Giles vs Kerr

Winthorpe53 wrote:

Yes, it’s not big enough. Thanks for the photo.

Notice that Kerr’s shoulders are up and he’s trying to squeeze through.

Here’s how it worked:

1) Kerr didn’t impress in the heat. Ran most of it in lane 2 and only just had enough speed to qualify.

2) Realised that for him to have any shot in the final, he needed to hug the rail. So, he made a move early in the final to front run.

3) But he’s not as quick as Giles and Pattison et al, so with 250 or so to go Giles overtakes on the outside.

4) Kerr still knows he doesn’t have the speed to respond to that move on the outside, so continues to hug the rail, hoping for an opportunity.

5) He sees a narrow spot with 75 or so to go, but basically runs through the back of Giles.

Now, you can pass this off as championship racing. Fair enough. I opened by saying 50/50. But don’t anyone dare tell me that Giles is exclusively in the wrong .

And I repeat, Kerr clearly apologised at the end. He knew.

kiltedrunner wrote:

Winthorpe53 wrote:

Yes, it’s not big enough. Thanks for the photo.

Notice that Kerr’s shoulders are up and he’s trying to squeeze through.

Here’s how it worked:

1) Kerr didn’t impress in the heat. Ran most of it in lane 2 and only just had enough speed to qualify.

2) Realised that for him to have any shot in the final, he needed to hug the rail. So, he made a move early in the final to front run.

3) But he’s not as quick as Giles and Pattison et al, so with 250 or so to go Giles overtakes on the outside.

4) Kerr still knows he doesn’t have the speed to respond to that move on the outside, so continues to hug the rail, hoping for an opportunity.

5) He sees a narrow spot with 75 or so to go, but basically runs through the back of Giles.

Now, you can pass this off as championship racing. Fair enough. I opened by saying 50/50. But don’t anyone dare tell me that Giles is exclusively in the wrong .

And I repeat, Kerr clearly apologised at the end. He knew.

An accelerating Kerr collided with a rapidly decelerating Giles because Kerr 'isn't quick enough'. Quite a take.

I do not understand wrote:

Winthorpe53 wrote:

It’s part and parcel of racing. I will admit I dislike Kerr intensely, but on rewatching, it’s broadly 50/50.

That said, I don’t like runners forcing their way through against the rail. It’s not an issue where you seize on a mistake and a gap opens up, but where there isn’t space and you still have a kick, move on the outside.

Kerr knew he couldn’t beat the field running the extra distance on the outside, so allowed himself to get boxed and then forced his way through.

Look at his reaction. He looked apologetic. He knew.

As a fan of the sport - why would you dislike a world champion intensely?
we follow a sport way different to most professional sports in that athletes are accessible. Have you asked anyone on the UNM team what Josh was like? Asked anyone on BB what he is like? Everyone always says confidence can seem like arrogance and I admit he can come off as arrogant but I’ve met him at races 4 times and he’s a nice guy. Unless you are a high school fan boy who loves Jakob which means you have to dislike Josh - actually hating him would imply mental health problems.

kiltedrunner wrote:

Winthorpe53 wrote:

Over 800m, he’s not quick enough to back himself to run on the shoulder and overtake on the outside.

He got boxed precisely because he’s not quick enough. You don’t get to just hug the rail, run the shortest distance and demand people get out your way.

Did you even watch the race? Kerr was in lane 2 and even lane 3 during the first lap. He only got to the inside at halfway. His foray into lane 3 means he probably ran further than anyone else. Your version makes it sound like he started in lane 1 and never moved.

I suggest you watch the race again. Giles went to take over Kerr at 200ish to go, Kerr fights him off. Giles then commits race suicide by trying again immediately, completely blew his load and was tying up 50m later- his gap of 5m or so on Kerr was reduced to millimetres by the time they collided. So no, you can't demand people get out of your way but Giles was never finishing higher than fourth even if he had stayed on his feet so overtaking when he did was a huge tactical error.

Winthorpe53 wrote:

kiltedrunner wrote:

Did you even watch the race? Kerr was in lane 2 and even lane 3 during the first lap. He only got to the inside at halfway. His foray into lane 3 means he probably ran further than anyone else. Your version makes it sound like he started in lane 1 and never moved.

I suggest you watch the race again. Giles went to take over Kerr at 200ish to go, Kerr fights him off. Giles then commits race suicide by trying again immediately, completely blew his load and was tying up 50m later- his gap of 5m or so on Kerr was reduced to millimetres by the time they collided. So no, you can't demand people get out of your way but Giles was never finishing higher than fourth even if he had stayed on his feet so overtaking when he did was a huge tactical error.

I did watch the race. I’d suggest you rewatch too.

When Kerr is taken at 250 and Pattison and Burgin make their moves there was more than enough space for Kerr to accelerate and take on the outside. The race opened up completely.

But he knew he didn’t have the speed to do it, so he tried to squeak it on the inside. If you do that, runners will collide.

kiltedrunner wrote:

Winthorpe53 wrote:

Watch the race again. With a 100 metres to go there was space to Giles’ right hand side. He could have had a burn up alongside Burgin and Pattison.

But he wasn’t quick enough, they accelerated away and he tried to b1tch an overtake on the inside. The commentator himself said ‘Kerr is wanting for speed, but no disgrace in that’. That’s why he was boxed in the first place.

Anyway, it’s immaterial - Burgin and Pattison were clearly quicker than him. Kerr tried to race it like he was the main man at that distance and he isn’t .

Being asked to watch the race again by the guy who claimed Kerr ran the whole race on the rail when it was actually only just over 50%...

The commentator said Kerr was left 'wanting for speed' at the exact moment Kerr was staggering after getting cut off by Giles, so clearly Hutchings missed the moment live. If you can't see that happening as he is saying it, you either do not have eyes or you are blinded by your dislike of Kerr.