Mo Farah goes home DEVASTATED

Mo for silver WAS heroic.

Would have been easy to fold.

He didn't.

rojo wrote:

...After it was over, the BBC was saying that the Ethiopians were using team tactics? Not at all. It was a jogfest and all out sprint. I didn' tsee any tactics but Paula said it was to "get the lead before the bell."I only think they got it because Farah was tired.

They did misjudge their kick a little bit. Edris ran 52.4 but it was 26.0 first 200, 26.4 last 200.

I'm wondering, are team tactics illegal? Reason I ask is Myrus Yifter and Mohammed Kedir used to do that all the time, Kedir always would "sling shoot" Myrus.

Pretty sure it's Miruts Yifter, not Myrus. Myrus is like some bad contraction of Miley & Cyrus.

I had a different interpretation from a lot (but not all) of the people on this thread.

Mo's kick: I think it was just as good as usual. Edris closed in 52.4. Mo was right behind. So Mo was 52-high, or 53-low. Isn't he usually 53-low? Legitimately asking, has Mo closed in 52-mid, ever, in a 13:30 race?

Ethiopia's team tactics: It looked to me like they were deliberately trying to create a wall that Mo couldn't get around on the last lap. And it looked to me like it worked. If only Yomif hadn't ceded the inside lane, Mo might have had 3rd or 4th. I think the plan was for Barega to get up on the outside as well, but they were moving too fast and Barega just couldn't get there.

Mo's tactics: I don't think Mo was trying to "go" with Butchart. I doubt he feared Butchart. Instead, I think he was trying to follow the sacrificial lamb (Butchart) plowing the road and breaking the wind for Mo, allowing Mo to go early before the Ethiopians could wall him in (which they did). Mo was also wise not to try to go wide on the back straight to get around the Ethiopians. At the speed they were moving, he would definitely have wasted too much energy.

Other tactics: It looked like athletes from multiple countries talked before the race, in an effort to try to bury Farah. I say this because they were all trying curiously similar things. Chelimo goes to the front on lap 1, only to fall back. Tiernan goes out, perhaps to draw Farah, but Farah doesn't take the bait. Multiple athletes trying to box him a bit. I liked it. Some serious position-jockying was fun to watch!

Pre-race introductions: I really loved the individuality that many racers sported during their introductions. They all had some kind of gesture, and track & field needs more individuality like this. For that matter, did anyone see Chelimo's mobot followed by a head-shake and a throat-slit? Genius!

trails for life wrote:

Legitimately asking, has Mo closed in 52-mid, ever, in a 13:30 race?

He closed in 52-mid in a 13:03 race last year.

Danilo88 wrote:I do not think Farah has lost his finishing kick ( he closed in 52-53) nor is facing father time

exactly

age did not catch up with him & even at 34 he is just about as good as he ever was, albeit slightly less sprint speed than '15 when i think he had 49-low

as posters have said, he lost the sprint because

1) he went too early from 600+ out when not happy to be passed by another brit

2) that 26'49 crumbling his legs

now, no one will believe this but i have prelim line of fit for mo coming into this meet

LR said after 10k that he had done a 50+ !!! rep in training in switzerland, which obviously part of a series, which indicates an open fully rested 400 of 49-high !!!

mo himself said in press conference after 5k loss that he was definitely in sub-26'40 shape here, which is obvious from 13'36/13'13 splits

the prelim line of fit i have for him based on above is

49.75 / 1'45.50

->

3'28.02 !!

7'18.53 !!!

12'38.52 !!

26'32.04 !!

bottom line :

not only was mo in fantastic shape, but so were the top guys in 10k & 5k, possibly close either of those 5 or 10k times here, but only mo capable of both at this meet & only doubler i believe

mo IMO here was a 3'28-flat/7'18 !!!/12'38 guy & for him to lose the 5k in a fast last mile & last lap really indicates that 10k had really really finished him, because if fully rested for that 5k i do believe he couda gone 51+ in a 13'30

people have to remember, bernie lagat went a route-one 50-high !!! in a 12'59 !!!, so a last lap of 52+ in a 13'30 is nothing special, but obviously does become so if part of last mile of 3'57

This has to happen when your plan is always to sit and kick instead of running fast steady pace. Based on the 10k, Mo was in the best shape In the race, and maybe the best shape of his life. Yet instead of taking advantage of that and once, just once in his lifetime run for a PB which could have been sub 12:50, surprise surprise, he chose cowardly to run a slow tactical race counting on his kick.

calculo wrote:

the prelim line of fit i have for him based on above is

49.75 / 1'45.50

->

3'28.02 !!

