To the people saying the USA 10k team was weak

No excuses. Keep hearing Kenya has a 100 guys better than the best American. What happened?

Who was saying this?

Less of a medal threat than Rupp years.

Those boys deserve the biggest participation trophy of their lives.

Had Fisher not been cut off by the Ugandan runner on the last corner which resulted in Fisher losing his momentum - he would have finished 4th. Rupp is the only recent US runner to have that kind of success at a major

Woody and Klecker ground it out and finished well.

How anyone can be negative about any of the US guys that gave their best is beyond stupid.

l'histoire wrote:

Who was saying this?

Less of a medal threat than Rupp years.

The U.S. is “less of a medal threat than Rupp years” because Rupp moved up to the marathon. If you remove Rupp, those glory days weren’t so great.

We are historically weak in distance running. 2021 isn't any different than any other time in the last 70 years.

You do realize… don’t you, this was the three Americans’ first major professional global championship race.

Tough armchair crowd to please on here.

MI Strong wrote:

Questionable1 wrote:

We are historically weak in distance running. 2021 isn't any different than any other time in the last 70 years.

You do realize… don’t you, this was the three Americans’ first major professional global championship race.

Tough armchair crowd to please on here.

That's exactly the point. The US has not been relevant in distance running over 1,500m in any meaningful way in many decades. I'm talking about the program as a whole, not single out the one kind of fast guy we have in Rupp. The fact that our three guys had zero combined international races is indicative of this problem. You can't beat them in major events if you don't race them in major events.

AP5000 wrote:

MI Strong wrote:

You do realize… don’t you, this was the three Americans’ first major professional global championship race.

Tough armchair crowd to please on here.

That's exactly the point. The US has not been relevant in distance running over 1,500m in any meaningful way in many decades. I'm talking about the program as a whole, not single out the one kind of fast guy we have in Rupp. The fact that our three guys had zero combined international races is indicative of this problem. You can't beat them in major events if you don't race them in major events.

Well two of the guys Klecker and Fisher are recently out of college and there were no international competitions last year due to the pandemic. How many of the guys in the 10k final do you think went to college? Kincaid has had some great performances over the years coupled with Injuries that set him back and over the last three years has been able to be consistent with his training which shows in his results. There are also other young collegians making their mark and showing great promises or the future of US distance runners.

That leads me to be much more upbeat than you. And happy to see three Americans in the Tokyo Olympic 10,000 m final.

I wish Virgin got to race in 1980, weather he would’ve gotten out kicked by viren or gotten gold, an American Medalist in those games would’ve helped our legacy a bit

Meant to say get out kicked by Yifter like Viren, my brain melted

Them going to college or not or the other guys going to college or not has no bearing on why we are, by and large, irrelevant in distance running. You are talking about two guys out of hundreds over the last 30 years. Also they are 24. They would have been 22 in 2019. Is there a reason they didn't run in the WC? Are you not allowed to run that if you are in college? Obviously Klecker and Woody wouldn't have been remotely competitive in that race but why weren't they there?

laughable. wrote:

No excuses. Keep hearing Kenya has a 100 guys better than the best American. What happened?

Rhonex arrived in Tokyo less than 48 hours before the event. Not enough to acclimatise.

You are a sour person.

Pretty tough, in distance running, while in college, to manage three condensed seasons and still have something left in the summer.

As for age… we all know that official age and actual age can be different especially from different continents.

And to your point, all the more reason to celebrate a 5th place finish.

AP5000 wrote:

MI Strong wrote:

You do realize… don’t you, this was the three Americans’ first major professional global championship race.

Tough armchair crowd to please on here.

That's exactly the point. The US has not been relevant in distance running over 1,500m in any meaningful way in many decades. I'm talking about the program as a whole, not single out the one kind of fast guy we have in Rupp. The fact that our three guys had zero combined international races is indicative of this problem. You can't beat them in major events if you don't race them in major events.

You do realize...don't you this was the Olympic Games on the world's biggest stage? The medalists had very little international racing experience. Their ages are just 24, 21, and 20 yet they seemed to fare quite well. Perhaps the US needs to take a closer look at their training?

Huh? The 3 medalists are young but all competed heavily in the junior level and senior level internationally and have a wealth of experience. The US college status quo doesn’t have guys run the 10,000 seriously until age 21-22 at earliest which maybe is a mistake. I’d like to see Nico Young buck this trend as it seems like his future is in distances 10K and up. Credit Klecker/Monson and their coach Ritz for cutting to the chase there. The US has had Rupp/Chelimo holding us up on the men’s side but there’s hope that the depth improves considering promising young talent like Teare/Young. The 800-1500m has never been stronger.

24, 20, 21 wrote:

AP5000 wrote:

That's exactly the point. The US has not been relevant in distance running over 1,500m in any meaningful way in many decades. I'm talking about the program as a whole, not single out the one kind of fast guy we have in Rupp. The fact that our three guys had zero combined international races is indicative of this problem. You can't beat them in major events if you don't race them in major events.

You do realize...don't you this was the Olympic Games on the world's biggest stage? The medalists had very little international racing experience. Their ages are just 24, 21, and 20 yet they seemed to fare quite well. Perhaps the US needs to take a closer look at their training?

Until 5000m & 10000m are deleted from Summer Olympics and World Championships, maybe U.S. should consider a year around training center for 5000m & 10000m prospects above 6000ft elevation. None of this HIGH LOW training. Maybe it would help, maybe not. Jim Ryun said after 1968 Olympics 1500m, maybe HIGH LOW training has nothing to do with it. Maybe one needs to be born & raised at higher elevation according to Ryun. [Not an exact quote but ... . ] Are there enough U.S. citizens born at higher elevations with about 2 pounds or less pounds to inches weight to height ratio with longer legs relative to height? Eg. 140 pounds for a 70 inch man with relatively long legs.

Cheptegei's not a legend, despite smashing Bekele's 5000m and 10000m records and multiple medals? High standards indeed.

It's not the standards. But many cannot manage too feel very excited about the solo supershoe+wavelight records of 2020 and 2021.