It is ok to be disappointed with the pace of the race, and I was, and not somehow try to turn that into an indictment on someone or on the event as a whole. It was disappointing. If every race is like this, then that's probably not going to bode well for the event. But not every event will be hosted in this weather.
It wasn't a random race, it was the European Cup in Gateshead.
Regardless of the overall jog and burn up, it's still a far more appealing watch than some half-arsed diamond league with a pacemaker where it's won in around 13:10. I would prefer pacemakers only to be used when there is a genuine world record attempt.
Clearly you’re being tongue in cheek, but you watched that race and “dur hur sUcH a sLoW TiMe” was your takeaway?
Maybe Grant Fisher putting a 12:34 guy, the last Oly silver medalist, and a dude who just ran 26:50 with a 100m handicap to the sword over the last 400m in 51 seconds was pretty fun to watch? As well as a few typical also-rans in Jacobs and Teare dusting your little time trialers too.
Guys with zero kick go home devastated. They could’ve taken it out fast if they didn’t want to get rolled
I watched it and was bored until the final lap or two. There’s nothing interesting about these dudes jogging at half marathon pace for 11 laps. Can anyone honestly say they’re going to rewatch that race in its entirety?
The end of your post is weirdly vitriolic lol. Kwemoi got “rolled” today and he out-kicked everyone but Jakob in Paris. It’s almost like it’s April and Worlds isn’t until September…
Fisher is coming off 7:22/12:44 and obviously would’ve won regardless of how the race played out because he’s easily the fittest in the field right now.
Clearly you’re being tongue in cheek, but you watched that race and “dur hur sUcH a sLoW TiMe” was your takeaway?
Maybe Grant Fisher putting a 12:34 guy, the last Oly silver medalist, and a dude who just ran 26:50 with a 100m handicap to the sword over the last 400m in 51 seconds was pretty fun to watch? As well as a few typical also-rans in Jacobs and Teare dusting your little time trialers too.
Guys with zero kick go home devastated. They could’ve taken it out fast if they didn’t want to get rolled
I watched it and was bored until the final lap or two. There’s nothing interesting about these dudes jogging at half marathon pace for 11 laps. Can anyone honestly say they’re going to rewatch that race in its entirety?
The end of your post is weirdly vitriolic lol. Kwemoi got “rolled” today and he out-kicked everyone but Jakob in Paris. It’s almost like it’s April and Worlds isn’t until September…
Fisher is coming off 7:22/12:44 and obviously would’ve won regardless of how the race played out because he’s easily the fittest in the field right now.
actually that's their marathon pace (at least theoretically), rather than half marathon pace. It's a snoozefest.
A lot of those guy can run much faster. The only tactical reason to hold back with a slow pack is if you think you have the best kick at the end. Otherwise it's better to break away and lead by a lot.
Yeah I lost all respect for those runners. Not that I had much. As professionals I would have hoped they inspire other runners - not intentionally run a time that a random guy on the street could do.
Uh, they have to run a second race. You expected them to go all out? That is the problem with this meet format for distance events. For sprints it works, for distance you will get a sit and kick for the first race.
Yeah I lost all respect for those runners. Not that I had much. As professionals I would have hoped they inspire other runners - not intentionally run a time that a random guy on the street could do.
It’s better than 12:30 on drugs. Learn to appreciate slower times. Even the 51.9 close doesn’t beat Mona Farah’s 50.89 14:10 race from 2016?
Clearly you’re being tongue in cheek, but you watched that race and “dur hur sUcH a sLoW TiMe” was your takeaway?
Maybe Grant Fisher putting a 12:34 guy, the last Oly silver medalist, and a dude who just ran 26:50 with a 100m handicap to the sword over the last 400m in 51 seconds was pretty fun to watch? As well as a few typical also-rans in Jacobs and Teare dusting your little time trialers too.
Guys with zero kick go home devastated. They could’ve taken it out fast if they didn’t want to get rolled
I watched it and was bored until the final lap or two. There’s nothing interesting about these dudes jogging at half marathon pace for 11 laps. Can anyone honestly say they’re going to rewatch that race in its entirety?
The end of your post is weirdly vitriolic lol. Kwemoi got “rolled” today and he out-kicked everyone but Jakob in Paris. It’s almost like it’s April and Worlds isn’t until September…
Fisher is coming off 7:22/12:44 and obviously would’ve won regardless of how the race played out because he’s easily the fittest in the field right now.
Yes we would rather watch a dope fest 12:25 you mean? Clarify yourself. One scenario is not better than the other. Live and let live. Let Fisher be busted and GST be suspended. The economy is in bad shape with trumps tariffs, why would GST be successful? Is it funded by George Soros or Melinda Gates? No
I watched it and was bored until the final lap or two. There’s nothing interesting about these dudes jogging at half marathon pace for 11 laps. Can anyone honestly say they’re going to rewatch that race in its entirety?
