that event apart from times.

and fast times without medals do not "greatest of all time" an athlete make in an any particular event on track.

Heck even Genzebe Dibaba with her 14.15 managed a bronze in the 5k

Jakob Krop slower than Kejelcha, Kiplimo and Aregawi is a 2 time medalist!

This is a fantastic post.

I love your analysis around her Paris 5K WR attempt & the dominos that fell around that decision. Very incisive.

But your last statement is missing someone who will have something to say about the Paris women’s 5K: Sifan Hassan.

To me, that specific moment was a huge huge breaking point in her career, she mentally and maybe even physically (what do we really know about her? practically nothing) never got over, as if it had broken her confidence.

There must be something really wrong in the way she's coached, they can't get the full potential out of her! Why?

She has winning possibilities, huge talent, but first an athlete has to grow into being an athlete with 100% self confidence!

All speculations of course. Keeping a clear eye on Gidey.

Her arrival and development coincided with that of a number of other great ones, but who had more of a kick. Her career has been terrific, though. Two World xc golds and a bronze, a World track gold and two silvers, an Olympic bronze medal, world records at 5000m, 10000m, 15km, and half marathon, as well as a 2:16 marathon. 44:20 and 1:02:52 are among the most staggering world records out there. It's just that the drugs and shoes she's been given are no better than those others have, but others have more basic speed.

She cooked from trying to keep up with all the other dopers.

So if you don't get a medal, you are only mid-tier, regardless of how fast you can run. You are one of the problems of this board - way too dense to get the bigger picture. I guess Nuguse was only mid-tier last year since he was only 5th at World's - like his other results didn't count?!

Man, I just wish we could see her run more often. Her form makes me cry tears of joy. I'm beginning to get worried at this stage of the season with only one track result

And

in media they wanted her to be an example to other women, which is the most stupid expectation of all, they put on the neck of women top athletes.

How come Gidey (or Tsegay) didn't run the Ethiopian Olympic trials? Do they not need to qualify?? I've seen it being suggested that Gidey won't run at the Olympics this year, I hope that's not true.