Not a huge Centro fan, find his silence on NOP + defence of Shelby sus, but think we need to remember some things to be fair.
1) First he's made clear his main goal is carefully building for Paris this year and he's said he won't risk his body rushing back from knee surgery to try make Budapest.
2) in 2021, not coming back from knee surgery, he ran a 1:50.9 800m on April 10th, worth 998 IAAF pts. In July he got 2nd at trials and ran a 3:49 mile. His 4:06 mile = 996 IAAF points. Not saying he's breaking 3:50 for the mile this summer, just that he has been "done" before later on in the year and still been competitive.
3) he's clearly not in good shape, but you know what he's showing up which is more than can be said for many pros. So many athletes would hide away from the spotlight, he's going out there and getting his butt kicked and smiling all the while, taking pictures with fans instead of hiding away training. Some athletes drop out of races last minute if their buildup isn't perfect. Some barely rave even when they're healthy. He's coming back from surgery and still putting himself out there. That's admirable and good for the sport in my opinion. "Oh yeah he's just cashing appearance fees" yeah so what I bet Athing Mu was getting offered way more bank to race at Millrose than Centro got for Melbourne and she still ducked.
To be fair, Centro did say that the race felt pretty easy; "like a tempo" were his words I think. Something also about being stuck in no man's land and wanting to keep getting races under his belt. Point being although this was far from a good race for him it's early and hopefully for his sake he'll keep improving each race moving forward. At least he seems motivated.
11th Feb -Adelaide Track Classic 10th - 1:56.01, 800m
Seem to remember he did a double recently? 1K and something?
23rd Feb - Maurie Plant Mile 1 - Ollie Hoare, AUS, 3:52.24 2 - Sam Tanner, NZL, 3:53.84 3 - Cameron Myers, AUS, 3:55.44 4 - Callum Davies, AUS, 3:55.48 5 - Matt Ramsden, AUS, 3:55.90 6 - Jude Thomas, AUS, 3:56.87 7 - James Hansen, AUS, 3:57.20 8 - Adehena Kaysae, ETH, 3:57.87 9 - Ryoji Tatezawa, JPN, 4:00.13 10 - Jaryd Clifford, AUS, 4:01.98 11 - Matt Centrowitz, USA, 4:06.52 12 - Mick Stanovsek, AUS, 4:12.42 13 - Ryan Gregson, AUS, 4:14.86
Your are trying to project your own failure on to someone else
You don't become a bad runner overnight in any case better to be a has been then a never been. People like you enjoy seeing older athletes as if that somehow makes them like themselves. It does not. He is a champion and always will be. One of the best America ever had a winner when the pressure is at its highest on a set date not when you happen to feel like it.
Centro has been done since a certain night in Rio in 2016.
Call it age, injury, illness, lack of motivation or whatever you want. It's been nearly 7 years now.
He's not coming back from 7 years of sub par performance.
That’s a curious take, considering he was US national champ and a Diamond League winner in 2018, ran 13:00 for 5K in 2019, and set his mile PR of 3:49 in 2021.
Also: it was a low-key meet in Australia in February. Not a big deal.
Did you not see the names in the race? That was no low-key race.
23rd Feb - Maurie Plant Mile
1 - Ollie Hoare, AUS, 3:52.24
2 - Sam Tanner, NZL, 3:53.84
3 - Cameron Myers, AUS, 3:55.44
4 - Callum Davies, AUS, 3:55.48
5 - Matt Ramsden, AUS, 3:55.90
6 - Jude Thomas, AUS, 3:56.87
7 - James Hansen, AUS, 3:57.20
8 - Adehena Kaysae, ETH, 3:57.87
9 - Ryoji Tatezawa, JPN, 4:00.13
10 - Jaryd Clifford, AUS, 4:01.98
11 - Matt Centrowitz, USA, 4:06.52
12 - Mick Stanovsek, AUS, 4:12.42
13 - Ryan Gregson, AUS, 4:14.86
Yes, I looked at the field, and I stand by my comment. There were a couple of studs there for sure but overall that’s a low-key field on the global scale. The fact that a 16-year-old kid finished 3rd proves my point.
Also to note, Centro was in a hospital bed recovering from knee surgery in the middle of last year and it's not like he could start straight back into an elite level training schedule the moment he got out. He couldn't even run at all for at least a couple of months after that. So he basically had to start from scratch only 5-6 months ago and very conservatively at that.
Centro has been done since a certain night in Rio in 2016.
Call it age, injury, illness, lack of motivation or whatever you want. It's been nearly 7 years now.
He's not coming back from 7 years of sub par performance.
That’s a curious take, considering he was US national champ and a Diamond League winner in 2018, ran 13:00 for 5K in 2019, and set his mile PR of 3:49 in 2021.
US champ has no value on the world scene. Literally zero.
3:49 mile is common these days. It converts to 3:32 which is unremarkable with plenty of runners under 3:31 in race conditions, not time trial.
He did win the 2018 london diamond league against a particularly weak field : no cheruiyot, manangoi, f. Ingebrigsten, souleiman, Tefera ... He didn't enter/qualify for the diamond league final.
The 13:00 5k is the only decent reference. Probably a sign he should have moved to longer distances. Too late now.
Did you guys know he has a tattoo on his chest that reads, “Like father, like son”, very original according to every interview he did post gold medaling in the slowest 1500m in modern Olympic history. Lewis Johnson is the best!
Did you guys know he has a tattoo on his chest that reads, “Like father, like son”, very original according to every interview he did post gold medaling in the slowest 1500m in modern Olympic history. Lewis Johnson is the best!
Give Matt C credit. Matt C's habit in Olympics and World Championship 1500m finals other than 2016 Olympics was to race in 5th to 9th place to 800m mark. Matt C had enough intuitive knowledge of math to know it is better to race in the lead on the inside half of lane 1 the entire race as opposed to wind drafting on the outer half of lane 2 while racing at 14 miles per hour. There were at least a few sub-1:44 800m men in 2016 Olympics 1500m final. Matt C. held them off.