Low Mileage Runner wrote:
I love this interview and Hobbs' outlook on racing vs. time trialing right now. It's very refreshing. Normally I would agree with you that yes, all the best athletes should set their eyes on world indoors, as it's a GLOBAL CHAMPIONSHIP! Just like they are peaking for another global championship also in east Asia later this year. However, he does make a good point- why is world indoors so late? March 22 is like four weeks after any other big indoor meets. Really confusing why they would pick then. It's tough feeling like the hosts are gonna get a watered-down world indoors after postponing it for... 5 years? Dialing in periodization really does matter, especially for American athletes who have to peak for outdoor trials. So I'm a little more sympathetic to the decision to not run world indoors. At least he's doing his part by doubling at USAs, versus others skipping it entirely.
You make a good point about him not having the excuse of Grand Slam track, though. So I'm not totally in defense of skipping global championships but think it's a little more defensible in this case. At least some of the GST athletes are taking that seriously as "big meets". Championship style racing with the prize money to back it up.
Yes, the world indoor championships are later this year, but so are the U.S. outdoor championships and this year's global outdoor championships. In fact, there's more time in between the world indoor championships and the U.S. outdoor championships this year than there was last year.
- 2024: WIC March 1-3, U.S. outdoor championships June 21-30 (16 weeks later), Olympic athletics competition Aug 1-11 (22 weeks after WIC, 5 weeks after end of U.S. championships)
- 2025: WIC March 21-23, U.S. outdoor championships July 31-Aug 3 (19 weeks later), world outdoor championships Sept. 13-21 (25 weeks after WIC, 6 weeks after U.S. championships)