Centro racing for sub-3:50 mile next week, runs 3:00 1200 at altitude

1. Why would I be butt hurt over a group of guys who have not been relevant in 5 years?

2. Another "would've" comment. Yes, you would need to imagine it. No credit until you actually run it.

3. Wasn't that run in one the despised "time trials" that Americans have suddenly discounted for some dumb reason? And he has been anything but amazing since 2016.

4. Not a fluke, but he caught the right race at the right time. 3:50 for an Olympic win is a shameful time and the rest of that field should be ashamed for running it.

5. That's exactly what he did at Worlds and Centro could not keep up he was passed by several over the last 100.

There's not much more we can say to you. You seem fixated on guys who race on the European circuit. Yet you then ignore that US-based Josh Kerr/Oli Hoare don't really do it, the Ethiopian runners save Tefera don't really do it. Is it really that surprising the college guys who had a full schedule don't do it? Centro maybe should have, but I'd defer to him on that. I don't think anyone here isn't commending Stewart McSweyn for how he's run this year, or Jye Edwards for giving it a shot. Ultimately that stuff isn't too important for championship racing and SBs aren't really that important beyond indicating fitness. 2nd and 3rd in Doha didn't have great SBs coming in. 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the 2016 Olympics didn't either.

You dismiss the two college kids without noting that Kerr and Hoare were both once the same and not as good as these two.

You dismiss the "personality" Engels without noting that he made a WC final which is more than you can say about any of the Australian/Ethiopian team. And that he beat the British no. 3 just this year.

You dismiss Centro despite him smoking the British no. 3 in their head-to-head matchup. And he just took down Wightman in Gateshead.

We're going off the results that actually matter - world championships and the Olympics...and I threw in top times in any 1500 event in a year to boot.

2017 - US best finish 10th

2018 - US best finish 5th (in a 9 man final vs 12)

2019 - US best finish 8th

Let's throw in best times in the world in a given recent year (TLDR; US has only had 5 top 25 times total in 4.5 years with the best being 9th, and in only 1 year have we have more than 1 in the top 25 - 2019)

2017 - best US time - 13th and only 1 in top 25

2018 - 9th and only 1 in top 25

2019 - 18th and 2 in the top 25

2020 - NONE in top 25

2021 - 25th (almost another year outside the top 25 but Engels in a tie for 25th)

Meanwhile...Ethiopia, Norway, GBR, and Australia of late have been much more impressive.

2018 - Ethiopia 8th overall, 3 in top 25 / GBR 11th overall, 4 in top 25 / Norway 3rd and 4th fastest, 2 overall

2019 - GBR 4th overall, 3 in top 25 / Ethiopia 8th overall / Norway 2nd overall, 2 in top 25

2020 - Australia 5th overall, 4 in the top 25 / Ethiopia 6th and 7th overall, 3 in the top 25 / GBR 3rd overall, 4 in the top 25 / Norway 2nd overall, 2 in top 25

2021 - Ethiopia 7th overall, 4 in top 25 / Australia 4th overall, 3 in top 25 / Norway 3rd overall, 2 in top 25

So please please tell me how on earth people are attempting to substantiate we are the second best 1500 program when clearly Ethiopia, GBR, and Australia are superior to us. The data never lies. All I hear about is speculation or Centro was hurt or some BS. If we truly were deep and talented we wouldn't have these garbage numbers against the world and against countries tiny compared to our population.

You're cherry picking what in fact are far less meaningful results than a World Final and Top tier DL races. Don't think for a second that Americans are somehow favored in slow races. If these guys can hit 2:34 at 1100 and still close a last lap in 54-55 seconds you can be sure they can go a lot faster off the pace that was at the US trials. 58/1:59/2:42/ (53-54 last lap).