I understand the impulse of OAC wanting to separate knocking standards out from more targeted races like Millrose but it is cowardly and bad for the sport to separate the heats this way. I am a huge OAC fan and this is a real bummer because this could have been a spectacular race.
It could just be that Ritz and the entire OAC Team have more influence and resources than a couple of independent runners like Nur and Kincaid that happen to share a coach who lives in AZ.
Kincaid should be able to remember what it was once like to have that type of support.
It could just be that Ritz and the entire OAC Team have more influence and resources than a couple of independent runners like Nur and Kincaid that happen to share a coach who lives in AZ.
Kincaid should be able to remember what it was once like to have that type of support.
And that was a huge problem for the sport then, just as it is now. Imagine if it was BTC and not OAC doing this.
Ritz said to Citus Mag in the last couple days that they were probably gonna be split. OAC has been clear that they're just going for the standard, and 7:50 is 3s slower than they went through last year (and Woody closed like crazy). Yared is seeded for 12:58, it'll be tragic if he and Woody both run crazy fast, but don't get to kick against each other.
News for Joe Klecker and Dathan Ritzenhein: his own teammates will draft off of Joe and outkick him anyway. Woody and Nur would just be two additional guys doing it.
A lot of baseless speculation here. For one, we have no idea if this is just how they split it up or if there was communication between OAC and MSE and they decided to split themselves up for other reasons. And people saying there is beef between Klecker and Kincaid clearly didn't pay attention last summer when they both talked about how they were coordinating getting in diamond leagues together and on good terms. I'd wait until coffee club pod or interviews later before calling out one group for dodging competition.
I agree! I think we should flip these accusations and say that Michael Smith did not want his runners going up against the OAC.
Yared is a GOOSE on the LOOSE, not a duck.
I can’t imagine Smith or Nuguse or Woody requesting separate races. I can very much imagine Ritz and/or Klecker requesting it. Weak.
Nuguse maybe if a calamity happens in the trials at 1500m just to give him a second go but hard to see him try the double.
Similar for Garcia Romo but less of an issue and less likely to double i would have thought.
Beamish is surely too fragile to attempt a double?
So really are McDonald and Raess likely to be the prime focus?
Where does George Mills stand in Ritz's thinking, nowhere i would guess
To add to poster above: Already Have It (Racing Anyway) - Fay, Wildschuut Chasing Standard (Locks to Use) - Nur, Woody, Klecker, McDonald, Raess, Jacobs, Beadlescomb, Hacker, Robinson, Flanagan, Kurgat, Sam Atkin Insurance (Tough 1500 Teams) - Mario Garcia Romo, George Mills, Ignacio Fontes Just For Fun - George Beamish, Yared Nuguse
In case you're wondering why there are two heats...
Meet management said no one was interested in chasing the AR and that the 13:05 Olympic standard was the priority (none of the Americans in the field have it yet). So there will be two heats, both targeting 13:05. https://t.co/SCSgE1gx5N
What if New York and California would have been the first two states to start out. Let's say the orangeman was losing. Would you same trumpanzees be calling for orange jesus to drop out ?
If I'm looking at this from a "what is most successful for my organization" perspective or if I'm Ritz looking at this from a "what is most successful for my athletes" perspective or if I'm looking at this as one of those athletes from a "what is most successful for me and my teammates" perspective, the answer is not giving Woody Kincaid a train to hitch his ride to.
Woody doesn't help in the middle of the race ever. He leaches off of other athletes/teams and then at the end of races does it for himself. I haven't seen Nur race as much, but zooming out one degree to think about this at a group level I'm still not going to want to have my guys doing the work so some other team gets the benefits.
If I'm OAC, I want those guys to have to chase the standard as long as they have to. If I'm OAC, I want Woody to show he'll help the group before giving him a free ride. For many of these guys, they need competitive performances to get contracts, renewals, bonuses.
Running isn't just people doing it for the good of the sport. An alternate headline here is OAC optimizes racing for their own interest, forces challengers to make their own way
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