American woman got spooked by Shelby bust. The men not so much. Closest they came was the Fancy Bear "likely doping" reveals but that is not the same as getting busted outright. Also, men are more brazen in general.
The fastest Americans in history at the NCAA level are Wiley and Valby.
Wiley was NAIA, not NCAA. I competed in the same conference as her college in the years just before she got there, when other women from her school were starting to get very good out of nowhere. Incredible how some people are willing to cheat for a college title that isn't even D1.
A lot of our heavy hitters on the women's side were either hurt or aged out of their primes over the last 2 years. Just look at the names we left home:
Athing Mu, Alicia Monson, Emma Coburn, Ajee Wilson, Emily Infeld, Courtney Frerichs.
That's a lot of combined global medals, plus our current best 5k/10k runner in Monson. What's concerning is I don't see anyone coming through the pipeline who looks like they're gonna raise this level. Touhy for example, is a 15:03 5k runner in a world where the best women on the global stage are running low 14's. Valby's task is similarly daunting. They both have a long way to go to get on Elise Cranny's level, and Cranny has never come close to a medal.
A lot of our heavy hitters on the women's side were either hurt or aged out of their primes over the last 2 years. Just look at the names we left home:
Athing Mu, Alicia Monson, Emma Coburn, Ajee Wilson, Emily Infeld, Courtney Frerichs.
That's a lot of combined global medals, plus our current best 5k/10k runner in Monson. What's concerning is I don't see anyone coming through the pipeline who looks like they're gonna raise this level. Touhy for example, is a 15:03 5k runner in a world where the best women on the global stage are running low 14's. Valby's task is similarly daunting. They both have a long way to go to get on Elise Cranny's level, and Cranny has never come close to a medal.
Minor point, not disagreeing or agreeing, but in the present, Valby could probably take Cranny in a 10k.
A lot of our heavy hitters on the women's side were either hurt or aged out of their primes over the last 2 years. Just look at the names we left home:
Athing Mu, Alicia Monson, Emma Coburn, Ajee Wilson, Emily Infeld, Courtney Frerichs.
That's a lot of combined global medals, plus our current best 5k/10k runner in Monson. What's concerning is I don't see anyone coming through the pipeline who looks like they're gonna raise this level. Touhy for example, is a 15:03 5k runner in a world where the best women on the global stage are running low 14's. Valby's task is similarly daunting. They both have a long way to go to get on Elise Cranny's level, and Cranny has never come close to a medal.
Minor point, not disagreeing or agreeing, but in the present, Valby could probably take Cranny in a 10k.
But if you meant, “on Elise Cranny's peak (2022) level in the 10000m”, then yeah.
Why do we watch humans run the steeplechase, even though horses are much faster and better at jumping water obstacles? Because it's fun, that why. It's fun watching men race, and it's fun watching women race.
We also watch because it's relevant to our own lives. Half the human race is female, and we like seeing what female biology is capable of just as much as we enjoy seeing what male biology is capable of.
I wouldn't doom and gloom yet. St Pierre just got an Indoor Gold this year at 3000m with a really good time only 4-5 seconds off the WR (and ignoring those doped to the gills China records).
Paris was a backwards result, but you could argue that at peak performance, they have runners that are competitive on the world stage.
If US still sucks by next year, I'd be more worried.
Yeah, I’d second this. It’s hard to medal! And the times this year were super fast. But when was the last time the US women were EVER competitive in the 5k or 10k?
I think what people are really reacting to is the 800/1500, and I think the 800m was a bit of an aberration this year, given the talent within the American ranks. Look for Whittaker to continue improving and maybe a return to form from Mu. As for the 1500, ESP and Hiltz have run with the best. They got pulled along to a HOT pace by Tsegay and paid for it. With some smarter running, I think both could have closed better than they did.
Not sure why it matters that <10% of females graduating from high school care about running as much as boys when we're discussing professionals? i.e., women who can run as fast as a decent college guy.
By your logic, why discuss running at all? So few people care about running, male or female, why even talk about it?
Are you saying that men and women are as different from one another as humans are to horses? I get that it might be interesting to see which horses, dogs, cheetas, etc are fastest, but why try to break those animals into subgroups of male and female? Would you be interested to watch a horse race that is all males and then a horse race that is all females to find the fastest horse, or would you instead just race all the fastest against each other to find the fastest?
Also, to address your point about "relating" to the athletes. Are we at a point where men and women can not even relate to each other as fellow humans? Further, we do have different leagues and such (little league, masters runners, paralympics, etc etc). Women who are unable to compete at the highest levels could compete in such a league (comprised strictly of women), but they should not be awarded a title of "overall champion" unless they actually are an overall champion by virtue of beating everyone else.
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