Now THAT was an entertaining, tactical race! (Women's 1500 final)

If that was tactical, then what is an untactical race at all?

What was the tactfulness in that race ..?

Tactful races are those where athletes make calculated moves as they observe their opponents. They don't go outrageously fast but play mind games with their counterparts .

Untactical is a sit and kick race where at least 8 of the guys have no realistic chance of kicking for the win but not one of them does anything to increase the pace or otherwise attempt to win. They just jog and then lose on the 400m sprint.

Do you think any woman is able to finish in 53"?

You don’t think it was a tactic to start out really fast in the first round to drop the field?

Sinclaire Johnson said post-race, "I expected it to be fast. I think all of us in that second pack want to be where they're at [first pack], so I think it's a bit frustrating that all of us weren't there. We want to be able to compete with them. I obviously didn't know it was going to go out as fast as it did, but we've gotta be ready for it. So, that's kind of the level we've got to get to at some point."

I don't think you know what the word tactical means. Sit and kick is just that, a tactical race.

That was a straight up foot race. Who's the fastest for 3 and 3/4 laps.

Tactical - 100%, it removed the ambiguity of a sprint finish and the women able to run that fast would medal, in the order of their talent.

To say a tactical race has ro be slow, with subtle changes until a 100m dash is missing the fact that there's more than 1 tactic.

Great race!

Less of a tactical race and more of a punch to the face by the top three

The Africans have learned that if you sit and kick in 1500 meter races, the Americans win. If you don't, they win. (Well, except for Ingebritsen.) The days when Simpson or Centro could steal championship races have come and gone.

"Tactical" doesn't equal "sit and kick." It means using tactics.

That was absolutely a "tactical" race by the lead group - the "tactic" being to go out fast, see if others would come with, and keep up the pace to see if they can react. And, even though a somewhat passive tactic, it was a tactic of the back group, at least for a lap or more to steady their pace and see if the leaders would fall back. Kipgeyon right of Tgegay's shoulder was a tactic, and when she moved ahead was a tactic. Unfortunately, we didn't see anyone in the back group employ the tactic of trying to close the gap - probably because they physically couldn't.

Nearly every race is "tactical" at least for some of the runners. Even slow races where they're jostling for position at the end, deciding what lane to take, determining where they should move, when they should move.

LetsRun uses often "tactical" to mean "slow" or "pedestrian"; "not interesting," or "not exciting." But these are perfectly fine descriptors by themselves.

Lol I had much more texts last night from friends about the steeple final. I know you don’t want sit and kick races to be popular but that’s incongruous with reality.

Tsegay was trying to drop Kipyegon. Outside of Muir, no one else in the field was a threat to her in any race scenario. If the race had become a sit and kick, the same three runners would have swept the medals.

Tactics are not specific to one certain style over another. Athletes use different tactics to suit their style, strengths, weaknesses. The term tactics have been more recently applied to championship races where nobody wants to do the work at the front and carry the load. It results in gamesmanship where the whole pack slows, which favors fast finishers. This also allows athletes that may not have the fastest prs to stay in contention.

Tactics also include making a concerted effort for a honest pace, micro surges, team strategies, early moves, etc.

I will say that it is refreshing to see superior athletes establish a pace that others cannot match. There is something awesome about breaking the pack that is awesome. It takes fitness, talent, confidence, and usually some partners in crime. I personally prefer a race that features athletes trying to go for it. But that is not always conducive to success in championship meets.

No such thing

Not just letsrun, but commentators in general, use “Tactical” to refer to a race that goes out slow and turns in to a 300m sprint.

Every race is tactical. Duh.

That race was full Filbert Bayi... sprint from the gun and let the weak fall off the pace. Very fun to watch.

Agree, OP is mixing tactical with not-tactical, the way most people I think interpret it. Running fast out in the front needs no tactics, just pure power. Centro’s Rio gold was a tactical race.