I'm starting to wonder what her ceiling is. I can't remember her ever showing great 400m speed or great 1500m strength, so in my mind I've always sort of placed a low ceiling on her ultimate potential - like a career high 1:57-1:58 runner. Her last 6 days in Boston makes me think that I shouldn't be super surprised if she pops a 1:54-1:55 in outdoors this year.
She has deceivingly fast wheels. I remember she was actually more of a 400/800 runner in HS - I wanna say she ran 52 low. I assume Stanford has just never had her run a 400 when shes in good shape.
Whittaker is the one who never showed insane potential from either end, so I was always more surprised by what she pulled off in HS.
Yeah maybe at stanford she just never ran the 4 at the right times... I just saw her run mid 53s every year which feels what 1:59-2:00 runners do. Id think she would want to be down around 51 to be in 1:54-1:55 potential, (maybe have to be in the 50s as a speed based 800 runner like Mu), and having not followed her closely it just appears her speed had plateaued for 6 years (not uncommon).
She has deceivingly fast wheels. I remember she was actually more of a 400/800 runner in HS - I wanna say she ran 52 low. I assume Stanford has just never had her run a 400 when shes in good shape.
Whittaker is the one who never showed insane potential from either end, so I was always more surprised by what she pulled off in HS.
Nonsense.
2-time FootLocker finalist, on Stanford's 6th place xc team this fall, the high school record holder in the 800, Olympic 800 finalist, 2nd fastest indoor collegian ever in the 1000, and has split multiple low-52s on Stanford's 4x400 relay teams over the past 3 years.
Calm down Alberto. The sport is called Athletics for a reason. She has an athletic figure that is common among female endurance athletes like Soccer and she's 25, so she's matured into a womanly figure. Not everyone is naturally lithe like Athing Mu. It's super outdated to expect female runners to be built like ballerinas or high fashion models.
Good for her. I was surprised that a 1:57.9 was a new AR given the recent progression of race times. The Womens 800 American record is behind. My guess is this will fall again this season.
That's a crazy run from boffey. 2 seconds faster than she's run outdoors. 8th fastest ever indoors. I don't know why she never really progressed over the last 4 years but hopefully this is the year
My British friends that know her and her training situation well always told me she ran 1.59 hardly training. Shows up for track sessions but barely trains on other days. Getting her to go for a 3 mile run is an achievement. I did hear this year she’s started training more
Nice info, but does not match up well with her high school and Stanford cross country careers. Perhaps she only ran xc meets, but did not go to practice.
Quite a good run by Willis, though I hope in future races she is more mindful of staying in lane 1 down the homestretch. She really drifted, which may cost her eventually.
Quite a good run by Willis, though I hope in future races she is more mindful of staying in lane 1 down the homestretch. She really drifted, which may cost her eventually.
She watched Paul Chelimo's 2021 Olympic Trials 5k race to get hyped for this race
To be fair, I think $200 bouncy shoes get at least half the credit - amiright?
Bouncy shoes plus bouncy track plus bicarb equals fast times. But whatever. Everyone in 2026 has the same access to fast spikes, BU, and bicarb so it's all good.