Y.Crippa (Italy), 27:16.18, and Jessica Judd 31:22.24 -6 sub 28 mins/ men, 5 sub 32mins women!

Sam Atkin runs 13:02 for 5k indoors and now 27:31 to win the British championship and still unsponsored. Ridiculous.

Massive pb by Cairess, 27:53 (2021), to 27:34 (last night) by the Northern young (24), maestro, who has been running since he was a young child.

Atkin, freelance: Don’t worry that will change very soon. They will all be knocking at his door.

Crippa already had a 13:02.26 from 2020 and 27:10.76 from Doha WC in 2019. He was the logical class of the field with Atkin. The Italian made up for his dropping out of the European cross country championships in Dublin back in December 2021.

Jessica Judd’s pb’s at 3000/5000 are massively undervalued. Perhaps, she is worth around 8:30/14:30. She has speed (1:59/800) and endurance (1:07:42 Half marathon) so it’s just a matter of time. In the 1500 m, for that matter, she has the potential for 3:57-3:59. Her range is absolutely phenomenal. Very few world-class women have that range of foot speed and endurance.

Jessica Judd:

400 Metres
56.23
Eton (GBR)
29 APR 2012
968
800 Metres
1:59.77
Bislett Stadion, Oslo (NOR)
11 JUN 2014
1166
1000 Metres
2:39.52
Blankers-Koen Stadion, Hengelo (NED)
24 MAY 2015
1110
1500 Metres
4:03.73
Olympic Stadium, London (GBR)
04 AUG 2017
1176
One Mile
4:28.59
Olympic Stadium, London (GBR)
09 JUL 2017
1129
3000 Metres
8:52.73
Birmingham University Athletics Track, Birmingham (GBR)
21 APR 2021
1130
5000 Metres
15:06.02
Hilmer Lodge Stadium, Walnut, CA (USA)
09 MAY 2021
1151
10,000 Metres
31:20.96
Birmingham University Athletics Track, Birmingham (GBR)
05 JUN 2021
1174
5 Kilometres
15:36
Barrowford (GBR)
08 AUG 2020
1094
10 Kilometres
31:40
Leeds (GBR)
24 OCT 2021
1157
Half Marathon
1:07:52
Houston, TX (USA)
16 JAN 202

Jake Smith takes a minute off his pb, 29:01 to 28:01. Ben Connor, 27:57 to 27:51 also improves. The training that Smith accomplished in Uganda on those hilly courses has paid dividends. Smith, future 205 marathon runner? He is built almost like a marathon prototype.

Smith is wasting his time on the track. He ran 28 minutes in a TT during the first lockdown in 2020. He's not progressing. He looks much better in the roads but seems reluctant to commit - he ran 2:11 on a whim, he was pacing and just decided to keep going. Hadn't trained for the marathon and had only one gel. There's more in the tank.

A word for Amy Eloise Markovc. She just missed the WC QT by less than a second, and she did the same for the Olympic QT last year. I hope she gets it in another race this year, no one should be that unlucky

Great performance from Matthew Stonier in the Emsley Carr Mile, 20 years old winning in 3:54 after having to avoid the NZ runner who had fallen right in front of him, and then having to run around athletes in the last 50m when he was kicking.

Amy was well inside the QT for European Championships 32.20

mens QT is 28.15

You're right about her range, but she is done with the 1500, she's all in on the long distances now. Makes sense in terms of continuing to represent the UK at global champs as there is little depth in women's 5/10k right now. You have Eilish and Markovc, who Judd has now beaten every time, and then there is possibly Laura Weightman if she gets back some fitness. Muir could go to the 5k eventually but looks likely to stick with the 1500 until at least 2023. This leaves a clear run for Judd as there are no obvious younger talents coming through at 5/10k

Yes, but she wanted that WC QT. I'm not sure if she'll get in on ranking

Controversial but I think his (incredible) 60:31 HM from a few years ago might be the best we see from the guy.

Maybe. That was such a good performance at the World HM champs. He was training with Cheptegei's group for the Ghent HM earlier this year but he didn't run it for some reason. His two best performances have been 60:31 HM and 2:11 for the mara. He'd make world and Olympic teams with those times. On the track, he's run 3:48 (1500), 13:38, and 28:01 which are pretty mediocre by elite standards. His coach is a track guy but there's just very little upside to Smith's track performances to date. He looks like he's made for the longer grind.

In my opinion, Jake Smith could easily run under 27:50 yesterday if he didn't run on lane 2 repetitive. His training on Strava has really shown a huge progression in fitness the latest months (except his learning experience post Uganda training camp dealing with overtraining/underfueling). But, if you don't use your tactics right, all the strenght & endurance you possesses is, more or less, useless. 28:01 is still a decent time, probably Jakes 10km split during his next Half marathon ;)

Smiths biggest mistake was closing a big gap to the front three far too quickly before half way and then immediately going out the back door when Crippa went back to the front. Total waste of energy, he went over the red line and his race was blown from then. Should have just run his own race. Doesn't seem to have a racing brain. He is definitely capable of much quicker than 28 mins. As others have pointed out he ran 28 mins in a solo time trial. Fine margins, but once over the red line you are done. He doesn't have good enough speed to make big moves like that. He ran dumb last year in the Olympic trail race going out at 5k or pace in a 10000 and dropped out too. Needs to learn fast. Looks much more at home on the roads. Should just go all in on the roads now as never going to get near world class on the track but could challenge for top places on the road.

Unfortunately, he doesn’t have the disposition or grit. He’s very soft and very much a whiner.

This will tell you all that you need to know:

podcasts.apple.com

‎Sweat Elite Podcast: #70 - Jake Smith - Training with Joshua Cheptegei and NN Running Team on Apple Podcasts

‎Show Sweat Elite Podcast, Ep #70 - Jake Smith - Training with Joshua Cheptegei and NN Running Team - Mar 7, 2022

Link:podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sweat-el...

Tell me about the time you ran a 2:11 marathon without tapering, so specific training and 1 gel.

Jake is one of the grittiest and toughest athletes out there. If anything, that's one of his downfalls - he sometimes overtrains or goes out too hard in races. But he's young, enjoys the sport and has a good support network. No doubt he'll figure it out. We haven't seen the best of Jake Smith yet