Ah yes, the classic LetsRun move, someone disagrees with you, so you call it out as “wrong” instead of just accepting different opinions.
Different opinions like a coach sabotaging the most talented kid he’s ever trained, who he’s worked with for six years, so that he can maybe get minor performance bonuses on top of the multiple hundreds of thousands a year he’s likely already getting?
It was Mike’s choice to take a contract from NIKE to coach Nike Athletes. No one forced him out at NAU
If Nico truly wants to be the best ever, there’s a real argument that training alongside Parker and the Nike core might actually be helping them more than it helps him. The system is built to elevate the Nike guys, not to maximize Nico’s ceiling as an Adidas athlete. In that setup, Nico risks becoming the perfect training partner pushing Parker and the rest to higher levels while his own long term peak isn’t the true priority. Yesterday was glimpses of that.
Nico Young is better than that. I’m not buying it.
Yesterday was not an important race and few went home devastated. Finishing 7th and not having to run World XC, would be worth a few cold ones. How Nico ran yesterday, doesn’t change my lofty expectations for him next spring.
If Nico truly wants to be the best ever, there’s a real argument that training alongside Parker and the Nike core might actually be helping them more than it helps him. The system is built to elevate the Nike guys, not to maximize Nico’s ceiling as an Adidas athlete. In that setup, Nico risks becoming the perfect training partner pushing Parker and the rest to higher levels while his own long term peak isn’t the true priority. Yesterday was glimpses of that.
How do you figure?
Bro, that’s just not how pro running works. This isn’t the NFL or the NBA where the league pays everyone and it’s all even. Pro running is a shoe deal league. Nike, Adidas, Hoka, UA that’s where the money comes from. So once Smith is getting paid by Nike, the whole setup is always gonna lean Nike. That’s just reality. There’s no such thing as neutral at that level. The workouts, the race plans, who gets protected it’s gonna favor the brand writing the checks. It might not be intentional, but Nico isn’t a Nike guy, it’s kinda backwards. Either he’s helping Nike dudes get better so they can turn around and beat him, or he’s in a system that’s not fully built for him. Either way, it’s weird. At this level, your coach and your shoe deal gotta match unless the shoe company isn’t writing the coaches pay check.
Or Young and Blanks saw the gap Hansen got on them around 20 minutes and saw that nobody was within like 400m of the top 6 and figured it wasn't worth the effort to try super hard given the goal was probably just to qualify.
This isn't Nico's first time losing to Parker Wolfe. Nico is world class, but so are the guys who beat him. Cross country is not track, not everything is so linear with cross. Also, I wouldn't be entirely surprised if Nico was a little underbaked coming into the trials. I'm not sure about Graham though. Regardless, if you look at how many super talented athletes were well behind the top 6, it shows how talented/fit the top 6 who made the team actually are so maybe we shouldn't be too hard on the likes of Nico or Graham who we expected to place a bit higher.
This isn't Nico's first time losing to Parker Wolfe. Nico is world class, but so are the guys who beat him. Cross country is not track, not everything is so linear with cross. Also, I wouldn't be entirely surprised if Nico was a little underbaked coming into the trials. I'm not sure about Graham though. Regardless, if you look at how many super talented athletes were well behind the top 6, it shows how talented/fit the top 6 who made the team actually are so maybe we shouldn't be too hard on the likes of Nico or Graham who we expected to place a bit higher.
Nico is now Parker’s training tool. It sucks but it’s true
This isn't Nico's first time losing to Parker Wolfe. Nico is world class, but so are the guys who beat him. Cross country is not track, not everything is so linear with cross. Also, I wouldn't be entirely surprised if Nico was a little underbaked coming into the trials. I'm not sure about Graham though. Regardless, if you look at how many super talented athletes were well behind the top 6, it shows how talented/fit the top 6 who made the team actually are so maybe we shouldn't be too hard on the likes of Nico or Graham who we expected to place a bit higher.
I’m as big a Nico Young fan as there is, I’ve been on board since his Newbury Park days, but this whole training situation makes you stop and think. It feels like Mike Smith is trying to have it both ways. If Mike Smith made the decision to become a Nike employed coach, that’s his choice, but then why keep coaching Nico? Yes, he coached him in college, but the Runner’s World article even said Mike Smith can only coach Nico through the remainder of his Adidas contract, most likely through 2028 and after that Nico would either have to switch to Nike or move on. That puts Nico in a straight lose-lose. If he runs great and medals, Adidas resigns him in 2028 and he has to leave Smith right at the peak of his career. If he doesn’t run that well, he’s potentially stuck taking a smaller Nike deal just to stay with his coach without the results or leverage. Either way, all the risk falls on Nico. And I think that’s why so many people following this are confused about why this is even happening, because it’s great for Mike Smith and Nike, but it’s not clearly good for Nico.
If Nico truly wants to be the best ever, there’s a real argument that training alongside Parker and the Nike core might actually be helping them more than it helps him. The system is built to elevate the Nike guys, not to maximize Nico’s ceiling as an Adidas athlete. In that setup, Nico risks becoming the perfect training partner pushing Parker and the rest to higher levels while his own long term peak isn’t the true priority. Yesterday was glimpses of that.
If Nico truly wants to be the best ever, there’s a real argument that training alongside Parker and the Nike core might actually be helping them more than it helps him. The system is built to elevate the Nike guys, not to maximize Nico’s ceiling as an Adidas athlete. In that setup, Nico risks becoming the perfect training partner pushing Parker and the rest to higher levels while his own long term peak isn’t the true priority. Yesterday was glimpses of that.
I asked My 2 cents how he figures the system is setup for Nike athletes at Nico’s expense because he doesn’t make that point. Where did he go? Are you him?
I asked My 2 cents how he figures the system is setup for Nike athletes at Nico’s expense because he doesn’t make that point. Where did he go? Are you him?
