US middle distance running ability was greatly overstated.
More like worn out by GST in most cases. Flip side is simply everyone else was better prepared, whether they ran GST or not. Arop, Wanyonyi, Sedjati, Burgin, etc. Even Brazier’s miracle mystery supplement stack that allowed him to run 1:42 on “5 months training” (wink wink) wasn’t able to get him to the final.
These guys may have run faster than Nick symmonds and have more medals, but I still think nick is one of the if not the best USA 800m runner of all time and definitely the best global 800m tactician the US has ever had.
Nick Symmonds raced a bunch every season and was able to hone his skills that way. Our current pro system is setup to follow a rabbit in a time trial from January to June to hit a standard. It’s just not conducive to truly compete against each other.
3:30 guys used to be able to make mistakes and still beat 3:34 guys. Now everyone on the starting line is 1 bad day away from getting last or 1 great day away from winning. An average day for the best in the world now lands you as…average. Every single dude in every single one of these races is a killer. The gaps in ability are just too small now.
This is it. Between 2000 and 2022, only 2 years saw more than 19 guys run sub-3:33 (29 in 2005, a total outlier, and 24 in 2021). Since then:
2023: 34
2024: 33
2025: 64 !!
The fastest guys have been running in the 3:26-3:28 range pretty much every single year for the last 25 years. But this year we had three times the average number of sub-3:33 for the same period. Basically, squeezing 3 times as many guys in the same 3:26-3:32 range.
After no medals in 10k, steeple and 1500, you can add the 800 to the list as no one even made the final.
Brazier’s 1:43.82 misses out by .02. So cruel. I thought he was gonna get in.
It’s up to Hocker, Young and Fisher in the 5000.
I think we are seeing the effects of peaking for US champs in August in order to make the team and then having to peak again in mid Sept. It is just too long of a season
This. I think ideally there is a full 2 month gap between US Champs and Worlds.
I think the goal was month and a half from NCAAs to US Champs, month and a half from US Champs to Worlds, get two separate training blocks in. Otherwise, NCAA runners have to hold fitness for 4 weeks between NCAAs and US Champs.
However, I think possibly at the expense of having some promising NCAA runners make the team because of lack of fitness at US Champs, it's still better to have the US Champs mid July. Ultimately, the hectic schedule didn't benefit the NCAA runners, who were still pretty tired by this time of year, and hurt pro runners who had to deal with the awkward training block, some of whom also had to race some last chance Diamond Leagues.
Many of the British athletes seem to understand the value of getting on the shoulder of the leader in lane 1 in the 800/1500. I wonder if they're actually coached on tactics, it's been a clown show tactically for the Americans so far.
I don't understand the obsession with hugging the rails. Yes, in a fast race with a strung out field, it is best, but in a tactical race being on the shoulder of the leaders is smarter. I always think of Ovett in his prime; he always seemed to be in position to cover any moves and to strike when he was ready. Great tactical sense.
If that Irish guy wins we will be seeing one of the weirdest, most random championships ever on the men's side. I mean Beamish,Gressier, Nader...McMicken...🤪
In this era, 1:43.82 is just not that fast, because there are guys running all over the 1:41s and 1:42s. Brazier's tactics and box kept him from running faster, and when he was finally out of the box he had already spent a good deal of his energy trying to get out and couldn't speed up that much. Tactics did in Lutkenhaus as well. Hoppel just is not at the same level as last year. Hocker's tactics finally did him in. Koech may have gotten stepped on. Strand was too green tactically and had an unexpectedly long season (switching coaches this summer was not a good idea before world's). Let's just hope that Hocker, Young, and Fisher will have used the rest to sharpen considerably.
no, it wasn't overstated! the athletes simply did not manage their season well...ran way too much way too early. if global champs are in sept you should not start your season by running hard indoors in Jan-Feb.
I’m going to die laughing if any Americans don’t make it out of 5000 heats. This WC has been a complete embarrassment. Can trump approve some state sponsored doping? We need a win at all cost attitude. This is America god damnit!