New Balance Boston's Elle Purrier St. Pierre training in Cottonwood, Arizona 30 days out from breaking the American indoor mile record at the 2024 Millrose G...
Never thought she had a shot in hell of even sniffing a medal.
Seriously? After her American mile record a few weeks ago, I thought she had a shot at a medal. I didn't think it would be gold, but I thought bronze would be a possibility.
Ellie should be focusing on the 1500/5000m or 5000m. The idea of her simply running the 1500m is the worst possible scenario for her at the upcoming Olympics Trials and Olympics.
So now that everyone is a 8.20 low runner is that 8.06 WR possible if Kipyegon et al perhaps went for it outdoors?
I don't think so. I'm confident Kipyegon could run sub 8:12 to become #2 all time. 8:06 is just too much to ask. Kipyegon is the WR holder in 1500, The amount she could slow down from that 1500 record to string together two 1500's to break the 3000 record would have been the equivalent of expecting El Guerrouj to run 7:17.
Once Tsegay didn't separate I thought St. Pierre had a big chance. As great as Tsegay is in time trial situations she is much more vulnerable than the typical Ethiopian in a sprint finish.
St. Pierre also used very smart tactics. Frontrunning doesn't mean leading every step of the way. Otherwise you could never coach more than one person in a race. A country could never enter more than one. It means forwardly placed to the point the math doesn't work severely against you. Too many Americans over the decades are content to allow huge gaps and assume it's like a grade school race. Nuguse did that today, and too frequently he does that. Once he began his move the race was already decided. That's been my beef with American middle distance running for 50+ years. It is analytics in reverse. Ethiopia may have lost with Tsegay today. Do you think they'll panic and alter tactics? Ha. Waves of frontrunners, like the two in Sunday's 800 and two more in the 1500.
I hate to rely on small samples but there does seem to be something about women becoming faster after having a baby. The biathlete Justine Braisaz-Bouchet took last year off for paternity. She always had good ski speed. But now it's even better. She won 4 races in a row at one point this season. Her ski speed is second on tour only to Anamarija Lampič, a converted cross country sprint specialist.
Every thread pertaining to American women, you have always insulted them claiming that American women will never medal. I think gold is pretty good. You need a new shtick.