If fall did not happen. The team would have been Mu, Sage, Atkins.
Mu was in 1:56 shape, Sage Hurta was ready to run 1:57 in these finals. That fall greatly impacted Sage, probably 3-5 seconds if you re-watch the race, you can count and see how badly impacted her race was.
This sucks, our best team isn't going to Paris, and Americans are going to miss medals because of it.
If fall did not happen. The team would have been Mu, Sage, Atkins.
Mu was in 1:56 shape, Sage Hurta was ready to run 1:57 in these finals. That fall greatly impacted Sage, probably 3-5 seconds if you re-watch the race, you can count and see how badly impacted her race was.
This sucks, our best team isn't going to Paris, and Americans are going to miss medals because of it.
If we look past each individuals responsibility for that particular race, there is an easy solution to this. Stop having the trials, and rather select a team based on past performance, the shape they are showing this year + the promise they have for the games. You could even make it obiligatory to do two-three spring races, which might have sorted out the problems Athing Mu had.
You don’t need Athing Mu to win the OT to take her out to the olympics, as long as you know she is in good shape. So what is the point with the OT?
This post was edited 1 minute after it was posted.
If fall did not happen. The team would have been Mu, Sage, Atkins.
Mu was in 1:56 shape, Sage Hurta was ready to run 1:57 in these finals. That fall greatly impacted Sage, probably 3-5 seconds if you re-watch the race, you can count and see how badly impacted her race was.
This sucks, our best team isn't going to Paris, and Americans are going to miss medals because of it.
If we look past each individuals responsibility for that particular race, there is an easy solution to this. Stop having the trials, and rather select a team based on past performance, the shape they are showing this year + the promise they have for the games. You could even make it obiligatory to do two-three spring races, which might have sorted out the problems Athing Mu had.
You don’t need Athing Mu to win the OT to take her out to the olympics, as long as you know she is in good shape. So what is the point with the OT?
Fairness. Otherwise it's who you know in the mighty and powerful that will determine many of the slots. Too many great athletes in one country.
If fall did not happen. The team would have been Mu, Sage, Atkins.
Mu was in 1:56 shape, Sage Hurta was ready to run 1:57 in these finals. That fall greatly impacted Sage, probably 3-5 seconds if you re-watch the race, you can count and see how badly impacted her race was.
This sucks, our best team isn't going to Paris, and Americans are going to miss medals because of it.
If we look past each individuals responsibility for that particular race, there is an easy solution to this. Stop having the trials, and rather select a team based on past performance, the shape they are showing this year + the promise they have for the games. You could even make it obiligatory to do two-three spring races, which might have sorted out the problems Athing Mu had.
You don’t need Athing Mu to win the OT to take her out to the olympics, as long as you know she is in good shape. So what is the point with the OT?
You see with Kenya how much politicking and controversy comes from that method. Maybe it would work to select one athlete per event by committee and have the other spots selected by OT.
If we look past each individuals responsibility for that particular race, there is an easy solution to this. Stop having the trials, and rather select a team based on past performance, the shape they are showing this year + the promise they have for the games. You could even make it obiligatory to do two-three spring races, which might have sorted out the problems Athing Mu had.
You don’t need Athing Mu to win the OT to take her out to the olympics, as long as you know she is in good shape. So what is the point with the OT?
What's even the point of the Games? We could just have a committee decide who the best runner is and mail them the medals.
If fall did not happen. The team would have been Mu, Sage, Atkins.
Mu was in 1:56 shape, Sage Hurta was ready to run 1:57 in these finals. That fall greatly impacted Sage, probably 3-5 seconds if you re-watch the race, you can count and see how badly impacted her race was.
This sucks, our best team isn't going to Paris, and Americans are going to miss medals because of it.
Was ready?? Well she didn't! Lots' of runners think they're ready and then we see them run slower. No way would she have beaten Akins, Whitakker or Wilson. And if Mu didn't fall, Hurta definitely wouldn't have made the team.
If fall did not happen. The team would have been Mu, Sage, Atkins.
Mu was in 1:56 shape, Sage Hurta was ready to run 1:57 in these finals. That fall greatly impacted Sage, probably 3-5 seconds if you re-watch the race, you can count and see how badly impacted her race was.
This sucks, our best team isn't going to Paris, and Americans are going to miss medals because of it.
Americans?? Who exactly do you think will medal at the Olympics? Mu maybe but we have no idea what kind of shape she's in post injury in an international field. No one else would be even close to a medal. I don't understand people. This isn't the first time someone fell in Trials (Martinez, Montano..) Why get so freakin triggered over it?
If fall did not happen. The team would have been Mu, Sage, Atkins.
Mu was in 1:56 shape, Sage Hurta was ready to run 1:57 in these finals. That fall greatly impacted Sage, probably 3-5 seconds if you re-watch the race, you can count and see how badly impacted her race was.
This sucks, our best team isn't going to Paris, and Americans are going to miss medals because of it.
Was ready?? Well she didn't! Lots' of runners think they're ready and then we see them run slower. No way would she have beaten Akins, Whitakker or Wilson. And if Mu didn't fall, Hurta definitely wouldn't have made the team.
Eh I think if she wasn’t caught up in the fall she would have been 2nd. She was 3-0 vs Whittaker at 800 coming in, 5-2 vs Wilson, including 3 straight.
If fall did not happen. The team would have been Mu, Sage, Atkins.
Mu was in 1:56 shape, Sage Hurta was ready to run 1:57 in these finals. That fall greatly impacted Sage, probably 3-5 seconds if you re-watch the race, you can count and see how badly impacted her race was.
