I am quite sure in the coming days it will be on the websites that she hit it with her knee. Those of us that aren't blind can clearly see she hit it with her left knee. Her saying it was her toe doesn't surprise me. Ever fall in a race? Ever not know how it really happened or who did it? I have, because i actually run and race. In that moment i am sure she knew she hit it, but doesn't know with what. Makes sense to the runners out there.....
petemths70 wrote:
And you pulled me back in again.... So i dont think its a leap to say Mcgorty could have won his prelim. He had to stop and tie his shoe with 5 laps to go. He didn't hit a barrier(WHICH SHE DID WITH HER KNEE, YOU CAN CLEARLY SEE HER QUAD SHAKE AND HER LEG GET PUSHED UP AND OUT FROM THE IMPACT) HE JUST STOPPED TO TIE HIS SHOE AND HAD 5 LAPS TO GET BACK INTO IT) I guess its not that easy to do is it?! Getting left behind by other WORLD CLASS ATHLETES.... not so easy to catch back up!
I'm not seeing her knee hit the barrier, she jumped closer to the barrier than she usually does causing her to jump higher (graze with her toe, like she said) causing her to miss step with her landing leg.
https://youtu.be/j_dPxQdnmCU?t=525To say she would have made the team if she hadn't fell, is just like saying [any name here] would have made the team if they closed the last 400 4 seconds faster. It's apart of the sport, and yes it is heartbreaking.
Watch the video right at the 11:53 point. If you dont see it please go get your eyes checked.
kokoloko wrote:
Too tired chasing the top two and hit the hurdle. It happens.
TBH I watched the footage multiple times and never saw her actually make contact with the barrier. I think she just landed awkwardly, due to fatigue maybe.
Flagpole wrote:
zikes wrote:
They weren't on their PR pace, they were FASTER THAN THEIR PR PACE. Falland ran two 70 second laps, which is SUB 9 PACE. It was suicide. plan and simple.
NOPE! Cobourn was NOT on and did NOT run a PR. Sorry. You apparently know nothing about running. She gave herself the best shot she could to make the team. Ridiculous of you to call what she did dumb or suicide. Pre and Kennedy went for it at the Olympics because they were chasing a medal, but they failed. Were they DUMB too? The top two spots in this race were pretty much guaranteed. Would have been foolish of her (who doesn't have the sprinter speed of some of the others in the field) to have held back.
Coburn's last 1600m was 4:38 (likely 4:40 considering each lap is less than 400m). That's 8:45 pace.
It's one thing to go for it in the Olympics, but how about making damn sure you qualify for the olympics first?
petemths70 wrote:
Watch the video right at the 11:53 point. If you dont see it please go get your eyes checked.
She didn't hit with her knee... I see what your saying but I guarantee she didn't. I would go as far as to put money on it.
1. If she hit with her knee, she would have definitely have said so
2. if she hit with her knee shoe wouldn't have bounced up, she would have been thrown forward
3. it doesn't matter lol
Flagpole wrote:
Luv2Run wrote:
Nahhh... it's more like just because I have driven a car all my life
I sort of get this, but then that precludes anyone from making any comment on a topic they have never done? So can I not comment on laws because I have never been a legislator?
Yeah, that was a bogus comment.
To both of you:
Nahhh... it's more like just because I have driven a car all my life doesn't mean I can tell a NASCAR driver what he/she did wrong or what would have happened had they done something differently.
Of course, this is a message board so you can comment on anything you want to (as you do Flagpole), however, my point is if you have little expertise in something you really don't know what you are talking about.
(Btw, the hurdler guy is spot on... I only watched the replay once and it looked to me that, for whatever reason, she found herself too close to the barrier... adjusted and it went poorly from there. Too bad too, because with no further mishaps it's my feeling she would have qualified. Props to the 3rd place finisher though... and to the top 10 really... good efforts by all.)
You are correct, it doesn't matter because the outcome is the same. I do have one question though, if a person is moving at a good rate of speed at a heavy stationary object and they hit it, they get thrown forwards??
I believe this answers why everyone was upset at her getting 4th and it getting so much attention. She says it best in this post which i hope works the way i added it. After all she's been through and come back from, people just want to see a little sun shine on her for once!
And Ritz, YOU ARE THE MAN!!!!
I'm not sure why there's such a debate as to whether she hit the barrier or not, neither proves a point as to whether she was just maxing out or not - just a slight technical mishap either from hitting it or overbalancing..
For the people saying "she was running 8:45 pace no wonder she blew it" - she was literally only running that fast for like 700m after a relatively slow first mile. When you account for the steeple lap being about 8m short, she was only operating marginally faster than her potential PB pace for 700m - this would not lead to her collapsing over a barrier.
If you're looking for the US team to be as competitive as possible in Tokyo then this is one of the bigger upsets so far. Remember this thread when she runs 9:05 in a Diamond League later in the season. I'll save my 'told you so' until then.
Not to question Ritz’s coaching abilities nor his being able to help Leah get super fit, overcome her injuries and get her into the proper frame of mind. But who would have helped her with her hurdling technique? Ritz has no experience there, other than some XC obstacles. Constein had Burroughs and Wetmore who have also coached, among others, Coburn and Simpson in the steeple.
zikes wrote:
She wasn't close at all. She was in over her head going with Coburn and Frereichs. She was out of control on every hurdle, a fall was imminent. She ran a dumb race and paid the price.
