Peres Jepchirchir = The smartest racer (male or female) in marathon running

Ever heard of Kipchoge?

She's the most impressive marathoner for sure right now. She looked beat multiple times, but somehow managed to win.

As for Yeshaneh wanting it more, I sort of attributed it to her not wanting it as much, which is BS. They obviously both wanted it but it looked like Peres willed herself to the win.

But you're saying once Yeshaneh went by Peres was super smart to get behind her instead of saying off the side? Hadn't really thought of that .

I didn't see any amazing tactics from anyone. Just two awesome runners - one mistimed her move but was so much better and faster in a sprint that she still won. It wasn't like a cat and mouse finish, they were both flat out and spent. Such a great race.

Peres will start getting in the head of most of these runners. In her interview, answering the specific question of when she thought/knew that she'd win, she said that it as the 41st or 42nd km. She surely knows her strength.

I also think had she not surged like Sammy Wanjiru, she'd have put it away in the last half mile with one surge.

I think she can win almost any race (type).

I thought it was a genius move. Yeshaneh is relatively inexperienced and looked the most comfortable when she could key off the others and run very close to them. I think Peres realized she couldn’t just straight up bury her with a move. So she made Yeshaneh work harder mentally without anyone to pace her and had her guessing if/when another surge was coming. When she made the final move Yeshaneh was too spent to respond.

I know the point is to win, but I felt that it was somewhat poor sportsmanship for Yeshaneh to shadow her almost the entire course. That has to be maddening.

That was some serious rope-a-dope the last mile.

How in the world is that poor sportsmanship?

It was a master move. And the fact she was making these split-second decisions when tired proves my point: Peres has excellent racing instincts. We're talking about a woman who literally ran away from Brigid Kosgei at the Olympics.

Thoughts on why yeshaneh was looking at her watch so much? nervous habit?

^ Obviously worried about overcooking it.

Weak post. You totally miss the point, or don’t understand racing.

Kipchoge shows no particularly impressive tactical skills in beating people 1:00-2:00 slower in ability.

I don't think it was poor sportsmanship but sometimes she got too close and they made contact, which Peres was really nice about. They had to steady each other.

I was really happy for Peres. She seems like one of the nicest people in the field—offering her water bottle to Jepkosgei and in NY she let Viola Cheptoo draft off her. Viola talked about it, saying she had said please help me for this last part (everything but the very end) and Peres was like, sure. I think it also shows how confident she is in her kick compared to everyone else in the marathon.

^ Peres also picked water Yeshaneh a couple of times.

Yeshaneh didn't pick up her last two bottles...I was asking myself if that was not what cost her the win!

I saw that and wondered if maybe she was nauseous and couldn't drink?

It was so good to see the different race strategies applied at the finish. Both had the physical capability. It then became a mental strategy. Try and defeat the opponent mentally by running close, drafting, and surging. So many tactics in one finish. How will Boston do an encore lol

Great race. Reminded me of Salazar-Beardsley. Gutty effort by both runners.

Typical Ethiopian runner. They feed off the effort of others, putting in little work, and hope to outkick at the very end. It might not be seen as selfish in running (if you look at the other response to this) but in cycling you'll be marking yourself out for resentment if you developed a reputation for such nonsense.