Official Day 2 2014 Nike Pre Classic Live Fan Discussion Thread

Souleiman is a stud!

well that was a classic early season meet - lots of favorites just not sharp enough to win - I suspect most of the race winners will fade through the summer.

Great run from Jenny Simpson - she really tried to win and kept fighting even after she got passed. I've never seen that look on her face at around 1300 meters when she put it into overdrive -- it looked like she was seeing stars.

Amos ran a GREAT race.. sitting back on the final bend, while Rudisha and Aman wasted all that energy fighting for the lead made the difference.

Also good to see Kaki returning to form.

Rudisha's a boss; he'll be back before long.

He ran 1:44, which is a good sign any way you slice it.

Joseph X wrote:

Souleiman is a stud!

I don't trust him. That kick into the wind at that pace, wasn't quite right.

There was zero javelin coverage. Not happy.

Someone get Alfred Kipketer a real coach.

Both he and Kiplagat made the move, into the wind on the back straight. Kiplagat is tiny and Souleiman is freakishly thin - affording them the advantage in such conditions.

Not to mention Kiprop's tactics weren't great.

He'd just run a couple of 59 second laps. I don't think his kick was that out there. Kiplagat went with him for the first stretch.

A few days ago Rudisha stated that he is sure he can run 1'43 - 1'44 at Eugene. Well, he just did that, so he accomplished his mission at Eugene. I know he did not expect to win but was surprised how other athletes let him control the race. That is where the thought of winning came to his mind but then the guys put pressure on him and he saw no need to overexert himself on his test race. He will be back and in a big way!

Wtfunny wrote:

Amos ran a GREAT race.. sitting back on the final bend, while Rudisha and Aman wasted all that energy fighting for the lead made the difference.

Also good to see Kaki returning to form.

Rudisha's a boss; he'll be back before long.

Letdown of a meet. All the stars did horrible, either injured or coming back too soon.

I knew Amos would win. I knew Kiprop would lose. I knew Simpson would PR. Did not think Obiri would upset Aregawi. That will be one to watch. Obiri now has two huge upsets this year in the 3 and 1500.

Duane Solomon fan here. He's my favourite American runner by far. Sooner or later he'll learn to bring it in the big races.

All the stars?

Men's 400m? 100m? 10 000m? Ndiku ran well. Amos ran well. Obiri and Aregawi had a good race, and Simpson ran well.

Kapcherop wrote:

A few days ago Rudisha stated that he is sure he can run 1'43 - 1'44 at Eugene. Well, he just did that, so he accomplished his mission at Eugene. I know he did not expect to win but was surprised how other athletes let him control the race. That is where the thought of winning came to his mind but then the guys put pressure on him and he saw no need to overexert himself on his test race. He will be back and in a big way!

I'm sceptical. It would not be for the first time, that a great runner looses some of his dominance ater some injury problems. To me,at least the dominance of Rudisha seems to be over. Great to follow the next years from Nijel Amos.

Letdown of a meet. All the stars did horrible, either injured or coming back too soon.

Gatlin was not horrible. Merritt and James were not horrible.

Sure sounds like a nightmare for you. It was a great meet. Do you want to see WR performances every time they step on the track?

Try not expecting so much in May.

Well, it certainly wouldn't be the first time an athlete tries to come back from a significant injury and is unable to become the dominating #1 that they once were; but it also wouldn't be the first time that an athlete IS able to do that. I'm curious why you think his dominance is over? He's run one race back from injury, and ran well, not quite having the steam to the finish line; hardly unusual.

2 weeks ago Galen got beat by Collis B'ham in 13:19, and last night he broke his AR, making him the 15th fastest 10 000m runners of all time, and the fastest in the world right now. Paul Tergat, indisputably one of the world's greatest ever 10 000m runners, ran faster than GR's time once. Once.

Don't be too put off by a single race.

KAKI IS BACK, BABAAAAAY!!!!

I'm pissed that NBC cut off coverage after the women's 400. Apparently had an important rugby match to cover. FFS.

Then I was shocked to see the results of the 5000. That was just brutally embarrassing for the Americans. Our top American of the six is nearly 14 seconds off the leader? I hope Lagat is okay, I don't remember the last time I saw him not even close to being in contact.

The only positive is that it's good to see Fernandez back on the track if just pace setting. He always front run with metronome-like accuracy, so a good job for him. Hopefully that means he'll be race ready later this summer.

So how does this work -- did all those Americans blow their chance to participate in DL events the rest of the season? Seriously, how does it work to get invited to these?