How early does Grant Fisher have to make the move to beat Woody tonight?

Might as well just give him the trophy now what a jog fest, quote this when he closes in sub 53 for the win

A mile from the finish line? Isn't that what Dmitriy Dmitriyev did, 1983 W.C. 5000m final? G Fisher can win easily if he runs penultimate lap in 58.0 and does not let up.

well

G Fisher closed in 58.0 and got 4th lol

I posted this too late. G Fisher didn't have an opportunity to read my post pre-race.

You’re going to confuse that dude with the two masters degrees that didn’t know what penultimate meant.

He’s the AR holder in 10k and 5k. Go from 5k out and just make the whole field suffer. Make it so that only those in 12:50 shape have a shot in hell to make the team.

Agree with this. Make it a 27.30 race at least OR forget about winning, just hang in there, do nothing and then go with the kick to make top 3.

We already saw Woody and Fisher go head to head this season in a time trial race and Woody won that. Woody broke Fisher's record in the indoor 5k too this year so not like Kincaid is just a sit and kick merchant. He's in very good overall shape.

Real possibility that 2023 Woody is not just faster than 2023 Fisher but fitter than him overall too and that if Fisher made this a TT Kincaid just sits and rides the Fisher train to US Champion station anyway.

What? G Fisher needed to race lap 24, 58-flat.

What are you talking about?

Off 29 minute 10k pace he had no chance. Time to move up to the marathon

I just don't understand Grant. Bro clearly could make this a Sub-27 race and drop everyone, Including Woody. I understand he has the 5000 in a few days but, He's the AR holder and 7th fastest 10k runner in history and has never been the US 10,000m Champion. Sad, really.

+1. He needed to play to his strengths and keep the pace quick from the start. No one would have been able to hold on.

Thought GF was an engineer from Stanford. Can't even play to his strengths.

While I agree that Woody *might* be fitter than Fisher, I'm inclined to offer a different postmortem here. We know that Jerry does a good job of getting his runners supremely fit. If Grant is fully healthy, how does he lose? Since I don't have any inside info, my speculation here is just that.

So, some possibilities:

1. Jerry didn't taper Grant enough. Maybe Big Sean McGorty is in a better position to be there at the end of the race because his training cycle has been abbreviated. And maybe Grant has just been grinding away healthily since the fall, so he comes into USAs lacking some sharpness, but is nevertheless supremely fit. If this is true, then Jerry screwed up. Don't underestimate the national championship and don't assume that a season can only have one peak (alternatively, don't plan to peak at Worlds and forget that you need to make the team first).

2. Jerry doesn't race them enough. Maybe Grant has had uninterrupted training and is supremely fit, but he's not exactly race sharp. He ran shorter distance indoor races (not a bad move), but maybe getting in an early spring 10k would have been worth it, even if it sacrificed a week or two of the training cycle. I feel like Jerry maybe forgets that RACING BUILDS FITNESS. Moreover, racing is the only thing that will help you to be a smart, sharp, effective racer. I often think back to the 20145 WC steeplechase where a very fit Evan Jager covered every single move made by the Kenyans and was then gassed at the end. He was absolutely fit enough and ready to medal. At the time, I thought that if he had just had another race or two under his belt then he could've sat in the pack a bit early on and covered the moves that mattered at the end (I know, hindsight is 20/20 and it's easy to critique as a spectator who doesn't have to race the world's best). Anyway, my feeling overall is that a bit more racing and race sharpness might have given Grant either a fiercer last lap OR the wherewithal to do something like hammer from 2400 out. If Grant's strength is his strength, then he could blunt Woody and Sean's kicks with a sustained drive from impossibly far out. Joe might be game for it, but if it's a two-man race with a lap to go and Joe took the lead, then Grant could just hang on to him and maybe kick to victory over the final 100 meters.

3. It was a fluke. Grant's race fit and sharp enough and smart enough and savvy enough, but he just didn't have that last gear on the day. It could be as simple as that. Still, I think that Grant has been outkicked enough times that something needs to be done to address this weakness if he is to contend for a medal.

Overall, I think it's somewhat disconcerting that the fastest American distance guy ever got fourth last night when he's in his peak years of competing. This really shouldn't happen.

They did not want they race to be fast, Fisher has the standard and probably is only focusing on Worlds.

This team was decided before the race started. Woods collects that prize money dough

A 26.30s guy losing in 28 minute races is his own fault.

If you slow a distance race enough, Usain Bolt could win

He is a real good athlete with a learning disability.

The fastest athletes in the distances routinely mess up in the way Fisher did. Don’t let it come down to kick when trying to make a team. Make the pace fast. Crush the pretenders. Make anybody who wants to make the team beat you at your best game.

If Nuguse makes it a 3:30 race, he’s on the team. If Sinclair runs 4:00, she’s on the team. If Josette runs 14:45, she’s in. Had Fisher run (even) 27:20, he’d have been safe.

I still have flashbacks of Steve Holman being the third best 1500 runner in the world and routinely failing to make the US team.

Yup, he needs to go hard or suffer the rest of his life.