Webb's Semi !!!!

webb had a semi?

Anyone remember these?

Webb will get a medal.. haven't followed closely .. due to pandamonium over kenny b..but is bala out.

If so.. more power to webby.

My trifecta box is lagat, webb and kiprop.

but that algerian dude..if he is in may be a shark ready to pounce.

Go Alan..

Awassa, ET is channeling u

Go out fast and there is nothing to lose. He has run 3 of the fastest miles in the world this year doing that. If he goes out fast he could upset a lot of runners tactics.

"Is Webb for real or can I reel him in. You know I can't take that chance he is a 3:46 miler now. Better get in the lead and not get left behind. Still this 54 opening quarter is nuts"

- What a world class 1500 finalist would say to himself if Webb goes out blazing.

Maybe he should just do what he did in the trials. A 3:34 is time that could medal.

Webb must be comforted knowing he is the fastest miler in the world right now.

Webb has a day's rest and then the final. He's got the best 1500m time, best mile time and 2nd best 800 time in the world this year. He can win off of a slow pace with a hard last 300, or he can win off a fast pace. He's demonstrated exceptional finishing speed down the last 100. You are crazy if you think he's still not the favorite for gold.

Why are milers so stupid sometimes?

I mean, honestly...if the fastest guys run fast, they know for sure that they'll be in the final...but if they run like they did, they know that they're taking a huge risk of not making the final...sometimes milers can be plain idiots..."but they have to save their energy for the final"...well some of them don't need to worry about that anymore...

i think Webb stated exactly what happened right on.

he couldn't get up front, got caught in the pack right after the start, and ALMOST fell, so he did the best thing for THAT race. conserve energy and stay in lane 1 in the back.

what good would it have done him to bust a 13 sec 100m or 25-27 sec 200m out to go all the way around the field to take the lead at the 500-800m point.

and on the final lap with about 300m left you can tell Webb goes to start moving, almost trips over the guy in front of him, has to check himself, again, just like at the start, but he kept his cool and got moving.

did he want it to be that close, everyone is sure no, but like a previous poster stated, he saved his kick for the end of the race, the most important part.

if he would have gone around the pack to take the lead after being forced to the back and died at the end, and not qualified, would that have been a better race?

Congrats on making your second straight WC final Alan!

Good Luck in the final!

haha so true...but i guess we, simple minded folks, wouldn't know how we would react to being in that kind of position. i can say that webb should go hard from the beginning and try to run close to his pr and force a lot of the runners to fall of the pace but there must be a hundred different scenarios that elites think of that make them just trash what seems to me an otherwise sensible idea for someone like webb with the fastest time in the world this year...maybe he knows that guys like lagat and ramzi are capable as well. either way, the final is going to be crazy...

no truer words could ever be said or printed !!!

Ninetonite wrote:

Webb has a day's rest and then the final. He's got the best 1500m time, best mile time and 2nd best 800 time in the world this year. He can win off of a slow pace with a hard last 300, or he can win off a fast pace. He's demonstrated exceptional finishing speed down the last 100. You are crazy if you think he's still not the favorite for gold.

I second that. Alan can be a little up and down, but he has the best performances this year. Reading the message boards, I though he was running like a cripple or something. "Lagat looked smooth, Webb looked rough". Not so. Alan's ability to outkick a number of top runners in a tactical kickers' race should be commended.

People are saying Webb "needs to run his race". How much Jogger's World have you been reading? Running your own race has absolutely no place in a World Championship scenario, let alone a high school dual meet. Save "Running your own race" for the fitness joggers' local 10k. The fact is Webb has no idea how to run a non-rabbited race. As an American, I would love to see Webb medal if not win it all in the finals, but let's not kid ourselves and speculate that if he just keeps an honest pace early all tactics will go out the window. If Webb runs hard from the gun there will be 5 guys in tow with 200m to go ready to kick him down in the final 150m. This isn't a time trial, and the winning time doesn't matter. This is a championship race and the only way to win is to run smart. Look at Lagat's round 2 versus Webb's. Lagat constantly put himself in the best position possible ( a couple places off the lead) and only fell to the back because everyone moved at once on him, but he immediately responded. Webb on the other hand didn't just run in the back, he ran OFF the back. This was a man who found himself in the rear and had no idea what to do. Either that or lacked the fortitude to move up earlier. His tactics were, I hate to say it, downright stupid. This is not to say Webb can't medal in the finals. He has proven he is one of the best in the world when it comes to time trials, now let's see if he can run a race.

