Emma Coburn pulls a Meb - gaps field early and shockingly wins Shanghai DL

dingle wrote:

Sorry, that previous link is to the whole race.

Awesome, thanks.

Just thought of the adjective I was groping for previously: serene. SHe is very serene, even in the midst of battle.

I said the same thing a few posts up ^^^

But I don't agree with you that she "learned". I think she just practiced what she preached- if you request the rabbit to be fast, go with it and run well, cut the bs.

julsome wrote:

I said the same thing a few posts up ^^^

But I don't agree with you that she "learned". I think she just practiced what she preached- if you request the rabbit to be fast, go with it and run well, cut the bs.

I agree, plus why would anyone go all the way to China to run slow? Btw, I assumed she was in good shape becasue in her season opener, she ran close to her 1500PR and was dissapointed.

I use to believe there is no such thing as pure steepler, but some of the best steeplers in a race don't always have great flat PRs. Kemboi flat times are anemic, although he only races the steeple. The Russian ladies such as Galkina, Zaripova and Volkova all have exceptional flat PRs, but, those women are suspect or a number of reasons, starting with the fact that they all seem to have retired in the same year. I have not hear anything from them in the last 2 years. With out the Russians, I don't think you are going to see too many sub-9:10 steeples, which puts Emma in the mix. I would like to see Emma get her 1500 PR down into the 4:03 range, which would show she has the wheels to turn in a fast last lap and sprint coming off the last barrier in a tactical race.

Right now, I think Jenny is leaving food on the table, she is among the top 3 milers in the world, but she could probably be the best steepler in the world.

Hey trackcoach, who are you? You seem very knowledgeable. So the Russians retired? I see a new Russian will be at Prefontaine.I wish Emma could publish her race schedule. I would like to see another 1500. You get the feeling on a good day she could go 4:03 plus or minus.

Will be curious to see what else she can do with the Steeple this year.

The Russians have been MIA since London. Not coincidentally the biological passport testing has really picked up since then as well. The world record of 8:58 is completely bogus. I'd guess the clean world record is in the 9:07-9:09 range. The fastest time in the world last year was around 9:13. 7 of the 10 fastest steeples ever run are Russians. Marta Dominguez, the Spaniard, the one who was caught with blood in her kitchen refrigerator is the 8th fastest of all time. What a joke! Chemos has a PR of 9:07 and a few other African women are in the 9:09 area. Chemos doesn't come off as suspicious. She has competed in and won nearly every diamond league steeple the last 2-3 years including the world championships. It's hard to dope when you compete at every major meet during a season. Her PR of 9:07.1 seems like the most realistic mark for a clean world record. The Russian women do have great PRs in other events but again they are very suspect. Most of their PRs come from Russian meets and they often race a few low key meets each year and then show up on the world stage and run record times.

Maybe this has been a reason for why times haven't consistently been under 9 min, or even under 9:05 for that matter, since the WR was set in 2008.

Such great insight and analysis...makes sense.

Yes, that's probably why Alan Webb dropped off the scene, and no other American has run 3:47 since then. The real American record is more likely around 3:55.

Don't know if you saw the Wetmore LRC interview. Sounds like Emma just ran her splits. No biggie. Diamond League. China. Worlds best. First steeple in a year. Cool cucumber. Wetmore teaches more than running. The mental game is equal in importance.

Go Emma. Go Jenny. Go Kara. Go Buffs.

trackcoach wrote:

Right now, I think Jenny is leaving food on the table, she is among the top 3 milers in the world, but she could probably be the best steepler in the world.

Champions don't run to weaker events in order to be the best.

If you watch the race, when the 2nd group hears the bell for Coburn, they react immediately almost as if they did not know that she was either in the race (not a pacer) or not close to being lapped until the bell was rung, and then they pick up the pace a lot, but too little too late. You have to say from seeing it, that she could not have competed with the leaders on the last lap if they had been together, because she probably does not have that ability to shift into high speed like they do. Nevertheless, she gets all credit for doing this and I hope that she gets close to Simpson's record this year, as Wetmore predicted. It is also notable from her facebook picture linked on this thread above with the lingerie that she recognizes that her looks set her apart, but hopefully that will not sidetrack her in the way that it may have sidetracked Acuff and certainly affected SFH in various ways.

SFH's running career was in no way affected by wearing lingerie, unless it was by having strange men pay a lot of money to take it off, years after her retirement.Amy Acuff "sidetracked"? She probably extended her competitive career by years posing for calendars.

jjjjjjjjj wrote:

It is also notable from her facebook picture linked on this thread above with the lingerie that she recognizes that her looks set her apart, but hopefully that will not sidetrack her in the way that it may have sidetracked Acuff and certainly affected SFH in various ways.

jjjjjjjjj wrote:

If you watch the race, when the 2nd group hears the bell for Coburn, they react immediately almost as if they did not know that she was either in the race (not a pacer) or not close to being lapped until the bell was rung, and then they pick up the pace a lot, but too little too late. You have to say from seeing it, that she could not have competed with the leaders on the last lap if they had been together, because she probably does not have that ability to shift into high speed like they do.

Yeah too bad she didn't wait for them.

Galkina was tall and had great technique. She's 35 now, so retirement should not be a surprise.

I know the Russians are suspect. So it's hard to defend here record but here it is: