USA fall off

The Kenyan trials aren't hard? Hello, Wanyonyi?

Rooks is unknown outside narrow US running circles. No one picked him to medal at Paris. The commentators were astonished to see him in the lead in the last lap.

My mistake about Alfred (not sure what I was thinking of there)
I'm not talking about times - I'm talking about them still leading the field & taking the win.

Whilst Ingebrittsen has run a new WR in the 3000m - its not an oft run race & certainly not an Olympic one.
His win in the 1500m in Lausanne still wouldn't have got him on the podium in Paris.

Racing is not all about the times - its about doing what you need to do to win - again & again & again.

Silver medalist Bednarek could only muster a 3rd
Gold medalist Russel could only muster a 4th
Meanwhile the likes of Hall, SML, Lyles, Richardson, Benjamin etc don't even bother to show up.

Ahletics, as a global sport is about doing what you have to, to win again & again & again.

If the US wants to get a bigger share of recognition for the sport, then they really need to stop being so isolationist in their attitude - As a global sport, its not just about one event

If Michael Johnson wants to get his athletes more recognition, then they need to get out there & compete.
Setting up a new league where he expects the rest of the world to come to his country because he's waving a pay packet at them isn't the way to get the rest of the world interested in the US "stars"

Thanks for clarifying that you care more about place than time. Some additional notes:

• Kerley and Holloway got wins in Silesia.
• Bednarek finished behind Tebogo and someone setting a PB; do we want athletes running their best at the Olympics or at Diamond League a couple weeks later?
• The pacing help in the men's 1500 in Lausanne made it a very different race than the Olympic final, but Hocker and Kessler still ran well and finished 2-3. Kessler also had a good showing in the 800 in Silesia.
• Hoppel finished 4th in Paris, 4th in Lausanne, and 3rd in Silesia. He was also much closer to Wanyonyi in Silesia than he was in the previous two races.
• The women's 100m hurdles at the top is arguably the most level racing field in the sport this year. We could have the Olympic finalists race each other five times and get five different winners.

Athletics as a global sport has a premium on performing one's best at the Olympics. For the most part, Americans did that. Everything else is secondary, especially meets that happen after the Olympics have taken place.

All shorter distances mainly. Rounds for the 800/1500+ are much different to a 100m or 400m.

It's almost like all these athletes chose the Olympics as their training peak for some odd reason, and once you peak and finish your peak event your body naturally has to let off the gas.

Okay - let's talk about the 800m
Gold - Wanyoni - 1st at Lausanne, 2nd at Silesia
Silver - Arop - 2nd at Lausanne, 1st at Silesia

Yes - Holloway is the exception - he has been racing throughout the year - Kudos to him.

Kerly won in a race that only had one OG finalist in the field

Yes - Hocker & Kessler have turned out - but where are all the other missing US medalists?

Well yes - the women's 100m hurdles is a tight event at the moment - but let's not shy away from the fact that Russel only made it into the final because Silesia used all 9 lanes - had it been the obligatory 8 lanes that most meets use, she'd have been out in the semi-final.

And your last comment has largely answered my question about the isolationism of American athletics - what does winning a shed-load of medals at the Olympics bring to the sport in general?
SML turns out, wins in a WR then disappears back to the US.

Silesia had a packed out 42.000 seater stadium for (what you Americans would consider) a meaningless post Olympic meet that doesn't matter. Why do they do that - because their top athletes turn out again & again & again.

No-one's arguing that the US had a great Olympic games - they did - but how does that benefit world athletics as a whole if they don't turn out for the daily grind of it?

Oh - I peaked for the trials or the games themselves so I'm not turning out afterwards for world audiences - I've got my medal.

This is how its coming across to me.

Winning a medal at ONE event is a great achievement - but aiming to do it again & again & again is a far more commendable achievement in my eyes.

Your criticisms are inconsistent. You criticize Americans for not running, and you criticize those who do. It's not Kerley's fault that Kishane Thompson was a DNS.

