That was the greatest race ever!! All hail Lopez Lomong!!

longjack wrote:

i think lomong can do 145 in the 8 right now. and 330 is not out of the question. this guy is now favorite to will win the trials @ 5000m.

Not a chance. Lagat is the favorite by a huge margin and Rupp is an easy 2nd. I think Lomong could be a solid #3 at this point though.

Rojo,

Please don't call me a fool for disagreeing with you. I hate that.

Teg, Solinsky, Rupp have all been talked up to beat Lagat over 5,000, none have done it yet. Lomong has better 1500m wheels than those guys, but Lagat should be able to handle him as well.

1500:

Centro

Monzano

Wheating

Lomong

Torrance

Webb

Brown

Batty and Leer on the periphery

So there are 7-9 guys definitely in the hunt. Batty and Leer may be long shots, but they're definitely in the mix.

5000

Rupp

Lagat

Teg

Ritz

Sol

Bumbi

Derrick

Torrance

Lomong

9 guys at LEAST with legitimate shots.

10,000

Rupp

Ritz

Teg

Nelson

Curtis

Sol

Derrick

10,000 looks pretty week, actually.

The Olympic Trials will be very interesting.

On a side note, good to see Teg getting back to where he was. 13:15 is pretty encouraging. He may be a 13:low guy in another 2 months.

If Wheating actually races anytime soon and shows some fitness, then I'll include him in my own short list.

Webb? Sorry, but I just don't see it happening. I'd love to be wrong, but I don't see it happening.

I'd put Brown on the periphery with Batty, Leer, Heath, etc.

lomong's last 800m was about 1:57. i was there and timed it...

How is that possible on 1:57?

That means second to last 400 was 51, his last 400M was 66, he crossed at 12:05 with hands in the air, all the time from there counts, like it or not.

Everyone is going to have their own spin on this, he would not have gotten to 12:05 at finish line with one to go, if not sprinting wildly already.

He would not have run under 13:00, that is absurd, can he some day, probably, but it would not have been last night, he was already going pretty hard to get to 12:05, he would not have run another 55 flat on top of that.

He likely would have run about 13:05 - 07

His 400 prior to screw up would have been a bit slower with one still to go , so he would have been by at about 12:07-08 my guess anyway.

five thousand wrote:

Teg, Solinsky, Rupp have all been talked up to beat Lagat over 5,000, none have done it yet. Lomong has better 1500m wheels than those guys, but Lagat should be able to handle him as well.

After watching Lagat at Penn on Saturday and Lomong last night, Lagat would have his work cut out for him if the race were held right now. Lagat has consistantly shown that he is one of the best in the world at timing his peak though, so what happens two months from now we'll have to wait and see.

The Stache wrote:

Webb? Sorry, but I just don't see it happening. I'd love to be wrong, but I don't see it happening.

...

Not sure exactly how to interpret your comment. Looking at (1) Webb's past accomplishments (and the fact that talent does not go away) and (2) His progression over the last month or two, it seems like there is at least a reasonable chance that he will be in 3:33 - 3:36 shape in time for the trials and could reasonably qualify.

Not saying he will but it seems like after Centro, Manzano, and Lomong (who are not locks but stand out as having the best chances IMHO) perhaps Webb is as good a bet as anyone else.

Wowser. I wonder what he could run for a downhill mile???

Just watched it again. His last 1600 was:

9:05

10:10 (65)

11:11 (61)

12:05 (54)

13:11 (66 - including a 5-10 second slow jog)

---------

Last 1600: 4:06

So not out of this world, but still very impressive to watch.

The splits that flotrack was announcing were on the other side of the track:

4000 split: 65

4400 split: 58

4800 split: 59 (with the jog)

and they didn't call the last 200, but I'm guessing 30-31.

-----------------

Last 1000: 2:27-2:28

In all seriousness, that's getting into Bekele's territory. With all of the obvious caveats, it would have been good for a top 5 finish in Athens -- one of the great 5000s of all time.

https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/bpence2/www/Bekele/Races/08.28.04_OG_5000.html

If Lomong runs the 5k at the Olympic Trials, it will probably turn out the same way the USA Indoor 3k did this year. Lagat 1st, Lomong 2nd, and Rupp 3rd. Rupp is running the 10k first, so won't be fresh for the 5k. I think Lomong is the better 5k runner this year anyway.

webby wrote:

... one of the great 5000s of all time.

https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/bpence2/www/Bekele/Races/08.28.04_OG_5000.html

What makes this race particularly notable is that Alistair Cragg actually finished the race. Don't believe it? Take a look at the results - 12th place.

1985 or 1986:

Jon Easker / Cathy Easker (nee' Branta) -- 13:35 / 15:07

both while still in college - America really missed out on these two talents.

Easker still had the 5000m School Record at Wisco until Teg broke it 20 years later. Branta still has the collegiate record (for a meet outside the season) almsot 27 yrs later.

But yeah, that was a great performance by Lucas/Dobson.

running math wrote:

Ffgjfhj wrote:

Did you subtract for the time that he was not running?

That time has to count toward his final lap.

Okay, let me break this down for you guys here. This was a 5000m race. The track they were running on is 400m around. With me so far? Okay, 5000 isn't evenly divisible by 400, therefore they have to start at the 200m mark on the track!!! What does this mean, you ask? Well, it means the 56 and 59 second laps the announcers are talking about in the video are from the 200m mark, not the finish line! Notice how the announcers are shouting the times when they pass 200 meters? Did you think they were just taking a guess at how fast he was going to run the last half of the lap?

sorry to be the grump, but seriously, you can't figure out a 12.5 lap race when the officals are yelling at you the laps to go each time around. . . .?

wow.

webby wrote:

In all seriousness, that's getting into Bekele's territory. With all of the obvious caveats, it would have been good for a top 5 finish in Athens -- one of the great 5000s of all time.

/08.28.04_OG_5000.html

It was a good race, but let's be serious. Bekele ran a 10000 where he split two 5000s faster than what Lomong ran last night.

If Lomong had timed it better he might have been good for 13:05. Excellent, but he has a ways to go before he's a world beater.

Within the next 16 months Lopez is the odds on for holding the AR for 3000 meters (only that long because it's an Olympic year- he may actually be in 7:28 shape right now!)

Consider This wrote:

It was a good race, but let's be serious. Bekele ran a 10000 where he split two 5000s faster than what Lomong ran last night.

The point was not that Lomong is in shape to set the 10,000 meter world record. The point was that Lomong is in shape to kick in a tactical 5000 with some of the fastest runners in the world.