BREAKING: IAAF announces that from 2020 onwards, longest race in Diamond League will be 3000m

This is the day, collectively, we all look in the mirror and realize our hairline is a bit higher than it used to be.

IAAFisajoke wrote:

I guarantee that if the 5,000 meter world record is broken at a diamond league meeting this year they’ll reinstate it. Kejelcha is fresh off of a world record in the mile (not his best event) and most likely has that on his mind. Now THAT would be entertaining.

NO ONE is close to that 5k world record, including Kejelcha. No one.

FFF wrote:

This is the day, collectively, we all look in the mirror and realize our hairline is a bit higher than it used to be.

Thanks for making me feel old :)

Dude... wrote:

IAAFisajoke wrote:

I guarantee that if the 5,000 meter world record is broken at a diamond league meeting this year they’ll reinstate it. Kejelcha is fresh off of a world record in the mile (not his best event) and most likely has that on his mind. Now THAT would be entertaining.

NO ONE is close to that 5k world record, including Kejelcha. No one.

Bet you would have said the same about the 1500 indoors before this year.

BrUv wrote:

Dude... wrote:

NO ONE is close to that 5k world record, including Kejelcha. No one.

Bet you would have said the same about the 1500 indoors before this year.

When is the last time a serious attempt was made at the men’s 5k or 10k record?

The women’s records can definitely be had, but not if the distances are not to be run anymore.

Maybe we should take out the 8 heats of the 100 when people are standing around for 8 minutes for 10 seconds of action

BrUv wrote:

Dude... wrote:

NO ONE is close to that 5k world record, including Kejelcha. No one.

Bet you would have said the same about the 1500 indoors before this year.

The indoor 1500m record that was more than 5 seconds slower than the outdoor one and slower than the outdoor PR of several current runners? No, I wouldn't have said that was out of reach of all current runners.

Luv2Run wrote:

Star wrote:

If we had free streaming of uninterrupted 5000m races, you'd get a pretty large audience of people viewing whatever scrolling ads they could put up at a low cost to produce.

Define "pretty large audience". Seriously, I think you overestimate the interest.

At least the 10 people who post on Letsrun under 50 different names each would watch.

But outside of the live viewing, I think you'd get a lot running fans watching the whole race online when they got a chance.

And if the race is good, it would be viewed for days after the event. Those hits are worth something.

I'm saying don't cut the race from 5000m to 3000m just to fit it into a tight TV schedule when you could run the whole 5000 outside of the TV schedule and throw it up online.

We hate commercial breaks in distance races anyway because that's always when the lead changes happen.

well actually wrote:

well,, wrote:

If you´re going to have XC in the Olympics then it has to something that resembles obstacle racing. There is no way they will have something like the WC race courses - well manicured golf courses or horse race tracks. Otherwise you will just replce something that people think is unwatchable (10000) with something equally unwatchable.

I take it you haven't been paying attention to the World XC course this year.

A little tougher than usual, but not much.

2030 track meet

football 40

100

300

600

1000

3000

HJ

LJ

SP

mixed relays 4x100 & 4x400

Its entertainment. Its a DL meet.

The Olympics are about flags and the opening and closing ceremony. It'll have all the requisite events. Even the Silly Walks, longest event.

If you can't get it done in a couple of hours, its way too long for TV

Unless its the Tour de France, and even then mostly its the last 60 k or highlights.

Still there wrote:

Don't worry, the 5/10 will still be run at the Olympics/WC's.

But why have the 3 at the DL? So we're cutting events at the DL but we're going have 1 entire event at a DL meet that isn't in the Olympics, the 3000? I don't know anyone who is a fan of the flat 3,000.

Rupp fan wrote:

Yep... these are just some incredibly stupid people. “Hey, I have a great idea! Let’s remove the only event that millions of adults actually run every year and can relate to and replace it with the 3000 which has always been an obscure side event when Daniel Komen isn’t involved. This should save as many as 10 minutes in some cases!”

Totally agree. Why have the 3,000 which has no history in the sport except really for Komen's runs?

Name the biggest distance stars the past 25 years:

On men's side, I'd go with El Guerrouj, Gebrselassie, Bekele and Farah.

What do 3/4 of them having in common? They 5,000 (and the 10,000).

The average distance person gets the 5k and hit has history. They don't get the 3k.

If these stars never get to race even a 5,000 who will we have a future long-distance star?

3283823 wrote:

The Livestream is currently ongoing on YouTube:

https://youtu.be/Eev03qJig5U

Not a fan of this decision, although I do get that longer distances aren't geared towards public interest, but then when has running long distance ever been about the publicity...?

https://www.iaaf.org/news/press-release/diamond-league-2020-concept

Hugely disappointing. The most exciting distance races I can remember watching have been 5K's & 10Ks and not 3K's or even 1500's. The 3 best races I can remember are Tergat vs Bekele 10K at Sydney, Kip vs. Bek vs El G 5K 03 worlds, and Farah getting beat in the 10K at 2011 worlds, can't remember the Ethiopian off the top of my head. Those events can be very exciting with good talent, proper broadcasting and a tactical setting(not a time trial). Part of the reason track and field is so boring to watch is the coverage sucks. They can dedicate 15 minutes of coverage to a 100 to show extended intro's and celebrations but can't go 3 minutes of a steeple without cutting to field event highlights. Honestly for 1500's they spend as much coverage on the actual race as post-race interviews. Until coverage improves track and field will never increase it's fanbase.

Bra-ket wrote:

Sad day. I love the 3k and I'd love to see it run in more outdoor meets at the collegiate/sub elite level, but that's about it.

In one regard, this may be because the current and just past stars (Kejelcha, Jakob, Tefera, Mo, Barega, Hagos) are all probably best suited for the 3k so maybe once we get more 10k suited studs the tides will shift back.

Press F to pay respect to our sport

Don't hold your breath. 10k talent for several years has been moving toward the roads. I've know that the 10k is a dying event, but didn't think they'd swing the axe on the 5k so unceremoniously.

Plot twist...they aren't even running the 3000m, they're only running the 3k steeple.

Sad. Though it's probably not good to have events 5k/10k where the talent is diluted and moving to the roads. Maybe there needs to be a separate yearly distance circuit that includes track, road, and xc races.

Stanford meet now the premier 10k event in the WORLD

Hahaha, I love it. "One of the top three exciting distance races I've ever seen was one by.....oh crap what was that guy's name?"