He didn’t seem himself even before the calf pull. I won’t pretend to know his race strategy, but it was odd to see him file in towards the back of the pack like that. At 600ish the camera zoomed in on his face and he seemed to be grimacing. I just thought it was a fitness issue before he pulled up.
I posted in the Day 5 thread wondering if he had done something to his leg at the finish of the semifinal. Looking at the replay (around 6:53 in the video) he has an awkward step with his R leg that could definitely have tweaked something. He didn't express any sense of an injury in the interview right after, but I know from experience with that sort of movement that you sometimes don't feel anything wrong at all until hours later.
He didn’t seem himself even before the calf pull. I won’t pretend to know his race strategy, but it was odd to see him file in towards the back of the pack like that. At 600ish the camera zoomed in on his face and he seemed to be grimacing. I just thought it was a fitness issue before he pulled up.
Even if Kerr magically lost fitness between the semi and final and became a 4:00 miler, he wouldn't have been straining from the first 600 in 1:31. The grimace was likely from calf pain which was slowly growing.
This post was edited 1 minute after it was posted.
I thought something was wrong when he immediately went to the pole and made no effort to get in a better position as the race went on. When he started limping I wondered why he didn't just pull out; no good could come from finishing. It reminded me of Moorcroft in '84 5k.
Somone speuclated to me there might be Brooks bonus tied to the Worlds final.
It was a calf pull british athletics is reporting.
A calf pull is best case scenario for how that looked, so if true would actually be good news. He shouldn't have kept running on it, what on earth was there to gain from that?
He didn’t seem himself even before the calf pull. I won’t pretend to know his race strategy, but it was odd to see him file in towards the back of the pack like that. At 600ish the camera zoomed in on his face and he seemed to be grimacing. I just thought it was a fitness issue before he pulled up.
that may be hindsight on my part, but when I saw him sit at the back of the pack like that, I just thought to myself: "that's a really bad idea at this pace. He'd better act quick or he would get buried when the bell comes"
Not sure if anyone has suggested this, but I think it might just be a fake. Realized he was cooked, wanted to keep his pristine record as a "championship guy". If you watch it again, it all looks very performative.
It was a calf pull british athletics is reporting.
A calf pull is best case scenario for how that looked, so if true would actually be good news. He shouldn't have kept running on it, what on earth was there to gain from that?
good to hear. Usually 1 month should be sufficient to heal (as opposed to stress reaction or Achilles stuff)
Though I still think it's foolish of him to run through it.
I'll qualify this first of all by saying that I haven't had the time to read through all of this thread before commenting, and also that I'm a brit who, despite finding Kerr's general demeanour quite off putting, very much wanted him to win (absolutely delighted for Jake, as a side note).
Anyway - I am in no way suggesting that he faked anything, he was very clearly carrying aan injury or a cramp of some sort. However, regardless of that, something wasn't right. He's normally the bravest, most tactically astute runner in major finals that you could hope for. The way he very conciously ducked in to the rail after about 30 or 40m and then happily stayed there (boxed in) without any concerted effort to move out as the race continued to progress at a fairly leisurely pace was absolutely baffling to me.
I think the semi finals made him realise he wasn't in the shape he thought he was, he wasn't in the right mental space to attack and try and win today, and that the injury is just some kind of weird conincidence that gives him quite a handy excuse, as he was never going to win anyway. Very weird race, in all
Not sure if anyone has suggested this, but I think it might just be a fake. Realized he was cooked, wanted to keep his pristine record as a "championship guy". If you watch it again, it all looks very performative.
Video showed a man opening an umbrella in the stands , (it was NOT raining) , just before Kerrs ' injury '.The truth is out there.
I don't like Kerr at all, but I feel so sad for him. I didn't want him to go out this way, I was hoping for a super fast race and someone to beat him in a 3:28 or 3:29 type time. He is 27 and will be 29 when the Olympics arrive. He will end his career as "almost" as good as Steve Cram. Cram ended with 1 Olympic silver and 1 world cham gold, and one world record. The exact same thing Kerr has.
He started limping with like 600 to go when he was surrounded by people. I don't think it was a muscle strain though, he went from limping with 550 to go, to running pretty normally with 400 to go, and then gingerly again in the last 200. You'd think if you had a muscle strain at 600 it wouldn't somehow get better with 400 to go, muscle strains only degrade the longer you keep pushing it. Seemed something you can somewhat push through whatever that would be.
I think the semi finals made him realise he wasn't in the shape he thought he was, he wasn't in the right mental space to attack and try and win today, and that the injury is just some kind of weird conincidence that gives him quite a handy excuse, as he was never going to win anyway. Very weird race, in all
Occam's Razor here is that he felt something twinge in the semi and it hasn't felt right between then and the final, hence trying to spare it in the first couple of laps by going straight to the rail. I think (at least initially) he thought he could muscle through it or it might ease off if he stuck with it as he was still absolutely flying despite looking like a limping Bambi. Remember he ran 3.29 in the London Diamond league and always peaks for champs so believing that he somehow immediately lost all of his fitness/faked the injury/it's a useful excuse makes you sound like an anti-Kerr conspiracy theorist I'm afraid.
This post was edited 1 minute after it was posted.
He didn’t seem himself even before the calf pull. I won’t pretend to know his race strategy, but it was odd to see him file in towards the back of the pack like that. At 600ish the camera zoomed in on his face and he seemed to be grimacing. I just thought it was a fitness issue before he pulled up.
I posted in the Day 5 thread wondering if he had done something to his leg at the finish of the semifinal. Looking at the replay (around 6:53 in the video) he has an awkward step with his R leg that could definitely have tweaked something. He didn't express any sense of an injury in the interview right after, but I know from experience with that sort of movement that you sometimes don't feel anything wrong at all until hours later.
If you tweaked it you feel it right away, especially if you had a warm down. Did he go into it hurt? Did he shut it down thinking he could have a miracle in the final?