The end of your post is weirdly vitriolic lol. Kwemoi got “rolled” today and he out-kicked everyone but Jakob in Paris. It’s almost like it’s April and Worlds isn’t until September…
Fisher is coming off 7:22/12:44 and obviously would’ve won regardless of how the race played out because he’s easily the fittest in the field right now.
actually that's their marathon pace (at least theoretically), rather than half marathon pace. It's a snoozefest.
I have never liked track in all honesty. I prefer combat sports and swimming. I do follow a little here and there given all the controversy with drugs in athletics. I miss the days of meb keflezigi.
And whose bright idea was it to put the athletes’ FIRST names on their bibs, instead of their last names? Like, bibs can be seen as cheap and distracting enough…but they manage to make them appear utterly amateur with that decision.
Literally nobody cares about the bibs, you just want something to whine about like everyone else. Or maybe you just genuinely don’t know who the athletes are lol
I watched it and was bored until the final lap or two. There’s nothing interesting about these dudes jogging at half marathon pace for 11 laps. Can anyone honestly say they’re going to rewatch that race in its entirety?
The end of your post is weirdly vitriolic lol. Kwemoi got “rolled” today and he out-kicked everyone but Jakob in Paris. It’s almost like it’s April and Worlds isn’t until September…
Ok, so in your typical DL race, they run 13:00 pace single file for 11 laps, then your standard Kejelcha, Aregawi, Cheptegei kick down for a 12:50 win. I have watched that race dozens of times. Is that more interesting to me than this? Heck no. Am I going to go back and watch ANY of that race? No. Not even the last lap. Today, I already rewatched the last two laps of the GST 5k.
In last night’s race, every lap that went by slowly played more and more into a guy like Cooper Teare’s hands and built suspense. I was wondering “Why doesn’t Hagos push?” “Why don’t they make it honest?!” And that was on them. That’s racing, and if they wanted the W, they should have done just that to burn off guys like Dylan Jacobs and Teare. But they didn’t. Now I’m excited to see if they’ll change tactics in the 3k.
Pacers make one formula of race. And I love a world record attempt. But all the other races with a pacer that end up just going 12:50? It doesn’t do anything for me. On top of that, the racers don’t need to think. I like when they have to actually use their brains, instead of just following behind a couple of blinking lights.
I really enjoyed watching the finish, but Cram and Tollefson need to figure out a better way to call the race to build anticipation for a fast and unpredictable finish. They were tripping over how and whether to mention that the race was going slow and then quickly reminding us of the party line that it is "all about the racing".
They need to tell us how slow the splits are and put it into context, as in "these guys can run this pace in a warmup without breaking a sweat, so we are in for some fireworks at the end". Or, "Your personal best goes out the window in this kind of race. This could could play right into the hands of a guy like Cooper Tears who a couple years ago was US Champion at 1500m in a tactical race, so you know he has some speed." They could even speculate whether this is a tactical play to serve them in the 3000m later in the meet.
For two seasoned commentators, they seemed a bit unprepared for this type of race.
You need people to tell you what you’re watching? People attending a meet do just fine without listening to someone jabbering stuff they already know.
Also, everybody in this thread is so butthurt about the big paychecks despite slow times.
I can guarantee if these races were fast they would all be saying “Omg they’re so stupid going so hard this early in the season! Gonna peak too early! Idiots!”
And now suddenly being so negative around the paychecks? Hasn’t 90% of this board been clamoring for track to be more popular and the athletes to be paid better for the past decade? Make up your mind
According to the World Athletics website and TFRRS, it was the slowest 5000m of his entire career. The only other time close to that one was when he won the 2017 NCAA Championships as a sophomore in 14:35.60
7 US women have already gone sub-15 indoors this year. Men's 45-49 WR is 14:11, 50-54 WR is 14:51. Women's Masters WR is 15:04. The WR for a single arm amputee is 14;20, while the WR for a double arm amputee is 15:37.
According to the World Athletics website and TFRRS, it was the slowest 5000m of his entire career. The only other time close to that one was when he won the 2017 NCAA Championships as a sophomore in 14:35.60
7 US women have already gone sub-15 indoors this year. Men's 45-49 WR is 14:11, 50-54 WR is 14:51. Women's Masters WR is 15:04. The WR for a single arm amputee is 14;20, while the WR for a double arm amputee is 15:37.
So you want them to be in peak sharpness to time trial PRs every month all year round? Great logic!
We’re getting to see the stars in action more than we have in the past, and that’s a good thing.