Nico making the team is fine, Parker Wolfe noted he was sick a few weeks ago and they all trained through.. I’d be a bit wary that he still did the Merrie mile and not so impressively either. I’m sure very little work to prepare for a mile but let’s say if World Cross is an A event for Daniel Ebenyo, maybe it is more like a C for Nico Young, who will be more focused on getting into the World Ultimate Champs/ podium finishes at DLs after it. Flying to Hawaii for a mile isn’t ideal prep for 10K XC obviously.
Bro should be locked in on World Cross, not vacationing in Hawaii. I don’t know who’s advising him, but he’s missing a prime opportunity.
Bro should be locked in on World Cross, not vacationing in Hawaii. I don’t know who’s advising him, but he’s missing a prime opportunity.
Yeah, exactly. With no outdoor Worlds on the calendar, a World Cross medal was a rare, wide-open opportunity in U.S. soil. Those don’t come around often. If you’re not all in when that window opens, it closes fast and it looks like that one’s gone.
It’s honestly disappointing. When’s the last time an American even medaled at World Cross? Especially with the championships in Tallahassee. Either Nico is struggling right now, or he was misguided into thinking this wasn’t a big deal. Either way, not being ready for a World Championships like that is a letdown.
These aren’t developing athletes or underfunded grinders, these are heavily resourced, heavily hyped names who are supposed to show up when it matters. Instead, they were invisible when the racing got real. No tactics excuses, no course excuses. This is cross country, compete or get exposed. On a day when hungry, lesser known athletes ran fearless, the so called stars folded. If this is what elite setups are producing,
Shelby will need exceptional circumstances to stay relevant at the very top and I don’t see Shelby going down that road again. Cooper just isn’t world-class. As for Nico, let’s hope it was truly a one off, because he looked really rough.
What’s your cutoff for the definition of world class?
If 3:32/7:30/12:54 doesn’t qualify, then I’d be interested to hear what does.
Shelby will need exceptional circumstances to stay relevant at the very top and I don’t see Shelby going down that road again. Cooper just isn’t world-class. As for Nico, let’s hope it was truly a one off, because he looked really rough.
What’s your cutoff for the definition of world class?
If 3:32/7:30/12:54 doesn’t qualify, then I’d be interested to hear what does.
Cooper can’t make a National team , he’s not world class
These aren’t developing athletes or underfunded grinders, these are heavily resourced, heavily hyped names who are supposed to show up when it matters. Instead, they were invisible when the racing got real. No tactics excuses, no course excuses. This is cross country, compete or get exposed. On a day when hungry, lesser known athletes ran fearless, the so called stars folded. If this is what elite setups are producing,
Yeah, exactly. With no outdoor Worlds on the calendar, a World Cross medal was a rare, wide-open opportunity in U.S. soil. Those don’t come around often. If you’re not all in when that window opens, it closes fast and it looks like that one’s gone.
It’s honestly disappointing. When’s the last time an American even medaled at World Cross? Especially with the championships in Tallahassee. Either Nico is struggling right now, or he was misguided into thinking this wasn’t a big deal. Either way, not being ready for a World Championships like that is a letdown.
Nico making the team is fine, Parker Wolfe noted he was sick a few weeks ago and they all trained through.. I’d be a bit wary that he still did the Merrie mile and not so impressively either. I’m sure very little work to prepare for a mile but let’s say if World Cross is an A event for Daniel Ebenyo, maybe it is more like a C for Nico Young, who will be more focused on getting into the World Ultimate Champs/ podium finishes at DLs after it. Flying to Hawaii for a mile isn’t ideal prep for 10K XC obviously.
Bro should be locked in on World Cross, not vacationing in Hawaii. I don’t know who’s advising him, but he’s missing a prime opportunity.
When was the last time a top male runner was locked in for World XC or even ran. Because it’s in Florida suddenly makes it a huge deal?
When was the last time a top male runner was locked in for World XC or even ran. Because it’s in Florida suddenly makes it a huge deal?
Cheptegei, Aregawi, Kiplimo…Nico is not a 1500 dude like Jakob, short of winning a World/Olympic title Id put a World XC title for a distance guy ahead of Ultimate/World Indoors/DL Final. I’ll admit winning a medal for some reason doesn’t have that much prestige.
