Should we retire the 10000m from the track?

I do think in the future WA is going to propose event changes and fear the 10k could be on the chopping block. But I think that might be a mistake. It's produced some amazing Olympic moments - Billy Mills, Mo Farah, etc. You can build the drarma, set the field for the final laps and throw in a ton of commercials durijng the first 20 laps.

Maybe make it 10k xc.

I think swapping the 10,000 for cross country distance would be ideal, especially if it were also awarded team medals. Would basically make it a distance relay.

Maybe I'm a weirdo, but the 10k is my favorite event to watch at global championships. The length gives time for tension to build in a way that just can't happen in any other event. There are all these moves and counter moves, which generally don't create real separation, but do give hints about who feels good and who might have pop on the final lap, and they serve to slightly ratchet up the tension each time. It all just builds and builds and builds until the final lap, when they finally cut loose. The 2012 10k was the epitome of this for me; I don't think I've ever been more emotionally wound up in a sporting event than that.

I'm guessing pretty much no one here ever watches the Hammer throw. Does the Diamond League ever have the Hammer throw? Yet no one here is calling for the ending of the Hammer throw. If you are bored by it, don't watch it. Global Championships that are spread out over 9-10 days don't need less events on the track.

Removing it from the track isn't going to enhance road races at all. There's hardly any money going into the 10,000 on the track now, so a promise to add money elsewhere seems empty.

Leave the 10,000 on the track alone.

The hammer throw is probably going away, too…

100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 1500m, 3000m, 100m hurdles, 400m hurdles, long jump, high jump, shot put, pole vault, and dec (consisting of all those events except the 800m and 3000m) are likely going to be the individual global championship events post-LA ‘28.

My guess is cross country will never happen. It is another logistical issue that the hosts need to source and pay for, just for two races. The infrastructure is already there for road races.

This board loves to hate on indoor, but the events on offer and the traffic drama is way more exciting to watch. Short track is the future.

Lose it. I'm a native Oregonian and have been a diehard track fan for decades but I can barely keep awake for a 10K on the track that isn't either an Olympic Games or a World Championship. If we want to truly grow our sport's audience and appeal both on TV and in person then we need make some tough choices and the most obvious one is to scrap the longest and most universally-acknowledged-as-boring event: the track 10K. Road races are a great fit for 10K racing, and are much more entertaining on TV compared to the 25 lap NASCAR-style snoozefest that is a track 10K. For the good of the many, kill the one.

Hammer Throw doesn't have a tv commercial issue. Hammer Throw and all throwing events have a social function. We need to give the 275 plus pound men a sport activity. Most countries don't have rugby or American football to occupy the big men.

There's always folks who want to dump the 10,000. It would be weird to take it off the Olympic Schedule after almost 130 years, but I suppose it's not impossible.

I like the event myself, and the strategic chess games that play out over its entirety. The London 2012 stadium went apesh|t for Mo Farah in the 10,000. There is a lot of thrilling history and great stories & personalities in the 10,000 meters. Bekele, Hassan, Viren, Yifter the Shifter -- so many more.

When I was a kid I saw the Rono/Salazar matchup in '82 in Eugene. It was a brutal boxing match of a race, just riveting. Fighting yet working in tandem. I love this stuff. but I get it, it's not for everybody.

The USA-USSR track and field dual meets were national news in the middle of the Cold War—it was "Communism versus the Free World". The 1962 meet at Stanford had an attendance of 153,500 over two days, which is more than attended the entire meet at the '22 Eugene World Championships. There were 50,519 people in the L.A. Coliseum watching Lindgren in 1964 (106,440 for two days).

Lindgren got a nice write up in Sports Illustrated:

https://vault.si.com/vault/1964/08/03/raves-for-the-young

One of my favorite races of all time was the 2004 Olympic 10,000. I still get chills when Bekele and Sihine slow the pace to allow Geb to catch back up for a shot at 1-2-3... dream teammates!

No.

Listen here, dumb dumb.

If you're too stupid or impatient to appreciate the nuances of a 10,000m race, then you can always watch Superhero films or tiktok videos until your heart's content.

I can think of at least 15 other events in the track and field program that I would scrap ahead of the 10,000m. Most of them involve more underpants adjusting than actual competition.

Also, you live in a country where the most popular sport is about as interesting as watching paint dry - where 12 minutes of action is spread out over 3 hours of broadcast - so you can shut your trap about what is and isn't entertaining.

Don't know why you're complaining, so few are actually run. You only see track 10,000s in championships and specialty races like The Ten.

It’s the same skill except that the distance is twice as long and the pace is 10 seconds slower.

10000m on track still holds historical significance and offers unique dynamics. Diversifying race formats could enhance overall excitement, but preserving traditional events maintains the sport's heritage.

I enjoy watching the 10,000 at championships but I think it is silly to have a championship race for an event that is barely contested outside of championships. Elite 10k runners set up their race schedule so that they can race the event as little as possible. If so few like watching it and even fewer like running it, maybe it should be retired.

I recall hearing Molly Huddle refer to the 10K as “The Snoozer.”

5K Is bad enough. I was a Course Marshall at a 5K race. After the first few laps I had lost count.

I, and many others, would argue that historical significance and "heritage" is what holds the sport back from growing. People who care about those things are the track purists (us), which will always be a niche group of people. We want to appeal to people outside of the sport who don't know or care about history or heritage.

Get rid of the track 10k except for at the Olympics, because it's the only time that it's exciting. The people on here who want to keep it have even admitted this: all their examples of memorable 10k races are from the Olympics only. Make all the qualifying for the Olympic 10k through head to head competition in scenic road 10ks around the world. That will draw a lot more spontaneous in-person fans than a track 10k late at night at a high school in the suburbs.

For the athletes, this will remove the stress of having to hit a really hard standard and blocking a huge chunk of their calendar out for the buildup and recovery from the race. Road 10ks are way easier on the body, so this will allow them to race more and have more schedule flexibility (think Grant Fisher going to world indoors). Having a circuit of road 10k races also would give 10k specialists the same financial racing opportunity as having their event in the diamond league, minus the boredom and frustration of putting a 30 minute race into a track TV window.

Road races have more tactics and strategy, especially with well-designed urban courses. I would argue that you can have just as much data behind splits and course tracking as on the track, so that you can, as some have said, build the story of the race and give info to viewers. Another idea I would throw out there is to give point bonuses for certain marks on the course. In mass start 10k races for world cup skiing, they do this every few km in the race, where whoever gets to a spot first gets bonus points to their rankings on the circuit. It makes tactics really interesting, and people already like when they do a version of this in the 5th Ave Mile.

In world championship years, the 10k can be added to the program for world road running champs. If some athletes still want to chase world or area records (the boring races that lack any drama) in order to get a bonus from their shoe sponsor, etc. then Sound Running can put on their little race and recruit everyone who wants to do that. But don't make the standard a part of it at all. Get rid of the 10k standard for Olympic qualifying and make it just based on road competition. The best road 10k racers are gonna be the most deserving of an Olympic 10k on the track. I really don't think they are different skill sets.