Just trying out this hot take but… is the 5k team going to be even harder to make than the 1500 team? Young and Fisher appear to be as formidable as Hocker/whoever is #2 (Yared prolly) and then throw in Blanks and Hocker and others in 5k picture too.
The men’s 800, 1500 and 5k teams are going to be nuts.
Agreed overall, but Yared is 2-1 in the 1500m and 2-1 in the 800m against Hocker this year if I'm not mistaken. Seems kind of weird to say "Hocker and whoever is #2" at this juncture.
Nico Young goes from dark horse to medal favorite! He can hang with a fast pace. He has a monster kick. And the 5000 probably isn't even his best event. Is Grant Fisher still our best 5k/10 guy?
12:45 is great but 7:22/12:44 is better, even if it’s on a “trampoline track”. Nico can definitely challenge Grant though, this win was sick
That is so awesome! Without the shoe advantage that is really close to being up there with Ritz. Maybe not as fast as Solinsky's time - but Nico is so young - he for sure will get there. It is exciting to see what this new generation will be able to do. I also like how competitive they are in the races. Ritz and Solinsky had great times but struggled in championships.
What bouncy shoes did he wear? I’ll be sure to pick up a pair.
...and you'll still be slow.
To your answer: He wore better shoes than Bekele had, who had better shoes than Geb had, who had better shoes than Coe had, who had better shoes than Pre had, who had better shoes than Ryun had, who had better shoes than Owens had, who had better shoes than Thorpe had, who had shoes that someone in Greece never had
I can remember an American do anything close to that. Running in AR, CRUSHING A DEEP FIELD, and winning a DL race. My goodness.
Smith said last year to just wait for 2025 after Nico broke 13 indoor. He said that was just the start. He was right. My word.
....
In the interview Nico was asked, "Did you expect this or is the BEST yet to come". Nico giggled and said, "The BEST is yet to come". If he stays healthy in 2025, I BELIEVE HIM.
And I don't think he was using the latest superspikes. I first noticed it at the 3k last week, but I'm pretty sure he's been using the previous generation of the Adidas Ambition, which notably don't have full length plates/rods. Obviously it works for him, maybe the newest versions aren't worth as much as we think?
Amazing that you can merge the Nico Young threads quickly but you left a ton of separate threads up for awhile on the California boy winning high school girls track events.
That is so awesome! Without the shoe advantage that is really close to being up there with Ritz. Maybe not as fast as Solinsky's time - but Nico is so young - he for sure will get there. It is exciting to see what this new generation will be able to do. I also like how competitive they are in the races. Ritz and Solinsky had great times but struggled in championships.
Solinsky finished at his best 3rd (to Tariku Bekele/Merga) and 5th in Diamond League. Even with time inflation, this is a better performance than Solinsky ever mustered. It's imprecise, but around 1.5s per Kilometer seems about right at these speeds.