So what if Masai Russell barely made the Silesia final; she had a solid fourth place finish in the final just 0.03 behind Grace Stark, another American finalist from Paris, for second. Speaking of which, no kudos for NCAA champion Grace Stark continuing to run throughout the summer after running full NCAA seasons indoors and out?

The winner of the women's 100m hurdles in Silesia was Ackera Nugent. Would you rather be Masai Russell with a gold medal win in Paris and a fourth place finish in Silesia, or Ackera Nugent with a DNF in the Olympic final and a win in Silesia?

It was very cool to see a full house in Silesia; those folks got to enjoy high quality track & field action. The vast majority of athletes they watched are from countries that are either in the same time zone as that stadium or just one time zone away. Those athletes have a massive advantage over Americans for competing in the Diamond League.

A wobbly disinterested Paulino still ran faster than Sydney's personal best. That tells you all that's needed to know regarding Sydney's retreat to hurdles.

Welteji won the 1500 yesterday over a rested Hailu, just 3 days after winning the Lausanne 3000.

I still say the most disgusting Paris result was Welteji trying to defeat Kipyegon then faltering over the final steps to get clipped by Georgia Bell for bronze.

What do you mean by "Sydney's retreat to hurdles"? Sydney's primary event has been the hurdles since she was a teenager. Sydney ran 48.75 in the flat 400 on June 9th, well before her Olympic peak. I'm sure she could run faster and give Paulino a good battle if she focused on that event for one summer and peaked for it. Could Paulino likewise give Sydney a good battle in the hurdles? I doubt it!

You must work for a PR firm with that weak and pathetic attempt at a spin. Wanyonyi ran ~1:41 at both the Olympic Games and in Lausanne and then ran -1:43 in Poland. Hoppel was closer because Wanyonyi ran a slower time not because hopper increased his speed and lowered his time. ~1:43 is roughly how good hoppel is, the 1:41 he ran at the Olympic Games was aided and not by having faster, better runners but because…other reasons.

there is no problem with athletes peaking at the olympics. fisher has run out of juice, which is very understandable after his difficult and impressive double. rooks fell over a barrier and messed up his collarbone which has nothing to do with his fitness. hocker hobbs and hoppel have all run good races. i think you have a false expectation for how the athletes would be expected to perform so soon after, for most, the most important and mentally draining races of their lives

the kenyan trials aren’t the end all be all. if wanyonyi gets 8th place at the kenyan trials he still gets chosen for the team. if hoppel gets 4th at the US trials he’s SOL. they need to both manage two peaks and now were expecting them to be able to perform after that. it’s an unfair expectation

You must be a USA hater with your unrealistic expectations and terrible takes. You get on Hoppel’s case for running 1.65 seconds slower than his best but not on Wanyonyi’s for running 2.12 seconds slower? Who “fell off” more?

Wanyonyi, unlike, hopper has in 2024 consistently ran ~1:41 in both the high altitude of Kenya and various DL events in Europe before, during and after the Olympic Games. Hopper only managed to do so once, during the OG and immediately regressed to the (his) norm of ~1:43.
You mentioned that he was closer to Wanyonyi most recently and this is because Wanyonyi had to ran, as you mentioned, ~2:12 seconds slower for him, hopped, to be closer. You were trying to put a positive spin on his recent performance 🎭 in Poland which I simply called out.

Performing at one's best for championships is a goal but it isn't a sport in which only one month every 4 years matters.

You are probably right. Fisher has - as you say - "run out of juice".

Peaking, like the Americans have at these Games, and then sharply falling away is all about that.

I didn't say the Kenyan trials are "the be all and the end all". But the standard of competition will be no less than the US Olympic trials.

But the excuses here are risible. Americans have had trials for decades of Olympics. In these Games they achieve their best overall performance and then fall off a cliff promptly after - unlike previous eras. There's only one credible reason for that.