This sucks, our best team isn't going to Paris, and Americans are going to miss medals because of it.
I think the only American that will miss a medal is Mu, and that sucks for her.
If you mean "the American people", I'm willing to bet there are very, very few that could actually tell you who she is.
If you mean mid- and long-distance fans, then they probably understand that stuff happens. If Mu fell at the Olympics, would we be saying that the race should be run again because one of the best runners didn't medal?
We send the best team that is comprised of the runners that performed the best on that day (provided Olympic standards and all that stuff), and the competitors know that. Like many other things in life, sometimes it goes their way, and sometimes it doesn't.
Akins is the clear US #2 and may have even challenged a not-at-the-top-of-her-game Athing Mu. Right now, Akins is the favorite for the bronze medal at the Olympics probably ahead of Goule, Reekie, and Sekgodiso. Wilson and Whittaker are still going to be top 15 runners at the Olympics and will have a shot to make the final, but probably aren't medal threats.
I’m not convinced Hurta-Klecker would have made the team if she wasn’t impeded. She may run 1:57 this year. To do it after two rounds is a different story. People are really discounting Akins in this thread. She’s very good. I think the top two without the fall are Mu and Akins. The third spot is pretty open. Allie Wilson looked really good through the rounds. Even though she hasn’t had the greatest spring, she clearly peaked when it mattered most. Dathan hasn’t exactly gotten the trials/U.S. champs peak right for a handful of his athletes. I’m not saying Hurta-Klecker couldn’t have gotten third. She certainly could have. But to put her as a lock and definitively say she is top 3 in the U.S. is highly debatable.
Just think of it as extra rounds on the way to being an Olympic medalist. Like the NCAA prelims sort of. Mu did not navigate the rounds successfully. She could just as easily have fallen in the Olympic semis or in any round en route to the finish line of the final.
Akins is a good send and could contend for a medal. It's a bit of karma that she won last night after avoiding Mu's moves after having been tripped by Mu at the Tokyo trials (where Mu did the same exact cut in). Seems like Akins learned from her mistakes and Mu didn't.
Whittaker is young and has a lot of upside, but I don't see her being a factor this time around especially given she just PR'd. It'll take >1:57 to contend for a medal.
Wilson has had a great year with her US Indoor title, but I'm not sure how much more there is on the bone time-wise. I don't see her running much faster than 1:57.5 and her style of running seems a bit eccentric. It kind of reminds me of how Cory Mcgee runs....pumping arms like crazy etc.
What could have been: Besides Mu, it's a bummer not to see Rogers or Sage go just because Rogers tends to race well in championships and Sage seemed to have a lot of momentum going into these trials. Kate Grace would have been a nice cap to her career, but her previous illness and age are working against her in this event. It would have been interesting to see how Ajee Wilson could have done had she run a smarter race in semis.
Akins is a good send and could contend for a medal. It's a bit of karma that she won last night after avoiding Mu's moves after having been tripped by Mu at the Tokyo trials (where Mu did the same exact cut in). Seems like Akins learned from her mistakes and Mu didn't.
Whittaker is young and has a lot of upside, but I don't see her being a factor this time around especially given she just PR'd. It'll take >1:57 to contend for a medal.
Wilson has had a great year with her US Indoor title, but I'm not sure how much more there is on the bone time-wise. I don't see her running much faster than 1:57.5 and her style of running seems a bit eccentric. It kind of reminds me of how Cory Mcgee runs....pumping arms like crazy etc.
What could have been: Besides Mu, it's a bummer not to see Rogers or Sage go just because Rogers tends to race well in championships and Sage seemed to have a lot of momentum going into these trials. Kate Grace would have been a nice cap to her career, but her previous illness and age are working against her in this event. It would have been interesting to see how Ajee Wilson could have done had she run a smarter race in semis.
Fair assessment. Akins is our medal threat and outside of Moraa and Keely, there's really nobody who has a better claim to that bronze medal. Reekie's obviously had her challenges in the final 100, Duguma has looked vulnerable since indoors/early outdoors, Sekgodiso is pretty unproven in championship races, Nakaayi runs herself into trouble and so on.
Whittaker has a promising future, but I'd see her as a worse version of Sage at this point. She has great 1500m strength and is pretty astute tactically, but I'd trust Sage's fitness a bit more.
Wilson is a solid #2/3 for us, and the key thing with her is she is quite versatile. She is unafraid to run up front, wide, or come from behind. It's a good skillset to make the final, but I'd be wary that if it goes sub-1:58 there, she doesn't have that next level of fitness.
No disrespect to Sage who's a very fast half miler, but she has a pretty long track record of not being able to make it through the rounds of the team trials. If she was more deserving of the spot than the women who earned it last night, she would have figured out how to get it done. That's four years in a row not making the team when people thought she was a top tier contender. She's shown she can run a one off fast time but you have to show you can put it together for multiple rounds like in the Olympics or World Championships to make the team.
With a few exceptions (men's 1500, women's 5000), we're not sending our best team most of the other events either. That's how trials work. I think our potential contenders in the 800 were Mu and Akins. Hurta-Klecker has a right to be disappointed, but Akins has beaten her every time they've raced, including in the early heats, and at Prefontaine. She's arguably better than Allie Wilson, but not so much that it's a travesty of justice for Wilson to be going to the Olympics after qualifying. Whittaker may not have the best times, but she's proven that she's a clutch racer. I think that she'll make the finals at the Olympics, before being soundly outrun. Our only medal contenders were Mu and Akins to start with this year.