I agree, she ran aggressive from the gun and paid a heavy price in the end, plus that fall just burst her bubble of confidence....just gave it up at the end.
petemths70 wrote:
I believe this answers why everyone was upset at her getting 4th and it getting so much attention. She says it best in this post which i hope works the way i added it. After all she's been through and come back from, people just want to see a little sun shine on her for once!
https://www.instagram.com/p/CQjlT3hMCE-/
well.. she didn't get 4th lol
Wow, what kind of person makes these comments when someone goes for it in the moments that it matters? Only negative people do that.
You watch some of the Kenyan women in the steeple with weird hurdling technique, and they win Olympic medals and world championships and set world records. What people are talking about is her heart and the courage to go for it and what might have been if not for the fall.
Remember that Coburn once fell at a hurdle.
This is the heart of a Champion. The road to the dance is where the real character is shown,
leah_falland's profile picture
leah_falland
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It helps to put things in perspective, we’ve come a long way.
5 years ago I left the Olympic Trials injured and anxious and broken. Unsure of myself in so many ways… and my body was definitely not in a good place.
4 years ago, right around this time, I was diagnosed with clinical depression and anxiety. I decided to prioritize my wellness over everything and stepped away from the track to get into therapy and work on my mental health. I was living in Sacramento and in intensive outpatient care, learning how to understand and work with my brain… while the USA championships were happening, in Sacramento. It was one of the hardest seasons of my life, but also the bravest thing I’ve ever done for myself.
3 years ago, I moved back to Michigan— where I met Dathan, and I was on the cusp of quitting the sport. I had an (at the time undiagnosed) under active thyroid condition, anemia, and amenorrhea. I’d ruptured my plantar fascia, had stress fractures in my feet, shin, and femur. Honestly I just wanted to be able to run happily and pain free again. I wasn’t focused on Olympic dreams, I wanted to not be exhausted all of the time and I wanted to make sure I’d have a healthy body to someday have a family.
2 years ago— Dathan, and our team of doctors and experts, got me back to a place where I could train without pain. He built me back up from the ground. He’s worked tirelessly and believed in me when I could barely believe in myself. I couldn’t be more grateful for his guidance and love. Training with Dathan in Michigan, I met my husband, @lou.falland. I felt like I was coming up for air, catching a break, and my running career began coming back to life.
1 year ago I moved to Boulder, Colorado and joined the OAC… and it’s been the best experience of my professional career.
The fall yesterday was horrible. I’m still crying about it now, but I’m also crying happy tears. My career was as good as dead, but I was scooped up by people who loved and believed in me so much I was able to contend to make the Olympic team again.
Thank you for all of the support and kindness. I am a very lucky human to know so many beautiful humans.
#OAC #steepechase #fallandsneverquit
canadian wrote:I had an (at the time undiagnosed) under active thyroid condition,
That explains it, she went to the sketchy DR BROWN.
juvie wrote:
Curiosity wrote:
She does state in here interview that her toe clipped the barrier.
But watching this frame by frame, and being a steepler myself, the way she fell, she didn't hit the barrier at all. Somehow she lost her balance when her lead leg hit the ground and that is what caused her to fall. Her upper body was turned and that might have contributed to it.
If either of her toes hit the barrier (even just a slight clip of it) you would see movement in her leg when it does and you would see the momentum of that leg be disrupted. There is none of that in either leg.
I feel horrible for her, because she was running great and putting it out there to make her dream come true of being an Olympian. Whether she would have held on to 3rd or not, she was putting herself into position to get on the team.
Former hurdler here.
I too watched the video frame by frame. Not conclusive either way, but I do believe her toe hit the barrier. However I don’t think it caused the fall. She was tripping all over herself on the way down and her toe just barely hit the barrier as a result. A couple of observations:
1. Starting from the 6 minute mark, she went over three successive hurdles with her left leg leading and her right leg as the trailing leg. If she is right handed, it would make sense that that would be her more natural hurdling sequence. At least it was that way for me. You train yourself to hurdle with the other leg leading, and can become proficient that way too, but the motion is less natural. On the fourth hurdle, she went over with her right leg leading and her trailing. That is when she went down. (Coincidentally on the water jumps she seems more comfortable taking off with her left leg, planting her right foot over the barrier, and then launching herself over the water with her right leg. That too would seem to be more natural for a right hander)
2. She took off way too close to the barrier on the one that caused her fall. She had to go almost straight up and had a lot of vertical clearance on the barrier but lost forward momentum in the process. As she went down, it seemed like her right (lead leg) began to plant and push forward to regain momentum but because she had gone up higher than normal and her planting motion was a split second too early causing a loss of balance mid-air. Her loss of forward momentum also meant that her toe did not have time to pass the barrier and instead came down on it (however slightly). If her toe had not hit the barrier she might have been able to regain her balance, but it did and she didn’t.
Too bad for her. I’ve been a fan since her days at MSU. hopefully she’ll come back stronger.
Just as a clarifying fun fact, in steeple on the water barrier it's more comfortable and common to have the leg sequence as she did because you want your stronger leg to be the one you land in the water with. This also helps force you to strengthen your non dominant leg for the rest of the barriers when you first start practicing steeple.
On second thought I feel like someone is about to reply to me with all caps saying they disagree and I'm wrong...
1) When tape is examined, it will be exactly as Leah Falland said: she clipped hurdle with her trailing toe, causing the spill.
2) World ranking, 21; PB, 9:18; she was in the Olympic trials final, running last 800 with 2 of the world’s best. She’s world class (and you’re writing on a message board).
3) Kara Goucher (who certainly knows more than you) repeatedly said that Leah’s move to go with Emma and Courtney was the right move; she also said Leah was in great shape and one of the favorites.
4) Leah Falland will prove her conditioning by lowering her PB this summer.