Robby Andrews 4:07 1500m????

Maybe he should give the steeplechase a try.

H._Emer_Troy wrote:

Maybe he should give the steeplechase a try.

sick burn

More likely Gwen Jorgenson syndrome. Run a few good workouts and always 2 weeks away from being national class but can't move on with life. For most people. running is a hobby bu for some sub-elites, it is an unhealthy obsession.

deep thinker wrote:

birdbeard wrote:

Andrews is kind of done. Whatever is going on with his health has finished him -- I feel really bad for him.

Nah. People here are way too quick to tear runners down. It is SO early in the season. It is probably just a workout or pacing for a friend or something and people are getting all weird about it.

R E L A X

You're kidding right?

Mate do you even know how good you have to be to run 1.44 and 3.34? Clearly you don't - because it doesn't matter how "early in the season" it is, when you are that level of runner, running 4.07 is not a "workout". A "workout" for a professional middle distance runner who has run at the Olympics is something like "3 laps in 62 and sprint as hard as you can in the final 300". I mean I am literally laughing at you thinking a 4.07 1500m is just early season rust. Maybe for a good high school kid.

Also the concept of flying to Arizona to "workout" or "pace a friend" is utterly ridiculous. Stop it.

Robbie had a great career and this is really sad to see but I mean where do you go from this? Too many health issues and mental scarring - he should just get married and enjoy his life away from track.

In those race photos he looks 15-20 lbs overweight.

Can't move fast carrying around that kind of excess.

Hopefully he can drop some pounds and round into shape for the Trials.

Chill @Ricardo Rude. You don't know anything about what Andrews is up to. You could absolutely be right, and you could be totally wrong . Yeah- nobody is arguing that 4:08 or whatever sucks and is super crazy slow for a pro. For a dude with loads of talent and ability coming back from a major illness, it might not be time to panic. Work through the awful races and get semi competitive and keep working from there. Races like this must be rough, but there are loads of stories where pros come back from a rough year or two and reach world class levels, again.

And also just to reiterate, you don't know the circumstances around this race? End of a crazy workout? Pacing? You don't know.

You shouldn't draw too many conclusions from one race.

Maybe it was actually Shia LeBouf and his method acting

Those American Thighs wrote:

@mgcentro your move

You wanna come at me bro? Who are you anyways? Some lowly walk-on nobody? Show me the respect I deserve for winning that 1500m gold medal even though we went through the 800m in 2:16!!!

I feel bad for Robby, he has such raw talent but he could never piece it together as a pro. He was used to smoking people on the last lap in high school and college but that just isn’t going to work at the pro level.

I really believe he would have medaled at the 2016 Olympics if he made the 1500m final. That race, with the slow lead up to a final lap sprint, was exactly his type of race.

rooting4rob wrote:

I feel bad for Robby, he has such raw talent but he could never piece it together as a pro.

I'd saying making the Olympics would be "piecing it together" no matter how much potential you have. Wish he could have had more long-term success but the man is an Olympian and a US champ

Was it super warm or windy or something? Or no pacers for any of these races? The times look pretty slow across the board.

NERunner53 wrote:

Was it super warm or windy or something? Or no pacers for any of these races? The times look pretty slow across the board.

It was very windy according to tinman elite 3k guys. No 3k pacer.

Maybe it was a OT qualifier attempt. Leader comes through in 61 and Vigilante says "screw it, abort" from the side of the track.

Pros also have contractual obligations around the number of races completed per year right? which would explain why he didn't drop out.

From what I've heard from people who raced this meet it was quite windy and cold. A lot of people opted for tactical runs or quit halfway through lol.

birdbeard wrote:

deep thinker wrote:

Nah. People here are way too quick to tear runners down. It is SO early in the season. It is probably just a workout or pacing for a friend or something and people are getting all weird about it.

R E L A X

Well, I would agree, except I know he was struggling with lyme disease a few years ago, all his PBs are from 2015 and earlier (most from 2013), and he hasn't run faster than 1:51.9 / 4:02 (mile) since 2018. I think he's having some serious issues. Maybe he figures them out, but he's 29 or so.

I think it's super sad. He had tons of potential. Wish him the best in fighting his nutrition/health issues, or whatever the case may be.

'15 wasn't even a good year. '16 was the best shape of his life. He was good for 3:32, in the right race, in the summer of '16, and was closing the best he ever had.

Unfortunately, he threw away that great fitness with a horrible strategic botch in the Olympic Semifinal, and it's been nothing but disaster ever since.

Seems like a great guy, and I've always rooted hard for him, but it looks like he's about to join his college rival Wheating as another tremendous talent who never fulfilled it.

(At least Wheating had that one great moment of glory in Monaco, with that stunning 3:30.

For Robby to end up with a PR that's 4 full seconds slower seems ridiculous.)

Yep, you're right, it's very sad. Four great mile talents we've had, in the post-Webb era:

Leo, Centro, Wheating, and Robby. Two of them drew out their absolute best on the biggest stage in the world; the other two, we'll always be left wondering.