These aren’t developing athletes or underfunded grinders, these are heavily resourced, heavily hyped names who are supposed to show up when it matters. Instead, they were invisible when the racing got real. No tactics excuses, no course excuses. This is cross country, compete or get exposed. On a day when hungry, lesser known athletes ran fearless, the so called stars folded. If this is what elite setups are producing,
Well I think the thing with Nico and Shelby was that it was too quick a turnaround from Tokyo. Shelby seems to be dealing with some additional issues, but still. I give them a bit of a break. The lesser knowns who over-performed were a lot more race fresh and had a more proper buildup.
Having said that I agree with you that Cooper Teare absolutely blew it. He chokes at nearly every national meet or race of importance. For the last few years he has only been able to perform when there are no stakes involved. A 3:32, 7:30, 12:54 guy should in theory almost always at least be in the hunt to make the USA team, but Teare has repeatedly blown it since his sole USA nationals 1500m win in 2022, where he subsequently bombed out of the rounds in the Eugene WCs.
I know he has had some injuries and other health issues, but even seasons where he is apparently running well he still is a nonfactor when it matters. It has to be crushing to be completely in the shadow of Cole Hocker now. I feel bad for the guy, he is probably frustrated beyond belief that he hasn’t had a breakthrough. But whether it is injuries, lack of room for improvement because he has reached his limit, or some reason, I have to call it like I see it…..
Cooper Teare absolutely sucks. He is completely unreliable if you are looking at him to have a shot at making any US team on any surface. If you were a betting person, you would lose all your money on him. He has become God awful for any number of reasons, and the only sensible thing to predict is continued failure, because that is the only evidence that we have seen over the past three years. He has become an afterthought, quite possibly worse than Craig Engels now. The two of them would have more luck going the Nick Symmonds influencer route, because there is no snowball’s chance in hell either one of them will ever make a US team again.
When was the last time a top male runner was locked in for World XC or even ran. Because it’s in Florida suddenly makes it a huge deal?
Cheptegei, Aregawi, Kiplimo…Nico is not a 1500 dude like Jakob, short of winning a World/Olympic title Id put a World XC title for a distance guy ahead of Ultimate/World Indoors/DL Final. I’ll admit winning a medal for some reason doesn’t have that much prestige.
The question is whether Young sees it that way. Fisher doesn’t.
This post was edited 34 seconds after it was posted.
Cheptegei, Aregawi, Kiplimo…Nico is not a 1500 dude like Jakob, short of winning a World/Olympic title Id put a World XC title for a distance guy ahead of Ultimate/World Indoors/DL Final. I’ll admit winning a medal for some reason doesn’t have that much prestige.
The question is whether Young sees it that way. Fisher doesn’t.
That’s sad if Nico didn’t see this opportunity to win a medal and be ready for cross country WC in January.
These aren’t developing athletes or underfunded grinders, these are heavily resourced, heavily hyped names who are supposed to show up when it matters. Instead, they were invisible when the racing got real. No tactics excuses, no course excuses. This is cross country, compete or get exposed. On a day when hungry, lesser known athletes ran fearless, the so called stars folded. If this is what elite setups are producing,
Maybe she skipped a few burritos, but even a clean Shelby should never have run as bad as she did against this level of competition. I didn’t watch her whole post race video, but she seemed to imply she has had some stuff going on and that she has lost some motivation.
I can’t blame Nico or any of the pros for not caring about world xc. A mud race against dozens of African drug cheats, with jumping over stupid hay bales and navigating sharp turns doesn’t sound at all appealing. Plus they have to stand being embarrassed once they finish outside of the top 5 in their own home country, where 99% of Americans don’t give a s#/t about this race and most don’t even know it exists. Grant and Cole are at home laughing at these fools for caving in to such a ridiculous race that almost nobody cares about anymore except for us on Letsrun.
I can’t blame Nico or any of the pros for not caring about world xc. A mud race against dozens of African drug cheats, with jumping over stupid hay bales and navigating sharp turns doesn’t sound at all appealing. Plus they have to stand being embarrassed once they finish outside of the top 5 in their own home country, where 99% of Americans don’t give a s#/t about this race and most don’t even know it exists. Grant and Cole are at home laughing at these fools for caving in to such a ridiculous race that almost nobody cares about anymore except for us on Letsrun.
There is no Track WC this summer. It would cement them as iconic to medal at a WC in XC!