7'18.53 !!!

12'38.52 !!

26'32.04 !!

further

for edris, i don't think he is as quick as mo over 400 ( only bernie & possibly gebremeskel i think were ever such ), but i think he is close, perhaps 50-low/mid

i certainly think he was in 12'45 shape, considering 6 guys went 12'46 - 12'49 in '12 in a still somewhat tactical race with winner, gebremeskel finishing a 12'46 with 54+ running wide in lane 1/ into lane 2 the whole last lap !!!, & no way were all 6 of those guys all hugely better ability than edris, meaing if edris had been in that 12'46 race, he wouda been challenging for 2nd

so, i reckon we have to look for a line with 50-25 - 50.50 & ~ 12'45

( forget any 10k estimates, edris is primarily a 5k guy & woudn't be expected to get near his hypothetical 10k as not enough mileage for it as training for 5k, but he woud be expected to run the following 800/1500/3k off that 5k training ) ->

50.25 - 50.50 / 1'46.50 - 1'46.75

->

3'29.93 - 3'29.89

7'21.43 - 7'22.28

12'42.20 - 12'44.77

26'36.28 - 26'44.54

( estimates only to nearest 0.25s for 400/800 so unfortunately you won't get exact match of ~ 12'45 )

what this tells me, is that mo woud definitely not have lost the 5k if he had skipped the 10k & that the exertions of that 10k probably cost him near 1s in 400 speed

i think lining up for the 5k, his energy was sapped by 10k & he was more like :

50.50 / 1'47.00

->

3'30.83

7'24.16

12'47.89

26'50.79

which is a way of saying that if you run a hard 10k & just over 1 week later try to run another hard 10k, you woud be slower by ~ 20s & it woud also have cost you ~ 10s for a 5k compared to a fully rested 5k

these guys aren't supermen, it's why likes of geb/kennster didn't double up that often ( kennster didn't from '04 until '08 ) as i reckon a hard 10k can cost you close to 10s for an upcoming 5k if all races flat-out from gun

The 10,000m probably sapped his energy.

No way he can run 7:18 for 3k because right now he can't run 3:28. He was missing a fast 1500m race this year. That was the difference. So your hypothetical line of fit is out.

Nah there were several other possible factors that went into why he didn't come out on top. He may be getting old but his kick was enough to win the 10k, perhaps he was tired from the 10 win and 5k heat... he took 2nd, not "absolutely wrecked."

no

he didn't have to run a 1500 to show his speed

he already has run 3;28 twice before, latter one undrafted from gun to bell !!!, which wouda been ~ 3'27-flat if 2nd set of pacers for him that day & not just 1 set for Asbel

49-low/mid & 26'30/26'40 a few years ago predicted mo's 3'28+

when LR said after 10k that he had run a sub-50 !!! in training, i knew he was in fabulous 1500/3k/5k shape

to run 8 x 1k, then 400s finished by a sub- 50, tells me that his open 400 was 49+ & i used an ungenerous 49.75 for him

that allied with fact we know he couda run close to 26'30 if that had been TT tells us he was at worst in 3'28 shape & the accompanying 3k is 7'18

do not be fooled, 7'20 is not a great time, only there because pacing on circuit is absolute crap & can't even get near 5'00 from pacer at 2k whereas Komen had 4'53 !!! pacing

if you have 49+ speed & 26'30 endurance, you can run 3'27/3'28 & hugely below 7'20

it's frightening, but his 400 speed couda been lot quicker than 49.75 based on 8k of running & some other 400s in his legs before that sub-50 !!!

it's terrifying to think that 49-flat/low maya been more realistic for his 400 speed

the lines of fit for 49.00/49.25 & ~ 26'30 is completely shocking & beyond belief !!!

just using nearest 0.25s for 400/800 ->

49.25 / 1'44.75

->

3'27.03 !!

7'17.51 !!!!

12'37.96 !!!

26'34.05 !!

49.25 / 1'44.50

->

3'26.14 !!

7'14.78 !!!!

12'32.27 !!!!

26'19.54 !!

49.00 / 1'44.25

->

3'26.10 !!

7'15.63 !!!!

12'34.84 !!!

