I can reassure you Haas is loving this setup. Still her agent, yes, so he’ll get bigger payday now on top of still getting to coach her out here. Win win for everyone.
Losing the familiarity of your support group never works out great. Kara Goucher had a break up with Nike and her training group and never ran another pb and finished the dreaded 4th in the OT. She just needed a little more of the immeasurables that a group provides. Same thing with Des and her departure from Hansons. 4th in her next OT and never ran another PB again. Both could “book their own flights and get an uber” but that turned out to be not enough
Oh well I hope it works for her
Leaving Bowerman worked out well for Grant Fisher.
Stephen Haas has made her and done everything for her for the past 5 years. Karma is a horrible thing. This almost always ends bad. Stephen made the mistake of giving in to her every need so she is going to find that life is different without her support crew. Big races become much more lonely when you have been accustomed to something different.
Sounds like it was amicable. Sometimes you need to switch things up and try something new to progress to the same level.
To be fair, I think a 5-year window is a good window for most running coach setups. Unless things are really still popping after 5, if it's just "good" or "okay" then I think trying something new isn't unwise.
More importantly, it seems both Kelati and UA Dark Sky are handling it maturely, too. Unlike the LetsRun boards.
Anyone saying she's disloyal is naive and forgetting that this is a job. She's entitled to make choices that she feels reflect her best interests. If that means leaving her group for a new training environment, more power to her.
It's no different than leaving a corporate job to take a role in a new company where you feel there's more opportunity for growth. It's a completely normal move. Good luck, Weini!
Stephen Haas has made her and done everything for her for the past 5 years. Karma is a horrible thing. This almost always ends bad. Stephen made the mistake of giving in to her every need so she is going to find that life is different without her support crew. Big races become much more lonely when you have been accustomed to something different.
It's extremely dumb to say Haas "made" her. Kelati was very good in college, winning an NCAA XC championship and a track 10k, and would have won more if not for COVID.
Your post also discredits all the hard work that Kelati put in, especially running well for years in HORRIBLE Under Armour shoes. I would actually say that Kelati "MADE" Stephen Haas because Kelati single handedly put Dark Sky on the map (she had success before Lokedi).
Ultimately, she had a bad year in 2025 and didn't make the USA Championship team. Haas didn't have the knowledge to take her to the next level, so it was time to make a change.
Was going to post something almost exactly like this. She basically soloed Footlocker her senior season of HS as well, and even back then people were saying she was destined for the roads (or at least, that was where she’d have the highest ceiling). Her gradual, positive progression has indeed largely continued under Haas as a pro, particularly including the jump up in distance, but the idea that he “made” her is wholly disingenuous.
Same thing with Des and her departure from Hansons. 4th in her next OT and never ran another PB again. Both could “book their own flights and get an uber” but that turned out to be not enough
Nice job leaving out winning Boston post-Hansons.
She was still with Hansons during her win in 2018. She left the tram afterwards.
———————————————————————————————————————————————You mean super shoes? Yeah, i guess that would have made the difference. Or are you saying she just needed to be assaulted again by salazar?
Sounds like a quiet sign-off. The wording from both sides makes it feel like she’s moving on, just not ready to say where yet. Wouldn’t be surprising if she pops up somewhere new soon.
She has the half marathon American record (that is still a slower pace than the marathon WR...) but is her body up for a full marathon? She has to be 5'0" or so – can she maintain such a high cadence over 26.2 miles and 2.3333+ hours?
She has the half marathon American record (that is still a slower pace than the marathon WR...) but is her body up for a full marathon? She has to be 5'0" or so – can she maintain such a high cadence over 26.2 miles and 2.3333+ hours?