Winning NCAA championships is good but I was referring to major championships, i.e. Olympics or World Championships. The winners of these caliber races must be able to run the last 400 in 53 seconds or less. I’m not knocking Fisher. it seems however that the only way he’d have a chance in a major race is to set a blistering pace, but tactic doesn’t usually win as there’s always at least one guy who hangs with the leader and does have 53 second final lap speed.
Ok so you really just mean he won’t get a world championship or Olympic gold medal. Yeah, maybe he won’t. Not too many people do. That is pretty narrow view of what a “major” race means.
He owns American records at 2Mi, 3000m, 5000m, 10000m, and some 4th and 5th place finishes at Worlds. That's a pretty darn good career already. He doesn't have that closing kick, that change of gears, at this point that you need to win at the world level. Kerr left him like he was standing still. He even struggles to win American championships. But I would not be surprised to see him win World and Olympic medals as he continues to improve and to put himself in better position to medal.
He owns American records at 2Mi, 3000m, 5000m, 10000m, and some 4th and 5th place finishes at Worlds. That's a pretty darn good career already. He doesn't have that closing kick, that change of gears, at this point that you need to win at the world level. Kerr left him like he was standing still. He even struggles to win American championships. But I would not be surprised to see him win World and Olympic medals as he continues to improve and to put himself in better position to medal.
I agree. He is super strong right now. Over the coming months he needs to work on finishing speed, but he know this as well as his coach Mike Scanell
He owns American records at 2Mi, 3000m, 5000m, 10000m, and some 4th and 5th place finishes at Worlds. That's a pretty darn good career already. He doesn't have that closing kick, that change of gears, at this point that you need to win at the world level. Kerr left him like he was standing still. He even struggles to win American championships. But I would not be surprised to see him win World and Olympic medals as he continues to improve and to put himself in better position to medal.
+1
He would possibly have had a world medal already if he hadn´t had the rail accident in the 5000m final in Eugene in 2022.
But it isn´t easy to medal at the moment.
In the 5000m there are a number of East Africans with low 12:40ies who still struggle to medal and a certain Norwegian who has taken gold even when sick.
And in the 10000m there are partly the same East Africans, including the WR in the 5000 and 10000m and the WR in the HM.
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By the way: I don´t understand why Fisher took the lead in the 2 mile race. Kerr had announced going after the WR so he should feel obligated to take over after the pacemakers.
if Fisher had stayed behind Kerr from the start I feel certain he would have broken the former WR too. I still don´t think he could have beaten Kerr on the day but he would have come much closer.
I dont really understand the need some of you have to criticize your best athletes constantly. Some criticism is healthy, but people take it to the extreme. Centrowitz, Fisher, Teare, Rupp.. It almost seems personal. Fisher is a great athlete, one of the best in the world. If his career ended today he would be one of the best american runners ever. Its not like long distance running isnt contended nowadays.
. . . By the way: I don´t understand why Fisher took the lead in the 2 mile race . . .
Again . . . rewatch Grant's post-race interview . . . stated his plan was to run 60s/400 . . . meaning 8:00/3200 then 8:03/2 miles . . .
In other words, Grant was chasing the WR as well . . . he just hadn't told anyone about it . . . so when they split a 4:03/mile, he had to up the pace . . . so took the lead when the second rabbit dropped away about 300 meters later.
Regarding the topic of this thread . . . my $$ is on Grant to win multiple Oly/WC medals . . . and possibly a 10k gold . . .
Since Grant is a "late bloomer" due to his late participation in the sport . . . as well as self-described "conservative" training since his jr year of hs . . . I view everything he's accomplished so far as appetizers . . . just the preliminaries.
Unlike Rojo . . . who has stated in various LRC podcasts that Paris is Grant's best chance for an Olympic medal . . . au contraire . . .
From my chair, Grant is just entering his prime . . . at age 26, the mileage in his legs is about where most/all of his African competitors were when they were in their early 20s . . .
Thus, I see Grant's track "peak" being the '28 LA Olympics when he will be 31 . . . and continue on, possibly on the roads, for years after . . . should he so desire.
So . . . for the here and now and the immediate future . . . if Grant runs great again at this mysterious upcoming 5k race . . . then makes it look easy in getting his sub-27 Q at The TEN next month . . . then rolls thru the competition at the Oly Trials . . . the t&f world may very well be looking at him as a favorite/co-favorite to win the Paris 10k . . . as well a medal favorite in the 5k to follow . . .
He owns American records at 2Mi, 3000m, 5000m, 10000m, and some 4th and 5th place finishes at Worlds. That's a pretty darn good career already. He doesn't have that closing kick, that change of gears, at this point that you need to win at the world level. Kerr left him like he was standing still. He even struggles to win American championships. But I would not be surprised to see him win World and Olympic medals as he continues to improve and to put himself in better position to medal.
I agree. He is super strong right now. Over the coming months he needs to work on finishing speed, but he know this as well as his coach Mike Scanell
Maximum fitness increases potential finishing speed and if Millrose had been 8:10 pace, he would have had a tremendous kick, and if it had been 8:00 pace, he would have slowed down over the last 400m. There’s no such thing as working on finishing speed.
I love Grant Fisher. He’s tough and he is without question the greatest distance runner America has ever seen.
But I can’t imagine him ever winning a major race. He doesn’t have the leg speed to win. He gave the field 3 seconds in the last 440 at Millrose. Cole Hocker has the leg speed needed to win. He just needs to be closer with a lap to go.
Fisher reminds me of Ron Clarke.
How can he be “the greatest distance runner America has ever seen” and never had won a major race. That’s not how it works.
maybe he’s the fastest American , but definitely the greatest. I’d rather have wins and medals because his times will likely be beaten in the next 10 years or less.
do you think mo farah is not one of the greatest ever because of his times (he has 10 Olympic and WC gold medals)?
Geez, you're needy. Are you just understanding this, NOW?, that the higher up you go, the more difficult it becomes. Making it to the ultimate podium is a rare thing. Just making it to a final in an Olympic or World Champs is an extreme accomplishment, something that isn't even recognized by the LRC chumps.
You would rather have "wins and medals" over times? Spaulding, you'll get nothing and like it! Not ever. Deservingly, you get neither. Not even in your wildest Turkeytrot dreams.
Being compared to Ron Clarke is the ultimate compliment. That's lost on you.
Grant Fisher is a badass. In the presence of other badasses, they acknowledge him, respectfully.
uh, well, Justyn Knight did run 12:51 before he got injured
But in his senior year his fastest 5000 he’d ever ran was 13:17, ~ 12 seconds slower then the Olympic qualifier.
And the 13:04 5000 metre runners are less likely to make the final then the guys that run 12:4x, let alone win. So when Justyn Knight was in his senior year of college he was not exactly a medal prospect for the Olympics or world champs.
Your original claim was that he beat a bunch of college kids that never went pro. When your claim was disproved, you instead go after Knight.