Rojo's continued hot take/keyboard diarrheas are to be expected. Judging a stud's career and capability by a one-off performance in April??? THAT idiotic "Quick Take" I expect from a cretin who wants to splash and generate drama.
what proof do you or any of us have that Rojo IS NOT a cretin?
Evan Jager, representing Nike Bowerman Track Club, completed his first 3,000-meter steeplechase race since 2018 by placing second in the men's invitational elite section in 8:34.89 at the 62nd Mt. SAC Relays Presented by Nike...
Is this a joke??? I'm not reading that way, but I hope so/expect better.
Rojo's continued hot take/keyboard diarrheas are to be expected. Judging a stud's career and capability by a one-off performance in April??? THAT idiotic "Quick Take" I expect from a cretin who wants to splash and generate drama. The rest of you should know better. Malmo knows what he's talking about; he's the only one here who has truly been there and knows the trials of miles Jager is facing.
I predict a sub-8:15 by the end of summer. Jager aint running sub-8 or sub-8:05, but there's nothing facing the fans to actually write him off yet.
Depends what peoples definition of DONE is…
sub 815 isnt really competitive on the world stage. nobody is saying hes a washed up loser, but he used to be pretty close to a medal lock, and now we’re discussing whether hes even still capable of being the best in the country.
the whole “oh its a rustbuster in april” argument is nice except that hes 33 and hasnt really done anything noteworthy in years. girma, el bakkali, etc arent losing in 8:3x no matter what month of the year it is, so he’s done in the sense that hes not in that top tier of guys anymore. Which is not really a criticism, hes old and has dealt with a bunch of injuries.
it does make me wish he raced more when he was in his prime though, was definitely capable of ~755
There is still enough time to get down into the upper teens and perhaps make the USA team, but he has a long way to go to compete against the big boys.
He's world class.All times are good. Nothing matters for another two months.
I raced the meet where Henry Rono set the world record at UW.
He basically jogged a few laps then ran on his own.
Jager is ordinary, and this time is less than ordinary. HHR could have run backwards for 2 laps and run faster. And that was pretty much solo, and about 45 years ago.
Clearly the World Class has fallen back to elementary performance
Is this a joke??? I'm not reading that way, but I hope so/expect better.
Rojo's continued hot take/keyboard diarrheas are to be expected. Judging a stud's career and capability by a one-off performance in April??? THAT idiotic "Quick Take" I expect from a cretin who wants to splash and generate drama. The rest of you should know better. Malmo knows what he's talking about; he's the only one here who has truly been there and knows the trials of miles Jager is facing.
I predict a sub-8:15 by the end of summer. Jager aint running sub-8 or sub-8:05, but there's nothing facing the fans to actually write him off yet.
Depends what peoples definition of DONE is…
sub 815 isnt really competitive on the world stage. nobody is saying hes a washed up loser, but he used to be pretty close to a medal lock, and now we’re discussing whether hes even still capable of being the best in the country.
the whole “oh its a rustbuster in april” argument is nice except that hes 33 and hasnt really done anything noteworthy in years. girma, el bakkali, etc arent losing in 8:3x no matter what month of the year it is, so he’s done in the sense that hes not in that top tier of guys anymore. Which is not really a criticism, hes old and has dealt with a bunch of injuries.
it does make me wish he raced more when he was in his prime though, was definitely capable of ~755
First, anyone commenting hear should take 16min and watch this interview. Honesty and humility and character from an athlete we'd all love to be:
Evan Jager, representing Nike Bowerman Track Club, completed his first 3,000-meter steeplechase race since 2018 by placing second in the men's invitational elite section in 8:34.89 at the 62nd Mt. SAC Relays Presented by Nike...
At a global medal level, yes: 8:15 isn't that competitive, but it's plenty completive on the pro circuit and at the national level. Don't pretend like he's a 3:30 1500m guy who's now dragging around at 3:38. In 2021 TWENTY guys broke 8:15 worldwide; one american (Bor 8:14.69...). In 2019 TWENTY TWO guys broke 8:15 worldwide ; three americans (only three americans under 8:26).
The rustbuster argument is valid: see Centro most April/Mays (ie 2016, 2021, etc). And if the judgement of Jager's performances now and in the future is that he can't compete with/beat the top competition [who are 7-10 years younger than him] than I guess most professional athletes should pack it in because they're "not the best."
He said he has a lot of fitness and muscle memory to regain and that he's targeting a late May Steeple then USA's. He's still likely to be a top-3 american and that pays the bills. Would any of you trade that to be retired and depressed because you couldn't hit the peak times of the 25 year old self?
