Karissa Schweizer and 5th Avenue Mile

Anyone know the wind direction and speed during the races this weekend? I have a strong suspicion that there was a strong tailwind howling on down the road.

I mean she’s been pretty good at the 1500 for a while— remember that year the USA 10,000m was held at pre and KS doubled 5k/1500 ar USA’s? Maybe 2022, just before injury. She was pretty competitive with our top 1500m women and has a PR of 4:00 which i think she even may have run a couple times. She ran a 1500m at a lowkey meet before Paris and was the only one to go with the rabbit, was on her own and ran 4:02 getting rundown by morgan who had been more conservative and stuck with the pack (also ran 4:02). And scweitzer has certainly been on the upswing all summer. While the time surprised me the win doesnt really. Ejore and mackay, who both ran in the 1500 at the olympics, had pretty substantial indoor seasons starting in jan, while schweitzer didnt start racing until like May

Strange that this tailwind helped Schweizer in a tremendous way, but didn’t seem to help others, like Emily Mackay, who took silver in the 1500m Olympic Trials, nor her Team-Boston teammate, Heather MacLean, even though that Boston group specializes in mid-distance.

For instance, look at Whittni Morgan’s time. Morgan probably has been thought to have better athleticism than Schweizer, and at least as fast over mid-distance. Morgan, when not injured, usually shows up each race running to her potential. She lost by 7 seconds in a 5000m three days ago to Schweizer. So maybe one would figure over a 1609m race, she would maybe lose by 2-3 seconds, at most, to Schweizer. Morgan showed up today and raced well, essentially running the same time as McKay. But Schweizer crushed her by more than eight seconds!

One thing is for sure... Karissa is looking fine as hell in the picture on the main page.

I mean there was but it was still a great performance by Schweizer.

😮

Look at the way her rippling torso and thighs sculpt into the hips; she certainly looks like she could be a world-class miler.

Never underestimate people’s ability to underperform in a road mile tacked on to the end of their seasons in September. Lots of women running times worth 4:23-4:26 on the track while Schweizer threw down something worth 4:17.xx or thereabouts. A great run for her, no doubt.

She definitely would be a 3:57-3:59 1500 runner if she got in a few fast time trial type races. Not surprising at all considering she ran 4:00.02 in 2020 solo after the pacer dropped, another 4:00.75 win in 2022, was 4th at USAs that year leading much of the last 800, and ran a poorly paced 4:02 from the front this year—this in limited 1500 races.

Schweizer won multiple NCAA titles in the 3000m (Indoor) and 5000m, while running slower times than Valby. Schweizer never won an NCAA title in the 1500m. Do you remember what her form looked like in college?

What is your point?

Do you think it's also strange that a Kerr who could only muster a 3:31 in Zurich 3 days ago runs a 3:27 equivalent for the mile? Nah, no tailwind. Clearly, must be worth sub 3:40 in the mile on the track right now, eh?

The point is that Schweizer has been a 5000m and 10000m runner since college, but came out today and absolutely slayed a world-class road mile. I think it is one of the most remarkable performance by a pro this year.

Josh Kerr also ran the course record today, and some want to put an * on it because of a tail-wind. But the huge difference between what Kerr did and what Schweizer did is that the mile/1500m is Kerr’s main event; not so, not even close, for Schweizer. But maybe things are changing, in that regard?

Before today, I never pegged Schweizer to follow-up the track with a decent road career, particularly after her Achilles surgeries. But I obviously could be wrong.

Downhill, downwind, downtown.

KS pb is 4:00 for 1500m, so 4:17/18 mile.

So result very good, but not shocking for her.

Apparently a great day for her and a bad day for the rest of the field.

Man, you're bad at this.

Karissa ran a top 5 fastest mile of all time in college. And then she set the American record in the 3000m.

Are you just butt hurt because Valby is not as good? Or because Valby is not as good looking?

The hill hasn’t changed for all the world-class milers that have previously run this race. Were Muir’s road shoes last year as good as Schweizer’s shoes this year? I don’t want to discount the possibility that the shoes keep improving to boost performance.

You must be insane, because collegiate Valby would absolutely crush collegiate Schweizer, no contest.

It doesn't work like that where everything favours one runner and all the rest of at least equivalent class bomb.

So you haven't got a credible answer. Figures.

Unlikely, but it can happen. In her case she's still fairly fresh in her season, while others are winding down.

You probably assume her doping peaked.