Who were your biggest winners and losers at Pre?

Winners:

1. Charlie Grice 3:52 - Not only a fast time, but won the race by 3 seconds, incredibly impressive. Mo Farah's training partner... they're cooking up something good.

2. Shelby Houlihan 4:03 - 6 second PB, soon after running 2:02 at Hoka and saying that she's training like a 5k runner. Schumacher has her on the right program for sure.

3. Mo Ahmed - 10 second NR... what can you say. Mediocre in college and has totally blossomed on the pro scene.

4. Boris Berian - Sticking it to Nike. I was surprised he wasn't wearing a 2 foot NB logo on his chest.

5. Kendra Harrison of course - insane time

Losers:

1. Mo Farah - He runs 26:53, intentionally slowing down the pace halfway through, and then complains about the slow pace in his interview, saying that he wishes the competition and talent was better. Guess what Mo, you ARE the talent; be willing to go out there and hurt for the fast times and stop whining. Jeez.

2. Sanya RR - 52s could be a hurdle time

3. Ryan Hill - 13:30s? Yikes.

4. Chris Derrick - Mid 28s is not gonna cut it a month out from the trials.

5. German Fernandez - 4:18 mile and then dropping out pacing the 10k... not exactly effective.

Losers:

-Alan Webb: He is quickly going to loose the esteem he built up as America's best miler if he keeps "umming" and "ahhing" his way through commentary. He was mocked for lacking tactical sense during his racing career, but it is now clear that he has no idea how to interpret what is happening on the track.

- Derrick, Wheating, for obvious reasons. Different than Pappas, Hill, Levins, Rowbury who had one-off bad races, these guys' momentum is going backwards.

Winners:

-Blankenship: showed today he has the wherewithal to make the right choices in any kind of race.He showed he can be tactical on domestic competition, but showed tenacity that no other American miler besides Centrow has showed in the run-in to the trials.

- Girls who jump over things. If you're concerned about Cunningham...

- All the young people. No one bonked. No one pulled a Webb, but it still is something to just not crack in their first exposure to the world stage. Efraimson, has been here, but Cunningham needs more experience. Hunter et al. got more from today than their first two years in college could give them.

- Big 10 alumni. Mead is quickly reminding me of Tegenkamp, really ninja-ing fast times without any hype or praise.

- NBC: hate to say it, but they continue to pull off shoddy coverage while making it appear successful to the suits who are keeping track. They will pat themselves on the back for the thrilling competition, and not consider all the retooling they need to do to produce engaging content.

OklahomaGuy wrote:

"men's 5000 was slow from the start"

60 second first lap, 4:10 first mile?

Right. They settled on 63s, then kicked.

I can't believe no one noticed Leah O'Connor's massive PR. She went from marginal pro to solid Oly team contender in one race.

Winners

Kendra Harrison- #2 Performer ever scares Donkova's Old World record set in 1988 before Harrison was born.

The Womens Steeple 2nd and 3rd best performers All time for Jebet and Hyvin Jepkemboi, with Jebet under 9 and Jepkemboi 9:00.01, Emma Coburn breaks her American Record, O'Conner 13 second personal best #3 All Time on USA list. Has there ever been a better Woman's Steeple? I doubt it.

Triple Jump Men- Florida Alumni didn't the top 3 all Graduate from the University Of Florida?

5000- Obiri wins in 14:32 a Personal Best by 49 Seconds, Molly Huddle 1st USA woman under 15 minutes for 5000 TEN times.

Jim Ryun- looks like both his 3:36.1 for 1500 AND 3:51.3 American Junior Records will make it 50 years.

Berian after being sued by NIKE, wins NIKE's biggest meet, an in your face to the NIKE company.

Don't want to get into losers.

For distance runners only:

BW (American men): Boris Berian

BW (American women): Emma Coburn

BL (American men): Andrew Wheating/Chris Derrick

BL (American women): Alexi Pappas

BW (International men): William Sitonik

BW (International women): Ruth Jebet

BL (International men): Cam Levins

BL (International women): Alexi Pappas

ADD Winners

Torie Bowie huge Personal Best runs under 22 (21.99) upsets Dafne Schippers and Elaine Thompson.

Biggest winner that noone noticed:

Ibrahim Jeilan coming from the chase pack to dip under 27 for a new PB.

That dude is now back from all his injuries, getting closer and closer to the best.

