jiaaf wrote:
Five is the magic number wrote:
The weather in northern Europe has been cooling over the last coupla days without being bad - if that reaches down to the Netherlands tonight, and someone pushes the pace from the bat, this amazing large field of talents might push each other to within the neighbourhood of the world record.
At the very least we should get to see a record number of men in one single race breaking 27 minutes.
Twenty top guys whom are all trying to peak for this race to even make the team - if just four or five of them has succeeded in that peaking, someone takes them out fast, and the weather plays along, and they have to duke it out all the way to the last lap - this could be REALLY fast.
This is not how these races play out though. They do not end up being conductive to running close to world record times. Remember they are trying to get selected for the WC. It is like our Olympic Trials. The winner will likely not break 26:40 no matter the weather. They will likely hit halfway in 13:30 ish and somebody will come back in 13:15 or so for a 26:45 win. We shall see.
True - but this is not a "those races" race. Quite possibly the deepest field ever for a 10000 qualifier, and with only 3 spots on the line with at least 4 global medal quality kickers (Gebrehiwet, Kejelcha, Barega and Jeilan if recovered) not even those can risk a sit and kick on the last laps race. And all the others have to work together to drop at least 2 of them for it to be even 1 opening left to fight over at the end.
Also, considering Kenya and Uganda are almost certainly gonna send men who likes to run fast from the front (Cheptegei, Kamworor, Tanui, Ronex Kipruto - unless surprises on those qualfiers) it's probable that the Ethiopian federation have this time taken steps to make sure a fast qualifer. I wish I could be there in person. Race of the Year - I wish I could be there in person. :-)