We all would love to see the race Keely blew her doors off lol.
I'm sorry Athing won't (can't) get on the same track as Keely anymore, but I'm sure you could overlay two videos of Athing racing at Pre last year vs pick anyone of Keely's 1:54's and you could see what that would look like if you really wanted to. 😬
(kinda like when you're racing the little ghost in Mario Kart)
So it doesn't exist and this is your fantasy. You guys are horrible debaters sometimes lol.
But carry on. Don't mind me, I'm not going to debate with someone's imagination lol. Racing the mario kart ghost is more material than what you said lmaoo
When I see Werro, I see someone who - if they were raised in America - would probably encouraged to participate in other sports. She just has that kind of athletic build for basketball, volleyball, etc. Thankfully she does track and makes the 800 even more exciting, if one can imagine that.
Wow, I really wonder what will happen at Euros in August. Keely was always so dominant that she could afford to timetrial finals (like this year indoors) because no one was close to her, but if Werro is in similar shape then the question is who will lead in the final and if it suddenly becomes more tactical affair with a slower winning time.
Keely knows how to race one way. She’ll be ready when the season counts. This def makes it exciting.
Sage haters must be starving right now. She opened her outdoor season with 1:58.1 in Rabat last week and followed up with 1:58.2 today in Stockholm. Solid, consistent, world-class. She looks ready to contend for USA 800m championship again this year. Roisin Willis is probably the current favorite for that, but I know Sage will make her work for it :)
Just saw an immediately post-race interview with Keely. Apart from the fact she showed a commendable and sporting attitude, she did say "..I don't think I did much wrong, but if I'd have know what she was capable of, I probably wouldn't have kicked at 300m to go..."
Better to find out in a Diamond League that a championship though...
That is an excellent quote by Keely. Her tactical instincts are never the greatest. It's one of the reasons she had so much trouble with Mary Moraa for several years. Heck, Moraa got into Keely's head as recently as last year's world championship final.
These days the Hodgkinson camp seems to believe that if she is capable of 1:55 or lower then the tactics don't really matter. That was proven wrong last year in Tokyo and again today.
Werro did a tremendous job of backing off during the third quarter. Her split from 400 to 600 was easily her slowest of the race. I always used to emphasize that on the Track and Field News forum. The conventional wisdom of pushing the third 200 is sheer idiocy. A frontrunner needs to establish at the bell then back off slightly. Moraa frustrated Keely several times using that tactic. Today Keely played right into Werro's hands by foolishly taking the lead on the backstretch even though the pacer was still full of run. That meant Werro was paced throughout. She never led one step of the race until the final 60 meters.
Once they turned for home the outcome seemed inevitable. Credit to Keely for unbeaten at 800 during 2024. Otherwise she tends to lose the close ones.
Now it's a matter of whether Femke Broeders-Bol will establish toward the 1:54-1:55 block or back toward that second wave at 1:57-1:58. I will be very surprised if Femke isn't quickly top tier. There is no comparison whatsoever in speed and ability level between Femke and her longtime teammate Eveline Saalberg. Femke is training specifically for 800 while Saalberg is splitting emphasis between 400 and 800. Today in Poland Saalberg set a personal best by 2 seconds while winning an 800 race in 2:00.30
Sage haters must be starving right now. She opened her outdoor season with 1:58.1 in Rabat last week and followed up with 1:58.2 today in Stockholm. Solid, consistent, world-class.
This was a quantum leap forward but Werro has been looking better and better, and maybe there was a significant change to help her hold form in that second lap, whether she just started the baking soda (unlikely) or added more distance or strength work. As for Hodgkinson, she has been working on her speed, so she might well be equal or better to Werro when she gets in another six weeks of 800 work before her attempt in London next month. Rather than saying, go ahead and flee to the 1500 to escape a strong challenger, akin to Femke's in my mind misguided switch to the 800, Keely will take this as a challenge and do what champions do--work to beat her. This might be a changing of the guard, but I'm not ready to admit that it is just yet given the margin (.35) and the recent 400 focus.
Thanks for Werro's 800m PB progression. This would indicate that she has improved nearly 4 seconds in 2 years with a near 2 second improvement in 2 successive years.
My eyebrow is officially raised and I think everyone else's should be too. Let's see how this plays out. Hopefully she is the real deal.
Well, Keely improved by over 5 secs in 2021.
She improved to a time (1:55) that was really good but not beyond the bounds of what other non-PED using, no-DSD women have run. Werro just improved by nearly 2 seconds to a time that puts her in a line with renowned dopers. That's the difference
It looked like Werro got stuck behind the pacer slowing down at 450-500m, which is when Keely made her decisive move - which was quite easy given this situation. I do wonder if Werro could have actually gone faster if the pacer had maintained better speed or dropped out earlier.
Fair point, I wouldn't argue that Keely would have won however she had run, and we don't know if she can break 1:54.00.
Maybe if she waits Werro holds her off, and I do think if she waits, both would have run slower.
Her tactics were right in the sense of, on all known form, she would have won in a new PB, and she couldn't have anticipated Werro, knocking such a big slice off.
All of that said, if they were to meet again in two weeks time, and the first 400m is the same, I bet Keely doesn't make that early move...
I think if Werro hadn't passed her, Keely would have run 0.2-0.4 seconds faster. She split 14.3 from 600-700 and 14.7 for the last 100m. Werro went 14.1 and 14.2 over those splits. I think getting passed probably demoralized her and could have caused her to slow down subconsciously. She likely could have run in the 1:53.9-1:54.1 range, erring more on the side of 1:54
Thanks for the splits. It did seem that tactically wise Keely went a little too early and ran out of steam. And she certainly slowed down on the last 100m.
I’m guessing her team thought the 400m on Thursday would have helped her speed last night- but I guess too soon for any gains to kick in. Would it have tired her? She looked tired in the last 100m.
It’s hard to argue with a PB but I am wondering what her ceiling will be. I also agree she was demoralised as Werro passed her.
She is getting a lot of criticism on here but she has been nothing but gracious in her post race interview towards Werro. She says she welcomes the competition and they can push each other the great times.
Just saw an immediately post-race interview with Keely. Apart from the fact she showed a commendable and sporting attitude, she did say "..I don't think I did much wrong, but if I'd have know what she was capable of, I probably wouldn't have kicked at 300m to go..."
Better to find out in a Diamond League that a championship though...
Europeans should be great to see her vs. Werro and that will be the most high-profile matchup. I’m seeing she will be skipping Comm Games so that seems like Odiras to lose. Everyone should be at World Ultimate tho.
Odira could do it in the heat and humidity of Tokyo but will she be able to handle windy and cold Glasgow?
She improved to a time (1:55) that was really good but not beyond the bounds of what other non-PED using, no-DSD women have run. Werro just improved by nearly 2 seconds to a time that puts her in a line with renowned dopers. That's the difference
Thats true,but werro's high 1.53 is worth about a 1.55 flat on the track that olizarenko ran on at the moscow olympics. Slower track,and no super spikes.
She improved to a time (1:55) that was really good but not beyond the bounds of what other non-PED using, no-DSD women have run. Werro just improved by nearly 2 seconds to a time that puts her in a line with renowned dopers. That's the difference
Keely functionally served as Werro’s second pacemaker, leading her from 500m to 700m, and in the end, set the race up perfectly for the young Swiss star. It’s difficult to overstate how valuable it was for Werro to have an athlete of Keely’s calibre to lead her all the way until the final home straight.
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