Hire a 12:55 or so Kenyan / Ethiopian who’s roughly his same age and have him be like a personal pacer. See if you can get Nike to pay him 6 figures
Let me expand - someone who almost certainly won’t make a national team and for whom 6 figures would be much more significant for than an American.
You'll be surprised that there aren't really that many 12:55 Kenyans and Ethipians. They're very good at the roads and especially half marathon/marathon but we've caught them on the track. A 12:55 Kenyan is in contention to make their world team and probably doesn't want to be a workout pacer for an American. We've got a lot of Americans running 12:48-12:58 now, they don't have much better than that.
You'll be surprised that there aren't really that many 12:55 Kenyans and Ethipians. They're very good at the roads and especially half marathon/marathon but we've caught them on the track. A 12:55 Kenyan is in contention to make their world team and probably doesn't want to be a workout pacer for an American. We've got a lot of Americans running 12:48-12:58 now, they don't have much better than that.
There are about a dozen from each country sub-13:05, but if you remove those based in Japan, not fluent in English, or in pretty prominent groups domestically it’s not a huge number. It feels more likely to snag an ex-NCAA or late NCAA guy a la Edwin Kurgat, Athanas Kioko or Amon Kemboi though these guys have found homes. Otherwise you’re just looking for an unhappy guy based overseas and Park City might be a hard sell.
Let me expand - someone who almost certainly won’t make a national team and for whom 6 figures would be much more significant for than an American.
You'll be surprised that there aren't really that many 12:55 Kenyans and Ethipians. They're very good at the roads and especially half marathon/marathon but we've caught them on the track. A 12:55 Kenyan is in contention to make their world team and probably doesn't want to be a workout pacer for an American. We've got a lot of Americans running 12:48-12:58 now, they don't have much better than that.
....
I wish there was a way for him and Ishamil Kipkirui to train together and then the youngster apply for U.S. citizenship 🤔
12:36 ETH Gebrhiwet 12:38 ETH Kejelcha 12:40 UGA Kiplimo 12:43 ETH Aregawi 12:45 ETH Bekele 12:48 ESP Ndikumwenayo 12:49 KEN Kipkorir 12:49 ETH Yihune 12:50 GUA Grijalva 12:50 SUI Lobalu 12:50 SWE Almgren 12:51 ETH Barega 12:51 KEN Krop 12:51 USA Fisher 12:51 UGA Cheptegei 12:54 CAN Ahmed 12:54 UGA Chelimo 12:54 GBR Atkin 12:54 USA Teare 12:54 FRA Gressier 12:55 ETH Tefera
12:36 ETH Gebrhiwet 12:38 ETH Kejelcha 12:40 UGA Kiplimo 12:43 ETH Aregawi 12:45 ETH Bekele 12:48 ESP Ndikumwenayo 12:49 KEN Kipkorir 12:49 ETH Yihune 12:50 GUA Grijalva 12:50 SUI Lobalu 12:50 SWE Almgren 12:51 ETH Barega 12:51 KEN Krop 12:51 USA Fisher 12:51 UGA Cheptegei 12:54 CAN Ahmed 12:54 UGA Chelimo 12:54 GBR Atkin 12:54 USA Teare 12:54 FRA Gressier 12:55 ETH Tefera
Grijalva seems like an interesting one to me.
Unless Nike makes Smith kick him out why would he leave? Oscar Chelimo is an interesting name. He’s in Italy a lot and coached from there, and since he’s On maybe he’d just join OAC were he go to US. Nobody else screams out to me. Hagos is doing Grand Slam, but no idea if the training aligns. Tefera maybe as he’s stagnated…no idea if he has any interest.
12:36 ETH Gebrhiwet 12:38 ETH Kejelcha 12:40 UGA Kiplimo 12:43 ETH Aregawi 12:45 ETH Bekele 12:48 ESP Ndikumwenayo 12:49 KEN Kipkorir 12:49 ETH Yihune 12:50 GUA Grijalva 12:50 SUI Lobalu 12:50 SWE Almgren 12:51 ETH Barega 12:51 KEN Krop 12:51 USA Fisher 12:51 UGA Cheptegei 12:54 CAN Ahmed 12:54 UGA Chelimo 12:54 GBR Atkin 12:54 USA Teare 12:54 FRA Gressier 12:55 ETH Tefera
Grijalva seems like an interesting one to me.
Unless Nike makes Smith kick him out why would he leave? Oscar Chelimo is an interesting name. He’s in Italy a lot and coached from there, and since he’s On maybe he’d just join OAC were he go to US. Nobody else screams out to me. Hagos is doing Grand Slam, but no idea if the training aligns. Tefera maybe as he’s stagnated…no idea if he has any interest.
Unless Luis signs with Nike I don’t know how Nike would and could allow Mike Smith to continue coaching him. It’s not a question of good faith but more about business. Luis will be one of Smiths top athletes if not his top athlete. How can a Nike coach of a Nike group be allowed to coach a Hoka athlete
Unless Luis signs with Nike I don’t know how Nike would and could allow Mike Smith to continue coaching him. It’s not a question of good faith but more about business. Luis will be one of Smiths top athletes if not his top athlete. How can a Nike coach of a Nike group be allowed to coach a Hoka athlete
I mean clearly they’re allowing it for now…will Hoka have the money to re-sign him I don’t know and maybe that solves it.
Would love to see this. Stewy has the guts to stick his nose in every workout with Grant. McSweyn would likely get carried to PRs too. Stewy and Australia need this.
Fisher doesn’t want to babysit a new college grad. He needs a mature partner or two who have their sh-t locked down. Also, looking for partners who aren’t super locked in to a coach or location already, or somebody who needs a change. Ideally a training partner might be somebody who doesn’t always race against Fisher. Two suggestions would be Teare and Abdi Nageeye.
You know who would be a great training partner for him at this stage in their careers? Cheptegei, but of course that’s not happening.
I think Justyn Knight and Yomif Kejelcha are prime candidates. The obvious choices from NA like Ahmed, Grijalva, and Kincaid seem content with their groups, and none of the other top tier Africans have previous experience living and training in the US, as far as I know anyway.
Yomif is a good choice as this is basically what he did with Rupp/NOP.
Fisher said he’s not interested in mentoring a younger runner at this point in his career, so that probably rules out collegians like Blanks, at least as a first option. He wants someone who is already at his level.
I think Justyn Knight and Yomif Kejelcha are prime candidates. The obvious choices from NA like Ahmed, Grijalva, and Kincaid seem content with their groups, and none of the other top tier Africans have previous experience living and training in the US, as far as I know anyway.
Good post.
The person everyone is missing on that 5,000 ranking list is Andreas Almgren.