What happened to Purrier in Olympic 1500 final? Update: Now we know she got hurt at the Trials

She peaked at Trials …. Hard to keep that edge sharp

I do not think she looked to be the same runner she was in the trials. I wondered about a non-disclosed injury or illness. Not saying she would have medaled, but I expected sub 3:58 in either the semi or final.

vanjr wrote:

I do not think she looked to be the same runner she was in the trials. I wondered about a non-disclosed injury or illness. Not saying she would have medaled, but I expected sub 3:58 in either the semi or final.

Yeah, I wonder what happened....must be a non-disclosed injury. Too bad. Not saying she would have medalled, but I definitely expected more from her.

I found it curious that she didn't race even once between the Trials and Olympics, so maybe she was a bit banged up as others suggested. Or perhaps she could already tell she was getting a bit overcooked and wanted to try and address that via training.

She did only 3 seconds off her trials ....

First, Elle is from the North. There's no tropical heat for long stretches in Vermont.

Second, Elle sometimes maxes out despite conditions.

Third, pressure is pressure. Pressure can exhaust you.

Fourth, Japan is not America and she may never have been comfortable.

Fifth, 3 seconds is so malleable. She ran 3 seconds slower than her trials time in the same race where Hassan took third.

Sometimes it's relative. Elle Purrier St. Pierre gave what she could when she could and it just didn't get a medal this year.

She's got nothing to be ashamed of.

She had a nice winter. Only so many good races in a year.

igotoneforyou wrote:

What happened to her out there? We all expected her to run better, right? Not dissing, just curious...

Results are online. She ran 4:01. That’s about 3 seconds slower than her PR. So not a great race but not terrible. Not many athletes run a PR in the Olympic final.

igotoneforyou wrote:

What happened to her out there? We all expected her to run better, right? Not dissing, just curious...

I'd say that many of us were disappointed but not surprised. Purrier is just not as experienced or fit/talented as her competitors.

Anyone who is disappointed in Purrier needs to look at these numbers. Put together by "another perspective," they show that Purrier isn't yet running at the same level as Muir, or even GDS. Purrier at 26 is running like Muir and GDS did at 22 and 24. Since then, they've only gotten better, so Purrier has a ways to go before she gets to their level.

Purrier is even farther behind in terms of experience. Muir was 22 when she won her first DL race. Since then, she's won 9 more. And yet Muir just now won her first WC/OG medal. Purrier has run in one DL race. That was two years ago. She finished 8th. GDS finished 2nd, almost 8 seconds ahead of Purrier.

Muir v Purrier v Stafford PBs aged 19-25

Purrier St-Pierre

20 04:18.59

21 04:33.32

22 04:14.48

23 04:07.79

24 04:02.34

25 04:00.77

Muir

19 04:17.81

20 04:07.76

21 04:00.07

22 03:58.66

23 03:55.22

24 04:00.35

25 03:58.18

DeBues-Stafford

19 04:07.44

20 04:06.53

21 04:03.55

22 04:05.83

23 03:59.56

24 03:56.12

25 03:58.22

And a reminder: DeBues-Stafford is actually 7 months younger than Purrier.

credit to "another perspective"

She didn’t look acclimated to the heat at all. Only the training groups in the US that went to Hawaii or Arizona after the Trials looked anything remotely adjusted to the heat.

Seidel has lived her entire life in the north and she over achieved in a 2 1/2 hour race, not 4 minutes.

Sometimes you milk the cow and sometimes you don’t.

Maybe she didn’t milk enough cows during Olympic prep.

🤔

side dell wrote:

Seidel has lived her entire life in the north and she over achieved in a 2 1/2 hour race, not 4 minutes.

Yes, but she has been training in Arizona. Granted, I believe she has moved to Flagstaff or at least training based there. Easy to find heat in Arizona though.

Film Rep wrote:

Sometimes you milk the cow and sometimes you don’t.

Maybe she didn’t milk enough cows during Olympic prep.

🤔

What, did she grow up on a farm or something??? 🤔

She didn't have any kick in either the semi or final and didn't seem to be benefiting from the 'bounce' in the track we keep hearing about. Maybe needed more time since trials? Basically seemed the opposite of Muir who looked like she was in fantastic shape.

But I think Molly acclimated to the heat. She’s been training in Arizona for awhile now. Even though she’s in Flagstaff where it’s temperate, she goes down to Sedona where it’s very hot on a regular basis. Puffier went home to Vermont after the Trials. That’s not how you prepare for 90+ and humid.

She only looked bad because she is now racing the best athletes in the world and they are running at their best.

Incorrect. She took it to GDS early in the year. Going from being able to solo 3:58s to being all-out to run drafted 4:01s indicates she either peaked too early, couldn’t handle the heat, or had an injury issue.

Purrier’s strongest performances have come from American races where the competition is deferential to her fitness. In Tokyo, that was never going to happen.

That’s not to say she underperformed necessarily. It’s one of the strongest women’s 1500m fields in history. She qualified for the team and for the final in more dominant fashion than any other American woman eligible to compete.