Ya gotta show up at Worlds. 11th in the semis when the top 6 move on ain't showing up.
She ran faster than the other two Americans. Sorry but no US woman can run a 3:55 or 57. Nikki was out into the heat of death. Let’s face it. If all Americans were in that heat none of them would have made it
In a fast race Hiltz was pretty screwed. Maybe best case scenario can run 3:57. Slight underperformance not to go closer to that here, but that relentless a pace dulled Hiltz’ one strength vis a vis the top 25 in the world.
Agreed.
Hiltz is the American women's counterpart to Woody Kincaid.
At a more moderate pace . . . say, an 800 split of 2:10 or slower . . . Nikki's kick is lethal.
But, this semi went thru in 2:08 and kept pressing . . . leaving Hiltz well behind with 250 to go . . . requiring an all-out effort to finish 11th in a bit over 4:00.
This was a perfect opportunity to set a big pr as several other women did . . . which did not happen . . . suggesting, for the moment, Nikki is racing at her physiological limits.
Somewhat the same for Cory McGee . . . excellent tactician, good kick as well, always making finals . . . but, at age 31 with a 1500 pr still over 4:00 . . . can't help but believe this is the best she can be . . . meaning, she also gets dusted when the pace is hot.
Sinclaire Johnson has some soul-searching to do . . . today was unacceptable for a 3:58 runner who finished 6th last year in Eugene . . . looked like she just gave up w/200 to go . . . however, to her advantage, at age 25 she's the youngest of the three US women (Nikki 28, Cory 31) . . . so has years left in her career to get things straight.
Flash back to 2019/Doha 1500 finals . . . look at all the familiar names . . .
1 Sifan Hassan Netherlands (NED) 3:51.95 CR, AR 2 Faith Kipyegon Kenya (KEN) 3:54.22 NR 3 Gudaf Tsegay Ethiopia (ETH) 3:54.38 PB 4 Shelby Houlihan United States (USA) 3:54.99 AR 5 Laura Muir Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) 3:55.76 SB 6 Gabriela DeBues-Stafford Canada (CAN) 3:56.12 NR 7 Winny Chebet Kenya (KEN) 3:58.20 PB 8 Jenny Simpson United States (USA) 3:58.42 SB 9 Rababe Arafi Morocco (MAR) 3:59.93 10 Ciara Mageean Ireland (IRL) 4:00.15 PB 11 Winnie Nanyondo Uganda (UGA) 4:00.63 12 Nikki Hiltz United States (USA) 4:06.68
Makes one appreciate just how extraordinary Houlihan and Simpson were . . . even with Shelby refusing to wear the new super spikes and Jenny in the twilight of her career.
That was a fantastic US women's 1500 team . . . on pure talent/prs, probably the best US team ever.
Thought this year's US women's team would see big pr breakthroughs and level up to 2019 . . . unfortunately, quite an overestimation . . .