I just hope that Webb does the smart thing on Wednesday and pushes the pace. On paper, it would appear that he could win a kicker's race, but I just think he lacks the confidence (and maybe the sharpness at this stage of the season) to do that in a championship race. He has looked tense as hell in the first two rounds. I think the best way to restore some of his swagger would be to really take the bull by the horns at around 600-700 meters into it (unless he gets really lucky and someone else does it) and make this a strength race. If he does that, I think he'll get no worse than 3rd. If he waits and kicks, I think he'll finish out of the medals. Let's hope he gets his head straight and goes into the final with a clear plan and the confidence to pull it off.

This wasn't the final. All he had to do was qualify.

I think colonel obvious had the best post of the thread.

Webb, for whatever reason ended up in the back- OK. no problem- he could outkick the few guys ahead of him to qualify, and that's all he needed to do. And he did it. And Lagat has far more experience than Webb- not even worth it to make the comparison. And Webb will medal, I have no doubt.

Webb will need to do something big in the final, make his mark on the race. My suggestion would be to drop a 12 second 100m somewhere early on.

Did anybody saw the Pre-lim!? What'zup with that Kenyan little boy! Aka Asbel Kiprop!? Anybody think he gona beat Webb!? Good luck for those who qualified.

Dropping a 12 second 100m early in the race is the stupidest move possible. The pack will have half a mile to cover that move.

The only big move he needs to make is inside the last 100.

But he needs to position himself to be 1st or second with 100 to go. And he needs to do that gradually without any big moves.

This is what I see:

Fist 800, move middle of the pack, take what he is given without trying too hard for any particular position. His position can be anywhere from 2-10 and the split can be anything from 1:53 to 2:03. Stay in lane 1.

700 to go- move up smoothly if he is back, hawk the leader if he is near the front. Be ready to take the lead.

500 to go- go to the front, extend the race, measure the finish, run the next 400 covering moves without showing his final hand.

100 to go- he may get passed but has another gear to get it back at the finish.

This would replicate his 3:30 and 1:43 performances where he went with a fast pace, gave up the lead and got it back in the end.

Anyway, that is one way that it could go in his favor if he has a shot at winning.

MarathonMind wrote:

This wasn't the final. All he had to do was qualify.

I think colonel obvious had the best post of the thread.

Webb, for whatever reason ended up in the back- OK. no problem- he could outkick the few guys ahead of him to qualify, and that's all he needed to do. And he did it. And Lagat has far more experience than Webb- not even worth it to make the comparison. And Webb will medal, I have no doubt.

I don't think you can say "no problem." Did you see the finish? He was in 8th with about 20m to go and the only reason he made it is that a couple of guys in front of him tied up at the line and he was able to sneak by. A runner of Webb's caliber should be in control (to the extent that anyone can control a WC 1500m semi-final), and he was certainly nowhere near in control. Yes, he's in the final, but it was a highly risky way to get there.

It is a complicated business winning a championship race like this. Positioning and a certain amount of luck are important, and the favorite will often get beaten if he doesn't run proactively, constantly gauging his position and being ready when the time comes to make a decisive move.

I think things will go well for Webb if someone makes a charge with 500m or so to go. It will not be a time trial, which would favor Webb in his current form. I think the worst scenario for him is a tightly bunched pack jogging around until a mad dash with 300-400m to go. Luckily, I think someone will make a long dash for the tape and Webb should be in medal contention, unless he's just tired and past his peak.

Webb ran with more savvy then anyone else

in the field. He ran safe, at the back, and he ran on the inside, preserving energy. To do anything but would be ..

.. .. .. "laying his cards on the table"! What I like is that he has turned down interviews with the press and has layed low. I've always wondered what Pre would have done had he not told the whole world "what he was going to do"! There is something cunning about holding your cards close to your chest; it even makes doubters out of your most avid supporters

if you're good at it. Lets hope thats what the Webmaster is

doing.

Teamwork 1. Webb 2. Lagat. (Lagat takes it out in 56 sacrificing himself; but fully able to cross the Line

with Webb, ahead of him or right behind him.

Winning Time: 3:27 and change.