jk0 wrote:
Just about the race here, Houser was impressive, no matter what the race circumstances.
1. he got up there at the start, and wisely/luckily still had Prakel doing the lead work,
2. He stuck easily and efficiently, mostly on the rail,
3. Although he did start to lose contact a bit when Ingy/Nader/Gourley changed gears at 1000m, he then quickly woke up and by 1100m had efficiently reattached himself to top 5 group… still keeping to the rail.
4. At 1300m, he did try to push through turn in lane 2, but what could he do? Sure, would have been great to be on the rail, but no choice, instead made gutsy fight for relevance.5. This is where it got really interesting. He surprised a lot of people by fighting up to 2nd at 1410m and I swear it was like he hit the mental forcefield when he saw Jacob… it really looked like he could have kept the foot on the gas and challenged him. In no way do I think could have beaten Jacob, but maybe Houser could have woken him earlier and as benefit, he might have kept Gourley at 3rd.
Whether or not that’s really how it happened for Houser, I can’t say… but it really looked that way. And if it did, who could blame a guy? … first time on world stage you realize, “oh $h&^, I am not supposed to pass Jacob.”
Pretty entertaining race for World Indoors. And very gutsy performance.
I think Gourley and him tangled a bit. Pretty inadvertent, but it disrupted his kick. Don't think he was beating Jakob, but it might've been a photo finish vs. Gourley if not for it.