26'27.80 !!

plenty of variation there, but i have gut feeling based on lot of experience that mo may have whipped himself into best shape of his life for this meet & couda dipped into 3'26s in this shape !!! & most definitely obliterated the 3k wr to a level it woud never ever come back from !!! & pretty similar job couda been done to the 5k !!!

believe whatever you will, but 49+ in training & unrested indicates to me he was in best middle/distance shape for 1500/3k/5k that anyone has ever had !!!

i'm of belief that mo couda broken the 1500wr this year if he had not bothered training for 5k/10k but instead just trained for 5k/1500, that means he couda run 3'26.00 off just "pure" 5k training

if he'd actually done 1500/5k training, i think he couda run 3'25-mid

& if he'd trained exclusively for 1500, got close to 3'25-flat !!!

training specificity for this year couda led to :

5k / 10k ( his actual training ) ->~ 3'26-mid

5k ->~ 3'26-flat

5k / 1500 ->~ 3'25-high

1500 / 5k ->~ 3'25-mid

1500 only training ->~ 3'25-flat

Just because he simply ran a sub 50 400 after some 1ks doesn't necessarily mean hes in the shape of his life.

In order for him to close in a sub 53 in 2012, we can probably assume he has run under 50 seconds for 400s in training before.

Even if he is in the kind of shape you predicted, Farah even mentioned the 10,000 took a lot more out of him than he expected.

At 34 years of age its incredible that he can still bounce back from a 10k and 5k heat to win a sliver.

Incredible career

Paul Chelimo just stated that it was a tactic by Yomif to run hard as hell early. Paul decided not to go, because he wanted to get a medal. Had he went with Yomif, like Mo did, he would not have gotten the medal.

So the question is, why did Mo bite and not sit back like Paul did?

Edris just sat for most of the race, when that is not how he normally runs. There were some team tactics involved.

Also, Paul said that he had planned on running the race like he did at USAs, but the field responded, so he didn't want to be the pacer for everyone, and not have a kick at the end.

While Mo felt the need to cover Yomif's move, Edris charged from the back.

Paul ran a smart race. Mo didn't run a smart race , and he admitted that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcEn8Es_Rt0

calculo wrote:

49.25 / 1'44.75

⤴This is plausible

But this is not↙

3'27.03 !!âž¡ No he has lost some speed, 3:30 tops.

7'17.51 !!!!âž¡Not in the ABP era, unachievable with a hematocrit under c.55.

12'37.96 !!!âž¡Not in the ABP era, unachievable with a hematocrit under c.55.

26'34.05 !!âž¡Plausible, more like 26:38-41

believe whatever you will, but 49+ in training & unrested indicates to me he was in best middle/distance shape for 1500/3k/5k that anyone has ever had !!!

âž¡I think that lots runners have done 49s in training, whether they can run sub 27mins is another question.

All you guys that say so and so goes home DEVASTATED are such losers. Get a life.

Anyone seen tony the tiger?

harris wrote:

Nah there were several other possible factors that went into why he didn't come out on top. He may be getting old but his kick was enough to win the 10k, perhaps he was tired from the 10 win and 5k heat... he took 2nd, not "absolutely wrecked."

The 10k knackered him. It wasn't an easy 26:49 race, was scrappy and had surges with a slower opening 5k and a brutal last 3k.

He is older and it takes a longer time to recover. He can't cheat nature.

The competition in the 5k were all fresh legged. You could see Farah was tired in the heats.

the job of past several years was already done before 5000m ,

the result as such mattered little.

similarly with actWhore bolt in relay

he couldnt lose , he will always be a winner rubbish will hear again and again.

with the loss , will only increase popularity .

sure the bbc played along lines and the brits ate it up .

this whole champs has been the greatest con-job , but are we not entertained.

love to be lied to and manipulated and deceived , its great .................

farah was not tired or age was not a factor if assume what magic

speed peptide is doing for other older athletes like gatlin , collins.

that kick is very much due to speed peptide and didnt go over night .

he might not of tried to win race or never would of won it regardless

he did not lose... enjoy the illusion ..

It's Egun wrote:

Great thread,

20 minute 5k HS XC runners with opinions.

Yes snowflake you are important.

When Edris gets busted, Mo keeps the streak alive.

Yes, because the 23 year old winner who has improved a massive 9 seconds since he was 18 is definitely far more suspicious than a 34 year old who is trained by a coach under investigation by USADA and had the following totally believable improvements after the age of 26:

1500m 5s

5000m 12s

10000m 42s