Valby lost b/c she was horrible with the tangents

Yes, heard that in the interview also, but does that excuse her from being an elite level runner that doesn’t know how to run the shortest distance?

She’s a great talent, and very accomplished (more than almost everyone on this site), but this is a mistake freshman in high school make in their first couple races and then figure it out. How has she gotten this far without mastering such an easy but important aspect of running quickly?

Because she is faster than everyone. How did you get this far without understanding so basic?

It just sounds like excuses. She is not a hs freshman and is a top runner in D1. Most of the runners deal with imperfect tangents, cold feet, etc. A lot of them have to fight through a big pack.

Valby knew Tuohy was gaining ground and could not pick up her pace.

Tuohy was running in the middle of the front of the pack for 3k. Also not perfectly on the curves.

People who really wanted to see Valby win are grasping at straws for why she lost and blowing this tangent issue out of proportion.

She lost. Take the L. It may be different on the track.

Following the cart is a surprisingly stupid mistake but it doesn't matter that much and worse things have happened... Chepkoech missed the turn to the waterjump on a track and it wasn't her first steeple race...

As eventually only track matters, I trust that Parker will remember to run counterclockwise and not turn unto the lawn or into the audience. ;)

Yep. It is just coping at this point.

Did you watch the race? It isn't made up. She almost made wrong turns and ran very wide around several turns.

The reason Katekyn said “Damn” in that session with reporters is because some of you spend way too much time worrying about nonsense. Why are so many of you invested in one of these top female runners? It clouds your objectivity and renders you pathetic fanboys of women who were recently teenagers. Bizarre to say the least.

There is nothing unusual about running fans being interested in the top runners. Running fans certainly aren't trying to follow the worst runners.

Valby did not run the tangents or keep to the inside of curves very well. If she was following the cart she sometimes seemed to follow the camera cart not the lead vehicle cart. The camera cart frequently was wide on turns to get a better filming angle of her. Had she run tangents and turns better she still may not have won, it may have been closer or who knows...

I do not believe Touhy planned, wanted or 'measured it' to allow Valby to run out to a 10 second lead where she was out of sight on some turns and then depend on closing that gap at the end. Finally catching her with about 500 to go is cutting it close. If your goal is to win you do not want to spot your main competition a 10 second lead, unless that runner was just going ridiculously too fast.

Obviously Touhy was much stronger and faster than Valby at the end, but has anyone been able to determine (based on relative splits from other runners) if Valby died at the end, Touhy really picked up the pace, or some combination of both?

oh my god why is this thread still going?! It was wrong from the first post and it continues to be wrong and epitomizes the needless supper over analysis that is the hallmark of the letsrun wanna be D1 coaches and self appointed experts . Valby is an exceptional generational talent capable of running pretty much anyone who takes her on into the ground. and she is dazzling to watch because of that. but she didnt lose this race because she went wide on a few corners. are you people kidding? she just had the misfortune of running in the national championship in a year in which an athlete who is beyond any of her peers shared the same course. Tuohy would have chased her down no matter how well or badly she ran the tangents. NOBODY else could have done that against a raw jet engine like Parker Valby EXCEPT Kaitlyn Tuohy. Why is that hard to understand?

Cant we just appreciate the exceptional double talent we are seeing with these two athletes existing together at the same time? Tuohy is a white whale whose combination of talent and strength of will will not come around often. Valby is unfortunate enough to be college age at the same time as her. NINETEEN women broke the course record on saturday. 19! that only happened because the clash of titans between these two pulled all those other athletes to those kinds of times. Enjoy this people. stop arguing over nonsense.

Didn't you watch the race? It was a lot more than Valby going wide on just a "few" corners.

Well said. Tuohy won because she’s the stronger, tactically better runner right now. Valby will learn other ways of running championship style racing besides going out hard from the gun. I hope both stay healthy and we get to see many more head to heads over Cross and track. This kind of rivalry is good for both the fans and athletes. With the gap between college times and pro times, this is just what these women need if they want to contend for an Olympics bid in 2024.

Valby easily lost 3 seconds on the turns. That was the difference from Tuohy. If she would’ve run the tangents the whole race she would be national champion. Just like Tuohy could catch Roe in the 3000. Simple as that.

Throw in that she lives in Florida and can’t run hills or handle the cold she really is the best athlete.

That’s why they run the races. There’s no telling how much tuohy had left at the end or if tuohy could have run faster had she paced the race more evenly. I like both athletes but whoever wins is the better athlete on that day.

Valby just got outrun. Tuohy even had time to ease up at the end. Great race but Tuohy ran her down. Valby had 2k to try to hold Tuohy off and could not do it. Had no answer when Tuohy caught her and passed her.

That was all Tuohy had. There was no cruising. That 3 seconds all came on the last hill. She was redlined.

You know all about that.

I was asking how she’s been so successful without knowing tangents. I was asking how an educated/ competitive runner has been at this level for so long without discovering a pretty basic concept that is important to running fast.