Aussies: If I told you 4 years ago that Stewart McSweyn would have the Aussie record at 1500 (3k and 10k), what would you have s

I think you have a point, but McSweyn was a late bloomer. He grew up on a remote island of about 1,500 people off the coast of Tasmania and didn't have any formal coaching until he left high school. He has thrived under Nic Bideau's system.

He was never anything special from 2015 really, and wasn't in contention for any global teams for 1500, 5k, but since 2018 he has absolutely dominated Australian mid-D. Quite the success story from decent guy who just competed at national finals to 7:28 3k, 3:30 1500m. Full credit to him.

When he ran xc in Australia as an U18 he was well behind Tiernan as a 16 year old and only 5th behind Morgan McDonald as an 17 year old. He was a good runner as a junior but there was nothing special that stood out. His 3:30 is very impressive. I mean he never ran the 800 as junior in any big meets. My recollection is that Bideau had his sights on him when he was young and his consistency has been amazing. At 25 what can he do in the future is anyone's guess.

He was never a really promising junior. Our sort of talent spotting event is the Zatopek 3k which is an U20 3000m event run every year in Dec. Think the best he ever pulled in that was like a 7th? And he didn’t have m/any medals at the national junior level, and if he did they would have only been in the steeple, which was his main event for a long time. In terms of a late bloomer, he was always tall and skinny (as now). The late blooming comes from his training development, not his physical development. Maybe he had some injury issues as a junior, someone closer to him might know. If not, it goes to show that there’s value in sticking with it!

Stewie should inspire all 'good but not great' HS and College runners to stick at it as he is proof you dont need to be a teenage prodigy to make it to world class status. His PB for 3k at 18 years old (3k is a very frequently run juniors distance in Oz) was a hardly earth shattering 8.33, must be loads of HS seniors who can match that. His PBs at 22 years old were still only 7.47 for 3k and 3.42 for 1500m, must be quite a few college seniors each year who can top those marks. How many HS or College runners with similar times give competitive running up because that dont think they have the talent to ever make it? Goes to show, until you really dedicate yourself and have a full on crack at it, you can't really know what your limit might be!

OG Coconino Cowboy wrote:

I think you have a point, but McSweyn was a late bloomer. He grew up on a remote island of about 1,500 people off the coast of Tasmania and didn't have any formal coaching until he left high school. He has thrived under Nic Bideau's system.

When people come up like this it's all good and its the coaches and their hard work. When it's East Africans on the other end, they are lying about their age and doping.

*When white people...

barney23 wrote:

OG Coconino Cowboy wrote:

I think you have a point, but McSweyn was a late bloomer. He grew up on a remote island of about 1,500 people off the coast of Tasmania and didn't have any formal coaching until he left high school. He has thrived under Nic Bideau's system.

When people come up like this it's all good and its the coaches and their hard work. When it's East Africans on the other end, they are lying about their age and doping.

+1

His ability + Nic Bideau's knowledge + years of training and racing = World Class.

Look at all the great athletes that have worked with Nic Bideau.

K2 wrote:

barney23 wrote:

When people come up like this it's all good and its the coaches and their hard work. When it's East Africans on the other end, they are lying about their age and doping.

+1

Are you guys talking about Chris Kelsall's obsessions?

I would like to know from Nic Bideau himself what he thinks about Kelsall's approach to journalism?

barney23 wrote:

When people come up like this it's all good and its the coaches and their hard work. When it's East Africans on the other end, they are lying about their age and doping.

Well now are you trying to make yourself look foolish? The reason why people from Australia and the US don't get accused of age cheating is they all have birth certificates. And it's not like pepole just make crap up about doping in East Africa. Kenya is up to 66 distance runners having been popped . The financial incentive to dope in Kenya is MASSIVE. Live on a few bucks a day or make tens of thousands? All you have to do is take a few pills. The average Aussie is probably taking a pay cut if they pursue running in their 20s.

But McSweyn's improvement is pretty amazing.

At age 18, he ran 8:33, at age 19 he ran 8:16. 16 months after that he runs 7:54 and then 24 months after that he runs 7:34.

AussieDB1 wrote:

Stewie should inspire all 'good but not great' HS and College runners to stick at it as he is proof you dont need to be a teenage prodigy to make it to world class status. His PB for 3k at 18 years old (3k is a very frequently run juniors distance in Oz) was a hardly earth shattering 8.33, must be loads of HS seniors who can match that. His PBs at 22 years old were still only 7.47 for 3k and 3.42 for 1500m, must be quite a few college seniors each year who can top those marks. How many HS or College runners with similar times give competitive running up because that dont think they have the talent to ever make it? Goes to show, until you really dedicate yourself and have a full on crack at it, you can't really know what your limit might be!

Maybe but what was his training and injury history? Most of the time the guys with big breakthroughs late suffered from not training (i.e. running 35mpw in HS) and injuries. It would be interesting to see what his training progression was like from 16-25 in terms of mileage and workouts.

But yeah it is a pretty crazy story. Right up there with Clayton Murphy going from a 1:54 to 1:44 in like 3 years.

I'd be very curious how much he's raced over the past few years as compared to Morgan or other people in his age cohort.

He's out there mixing it up in Europe racing all summer for a few years while the US athletes are sitting at home racing 5 times a year.

hsdfhsdf wrote:

I'd be very curious how much he's raced over the past few years as compared to Morgan or other people in his age cohort.

He's out there mixing it up in Europe racing all summer for a few years while the US athletes are sitting at home racing 5 times a year.

I thought the complaint was that NCAA runners raced too much:) But yeah Morgan would be a great example of a guy who plateaued. Ran 13:29 as a 20 year old, 13:15 as a 21 year old, and so far hasn't run faster. Maybe be in races where 13:20 gets you last instead of first would have been better. Maybe he hasn't been as aggressive as pushing training (to busy studying, no need to risk it when you are already winning) to get to that next level. Or of course maybe he just hasn't been in the right race and is going to drop a 12:55 next year. Put Grant Fisher in the same boat where he had been running 13:30 forever til he made the big drop in times this year.

So, it kinda seems like you're playing both sides of it.

You say, first, that he's probably not doping since he wouldn't have significant incentives to do so.

That is a reasonable argument.

Then you end the response with "....buuuut his progression is sotra amazing"

Which is also reasonable and suggests that he is not clean.

What do you really think? Just come out and say it. The whole post implies that you have a hard time believing his progress but you're still trying to play both sides.

I definitely don't blame you for being uncertain, but I'm curious what your honest opinion is.

Believable? Too suspicious?

It just took Brad Croker retiring to make room for Stewy to come through in Australia, I know those boys will read this.

Give me a break. Bideau is one of the best coaches in the world and I can't recall a single one of his athletes getting busted or even being under suspicion. If you're a Rosa or Pineda athlete there's a clear and understandable reason why someone would find you suspicious. You see far less of that with athletes training with Colm O'Connell for instance. Someone from one of Rosa's camps is getting caught for doping multiple times per year it seems.

ShilohDoesntCare wrote:

Give me a break. Bideau is one of the best coaches in the world and I can't recall a single one of his athletes getting busted or even being under suspicion. If you're a Rosa or Pineda athlete there's a clear and understandable reason why someone would find you suspicious. You see far less of that with athletes training with Colm O'Connell for instance. Someone from one of Rosa's camps is getting caught for doping multiple times per year it seems.

Lance Armstrong wasn't caught either...