Let us remember - he's already proven twice (2011, 2013) that he also knows how to taper perfectly for medal performance capacity on championship day.

loser: high-schoolers-in-the-Bowerman-mile fans

winner: Asbel Kiprop demonstrating why. Show him some MF'ing respect and maybe he'll take the next one seriously.

loser: doper LaShawn Merritt

winner: maybe-not-doper Kirani James

winner: Jebet

more a winner: Kiyeng.

winner: LaVillenie manages not to choke when someone else clears 5.80

loser: LaVillenie in an Oregon singlet

loser: Oregon, if they had anything to do with that

loser: Kenyan hurdlers

loser: men's 100 meters first 4 places all known dopers

losers: meet directors for inviting them

losers: fans for cheering

winner: Kipyegon

winner: Christian Taylor jumps 17.76 to honor American Revolution!!!

losers: knowledgeable fans who heard something in feet and inches instead

I guess LaVillenie actually cleared 5:80 first so scratch the winner part for him. Eurosport made it look different.

Winners: Gatlin, Bowie, Kovacs, Kendra Harrison, Christian Taylor

Losers: US distance runners longer than 800 meters.

Situation normal.

One more winner today to add, but not at Pre:

Michael Norman 20.23 into MINUS1.0. California State High School Record, worth 19.98 wind adjusted, the FASTEST TIME INTO THE WORLD INTO A HEADWIND.

And it's not even the California State Final yet. He has Olympic Trials qualifiers for 200 and 400, and he IS going.

Biggest winners:

Keni Harrison

US triple jump

Montano

US women steeplers (Coburn, OConner, Higginson)

Grice

Mo Ahmed & Hassan Mead

Bowie

Shelby Houlihan

Chaunte Lowe

Chanelle Price (always paces great races)

Biggest Losers:

SAFP

Leo

Farah (for whining about a slow race where he could've taken control)

Rowbury

Harper-Nelson

De Grasse

Ludlow

Dendy

Nicole Tully (will she even be a factor at trials?)

Pre fan . wrote:

Impressed by Sitanik in the 10000. Also impressed by the W 3000 SC in general. Boris looked pretty good out there. Jenny Simpson and Emma Coburn looked good.

Was hoping for more out of Hunter and Slag and Tamagno. Derrick not looking great either. Alexa Efraimson, although undoubtedly a good race, nothing special when she's run 4:04 already this season. Fernandez a disappointment.

All three high schoolers ran solidly and while there was no record breaking performances, 3:58-3:59-4:01 in races against much stronger competition is something to be proud of. These are still 18 year olds who are used to outclassing the fields they face so they much to learn about positioning and the optimal way for them to run a fast time (i.e. Get out of gate and ratchet pace up each lap/go out hard, slow a little, close hard/etc). I'd honestly say they all did superb given the different circumstances! Always learning as they progress, it'll pay off dividends in college and the pro ranks later.

coach d wrote:

One more winner today to add, but not at Pre:

Michael Norman 20.23 into MINUS1.0. California State High School Record, worth 19.98 wind adjusted, the FASTEST TIME INTO THE WORLD INTO A HEADWIND.

And it's not even the California State Final yet. He has Olympic Trials qualifiers for 200 and 400, and he IS going.

You adjusted for running into a headwind but I do not see the adjustment for running into the world.

Do you think that should be a larger adjustment coach d?

I would think running into the world would slow him down a bit.

Winner: Linden Hall. A 4:10 runner at the start of the year that ran no faster than 4:12 all Australian domestic season, before finishing second at their trials/nationals has gone to closing strong in a 4:01 for 5th in a DL. That's massive. She'll be sub 4 and a top 5 Rio contender by August.

Les wrote:

For distance runners only:

BW (American men): Boris Berian

BW (American women): Emma Coburn

BL (American men): Andrew Wheating/Chris Derrick

BL (American women): Alexi Pappas

BW (International men): William Sitonik

BW (International women): Ruth Jebet

BL (International men): Cam Levins

BL (International women): Alexi Pappas

Agree.

But Add BL: NBC coverage

I'm not calling anyone of Lagat's age and accomplishment a loser. But: he dropped out of the 5k, bent over and gasping; Mead, who will be gunning for one of the 10k spots, looked very good; and Jenkins, who has a finishing kick to be a threat in a Trials 10k, got his qualifier.

So BL not a winner today, at least.

Whipp wrote:

OklahomaGuy wrote:

"men's 5000 was slow from the start"

60 second first lap, 4:10 first mile?

Right. They settled on 63s, then kicked.

Wasn't the 5000m won in a world leading time?

2nd place and 3rd place got PBs. First time sub 13 for 2nd place.

The "slowness" of the 5000m is not what sticks out in my mind.