The Diamond League goes to Africa - Offiical 2016 Rabat Discussion Thread

ergerg wrote:

Boost wrote:

Ayana comes up short of the WR again. Everything was perfect for her, she was at 12:00 with two laps to go. She doesn't have the speed to do it. She is one of the best pace runners ever, but she just doesn't have another gear.

Genzebe is the only one who can break that, but she would need to be paced by Ayana or her sister.

Yeah Genzebe, the same woman that got dusted by Ayana.

Look she's a great runner, but she's a MID DISTANCE RUNNER

She's great at 5k, but not a 5k runner.

Move back down genze, stop dreaming, you won't win the 5k and 10k.

Really? She got beat by Ayana after having run 4 other races before that... one of them closed in 1:56.9 for 800m. Ayana should have won that race, really.

Genzebe Dibaba has run sub 14:20 three times. I'd love to hear what your qualifications for a "5k runner".

I think both have potential to break it. It really is just of matter of whether the pacemakers and weather cooperate.

Elaine Thompson was very impressive today into a huge head wind. She annihilated Okagbare, and even shut down early.

Caterine the Great extends her winning streak to 33. Hasn't lost in 4 years.

Boost wrote:

Elaine Thompson was very impressive today into a huge head wind. She annihilated Okagbare, and even shut down early.

Caterine the Great extends her winning streak to 33. Hasn't lost in 4 years.

I'm worried her first loss will be the Olympics. Imagine not losing for 4 years except at both Olympics.

Full results are now out:

rojo wrote:

Boost wrote:

Elaine Thompson was very impressive today into a huge head wind. She annihilated Okagbare, and even shut down early.

Caterine the Great extends her winning streak to 33. Hasn't lost in 4 years.

I'm worried her first loss will be the Olympics. Imagine not losing for 4 years except at both Olympics.

Full results are now out:

http://www.letsrun.com/news/2016/05/schedule-entries-results-2016-meeting-international-mohammed-vi-datletisme-rabat-diamond-league/

That would be terrible, but I don't think that will happen. Who can beat her? And she'll essentially be on her own turf

Without the wind Thompson would have run mighty fast. Explosive running!

good to see gregson running 3:34 this early in an Olympic year after many years maybe five years of injury struggles (didn't he run his pr of around 3:31 in the race where Wheating ran 3:30 in 2010?).

Boost wrote:

Ayana comes up short of the WR again. Everything was perfect for her, she was at 12:00 with two laps to go. She doesn't have the speed to do it. She is one of the best pace runners ever, but she just doesn't have another gear.

Genzebe is the only one who can break that, but she would need to be paced by Ayana or her sister.

You don't need gears or speed to run your fastest. You just need good pacing and fitness. If you have a big gearchange at the end, you could have run a faster time.

52.43 wrote:

Without the wind Thompson would have run mighty fast. Explosive running!

and her nemesis blasted a 22.02 into a headwind on a rainy track

Based on what we're seeing so far this year the Americans are going to get dusted in every event 800m and up at Rio. And things don't look so great in the sprints either. They had better practice their relay exchanges if they want any gold at all in the track events.

When have Americans ever not got dusted from 800 up?

As for sprints Allyson Felix in 400, Tori Bowie in 100/200 will be something fierce.

For men Merritt looks good in the 400

In that race Ayana lead the majority of the race and Dibaba slowed down a lot when she took the lead.

Today Ayana led the last 3400 meters of the race!

I think it's very naive to base your opinion on a 60/61 final lap as to which runner has the best chance of getting the WR.

It might be smarter to bet on whoever can hold 68 sec/lap for the longest distance possible.

Especially when 67 final lap is also under WR pace. (68 per lap?)

Ayana destroyed Dibaba in both the world championships and the 3000m race (under 5km) in Brussels some weeks later, maybe your 'fanboyism' is blinding you?

Quick to disagree on this one wrote:

In that race Ayana lead the majority of the race and Dibaba slowed down a lot when she took the lead.

Today Ayana led the last 3400 meters of the race!

I think it's very naive to base your opinion on a 60/61 final lap as to which runner has the best chance of getting the WR.

It might be smarter to bet on whoever can hold 68 sec/lap for the longest distance possible.

Especially when 67 final lap is also under WR pace. (68 per lap?)

Ayana destroyed Dibaba in both the world championships and the 3000m race (under 5km) in Brussels some weeks later, maybe your 'fanboyism' is blinding you?

So what? Dibaba still smoked her. All of it on the final lap. They ran even the entire race until the bell

Naive? Times are facts. The fact is Genzebe can run a 60/61 final lap on a 14:15 pace, as she did in Paris, and Ayana cannot come close to that, as she failed to do today. .

Dibaba had dead legs in Beijing 5K, she even lost to Teferi and got bronze. And the Zurich (not Brussels) 3K was 4 days after Beijing 5K, not "weeks". nice lying.

When they are both on fresh legs Ayana will get massacred by Dibaba every single time. She doesn't have Dibaba's talent or anywhere near her speed. Faith Kipyegon is a more serious rival for Genzebe.

Line Ayana, Defar, Tirunesh, Genzebe and Faith Kipyegon up for a 200m and Ayana would come in a distant last place.

That said, Ayana will likely win gold in Rio in the 5K, because she will only focus on that race, while Genzebe is busy breaking more mile WRs and dueling with Kipyegon at speeds Ayana can only fantasize of. Defar is coming off a pregnancy and so is Tiru, who will not run 5K anymore.

I don't think Ayana can do it. Everything was perfect for her today. Even running on her own continent, with a crowd in her favor. She was at exactly 12:00 with two laps to go. That's faster than any other 5K at that point. The pace was perfect. She just is not fast enough. Her last two laps were molasses.

She can't even break Genzebe's indoor 5K WR, which btw is almost as fast as Ayana's outdoor PR.

Little Ceaser wrote:

Jonathan Gault wrote:

FYI Robert, Gregson already got the Olympic standard in the Netherlands midweek.

.

Gault, Rojo doesn't pay you the big bucks to make a fool of him.

He can do that quite well on his own for free.

Oh snap!

Blah Blah Blah. wrote:

Why does letsrun.com management spend so much time reporting the results of a man entered in the women's 800 race?

Careful or one of the protectors of hermaphrodites from the T&FN board will race over to scold you as to why you can't say that there's a man in a woman's race.

Boost, are you aware that most world records are not set in a race with a huge kick for the last lap?

Moose/Christine wrote:

Boost, are you aware that most world records are not set in a race with a huge kick for the last lap?

What a bizarre comment. Name one.

In that Paris race, they were supposed to alternate laps for the world record, but Genzebe DID NOT.

She did not uphold her part of the deal, and instead made it slower. It ended up alternating as Ayana would put up a fast lap, expect Dibaba to move and she didn't. Genze made Ayana do all the work in that race, when they were supposed to work together.

the Olympics are IN (3) THREE MONTHS, you idiot. 80-90 days depending on which event. USA trials are in Julythat is so much time. would you want to be running near your best 3 months before the important races?no need to be, especially with Olympic trials to be relatively sharp at as well.

alanson wrote:

Based on what we're seeing so far this year the Americans are going to get dusted in every event 800m and up at Rio. And things don't look so great in the sprints either. They had better practice their relay exchanges if they want any gold at all in the track events.