Can you provide a summary for those of us who don’t have Instagram?
Here’s what Jakob said after the race, courtesy of the Diamond League site:
”I am always focusing on myself in races. Today I wanted a fast race and I wanted to run another sub-3:28. I knew if I could do that, there was a big risk of setting another PB. The pacemakers helped a lot today, epecially with Stewart McSweyn taking over on the third lap. It is not every day that you get one of the best runners in the world to help you run fast. This result was the best I could hope for today. You cannot always think about records. Today I wanted one, but I will now be focusing completely on getting ready for the World Championships.”
I would rather defuse inert bombs, mortar rounds and defuse inert artillery rounds than be a rabbit. Where is the pride? Rabbits get paid a low wage for all that work.
Respect? McSweyn, by pacing is saying his career is over. I can't think of anyone who went on to earn an international medal at Olympics or World Championship after pacing.
All that work? The first guy just ran like a 1:52 800m. There are a dozen high school guys each year that could even split that in their sleep any day of the week.
I would rather defuse inert bombs, mortar rounds and defuse inert artillery rounds than be a rabbit. Where is the pride? Rabbits get paid a low wage for all that work.
All that work? The first guy just ran like a 1:52 800m. There are a dozen high school guys each year that could even split that in their sleep any day of the week.
A kid with a 1:49 PR cannot reliably even split a 1:52 whenever they feel like. Im not about to go look up a bunch of kids PR progressions but I bet a lot of them had a 1:51 PR for a while before they popped their sub 1:50 when they peaked and got in the right race. Frontrunning an even split 1:52 doesn’t magically then become some automatic easy thing.
And even if they could do it at their home track by themselves, doing it at a DL meet is a whole different beast.
Jakob only had to run by himself for 42 seconds. You rarely see pacers last that long.
My initial reaction was that McSweyn was going for broke, which I respected. That did a full 180 when he stopped.
It may be legal, but is definitely unsporting. The entire game changes if fellow top elites start towing time trial attempts all the way to 1300m.
I expect a torrent of cope, but it will stay true. There's an * on this one. There should be a 800m max pacesetting limit. At worst 1000m.
Also I don't know if McSweyn was officially a pacesetter, but if not, that's unsporting too. Tim may have seen Jakob go with a normally crazy pace, and gambled that McSweyn would have to dial it back, forcing Jakob to lead the 3rd lap.
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Giving respect when it is due. Big up McSweyn, what a great athlete.
Respect? McSweyn, by pacing is saying his career is over. I can't think of anyone who went on to earn an international medal at Olympics or World Championship after pacing.
Noah Ngeny paced El Guerrouj in his 1500m record in 1998 then won Olympic gold in 2000
I expect a torrent of cope, but it will stay true. There's an * on this one. There should be a 800m max pacesetting limit. At worst 1000m
Roger Bannister was paced for 3½ laps when he first broke four minutes.
That was unsporting too, and he passed that guy right after the 1st turn, 4th lap.
Look, I don't care how mad you get. At the end of the day, a willing 1300m WR pacesetter is rare AF and an obvious advantage to whomever is lucky enough to arrange it. To me, that advantage is an * I'm glad the current WR is not tainted with.
and yes, I know 1200m is considered normal now... but it shouldn't be, and no way should anyone paceset who isn't designated as such by the meet director
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Before a bunch of mad people cope about it, I admit McSweyn's drop out point was at 1200m, not unusual for a paced mile, if not a paced 1500. That much is sporting enough under current standards.
The real issue here is, did the other runners know about it. They saw 2 rabbits, saw Sowinski quit at 900m, probably figured it would slow down after that.