I'm not a Jager/BTC fanboi and I haven't really posted on the boards in a few months (after 20 years nearly daily), but coming across this conversation today was really sad. It's absolutely comically stupid watching you 30-50y/o has-been's disparage an athlete they used to adore (the best of his generation) just because he came back from a massive injury and didn't run the 8:2X they expected him to, in April. What the actual Fu--?
Is this a joke??? I'm not reading that way, but I hope so/expect better.
Yes it’s mostly a joke, or me just trying to ruffle malmo’s feathers a bit. I’ve repeatedly seen malmo shun speculation and analysis early in the season in this “just shut up and wait until June” kind of way, but that seems to me like the complete antithesis of this message board’s existence. As a sports fan, I actually think some premature declarations are a healthy part of encouraging fan engagement—you see it every day on Pardon the Interruption and the like.
I don’t think this was a particularly encouraging result for Jager fans. I don’t think it’s proof that he’s done, either. As for your expecting better, lord knows I don’t owe you a thing.
In other words you admit to acting childish.
The entire premise of this thread is built on a foundation of ignorance and a complete lack of experience of our sport at the highest levels.
I propose that we ban the term "worked" from now on. We're not in junior high (I think so).
sub 815 isnt really competitive on the world stage. nobody is saying hes a washed up loser, but he used to be pretty close to a medal lock, and now we’re discussing whether hes even still capable of being the best in the country.
the whole “oh its a rustbuster in april” argument is nice except that hes 33 and hasnt really done anything noteworthy in years. girma, el bakkali, etc arent losing in 8:3x no matter what month of the year it is, so he’s done in the sense that hes not in that top tier of guys anymore. Which is not really a criticism, hes old and has dealt with a bunch of injuries.
it does make me wish he raced more when he was in his prime though, was definitely capable of ~755
At a global medal level, yes: 8:15 isn't that competitive, but it's plenty completive on the pro circuit and at the national level. Don't pretend like he's a 3:30 1500m guy who's now dragging around at 3:38. In 2021 TWENTY guys broke 8:15 worldwide; one american (Bor 8:14.69...). In 2019 TWENTY TWO guys broke 8:15 worldwide ; three americans (only three americans under 8:26).
The rustbuster argument is valid: see Centro most April/Mays (ie 2016, 2021, etc). And if the judgement of Jager's performances now and in the future is that he can't compete with/beat the top competition [who are 7-10 years younger than him] than I guess most professional athletes should pack it in because they're "not the best."
He said he has a lot of fitness and muscle memory to regain and that he's targeting a late May Steeple then USA's. He's still likely to be a top-3 american and that pays the bills. Would any of you trade that to be retired and depressed because you couldn't hit the peak times of the 25 year old self?
I'm not a Jager/BTC fanboi and I haven't really posted on the boards in a few months (after 20 years nearly daily), but coming across this conversation today was really sad. It's absolutely comically stupid watching you 30-50y/o has-been's disparage an athlete they used to adore (the best of his generation) just because he came back from a massive injury and didn't run the 8:2X they expected him to, in April. What the actual Fu--?
No one is disparaging him or saying he should retire. If you take the “DONE” meme as serious disparaging you need to chill and take the stick out of your @ss.
acknowledging that hes past his prime is not “hating.” In his heyday a rustbuster would be winning in 8:20, and he himself said he was hoping to feel/perform better than he did. Im a fan and im rooting for him at USAs, etc.
No one is disparaging him or saying he should retire. If you take the “DONE” meme as serious disparaging you need to chill and take the stick out of your @ss.
acknowledging that hes past his prime is not “hating.” In his heyday a rustbuster would be winning in 8:20, and he himself said he was hoping to feel/perform better than he did. Im a fan and im rooting for him at USAs, etc.
I get it, I get it; I was quite sure JWH was in on the meme. My ire is mostly towards rojo for perpetuating lame and disparaging hot takes like this.
I love letsrun, always have, but the inclination for people to write athletes off or build scenarios on one or two races is so dumb.
Since 13:13 indoors indicates much better than 8:35 (he ran 8 and low 8 multiple times with just a 13:02 pr), I have to conclude that either he was injured again since then--in which case he'd probably not even be running this--or he was running it carefully to avoid a re-injury but get back into the event with world championship qualifying pace (8:22) for the last 1k. That he managed. I expect 8:20 or better next time out. They must know that his health is fragile and it must have been difficult for him to make it back after all this time.
He used to be one of my favourite American runners. I don't understand how so many would want to go virtually all season competing minimally with no trips abroad. What's the point of being a pro athlete?
